Xi Qia

Xi Qia (), also Xi Xia (1883–1950), was a general in command of the Kirin Provincial Army of the Republic of China, who defected to the Japanese during the Invasion of Manchuria in 1931, and who subsequently served as a cabinet minister in Manchukuo.

Biography

Xi Qia was an ethnic Manchu of the imperial clan of Aisin Gioro, and a supporter of efforts to create a new Manchu-dominated state in Manchuria after the Xinhai Revolution overthrew the Qing dynasty in China. As a youth, he studied in Japan at the Imperial Japanese Army Academy. He rose to the rank of lieutenant general and commanding officer of the Provincial Army of Kirin Province under the Fengtian clique.

On 23 September 1931, after the Mukden Incident, Xi Qia, was invited by the Japanese government to form a government for Kirin Province. The Imperial Japanese Army succeeded in achieving a bloodless occupation of the capital, Kirin city. General Xi Qia called a meeting of government organizations and Japanese advisors, and on 30 September 1931 issued a proclamation declaring Kirin Province to be independent of the Republic of China, with himself as head of a provisional government.

After the Japanese Kwantung Army completed military control over southern Manchuria in early January 1932, occupying Jinzhou and Shanhaiguan, it turned to the north to secure the remainder of Manchuria. When negotiations with Generals Ma Zhanshan and Ting Chao had come to naught, Japanese Colonel Kenji Doihara in early January 1932...
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