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The Mukden Incident The mukden incident Berkeley Model United Nations Content Warning: The contents of this topic synopsis and anticipated discussion during committee will contain descriptions of violence, racism, r*pe, and other forms of brutality perpetrated during WWII that may be emotionally challenging to engage with. Welcome Letter Dear Delegates, Welcome to BMUN 69! My name is Isabel Shiao, and I am so excited to be your Mukden Incident head chair, along with Nikhil Pimpalkhare and Ashwat Chidambaram as my vice chairs. I am currently a junior at UC Berkeley studying history with a concentration in the Interwar Era. Outside of BMUN, I’m also involved in a pre-law fraternity and the undergraduate history journal. I love to explore the city and experiment with cooking in my free time, and I spent this summer conducting research on Japanese war crimes during WWII. Nikhil Pimpalkhare is a senior studying Electrical Engineering and Computer. He has spent an entire decade doing Model UN, making him the world’s foremost expert in motioning to close debate. Outside of BMUN, Nikhil enjoys practicing gaveling, wearing suits for fun, and grading position papers. Ashwat Chidambaram is a sophomore who has been involved in MUN throughout his years on the high school circuit. Ashwat is majoring in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, and joined BMUN to share the same great experience he had in high school Model UN with all of you! Ashwat grew interested in the topic of the Mukden Incident due to his particular interest in historical events surrounding World War 1 and 2. Beyond MUN, Ashwat has a deep passion for aviation, drumming, listening to Logic and Bruno Mars, and playing basketball for fun! I chose the Mukden Incident as our topic in an attempt to illuminate voices that are forgotten massacres, and other atrocities carried out by Imperial Japan were arguably as atrocious as Nazi war crimes. It is estimated that between 3 million and 10 million civilians, of which 7.5 million were Chinese, were killed by Japanese occupation forces (McLean). The Nanking Massacre alone claimed 200,000 to 300,000 victims (McLean). Yet, these numbers are seldom mentioned in the BERKELEY MODEL UNITED NATIONS 1 American high school curriculum in comparison to Holocaust statistics, resulting in a forgotten history of Japanese fascism and prolonging the healing process for victims. I grew up hearing my intense resentment against the Japanese for acts of brutality against their fellow countrymen. war’s legacy across the world. circumstances that facilitated its outbreak. The Great Depression and aftermath of WWI left the world unstable and anxious. As nations sought alternatives to the traditional world order, fascism emerged as a viable option (Barshay). Japan’s rapid modernization and victory in major wars created a nation that could rival the Western powers, inspiring its leaders to pursue its expansionist goals in Manchuria. This act of aggression raised concerns in the League of Nations, an international organization designed to prevent another total war, but it was essentially left powerless to control Japan. In 1933, Japan withdrew from the League as Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini observed and eventually followed suit (Barshay). By 1937, it was clear that the League had failed to preserve peace. to do so by rewriting history for the better. I would like delegates to take into account the cultural, economic, and political context and expand beyond a eurocentric perspective of history. In doing Nations. Delegates will represent members of the League of Nations in 1931, immediately following the Mukden Incident and before the Lytton Commission (explained below) was issued. As you will read, the League was severely weakened by structural imitations: a unanimous vote needed for the inability to enforce policies, and the absence of the United States. All of these weaknesses but the last will be present during committee. We will follow standard BMUN crisis procedure, with the exception of one change: as a compromise between the usual simple majority needed for ratifying solutions and a historically accurate requirement for unanimity, a ¾ majority will be necessary for directives, and prevent Japan from withdrawing, removing the precedent that acts of aggression will go unchecked. BERKELEY MODEL UNITED NATIONS 2 Some of you may also notice that your country was not represented in the original League of Nations. I encourage delegates to consider why they were excluded, and how the outcome might have been different if they were represented. If your country was occupied by another delegation proposition for self-determination and represent your delegation as a self-governing territory. Ask yourself, would the League