Gao Zongwu (; 1905—1994) was a Chinese diplomat in the Republic of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. He was best known for playing a key role in negotiations between China and Japan from 1937 to 1940 that initially intended to bring about a peace agreement between them, but which led to the defection of prominent statesman Wang Jingwei and the establishment of the pro-Japanese collaborationist Reorganized National Government of China. Disillusioned with the harsh terms imposed on the new Wang Jingwei regime by the Japanese, he released the full documents of the outline of the Basic Treaty that Japan demanded as the basis of its relations with the new regime, which was a major propaganda coup for Chiang Kai-shek and a blow for Wang's fledgling government that had just been exposed as just another puppet state. Gao had originally been slated to serve as the vice foreign minister of the Wang Jingwei regime before his defection back to Chiang in January 1940.
Biography
Early life and career
Born around 1905, Gao Zongwu was educated in Japan at the Kyushu Imperial University. Described as being intelligent and a skilled politician, Gao suffered from chronic bouts of tuberculosis. He later returned to China to teach political science at Nanjing University and parts of his dissertation on Sino-Japanese diplomacy were published in Chinese magazines. These were read by Li Shengwu, an Oxford-educated scholar on international law and colleague of Wang Jingwei, who brought them to his attention. Wang met with Gao, being impressed with the young man's work, and invited him to join the government (Wang being the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time). Gao rapidly rose through the ranks due to his abilities and became Chief of the Asia Bureau of the Foreign Ministry before he was thirty years old. Thus he became one of Wang's closest friends and supporters, entering the so-called "low-key club" of Chinese officials who wanted to establish peace with Japan after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, despite the atmosphere of treason that surrounded those who supported a peace policy in the eyes of the public. He became one of the most prominent members of the group, along with Zhou Fohai. Gao also had extensive contacts among the Chinese banking community, a member of which he knew well through a mutual acquaintance, which helped advance his career.
Gao Zongwu spoke fluent Japanese and had served as Wang Jingwei's translator while the latter had been foreign minister.
Sino-Japanese peace talks
Gao would go on to play a major role in negotiations between Japan and the Chinese government throughout the next two years. Between the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in the summer of 1937 and the outbreak of fighting in Shanghai by fall of that year, Gao met with both Wang and Chiang Kai-shek. He expressed his intent to establish a peace agreement with Japan and completely turn around Sino-Japanese relations. Wang agreed, and Chiang gave his approval. On July 31, 1937, Gao met with a banking contact and his acquaintance, Japanese businessman Nishi Yoshiaki, a protege of Matsuoka Yosuke, Japanese diplomat and former president of the South Manchurian Railway Company, who supported the peace movement. Shortly after the fall of Nanjing Gao resigned from his position in the Foreign Ministry and traveled to Hong Kong on what was ostensibly an intelligence gathering mission, but was really there at the behest of Zhou Fohai and the low-key club to make contacts with officials sympathetic to the peace movement. Zhou kept Chiang informed of their efforts the entire time.
In late 1937 Gao took a break to recuperate from a tuberculosis attack, and a friend of his from the Foreign Ministry continued his work, meeting with Nishi in January 1938 in Shanghai. It was through Nishi that Gao's friend arranged a visit to Tokyo on February 15 to begin conversations with pro-Chinese members of the Japanese leadership, the main one being Colonel Kagesa Sadaaki of the strategy section of the Army General Staff, along with Vice Chief of General Staff Hayao Tada. Through Gao's friend they passed a number of letters to Chiang Kai-shek describing their desire to negotiate a peace. After leaving Japan on March 5, he met with Gao, Nishi, and the journalist Matsumoto Shigeharu—Gao's former professor at Kyushu University—in Hong Kong. Afterwards they headed to report their findings to Zhou, who passed on the letters to Chiang.