Chiang Wei-kuo
Chiang Wei-kuo (Template:Zh; 6 October 1916 – 22 September 1997), also known as Wego Chiang, was the adopted son of Republic of China President Chiang Kai-shek, the adoptive brother of President Chiang Ching-kuo, a retired Army general, and an important figure in the Kuomintang. His courtesy names were Jian'gao ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) and Niantang ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}). Chiang served in the Wehrmacht before fighting in the Second Sino-Japanese War and Chinese Civil War.
Early lifeEdit
As one of two sons of Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Wei-kuo's name has a particular meaning as intended by his father. Wei literally means "parallel (of latitude)" while kuo means "nation"; in his brother's name, Ching literally means "longitude". The names are inspired by the references in Chinese classics such as the Guoyu, in which "to draw the longitudes and latitudes of the world" is used as a metaphor for a person with great abilities, especially in managing a country.
Born in Tokyo when Chiang Kai-shek and the KMT were exiled to Japan by the Beiyang Government, Chiang Wei-kuo was the biological son of Tai Chi-tao and a Japanese woman, Template:Nihongo.<ref name=xhbig5>2009-08-02, 人民網, 蔣介石、宋美齡的感情危機與蔣緯國的身世之謎 Template:Webarchive, 新華網(港澳臺)</ref><ref>蔣緯國的親媽——重松金子 Template:Webarchive, 鳳凰網</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Chiang Wei-kuo previously discredited any such claims and insisted he was a biological son of Chiang Kai-shek until his later years (1988), when he admitted that he was adopted.<ref>Sep 23, 1997, Last son of Chiang Kai-shek dies, China Informed</ref>
According to reliable rumors, Tai believed knowledge of his Japanese tryst would destroy his marriage and his career, so he entrusted Wei-kuo to Chiang Kai-shek, after Template:Nihongo brought the infant to Shanghai.<ref name=xhbig5/> Yao Yecheng, a concubine of Chiang Kai-shek at the time, raised Wei-kuo as his foster mother.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The boy called Tai his "Dear Uncle" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).
Chiang moved to the Chiang ancestral home in Xikou Town of Fenghua in 1920.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Wei-kuo later studied physics at Soochow University.
In the WehrmachtEdit
His sibling, Chiang Ching-kuo, a student-turned-political-prisoner in Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union, served as the impetus behind Chiang's sending Wei-kuo to Nazi Germany for a military education at the Kriegsschule in Munich.
At the Kriegsschule, he studied the German army's advanced methods, structure, and weaponry. He was specifically drawn by the then-theoretical machine gun company, which would use the Maschinengewehr (i.e., a medium machine gun) as the main weapon. The Maschinengewehr was the MG 34 then: a fast and reliable gun. The machine gun company would cooperate with air and armored units to assist the infantry's attack. This would be called the Bewegungskrieg ("War of Movement"), and it would be very effective in the future World War II. After completing this training, Wei-kuo completed specialized training in Alpine warfare, thus earning him the coveted Gebirgsjäger Edelweiss sleeve insignia. Wei-kuo was promoted to Fahnenjunker ("Officer Candidate"), and received a Schützenschnur lanyard.
Wei-kuo commanded a Panzer unit during the 1938 Austrian Anschluss as a Fähnrich, or "sergeant officer-candidate",<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> leading a tank into that country. Subsequently, he was promoted to Lieutenant of a Panzer unit and awaited the Invasion of Poland. Before he was given the mobilization order, he was recalled to China to assist the war effort against the invading Japanese forces.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Service during the Second Sino-Japanese WarEdit
Template:Expand section Upon being recalled from Germany, Chiang Wei-kuo visited the United States as a distinguished guest of the US Army on behalf of his father and the Kuomintang. While in the United States, he gave lectures detailing on German army organizations and tactics. During the war, Chiang Wei-kuo became acquainted with generals in Northwestern China and organized an armour mechanized battalion to formally take part in the National Revolutionary Army. Chiang Wei-kuo was stationed at a garrison in Xi'an in 1941. In addition, he spent some time at Fort Knox, Kentucky, studying tanks at the U.S. Army Armored School in 1940.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Wei-kuo would become a Major at 28, a Lieutenant Colonel at 29, a Colonel at 32 whilst in charge of a tank battalion, and later in Taiwan, a Major General.
