The Nanjing Republic was a nationalistic government set up in the Republic of China, led by Wang Jingwei, by the Empire of Japan in 1940. The Nanjing regime was one of many puppet states set up by the Japanese during the second Sino-Japanese War, which lasted from 1937 to 1945. The Nanjing Republic was set up to challenge the legitmacy of the government of the Chiang Kai-Shek. Wang Jingwei wsa a member of Kuomintang, a nationalistic party of China, who left the side of Chiang Kai-Shek and joined the Japanese invaders. The Republic claimed to be the rightrful government of China, and therefore flew the same flag and had the same emblem as the government of Chiang Kai-Shek, although it was largely regarded as being a puppet state and recieved almost no diplomatic recognition.
Chiang Kai Shek was a militarist leader of China who assumed the leadership of Kuomintang after the death of Sun Yat-Sen in 1925. He led the national government of the Republic of China from 1928 to 1975. He began his military education at the Baoding Military Academy, in 1906, and he attended the Military State Academy in Japan in 1907. Chiang Kai-shek served in the Imperial Japanese Army from 1909 to 1911. He commanded the Northern Expedition to unify China against the warlords in 1928 and emerged victorious as the overall leader of the Republic of China. Chiang led China in the Second Sino-Japanese War, during which Chiang's standing within China weakened, but his international prominence grew. During the Chinese Civil War which lasted from 1927 to 1950, Chiang attempted to eradicate the Chinese Communists, but failed, forcing his government to retreat to Taiwan , where he continued serving as the President of the Republic of China and Director-General of the KMT for the rest of his life.
Chiang Kai-Shek