Biography of Wang Jingwei

In his early years, Wang Jingwei joined the T'ung-meng Hui. In March 1910, Wang was jailed for plotting an assassination of the regent, Prince Chun, and composed a poem in prison that "e;even if I lose my head, that is also after my own heart because it lives up to my lofty sentiments since my adolescent stage"e;, which was read with admiration by people for a while. He worked as the editor-in-chief of Ming Bao (People's Journal). In 2914, he was elected as a member of the Executive Committee of the Central Government of the Republic of China and served as the Minister of the Publicity Department. In July 1925 when the Guangdong National Government was established, he was elected chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Government and chairman of the Military Commission. In 1927, Wang launched the "e;July 15th"e; Incident in Wuhan, and served as member of the Nanjing National Government after the three Nanjing-Shanghai-Wuhan factions collaborated. In May 1931, he jointed anti-Chiang factions to reorganize the National Government in Guangzhou for a confrontation with the Nanjing National Government. Following the September 18 Incident, Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei reorganized the new National Government, and Wang acted as the President of the Executive Yuan. After the outbreak of the anti-Japanese war, he was Vice Chairman of the Supreme Council for National Defense and Vice President of the Kuomintang, ranking second only to Chiang Kai-shek. On December 29, 1938, he issued a "e;Yandian (a telegraphic declaration to Chiang Kai-shek), saying "e;Japan 'has no demand for the territory of China', 'respects China's sovereignty', and is able to enable China to 'complete its independence'; based on three principles of 'being good neighbors, anti-Communist together, and economic cooperation', we exchange the sincerity with the Japanese government with a view to the restoration of peace. In doing so, not only can the Northern provinces are able to guard each other, that is, all the areas occupied by the enemy since the war can be regained, but also the independence and integrity of sovereignty and administration can be been preserved,"e; which openly defended the Japanese invaders and surrendered to Japan. On March 10, 1940, Pseudo "e;National Government"e; was established in Nanjing, Wang became the "e;President of the Executive Yuan"e;, "e;Chairman of the National Government"e;, and "e;Chairman of the Highest National Defense Conference of the Central Political Committee."e; On November 10, 1944, Wang died of disease in Nagoya, Japan.