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The Reorganized National Government was the name of the collaborationist government established in the Republic of China from 1940-45.[2] It was led by former Kuomintang (KMT) party member Wang Jingwei.

Wang Jingwei was the leftist leader of a prodominantly civilian Kuomintang faction called the Reorganizationists, who were often at odds with Chiang Kai-shek and his military arm of the Kuomintang. Shortly after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident and the initial invasion by the Imperial Japanese Army, Wang Jingwei advocated a strategy of peace and appeasment in order to end the string of devastating losses sustained by the Nationalist Forces and in order to secure the Japanese as a potential ally against the Chinese Communist Party. After the fall of the capital city of Nanjing to the Imperial Japanese Army soon after the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Nationalist government went into exile to Chongqing. On 30 March 1940 Wang Jingwei and his allies defected from Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists and established a collaborationist government under the Japanese Army that claimed to be the legitimate representative of all of the Republic of China. This reorganized national government was formed out of a number of previous collaborationist governments that existed in northern and central China, including the Reformed Government of the Republic of China based in eastern China, the Provisional Government of the Republic of China in northern China, and later on the Mengjiang government in Inner Mongolia, though in reality northern China and Inner Mongolia stayed relatively free of its influence. Although using the same state symbols and name of the republic, the new government obtained international recognition only from the Anti-Comintern Pact countries. The exiled nationalist government in Chongqing continued to be recognized by most of the rest of the world as the legitimate government of China.

While heavily restricted in its powers by the Japanese occupation, the Reorganized government attempted to limit the civilian casualties inflicted by the Japanese Imperial Army. At the same time, the new government also eagerly assisted the Japanese Imperial Army against Communist forces operating in Reorganized Government territory. As the Japanese war situation worsened and Allied and American forces began threatening the Pacific, the puppet state was gradually granted increased self-governance culminating in the reorganized national government declared war on the Allies on 9 January 1943. It was disbanded following the surrender of Japan in August 1945, with the majority of its surviving leaders being put on trial, declared hanjian or traitors to the Han people, and imprisoned or executed for treason.

OVERVIEW

Wang Jingwei and Chiang Kai-shek had been locked in a struggle for control over the heart and soul of the Kuomintang for decades prior to the Japanese invasion. Wang, a close friend, ally, and student of Kuomintang founder Sun Yat-sen, represented the civilian and republican face of the KMT, while Chiang represented the authoritiarian and military side of the party. As Japanese aggression increased in the late 1920s and 30s, Chiang predominantly focused his attentions on the continuing Chinese Civil War, and largely deferred responsibility and authority over Japanese relations to Wang Jingwei.