The Second World War was by far the largest and most deadly war in human history. In World War II, as one of the main battlefields in Asia, China had no intention of killing, but it was pulled into the whirlpool of war by some countries that were crazy about expanding and invading abroad.
Among them, it is Japan, the country of bullets, that killed China. Under the trampling of Japan's iron hooves, the Huaxia Mountains and Rivers fluttered in the wind, a bleak and dilapidated scene, full of countless blood tears and hatred.
But few people know that the fourteen-year war of aggression against China launched by Japan has always been carried out in a wonderful state of declaring no war.
In fact, the first and only country to declare war on China in World War II was not Japan, but a small European country that little people heard of, San Marino. On the contrary, how is it that Japan, which has occupied China for fourteen years, has not declared war on China? Did China and San Marino have any great roots? Why didn't Japan declare war on China?
Why didn't Japan declare war on China?
First, it is worth noting that during World War II, Japan, known as an "old enemy" of China, did not really declare war on the China it invaded from beginning to end. This made San Marino the only country to declare war on China. You must know that when Japan sneaked into Pearl Harbor and launched the Pacific War, it did not forget to declare war on the United States. So, why didn't Japan, as the "chief culprit" in the war of aggression against China, declare war on China?
Since Japan launched the "918 Incident" in 1931, the three northeastern provinces have been reduced to broken mountains and rivers under the iron hooves of the Japanese army. However, in order to beautify its own acts of aggression, Japan used the last emperor Puyi as a puppet to establish a puppet state of Manchukuo in the three eastern provinces to cover up its crime of aggression, and used the "puppet Manchu regime" to cover up its ears and steal bells to encroach on and plunder the resources and land of the three eastern provinces.
Therefore, at this time, Japan, taking into account public opinion, would not take the initiative to issue a declaration of war to China, otherwise it would have fulfilled its own crime of aggression. The lies of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere are also difficult to reconcile.
Then, in the later "July 7 Incident", when Japan launched an all-out war of aggression against China, the pre-war alliance camp of World War II had already taken initial shape. According to the Hague Convention signed by Japan at the end of the 19th century, the Allies were eligible to impose economic sanctions on both warring sides as long as the two countries were at war. The scope of this sanction includes many of Japan's scarce and import-dependent resources.
However, the United States, the main ally at that time, became An importer of Japan's resources due to its abundant resources, controlling the lifeblood of Japan's resources. Once the United States determines that Japan's actions are acts of aggression, it will launch economic sanctions against Japan, thus cutting off Japan's resource supply. Therefore, due to the restraint of the United States, Japan still refuses to issue a war letter to China to evade economic sanctions.
Until the end of the war of aggression against China, under the rising anti-Japanese sentiment and resistance of the masses of the people, the Japanese army was seriously depleted in Chinese mainland. In order to occupy China indirectly, Japan once again followed the guise of establishing the puppet state of Manchukuo, supported the Wang puppet regime, recognized the status of the Wang puppet regime, denied the status of the Chiang Kai-shek government in Nanjing, and cooperated with the Wang puppet regime to achieve the goal of invading and occupying China.
On the other hand, the government of Chiang Kai-shek in China at that time always adopted a passive attitude towards Japan in the early and middle stages of the War of Resistance Against Japan, trying to avoid war with peace talks, so as to recuperate and concentrate on "suppressing bandits." Coupled with the Chiang administration's dependence on Japan's maritime trade routes, it was also slow to declare war on Japan.
Until Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, triggering the Pacific War, the United States and Japan were at odds, and with the financial support of the United States, Chiang Kai-shek finally had the courage to officially declare war on Japan in 1941.
Therefore, Japan did not dare to go to China to write a war book in a generous manner, which was also a means of encroaching on China's many tricks. So, as a small European country, San Marino has no grievances against China, so why should it go to China?
Why did San Marino declare war on China?
San Marino is located in the eastern part of the Italian Peninsula in southern Europe, is a "national China" surrounded by Italy, with a land area of only 60 square kilometers and a population of only 30,000 people, which is a veritable small country.
As early as 301 AD, a Christian stonemason came to a hill to escape the persecution of Christians by the Roman Emperor, and established San Marino, but at this time San Marino was at least legally part of the Roman Empire.
Until 1243, San Marino formally established a system of government in which two consuls ruled jointly, established the world's earliest republic, and in the years that followed, after several occupations and tenacious independence, finally made San Marino recognized by Europe as an independent sovereign state - to this day, San Marino is still the oldest republic in Europe, and capitalism is highly developed.
During the First and Second World Wars, San Marino, knowing that its population was meager enough to sustain its participation in any war, remained neutral and did not participate in the war or provoke it.
It wasn't until 1923, when San Marino's fascist party came to power, that subtle changes began to brew. In 1944, because San Marino was located in the arms of Italy, a fascist ally, it aroused the suspicion of the anti-fascist camp Britain, and the British army, after hearing that the German army had entered San Marino, carried out an "indiscriminate attack" on the country.
San Marino then reiterated its neutral position, stating that there were no troops in its territory. However, Germany and Britain entered San Marino for a duel, taking turns occupying the small country of San Marino.
After the withdrawal of the British troops, San Marino did not forget to ask the British government for more than seven hundred million lira of war reparations, but they were rejected by the British on the grounds that Germany had first destroyed its neutrality.
The so-called "tolerable, what is intolerable." "San Marino, who had been so humiliated, declared war on all the countries that participated in World War II, including China.
However, China is so far away from San Marino that even if it wants to attack China, it is really impossible to whip, so San Marino's declaration of war against China is only on paper, and it has the honor of becoming the first and only country to declare war on China in World War II.
Interestingly, this behavior of San Marino is the same as that of the Manchu Qing. In 1900, Empress Dowager Cixi disregarded the gap in strength between the late Qing government and the Western powers, and issued a vigorous "Book of Summoning War to All Nations" to the world.
Although this battle book did raise the national prestige of the "Heavenly Dynasty and the Heavenly Kingdom" and was very tough, it eventually detonated the division and encroachment of the mainland by the Western powers, resulting in the Eight-Power Alliance burning and plundering in China. Although Empress Dowager Cixi escaped with the Guangxu Emperor to escape this fate, it is sad and lamentable that the mess left behind will be borne by the Chinese people for no reason.
Unlike Empress Dowager Cixi's "Book of Summoning War to All Nations", San Marino did not stir up much water after declaring war on the whole world, and although the Allies at that time were very surprised, they were all caught in the war and could not extricate themselves, so they had no time to pay attention to the strong protests of the small country of San Marino.
However, San Marino was only a simple verbal "protest", and he knew that his national strength was small, and he did not take the initiative to launch a single attack on any other country that declared war.
San Marino's diplomatic turmoil with China
As the years passed, in the early 1970s, in order to open up the stage space for international exchanges, the Chinese government formally established consular diplomatic relations with San Marino regardless of previous suspicions. In the 1980s, san marino's ruling party was the Communist Party, so China and San Marino signed a visa-free agreement.
In the 1990s, the two sides escalated diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level, and San Marino sincerely apologized for his reckless behavior during World War II. In the following years, the two sides also signed the Sino-Saint Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement to carry out economic cooperation and trade exchanges.
Today's San Marino, after years of "muffled wealth", the economic development is very rich, the national welfare is preferential, the per capita GDP is high, in addition to the "tax haven", it is an excellent tourist resort, the only drawback may be too small, less than a day can be visited.
All in all, there was a unique pattern of "getting along" between countries, in that particular war era. Until today's era of peace, even if a local war breaks out, it has become the norm to declare no war for the sake of international public opinion and sanctions.