Author: Sasha
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Why did Japan dare to occupy Hong Kong but not invade Macao during World War II? Sasha Q&A Episode 152
On December 8, 1941, World War II, 30,000 Japanese troops launched an attack on the British colony of Hong Kong.
More than 10,000 British troops in Hong Kong resisted until the 26th, all surrendered, and the battle ended. The Japanese suffered 2,000 casualties, and in addition to more than 1,500 British deaths, 1,000 were missing (most of the bodies were not found after the deaths), and another 10,000 were captured.
The defense of Hong Kong was fierce, but the strange Japanese army did not attack Macau, which was close to Hong Kong.
At that time, the Portuguese army in Macau, which had only a few hundred men, was demoralized, backward in weapons, and simply vulnerable.
Moreover, Macao is only 32 square kilometers, which is a land of projectiles and is attacked by enemies on all sides, so it is impossible to defend itself for a long time.
So, why didn't Japan attack Macau?
Here's why:
First, Portugal is a neutral country.
Neither Portugal nor Spain participated in World War II.
According to international law, Macao, as a colony, is regarded as Portuguese territory and cannot be invaded by other countries, otherwise it would be tantamount to a declaration of war.
Japan and Portugal have no direct conflict of interest, and the two sides are already at odds and there is no contradiction between history and reality.
At that time, Portugal had become a small European country, with only two small colonies in Asia, Macau and East Timor.
From Japan's point of view, Macau has no military, economic or political significance and is not worth occupying at all.
As for East Timor, Japan would have been reluctant to occupy it either.
As a result, on 17 December 1941, a combined Dutch and Australian force of 400 men occupied East Timor.
Japan, believing that the Allied occupation of the entire island of Timor would pose a military threat to itself, launched an all-out offensive in February 1942, which eventually routed the Allies.
Second, Portugal is pro-fascist.
Although not publicly stated, as in Spain, the Portuguese government had close ties with Nazi Germany.
Portuguese dictator Salazar is generally believed to be a fascist.
Before the outbreak of World War II, Salazar joined forces with Germany and Italy to attack the communist regime in Spain.
During World War II, Salazar's Portuguese government was inextricably linked to Nazi Germany and Italy.
Portugal has always been rich in tungsten ore, which is the backbone of war industry. Even though the Allies tried their best to stop it, Portugal still exported a large amount of tungsten ore to Germany.
It was not until late in the war, when Germany's defeat was certain, that Portugal stopped exporting tungsten ore and leased its base in the Azores to the Allies.
But Portugal was a sympathetic Axis country after all, and Japan did not need to turn against it.
Third, Japan can completely manipulate Macao to its own service.
Why didn't Germany attack Switzerland?
Despite the Alpine tunnels, it was not difficult for the German and Italian armies to annex Switzerland.
Not to mention, Switzerland still has a large number of ethnic Germans who support integration with Germany.
The main thing is that Germany wants to have a so-called neutral state in Europe, able to do something as a third power, and this is Switzerland.
Macau is similar.
Looking at Stanley Ho's memoirs, we know that Macau is simply under the manipulation of the Japanese.
After the Japanese army invaded Hong Kong, although it did not occupy Macau, it actually took control.
Macau is home to Japanese secret services that can arrest anti-Japanese elements with impunity.
For Macao's ships, Japan can requisition them at will, or even escort them away by force by warships.
In fact, the Macau government has become almost a puppet.
As a result, after the Japanese occupation of East Timor in 1942, the Macau government obeyed almost everything from the orders of the Japanese army: the Macau government was forced to recruit local young people and a large number of refugees in Macau to form laborers to serve the Japanese army. These people were escorted by the Japanese army to Hainan Island and other places to do hard labor, and many people died.
Japan has set up a so-called military material acquisition center in Macau, half-buying and half-rushing through Portugal, a neutral country, to buy all kinds of materials in short supply and sell Japanese goods instead.
According to the national law of the time, neutral countries were not allowed to export military and strategic goods to belligerents. Through Portugal as a transit, Japan could buy goods from any neutral country. Ships transported on the high seas were under the Portuguese flag, and the Allies could not attack or intercept. Stanley Ho worked on this kind of ship back then, actually helping the Japanese do things.
At the same time, Japan also carried out various illegal financial activities through profiteers in Macau, such as buying smuggled silver from Chinese mainland and sending counterfeit legal tender from Macau to areas controlled by the national army.
Speaking of which, the colonial government of Macao has almost become a puppet of Japan, so why is it necessary to completely occupy it?
Some people say that Portugal has announced that if you occupy Macau, I will arrest all the Japanese nationals in Brazil, which is nonsense.
In fact, Brazil had long since gained independence from Portuguese control, establishing a republic in 1889.
The Brazilian dictator, Getulio Vargas, had little contact with Portugal and could not have gone to Portugal to get Japanese expatriates.
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