In 1928, Japanese army precipitated the Huanggutun incident and shortly thereafter the Fengtian clique came under the control of the Kuomintang (Northern Expedition). In 1929, Sino-Soviet conflict began. During the conflict, the Siberian self-government, which was according to Grigory Semyonov the successor of the Far Eastern Republic, planned the occupation of Primorsky Krai under Japanese support, but when they negotiated to Kuomintang regime the latter was afraid of White Russian's arming.