The Tanggu Truce resulted in the "de facto" recognition of Manchukuo by the Kuomingtang government, and acceptance of the loss of Rehe. It brought a short end to the combat between China and Japan and for a brief period, relations between the two countries improved. On May 17, 1935, the Japanese legation in China was improved to the status of , and on June 10, 1935, the He-Umezu Agreement was concluded. The Tanggu Truce gave Chiang kai Shek time to merge his forces and to focus his efforts against the Chinese Communist Party, though at the cost of northern China. However, Chinese public opinion was opposing to truce so favorable to Japan and so shameful to China. Although the Truce set up a demilitarized buffer zone, Japanese territorial desires towards China remained, and the Truce proved to be only a short break until fightings broke out again with the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937.