Xinjiang's strategic position and rich resources attracted the closest attention of the great powers: Russia, Great Britain, the United States and Japan. The situation was complicated by the national liberation struggle of the peoples of the region for independence.
Xinjiang in the plans of the great powers
Xinjiang's important strategic position and rich resources attracted close attention of Russia (then the USSR), Britain, Japan and a number of other countries. The situation was complicated by the constant uprisings of the Uyghurs for independence. The Chinese government, in conditions of complete spiritual, military-political and economic decline of the state, controlled the north-western region only partially.
Britain, which was the first to "open" China to the West (at gunpoint), showed an active interest in Xinjiang already in the first half of the 19th century. The British penetrated into the Celestial Empire, entrenched themselves there. England was easier than, for example, the United States. But Britain wanted to keep what it had won and, if possible, expand its sphere of influence. Xinjiang was important as it bordered on the "pearl" of the British colonial empire - India. The British were also interested in Xinjiang as a possible foothold against the Russian Empire. However, the attempts of the British to gain a foothold in the region in the 19th century, including with the help of the national liberation movement, did not lead to success. Britain managed to gain a foothold only in the south of the province - in Kashgar.
After the outbreak of the First World War, Russia's position in the region was noticeably shaken, and after the revolution and during the Civil War, it collapsed altogether. However, Britain was unable to use this period to strengthen its position in Xinjiang. It is worth noting that the region became a place of attraction for refugees from Russian Turkestan after the suppression of the 1916 uprising there, and then for the white emigration. And after the end of the Civil War, Russia, already Soviet, quickly restored and strengthened its position in Xinjiang. This was largely due to the fact that Xinjiang's foreign trade was focused on Russia. The weak Chinese economy could not meet the needs of the region.
In the early 1920s, the Soviet authorities, with the help of the Chinese, liquidated the White Guard hearth in Xinjiang. The leaders of the White Guards were eliminated, most of the ordinary soldiers and Cossacks returned to Russia under an amnesty. Strong trade was established between the USSR and Xinjiang. Mainly industrial goods were brought from Russia, from Xinjiang - agricultural products, livestock, horses. In the 1930s, Xinjiang was actually funded by the Soviet Union, and subsidies were mainly paid off with raw materials. As the economic influence of Russia in the region increased, Britain lost its political positions there.
In 1931-1934. the British tried to regain their influence in the region with the help of a powerful national liberation movement of the Muslim peoples. However, London also lost on this field. The uprising was suppressed. British diplomacy overestimated the capabilities of the rebels, moreover, the British feared that the fire of the uprising would affect the neighboring Muslim regions of India, so they behaved cautiously. The Soviet Union actively helped to suppress the uprising. As a result, Moscow outplayed London. Xinjiang entered the sphere of influence of the USSR. Further attempts by England (in 1937, in the first half of the 1940s) to reassert themselves in Xinjiang did not lead to success. The British colonial empire was already bursting at the seams (India gained independence in 1947), and Xinjiang was no longer up to London. In addition, Britain has been pushed aside from the position of the leader of the Western world by the United States.
The second major imperialist predator interested in Xinjiang was the Japanese Empire. The Japanese elite claimed the whole of Asia. Tokyo was not interested in trade with Xinjiang. However, the region was an excellent strategic springboard for extending its power to Central Asia, Pamir, Tibet, British India. Also, the northwestern edge could be used to attack the USSR. Later, the Japanese became interested in Xinjiang's rich natural resources. Like Britain, Japan was most active during the First World War, the revolution and turmoil in Russia. Japanese intelligence penetrated the province, and Japanese goods began to fill the market. Further, the successes of the USSR in the region and the struggle with the United States in central China forced Japan to somewhat ease the pressure.
A new stage in Japan's expansion is associated with the capture of Manchuria and the creation of the puppet state of Manchukuo in 1931. The Japanese began to hatch the idea of creating a similar puppet state (Muslim) in Xinjiang. At the same time, the Japanese, like the British, tried to use the Muslim uprisings, but the defeat of the rebels put an end to these plans. In addition, Japanese agents had to operate in more difficult conditions than the British and Russians. Xinjiang was too far from Japan (the British relied on consulates). In the second half of the 1930s, Japan tried to renew its penetration into the province. But the sharp strengthening of Moscow's positions in the region, which since the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 has become the main rear base and communications of the Celestial Empire, ruined these plans. And the war with the United States finally pushed them to the background.
