WI:Nationalist China invades Fascist Italy's Concessions?

In late 1936, Mussolini's Italy recognised Japan's occupation of Manchuria.

What if Chiang Kai-shek decided to try to show that both his Nationalists and China were not pushovers (since it was perceived by the other powers as weak) and occupied the Italian concession in Tianjin in retaliation?

Being opportunistic, it is unlikely that Italy could do much to defend its concession, while Chiang could score a cheap political victory that might boost him domestically and possibly internationally.

What would be the consequences of such an action, both domestically in China and Italy, and in international relations?
 
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raharris1973

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Being opportunistic, it is unlikely that Italy could do much to defend its concession, while Chiang could score a cheap political victory that might boost him domestically and possibly internationally.

Chiang would get some domestic applause, but internationally, it will meet a mixed to negative result, especially if this is a physical reprisal for a mere diplomatic act.
It would have been a more proportionate response after the Italians started advising the Japanese in 1937 of what they knew about the Chinese air force (which they had been a major supplier for), but then the Japanese pretty quickly swept the Chinese out of areas like Tianjin and Beijing where Italian concessions were located.

Chiang would regard this as very risky, probably too risky to try:

Despite brutual street by street fighting in the city that went on for over a month, both sides avoided the concessions like the plague. Japanese troops were (eventually) willing to burn down Chinese districts, yet they avoided fighting even on streets that were within a block or two of a concession for fear of bullet overpenetration, etc. The Chinese, for their part, never entered any concession, even when this meant that they were blocked off. They even avoided fighting in or attacking the Japanese concession, even when Japanese troops marched through it to flank them, out of a desire to avoid doing anything that might be seen as threatening the concession system.
 
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