Tanggu Truce

The Tanggu Truce, sometimes called the Tangku Truce (Japanese: 塘沽協定, Hepburn: Tōko kyōtei, simplified Chinese: 塘沽协定; traditional Chinese: 塘沽協定; pinyin: Tánggū Xiédìng), was a ceasefire and unequal treaty that was signed between military forces of the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan in Tanggu, Tianjin, on May 31, 1933.

After the Mukden Incident of September 18, 1931, the Japanese Kwantung Army invaded Manchuria and, by February 1932, it had captured the entire region.

[citation needed] Fearing a Japanese attack south of the Great Wall, the Chinese generals on the spot agreed to the terms of the truce.

However, the Central government in Nanjing claimed that the agreement was confined to the cessation of local hostilities and that the territorial sovereignty of China was not affected by it.

The Tanggu Truce gave Chiang Kai-shek time to consolidate his forces and to concentrate his efforts against the Chinese Communist Party albeit at the expense of North China.