Red Xinjiang
Since the 1930s, the Soviet government has developed not only trade (by the mid-1930s, the SSR had an almost complete monopoly in Xinjiang trade), but also invested in road construction in the region. In 1935 alone, Soviet specialists built a number of roads in Xinjiang: Urumqi - Horos, Urumqi-Zaisan, Urumqi - Bakhty, Urumqi - Hami. Moscow helped in the development of agriculture: it sent specialists, transport, cars, implements, seeds and pedigree livestock. With the help of the Union, the industrialization of the region began.
Local authorities, against the background of the complete collapse of China, have repeatedly raised the issue of joining Xinjiang to the USSR. In April 1933, as a result of a military coup, Colonel Sheng Shicai (soon the general and governor of the province) came to power in Xinjiang. He pursued a pro-Soviet policy. Interestingly, the former White Guards (Colonel Pavel Papengut) helped Sheng Shitsai seize power and form his army. In November 1934, the rebellious Uighurs created the East Turkestan Republic. General Sheng Shitsai paid a visit to Moscow and received the full support of the USSR. The Soviet Union helped in suppressing the Uyghur uprising, as it feared an increase in influence in the region of England and Japan. And the creation of a Muslim state close by was dangerous. To help Sheng Shitsai, the so-called. Altai volunteer army, formed from the Red Army. As a result, the uprising was suppressed in 1934, the Muslim republic was abolished.
In 1937, a new Uyghur uprising began (it was not without the help of British intelligence), but it was also suppressed by the joint efforts of the Soviet-Chinese troops. The Sino-Japanese war that began in 1937 further strengthened Moscow's position in Xinjiang. With the help of the SSR, the region became a powerful rear base of China, its most important communications for communication with the world. Soviet specialists continued to build roads and develop industry. They even built an aircraft factory where fighters were assembled.
Thus, before the outbreak of World War II, Xinjiang firmly entered the sphere of influence of the USSR. Trade, finance (to the extent that the local currency was provided by the State Bank of the USSR), the economy, the armed forces, everything was under the control of Moscow. It got to the point that Sheng Shitsai joined the Communist Party of the USSR. Xinjiang obeyed the Chinese government of Chiang Kai-shek only formally. Moscow was interested in Xinjiang due to military-strategic considerations: the region was covered by Soviet Turkestan and it could not be given to hostile powers, in particular, Japan. On the other hand, by this time strategically important resources were discovered in Xinjiang: uranium, tungsten, nickel, tantalum, etc.
World War II period
The outbreak of a new world war dramatically changed the situation in the region. The "prince of Xinjiang" Sheng Shicai, impressed by the major defeats of the USSR at the first stage of the war, following the Kuomintang government of China, abandoned the previous policy of rapprochement with Moscow. China and Xinjiang decided that the Soviet state would no longer be able to provide assistance in the same volume, so a new partner had to be sought. In addition, after Japan attacked the United States, the Americans changed their attitude towards China. Britain opened its consulate in Urumqi (the capital of Xinjiang). Kuomintang China began to receive financial and military assistance from the United States. American military advisers are visiting the country. Xinjiang acquired in the US plans the position of a strategic region, the main transport artery for the supply of the Chinese and their forces.
As a result, the "prince" of Xinjiang launched a crackdown on the Chinese communists. Xinjiang, like China, took an anti-Soviet position. Kuomintang troops are being transferred to the provinces. By 1943, cooperation between Xinjiang and the Soviet state was almost completely severed. Trade and the activities of joint ventures (in fact, Soviet) were curtailed, Soviet specialists and troops were withdrawn. The place of the USSR in the region is occupied by the United States. The Americans are opening a consulate general in Urumqi, building military facilities.
On the other hand, Washington at that time was not interested in aggravating relations with the USSR (Germany and Japan had not yet been defeated), so it pursued a cautious policy. For example, the Americans helped to remove from the province the Governor-General of Xinjiang Sheng Shitsai, who was unwanted by Moscow. Also, American diplomats turned a blind eye to the active support of the USSR for the local national liberation movement and the creation in 1944 of the Second East Turkestan Republic, which included three northern districts of the province: Ili, Tachen and Altai. The republic existed until 1949, when, with the permission of the USSR, it became part of the People's Republic of China. After the victory over Japan, the United States tried to strengthen its position in China, but there, with the help of Moscow, the Communists won. Therefore, the plans of the Americans to gain a foothold in China and Xinjiang (they were going to rely on the Muslim movement there) collapsed.