Service during the Chinese Civil WarEdit
Template:Expand section During the Chinese Civil War, Chiang Wei-kuo employed tactics he had learned whilst studying in the German Wehrmacht. He was in charge of a tank battalion of the 1st Tank Regiment (equipped with Soviet T-26 light tanks and Italian CV-33/35 tankettes)<ref>Weaponry in the Chinese Civil War https://thehistoryfiles.com/weaponry-in-the-chinese-civil-war/</ref> during the Huaihai Campaign against Mao Zedong's troops, scoring some early victories.<ref>Dr. Gary J. Bjorge, (2004). Moving the Enemy: Operational Art in the Chinese PLA’s Huai Hai Campaign Template:Webarchive. Leavenworth Paper, No.22. Combat Studies Institute Press, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.</ref> While it was not enough to win the campaign, he was able to pull back without significant problems. Like many troops and refugees of the Kuomintang, he retreated from Shanghai to Taiwan and moved his tank regiment to Taiwan, becoming a divisional strength regiment commander of the armoured corps stationed outside of Taipei.
TaiwanEdit
Chiang Wei-kuo continued to hold senior positions in the Republic of China Armed Forces following the ROC retreat to Taiwan. In 1964, following the Hukou Incident and his subordinate Chao Chih-hwa's attempted coup d'état, Chiang Wei-kuo was in the penalty box and never held any authority in the military.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
From 1964 onwards, Chiang Wei-kuo made preparations in establishing a school dedicated to teaching warfare strategy; such a school was established in 1969. In 1975, Chiang Wei-kuo was further promoted to the position of general, and served as president of the Armed Forces University. In 1980, Chiang served as joint logistics commander in chief; then in 1986, he retired from the army and became National Security Council Secretary-General.
After Chiang Ching-kuo's death, Chiang Wei-kuo was a political rival of native Taiwanese Lee Teng-hui, and he strongly opposed Lee's Taiwan localization movement. Chiang ran as vice-president with Taiwan Governor Lin Yang-kang in the 1990 ROC indirect presidential election. Lee ran as the KMT presidential candidate and defeated the Lin-Chiang ticket.<ref>張昆山, 1990/03/10, 林洋港：婉辭國代連署提名 Template:Webarchive, 台北報導</ref><ref>2010-08-25, 李登輝如何搞垮了國民黨, 新華網(港澳臺)</ref><ref>07/22/2003, 四、利用“三月政爭”打破聯合掌權 Template:Webarchive, 華夏經緯網</ref><ref>"總統"的弟弟 Template:Webarchive, 鳳凰網</ref>
Personal lifeEdit
In 1944, he married Shih Chin-i ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), the daughter of Shih Feng-hsiang ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), a textile tycoon from North West China. Shih died in 1953 during childbirth. Wei-kuo later established the Chingshin Elementary School ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) in Taipei to commemorate his late wife.
In 1957, Chiang remarried, to Ellen Chiu Ju-hsüeh ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), also known as Chiu Ai-lun ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), a daughter of Chinese and German parents. Chiu gave birth to Chiang's only son, Chiang Hsiao-kang, ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) in 1962. Chiang Hsiao-kang is the youngest of the Hsiao generation of the Chiang family.
Chiang Wei-kuo was also quite active in civil society, where he was the founder of the Chinese Institute of Strategy and Sino-German Cultural and Economic Association, as well as the Chairman of the Republic of China Football Association. He was the first chairman of Chingshin Primary School ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) and served as the president of the United States Students Association of China.
