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( Mukden Incident)
On September 18, 1931, near Mukden (now Shenyang) in southern Manchuria, a section of railroad owned by Japan's South Manchuria Railway was dynamited.[1] The Imperial Japanese Army, accusing Chinese dissidents of the act, responded with the invasion of Manchuria, leading to the establishment of Manchukuo the following year. This Mukden Incident represented an early event in the Second Sino-Japanese War, although full-scale war would not start until 1937. While the responsibility for this act of sabotage remains a subject of controversy, the prevailing view is that Japanese militarists staged the explosion in order to provide a pretext for war. This event is known by various names, including the Mukden Incident. The favored name in Japan is the Manchurian Incident (Kyujitai ????, Manshujihen ????). The favored name in China is the September 18 Incident (Chinese ?•????/?•???? ? Jiuyiba Shìbiàn) or the Liutiaogou Incident (Chinese?????/????? ? Liutiáogou Shìbiàn). The Japanese economic presence and political interest in Manchuria had been growing ever since the end of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. The resulting Treaty of Portsmouth had granted Japan the lease of the South Manchuria Railway branch (from Changchun to Lüshun) of the China Far East Railway. The Japanese government claimed that this control included all the rights and privileges granted to Russia by China in the Li-Lobanov Treaty of 1896, as enlarged by the Kwantung Lease Agreement of 1898; which included absolute and exclusive administration within the South Manchuria Railway Zone. Japanese railway guards were stationed within the zone to provide security for the trains and tracks; however, these were regular Japanese soldiers, and they frequently carried on maneuvers outside the railway areas.
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