After Sheng Shitsai's "flight", Moscow began to support the rebel movement, which it had previously helped to suppress. With the help of the Soviets, the Second East Turkestan Republic (VTR) was created. Marshal Alikhan Tura was proclaimed the president of the republic. Xinjiang was split into two parts: with the Chinese government and the insurgent with the capital in Gulja. In 1945, the national VTR army was formed. The bulk of the army was made up of Uighurs, Kazakhs and Russians. The troops of the republic conducted a number of successful operations against the Kuomintang.
Ospan-batyr. Conflict at Baitak-Bogdo
The East Turkestan Republic was not united. There was a split in the government, two groups fought. The leaders of individual districts and detachments showed separatism. This was especially clearly manifested in the actions of one of the brightest "field commanders" Ospan-batyr (Osman-batyr) Islamuly. In the 1930s, he was a little-known gang leader. In 1940, Ospan became one of the leaders of the Kazakh uprising in the Altai district against the governor-general Sheng Shitsai. The uprising was caused by the decision of the authorities to transfer pastures and watering places to sedentary peasants - the Dungans and the Chinese. In 1943, the Altai Kazakhs rebelled again because of the decision of the authorities to resettle them to the south of Xinjiang, and to place the Chinese refugees in their nomad camps. After Ospan's meeting with the leader of the Mongolian People's Republic, Choibalsan, she supplied the Mongolian People's Republic with weapons to the rebels. In the spring of 1944, Osman Batyr was forced to retreat to Mongolia. Moreover, the departure of his detachment was covered by the Air Force of the MPR and the USSR. In the fall of 1945, a detachment of Osman Batyr took part in the liberation of the Altai District from the Kuomintang. After that, Ospan-batyr was appointed by the VTR government as the governor of the Altai district.
However, such a high position did not satisfy the rebel commander. Disputes immediately began between him and the VTR government. The Altai governor refused to follow the instructions of the republic's leadership, and his detachments did not obey the command of the army. In particular, when the VTR army suspended hostilities against the Kuomintang troops (the VTR leadership accepted the proposal to start negotiations with the aim of creating a single coalition government in Xinjiang), the Ospan Batyr detachments not only did not comply with this instruction, but, on the contrary, intensified their activities. At the same time, his bandit formations smashed and plundered not only Kuomintang units and carts, but also villages that were controlled by the VTR. It was not for nothing that Stalin called Ospan-batyr a “social bandit”.
Ospan himself hatched plans to create an Altai Khanate completely independent of the VTR and China, hoping for the support of Mongolia. This has caused concern in Moscow. The head of the NKVD Beria asked Molotov to coordinate actions against this Kazakh Robin Hood with the Mongolian Marshal Choibalsan. However, the attempts of the army command and the leadership of the VTR, Soviet representatives and Choibalsan personally to reason with the rebellious commander did not lead to success. In 1946, citing illness, he left the post of governor, returned to the free life of a "field commander". Plundered settlements that were part of the VTR.
At the end of 1946, Ospan went over to the side of the Kuomintang authorities and received the post of specially authorized Xinjiang government in the Altai District. He became one of the most dangerous enemies of the VTR and Mongolian People's Republic. In early June 1947, a detachment of Ospan-batyr of several hundred fighters, with the support of units of the Kuomintang army, invaded Mongolia in the Baytak-Bogdo region. Ospan's bandits destroyed the border outpost and invaded the depths of the Mongolian People's Republic. On June 5, the approaching Mongolian troops, supported by Soviet aviation, knocked out the enemy. Then the Mongols invaded Xinjiang, but were defeated in the area of the Chinese outpost Betashan. In the future, both sides exchanged several raids, the skirmishes continued until the summer of 1948. After the incident at Baitak-Bogdo, Beijing and Moscow exchanged notes with mutual accusations and protests.
Ospan remained on the side of the Kuomintang government, received reinforcements with people, weapons, ammunition, and in the fall of 1947 fought against the troops of the VTR in the Altai District. He was even able to temporarily seize the capital of the Shara-Sume district. The republican authorities had to carry out additional mobilization. Soon Ospan-batyr was defeated and fled to the east. In 1949, the Kuomintang in China was defeated. The Communists won and occupied Xinjiang. Ospan also rebelled against the new government. In 1950, the rebel leader was caught and executed.
