 In response, Wang Jingwei of the Chinese government announced a suspension of the Chinese boycott of Japanese goods, and the two countries agreed to upgrade relations to the ambassadorial level.However, the improved relations between Japan and China were counter to the aims of the Japanese Kwantung Army for further territorial expansion.On 29 May 1935, General Takashi Sakai, Chief of Staff of the Japanese China Garrison Army based in Tianjin, acting on the pretext that two pro-Japanese heads of a local news service had been assassinated, raised a formal protest to Kuomintang General He Yingqin, Acting Chairman of the Peiping National Military Council.