have been more successful if those excluded were involved in peace talks? As a history major of Chinese descent, I’m super excited to see what you come up with! Sincerely, Isabel Shiao Head Chair, The Mukden Incident Topic Background Imperial Japanese Fascism The combination of WWI casualties and the Great Depression left most of the world in psychological and economic ruins. In the two decades prior to WWII, civilians and politicians felt a deep sense of urgency for an alternative to the world order that had brought them into total war. In Germany, Nazism emerged from the ashes of Europe. Adolf Hitler seemed to promise a solution Japanese fascism, a political ideology rooted in traditional agrarian values (Barshay). Though fascism is often used as a broad term to describe authoritarian regimes, few characteristics are universal in fascist states: anti-Enlightenment ideals, forcible suppression of opposition, control over all sectors of society, and ultranationalism (Barshay). BERKELEY MODEL UNITED NATIONS 3 Source: Iasmania. “Fascism and Nazism Iasmania - Civil Services Preparation Online ! UPSC & IAS Study Material.” was bound by kokutai. Directly translated as “the essence of the nation,” kokutai is essentially an “unmovable” cult of loyalty to the emperor (Tansman 151). All acts, from state laws to brutality merely asserting a ‘natural’ truth” (Tansman 168). This philosophy, which dates back to Japan’s feudal era, appealed to the agrarian sector of Japan as a reaction against the empire’s westernization and rapid industrialization (Barshay). forced Japan, previously isolated in international affairs for two centuries, to engage in trade and assuming the role of an economic giant exploiting the empire’s resources, in addition to other Western powers like Britain, France, and Russia (Britannica). As the empire was increasingly encroached upon by imperialist pressures, Japan realized it needed to transform itself into a nation as mighty as the Western powers (Britannica). The Meiji Restoration thus ensued in 1868 with a political revolution that brought an end to the Tokugawa shogunate, the hereditary military dictatorship (Columbia). Inspired by Western constitutions, the Meiji Constitution transformed Japan into an empire with a powerful army and navy, a rapidly growing industrial sector, and a bureaucratic government (Columbia). However, this intense modernization also brought a fear of the BERKELEY MODEL UNITED NATIONS 4 kokutai were necessary for the empire to maintain its values and suppress Western imperialism. Kokutai imperial government passed the Peace Preservation Law to suppress allegedly “dangerous” thought by declaring any attempt to “alter the kokutai through speech or action a crime against the state” (Tansman 151). Those that deviated from the accepted ideology were “chastised” with familial pressure, a practice known as “tenko” or reorientation (Barshay). Furthermore, on d’etat, assassinating key government leaders in the name of the emperor. They believed that the modernization that came with the Meiji Restoration corrupted Japanese society, and a return to bushido was necessary (Barshay). The incident marked Japan’s transition into a military dictatorship Rule Assistance Administration dissolved all political parties as a continuation of the 1938 National Mobilization Law, which nationalized all major industries such as the rationing and news media (Barshay). By the late 1930s, Japan had been transformed into a fascist state. The changes in Imperial Japan’s political structure can be attributed to the surge in nationalism. During the peace negotiations that produced the Treaty of Versailles, Japan felt they were treated like a second-class nation (Barshay). Prior to WWI, Japan’s rapid industrialization, victory against Russia in the Russo-Japanese War, and involvement in the winning side of WWI demonstrated the empire’s economic and military might (Britannica). Prime Minister Fumimaro regardless of race, in the treaty to cement Japan’s position as a major power that could rival western nations (Barshay). Woodrow Wilson disagreed with Konoe, however, resulting in the clause’s failure to (Konoe 14). This, combined with the lingering anti-West sentiment from Matthew Perry’s expedition, caused another surge in Japanese nationalism. As William L. Swan wrote in his article for the Journal for Southeast Asian studies, the idea thus emerged for an East Asian federation that would become countries and peoples within would coexist in co-prosperity under the aegis of Japan” (Swan 139). Imperial Japanese troops would occupy various regions throughout Asia in the name of the emperor, liberating the territory from Western imperialism and gathering resources for the empire (Kitagawa). BERKELEY MODEL UNITED NATIONS 5 As the
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