Dairen Conference of 1921–22

a conference of representatives of the Far East Republic and of Japan that took place in Dairen (China), with interruptions, from Aug. 26, 1921, through Apr. 16, 1922 (a total of 39 sessions).

F. N. Petrov, the deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Far East Republic, headed the republic’s delegation, and V. K. Bliukher was the military advisor. Iu. Iu. Markhlevskii was present as an observer of the RSFSR beginning in December 1921. The head of the Japanese delegation was Matsumisa, the head of a department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Far East Republic entered negotiations in the hope of unmasking the aggressive plans and actions of the Japanese imperialists and securing the withdrawal of Japanese forces from the Far East. On September 6 the delegation of the Far East Republic proposed a draft of the Agreement on Peace, Friendship, and Trade, which stipulated that Japan would withdraw all forces from the territory of the Russian Far East within one month and at the same time recognize the sovereignty of the Far East Republic. In return for these actions, the Far East Republic was prepared to meet the economic interests of Japan by granting Japan fishing concessions. On September 26 the Japanese delegation made a counterproposal, which would have obligated the Far East Republic to maintain a noncommunist regime on its territory, to equalize the rights of Japanese nationals and Far East nationals in commerce and industry, and to recognize the right of Japanese ships to navigate the Amur and Sungari rivers. Secret articles of the counterproposal provided that the Far East Republic dismantle and destroy all military fortifications on its coast and grant Japanese military officials the right to reside in and move freely about the republic. The Japanese said they would be prepared to discuss the withdrawal of their troops from the Primor’e after the signing of such an agreement; the question of the withdrawal of troops from Northern Sakhalin was to be left open. The delegation of the Far East Republic rejected the articles of the Japanese proposal, which they claimed would “violate the sovereignty and domestic life of the Far East Republic” and China.

On December 12 the Japanese delegation interrupted the work of the conference, awaiting the results of the Washington Conference and of an attack by Russian White Guards on the Far East Republic. The defeat of the White Guards at Volochaevka forced Japan to renew the negotiations in Dairen, make concessions, and renounce some of the basic points of its counterproposal. By the middle of April 1922 both sides had concurred on the draft of the Trade and General Agreement and a majority of the articles of the agreement on the transfer of Russian property and installations in the hands of Japanese forces to the Far East Republic. But on April 15 the Japanese delegation broke off negotiations and on April 16 left the conference. A note of April 24 by the government of the Far East Republic laid all blame for the failure of the Dairen conference on Japan. The Ch’angch’un Conference met in September 1922 but also failed to obtain results. In October 1922 the People’s Revolutionary Army of the Far East Republic liberated the Primor’e and on October 25 entered Vladivostok.