Chiang was a Freemason, and was the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of China from 1968 to 1969.<ref>Template:Cite AV mediaTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
Final yearsEdit
In the early 1990s, Chiang Wei-kuo established an unofficial Spirit Relocation Committee (奉安移靈小組) to petition the Communist government to allow his adopted father Chiang Kai-shek and brother Chiang Ching-kuo to be interred in mainland China.<ref name=peoplebig5/> His request was largely ignored by both the Nationalist and Communist governments, and he was persuaded to abandon the petition by his father's widow Soong Mei-ling in November 1996.
In 1991, Chiang's housemaid, Li Hung-mei ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) was found dead in Chiang's estate in Taipei City. The following police investigation discovered a stockpile of sixty guns on Chiang's estate. Chiang himself admitted the possibility of a link between the guns and his maid's death, which was later ruled a suicide by the police.<ref name=peoplebig5>Template:Cite book</ref> The incident permanently tarnished Chiang Wei-kuo's name, at a time when the Chiang family was increasingly unpopular on Taiwan and even within the Nationalist Party.
In 1993, Chiang Wei-kuo was employed as a senior advisor to President Lee Teng-hui despite their previous political rivalry.
In 1994, a hospital was supposed to be named after him ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) in Sanchih, Taipei County (now New Taipei City), after an unnamed politician donated to Ruentex Financial Group (潤泰企業集團), whose founder was from Sanchih. Politicians questioned the motivation.<ref name=peoplebig5/>
In 1996, the Chiang home on military land was finally demolished by the order of the Taipei municipal government under Chen Shui-bian. The estate had been constructed in 1971. After Chiang moved elsewhere in 1981, he deeded it to his son. The justification was that his son was not in military service and thus was not entitled to live there.<ref>2005-04-20, 蔣緯國批評“台獨”的親筆信在重慶露面(組圖), 重慶晨報</ref>
Chiang Wei-kuo died at the age of 80, on 22 September 1997, from kidney failure. He had been experiencing falling blood pressure complicated by diabetes after a 10-month stay at Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei. He had wished to be buried in Suzhou on the mainland but was instead buried at Wuchih Mountain Military Cemetery.
Political and military careerEdit
His positions in the Republic of China government included:
- Commander of the Army Armored Forces ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
- Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Services Force ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
- President of the Army Command and Staff College ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
- President of the Tri-service University ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
- Senior advisor of the Office of the President ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
- Secretary-General of the National Security Council ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
Full list of military, and civil government positions held: Template:Hidden begin
- National Revolutionary Army officer Lieutenant attendant (1936)
- German Seventh Army trainee (In November 1936 -1937)
- German Army Mountain Division soldiers, 98th Regiment, 2nd Battalion, 5th Company (November 1937 – 1938)
- German Army Mountain Division soldiers eighth lieutenant (1938–1939)
- NRA First Division Army 3rd Regiment, 2nd Battalion, 5th Company platoon leader (1941)
- NRA First Division Army 3rd Regiment, 2nd Battalion, 5th Company Commander (1941)
- NRA First Division Army 3rd Regiment, 2nd Battalion deputy battalion commander (1942–1944)
- NRA First Division Army 3rd Regiment, 2nd Battalion battalion commander (1944–1945)
- Youth Expedition 206 Division, 616 Battalion, 2nd Regiment (1945)
- Third Department of the Army armored corps training Director (1945)
- Army Corps armored fighting vehicles training, fourth regiment group leader (1945–1946)
- Army Corps armored fighting vehicles training, first regiment group leader (1946–1947)
- Army Corps armored fighting vehicles training, first regiment commander (1947-?)
