The legal contexts of civilian internment in China under Japanese occupation: the case of Allied nationals, 1941–45

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article firstly introduces the international system for protecting civilian internees during the Second World War era, with a focus on the 1929 Geneva Convention on the Protection of Prisoners of War. It goes on to examine how the different stipulations in this convention were implemented by Japan in occupied China. The author argues that Japan intended to comply with the measures agreed at Geneva and did so to some extent, motivated by its desire for a positive international image and by the principle of reciprocity. However, there were minor and serious issues with Japan’s adherence to certain parts of the Convention, stemming from differences in living standards between belligerents, uncontrollable changes in circumstance, overlapping administrative competencies, and Japan’s insistence on applying the different clauses mutatis mutandis. Nonetheless, thanks to the logic of reciprocity, the Japanese authorities were compelled to demonstrate that they were making sincere efforts to comply with the Convention throughout the war.