 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Northeast Flag Replacement" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(April 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
.svg)
TheNortheast Flag Replacement (traditional Chinese:東北易幟;simplified Chinese:东北易帜;pinyin:Dōngběi Yìzhì) refers toZhang Xueliang's announcement on 29 December 1928 that all banners of theBeiyang government inManchuria would be replaced with theflag of the Nationalist government, thus nominally unitingChina under one government.
In April 1928,Chiang Kai-shek was reinstated as commander of theNational Revolutionary Army, the position he previously resigned from after taking responsibility for splitting theKMT during theFirst Northern Expedition. He proceeded with theSecond Northern Expedition and was approachingBeijing near the end of May. The Beiyang government in Beijing was forced to dissolve as a result;Zhang Zuolin abandoned Beijing to return to Manchuria and was assassinated in theHuanggutun incident by the JapaneseKwantung Army. However, Manchuria was still held by theFengtian clique, which hung the banner of the Beiyang government. The ultimate objective of the Northern Expedition was not fully accomplished.
Immediately after the death of Zhang Zuolin,Zhang Xueliang returned to Shenyang to succeed his father's position. On July 1 he announced an armistice with theNational Revolutionary Army and proclaimed that he would not interfere with the reunification.[1] The Japanese were dissatisfied with the move and demanded Zhang to proclaim the independence of Manchuria. He refused the Japanese demand and proceeded with unification matters. On July 3Chiang Kai-shek arrived inBeijing and met the representative from the Fengtian clique to discuss a peaceful settlement. This negotiation reflected the scramble between the US and Japan on her sphere of influence in China because the US supported Chiang Kai-shek unifying Manchuria. Under pressure from the US and Britain, Japan was diplomatically isolated on this issue. On December 29 Zhang Xueliang announced the replacement of all flags in Manchuria and accepted the jurisdiction of the Nationalist government.[2] Two days later the Nationalist government appointed Zhang as commander of the Northeast Army. China was symbolically reunified at this point.
