General Affairs State Council
The General Affairs State Council (国務院) was the official
Empire of Great Manchuria
from 1934–1945.
Background
Manchukuo was proclaimed a
General Affairs State Council
to "advise and assist the emperor in the discharge of his duties". The Privy Council was an appointive body consisting of Puyi's closest friends and confidants, and the Legislative Council was largely an honorary body without authority. The State Council was therefore the center of political power in Manchukuo.
Workings
The General Affairs State Council consisted of ten ministries forming a
protectorates in that they had final approval over any actions of the "native" ministers. The State Council itself was presided over by a Secretary-General, the first of whom was Takuzo Komai
, an ethnic Japanese.
The Council's initial composition was at the time of Prime Minister Zheng Xiaoxu included the following portfolios:
- Prime Minister
- Home Affairs
- Foreign Affairs
- Defense
- Finance
- Industry and Agriculture
- Transportation and Communications
- Justice
- Education
- Mongolian Affairs
The State Council building
The State Council Building was an imposing five-story structure with two four-story wings built in downtown
People's Republic of China
. Each of the main cabinet-level ministries also had its own imposing building. Many of these structures are still in use in various capacities in modern China.
References
- Beasley, W.G. (1991). Japanese Imperialism 1894-1945. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-822168-1.
- Dower, John W (1987). War Without Mercy:Race and Power in the Pacific War. Pantheon. ISBN 0-394-75172-8.
- Young, Louise (1999). Japan's Total Empire: Manchuria and the Culture of Wartime Imperialism. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-21934-1.
- Stoler, Ann Louise (2007). Imperial Formations. School for Advanced Research Press. ISBN 978-1-930618-73-2.
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