“瓢虫”号事件与英日外交博弈

The “HMS Ladybird” Incident and the British-Japanese Diplomatic Game

1937年12月12日,日军在攻占南京的前一天,在芜湖附近的长江江面上袭击了“瓢虫”号等英国舰船,造成了英方人员伤亡和财产损失。这是中日战争全面爆发后日军再次严重侵害英国权益的事件,这一事件与日军进攻南京有着密切的关联。英日双方由此展开了一轮激烈的外交博弈。英国基于日军屡次侵害其权益及可能得到美国的奥援,在交涉中采取了比与日本交涉日军袭击英国驻华大使事件时更加强硬的立场。日方因担心同时得罪英美两大国而立场相对软弱。英国最后基本上达到了交涉之初确定的目标。这一事件反映出日军的暴戾本质及日本与英美深刻的矛盾,也预示着远东国际关系的基本趋势。

On December 12, 1937, one day before the occupation of Nanjing , the Japanese army attacked British gunboat the HMS Ladybird on the Yangtze River near Wuhu inflicting casualties and property loss on the British. As an incident in which the Japanese army once again seriously infringed upon British rights after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, it was closely related to the Japanese attack on Nanjing. Both the British and Japanese sides launched intense diplomatic manoeuvre in this regard. Due to the repeated violation of their rights and interests by the Japanese army and the possibility of powerful backing from the United States, UK took a tougher stance in the negotiations than that of the incident of Japanese air raid on the British ambassador to China. The Japanese side took a relatively weak stance for the fear of simultaneously offending U. K. and U. S.. The UK finally achieved their goal set at the beginning of the negotiations. This incident reflects the brutal nature of the Japanese army and the deep conflicts between Japan and the two great powers, which also indicates the basic trend of the international relations in the Far East.