The cooperation between Germany and Nationalist China went back
a long time from the establishment of the ROC until the time when
Joachim Von Ribbentrop replace Von Naurath as Foreign Minister of
Nazi Germany.
Germany provided trained personnel and equipments to CKS's army and
elite divisions from the Nationalist Army where all German trained.
Germany also sent a military adviser in the form of General
Alexander von Faulkenhausen and General Hans von Seeckt as military
adviser to CKS. Von Faulkenhausen later become the military
commander of occupied Belgium during World War Two. New Arsenal in
China that produced rifles, gas masks and others was also modeled
on German production. Initially, a grand plan of 60 German trained
divisions were planned in the Nationalist Army, this plan was
however reduced and only 8 full divisions were German trained.In
fact, CKS son Chiang Ching Kuo trained with one of the German
Mountain unit and took part in the Auschluss of 1938. He
subsequently earned the rank of lieutanant in the German
Army.
However, by the end of 1938, as war was looming in Europe, German
cooperation in the Far East shifted from China to Japan. Firstly,
tis was as Hitler viewed the Japanese as a better pawn and ally in
a war against the Soviet Union. Secondly, Von Ribbentrop was also
not interested in fostering relation with China but rather with the
Japanese. Thus, as mundane Ribbentrop could get, he set about
ruining relationship with the Nationalist as best he could. After
the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese in 1937, cooperation
between China and Germany largely ceased.
