Martin, Brian G., “‘In My Heart I Opposed Opium’: Opium and the Politics of the Wang Jingwei Government, 1940-45” (2003)

Title : “‘In My Heart I Opposed Opium’: Opium and the Politics of the Wang Jingwei Government, 1940-45”

Author(s) : Martin, Brian G.

Year : 2003

Type : Journal article

Subject : History

Keywords : political;war;crime

Journal : European Journal of East Asian Studies

Volume : 2

Number : 2

Start page : 365

End page : 410

Language:Name : English

Support : Print

Abstract : The Wang Jingwei government in China during World War II was chosen by the Japanese as their collaborationist regime. The Japanese created an opium and narcotics monopoly within China, then turned it over to the Wang Jingwei government to continue as a revenue source for the Japanese military and intelligence. The Wang Jingwei government needed its share of such revenue but was accused of turning the Chinese into addicts with its domestic and Iranian opium trafficking. Not until 1944, when the war was going badly for Japan, did the Wang Jingwei government start an opium suppression program, as the prewar Nationalist government had done, but its culpability tainted the program's chance of success.