- Nanjing Private Secondary School in Yining founder (1948)
- Armored Force Command Chief of Staff (1948–1949)
- Armored Force Command deputy commander (1949 – 1 March 1950)
- Armored brigade (1st term) Brigadier (1 March 1950 – 1 June 1953)
- Yi Ning, chairman of private secondary school, Taichung City (November 1951 – June 1953)
- Jingxin Primary School chairman (1956–1968)
- Fifth Department of Defense Director of the Office (1958–unknown)
- Armored Force Command (4th term) Commander (1 August 1958 – 1 August 1963)
- Department of Defense senior staff
- Defense Planning Committee, deputy director of joint operations
- Dean of the Army Command and Staff College (1 September 1963 – 1 September 1968)
- Sino-German Cultural and Economic Association (1963–1986)
- Armed Forces University Vice-Chancellor (1968 – 16 August 1975)
- Armed Forces War College University of Institutionalized Persons (1 December 1969)
- Armed Forces University, Dean of war (1 December 1969 – 7 April 1980)
- Armed Forces University President (16 August 1975 – 7 April 1980)
- Central Consultative Committee of the Kuomintang (1976–unknown)
- Founder of the Chinese Institute of Strategy (1979)
- Taipei Football Association (29 April 1980 – 25 March 1982)
- Chief of the General Command of the Joint Duty (7 April 1980 – July 1984)
- Meihua Sports Promotion Campaign Committee vice chairman (1980 – 22 September 1997)
- Joint Operations Training Officer (1 July 1984 – 18 June 1986)
- National Security Council Secretary-General (18 June 1986 – 28 February 1993)
- Bureau of the Kuomintang Chairman of the Central Consultative Committee (1988–unknown)
- Chairman of the Chinese Institute of Strategy (1990–unknown)
- National Unity Committee
- Presidential advisor (28 February 1993 – 22 September 1997)
- Rotary Club of Taipei
Education historyEdit
- Department of Physics, Soochow University
- Tenth Central Military Academy
- Munich Military Academy (1938)
- U.S. Army Air Corps Tactical School (1940)
- U.S. Armored School in India (1943)
- Round Mountain Academy advanced officer corps training (1951),
- U.S. Army Command and Staff College formal training classes (1953)
- School of Social Practice Class III combat training (1955)
- Practical Advanced Military Studies Research Society training classes (1963)
Written worksEdit
- Grand Strategy Summary {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}
- A Summary of National Strategy {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}
- The strategic value of Taiwan in the world {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}(1977)
- The Middle Way and Life {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (1979)
- Soft military offensive {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}
- The basic principles of the military system {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}(1974)
- The Z that creates this age {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}
GalleryEdit
- Former Residence of Jiang Weiguo in Nanjing 01 2012-11.JPG
Former residence of Chiang Wei-kuo in Nanjing
- Chiang Wei-kuo Nazi 2.jpg
Chiang Wei-Kuo as an officer candidate in the German Army, 1938
- Chiang Wei-kuo wehrmacht LQ.jpg
Chiang Wei-kuo as a Fanhnenjunker (cadet) in the Wehrmacht prior to 1939
- Chiang Weikuo in Kriegsschule(Wehrmacht).png
Chiang Wei-kuo in Germany with other Wehrmacht officer candidates, prior to 1939
- Chiang Wei-kuo NRA.jpg
Chiang Wei-kuo in German Army mountain troop (Gebirgsjager) field attire with the characteristic 'Bergmutze' field cap
- Chiang Wei-kuo 1941.jpg
Chiang Wei-kuo in the National Revolutionary Army in 1941, as a second lieutenant stationed in Xi'an
- Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Wei-kuo.jpg
Chiang Wei-kuo (right), with father Chiang Kai-shek (left), 1941
- Chiang Kai-shek with two sons.jpg
Chiang Kai-shek (front) with his sons Chiang Ching-kuo (rear, left) and Chiang Wei-kuo (rear, right)
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
CitationsEdit
SourcesEdit
- Wang Shichun ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), (1996). Travelling alone for a thousand mountains: The Life of Chiang Wei-kuo ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), Tianxia Publishing, Taiwan. Template:ISBN
- Zhou Shao ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}). The trifles of Chiang Wei-kuo's youth ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), within the volume "Huanghun Xiaopin" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), Shanghai Guji Publishing House ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), Shanghai, 1995. Template:ISBN
- Kwan Kwok Huen ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}). Biography of Chiang Wei-kuo ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}). Biography Literature ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), 78, 4.