Xu Liang


Xu Liang was a diplomat and politician in the Republic of China. He was an important politician during the pro-Japanese collaborationist Nanjing Nationalist Government, serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the ambassador to Japan. His courtesy name was Shanbo. He was born in Sanshui, Guangdong.

Biography

Xu Liang went to Japan, and entered to Yokohama Daidou School. Then he went to the United States where he graduated from Columbia University and Washington University. Later Xu Liang returned to China and was appointed a secretary to the Ministry for Justice, Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Interior Ministry. Afterwards he successively held the positions of secretary or advisor to many Local Governments or Legations. In the Nationalist Government era, he became a member of the Legation staff to the United States and an officer in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
When the Wang Jingwei regime was established in March 1940, Xu Liang also participated in it. He was appointed Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs and Chief of the Central Political Committee's Commission for Foreign Affairs, etc. In October 1940 he was appointed Ambassador to Japan, and he was sent to Manchukuo as special envoy. In December he returned to Nanjing, and was promoted to Minister of Foreign Affairs which post he held until next October. Later he was appointed member of the North China Political Council and member of the National Government.
After the Wang Jingwei regime had collapsed, Xu Liang was arrested by Chiang Kai-shek's government. He was convicted of treason and surrender to the enemy and sentenced to death. But Xu wasn't executed, while being imprisoned in Tianjin. In the end of 1948, as the Communist army approached Tianjin, he was released by the Nationalist authorities. But in next January he was rearrested by the Communist authorities in Tianjin.
In July 1951 Xu Liang was sentenced to death by the Tianjin authorities and executed at Ningjin County, Hebei in the same year.

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