World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseXie Jieshi was born in Hsinchu, Taiwan in 1878. After Japan took control of Taiwan in 1895, he attended the school Shinchiku Kokugo Denshujo, where he learned the Japanese language. Upon graduation, he worked for the occupation government and was known as Sha Kaiseki to the Japanese, which was his Chinese name read in the Japanese language. During Prime Minister Prince Ito Hirobumi's visit to Taiwan, he served as the interpreter. Impressed with Xie, Ito recommended him for a scholarship to study at Meiji University in Tokyo, Japan, where Xie would eventually earn a degree in law. In Feb 1904, he was made an instructor of the Taiwanese dialect at a Japanese-run university in Taiwan. In 1913, he left Taiwan and joined General Zhang Xun in Tianjin, China, taking on the role of the secretary general. Two years later, he renounced his Japanese citizenship for citizenship in the Republic of China. He was in support of Zhang's failed attempt to restore the Qing Dynasty. In 1927, he served the exiled former emperor, Puyi, in the city of Tianjin. In the early 1930s, he joined Manchurian Aisin Gioro royal clan member Xi Qia, helping Xi negotiate with the Japanese as Japan began to violate Chinese sovereignty. In 1932, when Japan established the puppet nation of Manchukuo with Puyi nominally at the helm, Xie was made the Minister of Foreign Affiars. In that role, he assisted in the efforts to convince General Ma Zhanshan to support the new puppet state and assisted in the execution of the Japnaese plan to migrate Taiwanese people to northeastern China; it was estimated that more than 5,000 Taiwanese heeded to Xie's call and migrated to Manchukuo. In 1935, he was named the Manchukuo ambassador plenipotentiary to Japan; he traveled aboard Yamato Maru from Korea to Japan for his new office in Tokyo. In the same year, he toured Taiwan and played a role in the planning of the Taiwan Expo, which took place between 10 Oct 1935 and 28 Nov 1935. In 1937, he completed his duty as the ambassador plenipotentiary and returned to Manchukuo as the Minister of Industry. He retired from government service in late 1937 as he was offered the position of president of a Manchukuo state-run industrial company. He would remain in this civilian position through the remainder of the WW2 era. In 1945, he was arrested in Beiping, China. Found guilty of collaboration with the Japanese, was formally imprisoned between 1946 and 1948 at a Beiping prison. He passed away from natural causes in 1954 at his home in Beiping.

Photographs

Xie Jieshi Timeline