AHC: Make Taiwan Stronger
- Thread starter Maverick721
- Start date
Avoid the 228 incident is one step on the way. It would make the transition from Japanese rule to imposed KMT rule somewhat more smooth. One could argue that Chen Yi never ruling Taiwan would be enough but I disagree as it would only delay the repressions sometime. KMT's fear of communism (or democracy for that matter) and Taiwanese independence movements makes it very hard to get a functioning transition.
Sino-Soviet War in the 1960s, followed by a vast influx of US military aid to the ROC as the US tries to capitalize on the collapse of a Soviet nuked PRC by getting the ROC to establish a foothold on the vastly weakened mainland.
More impractical idea: South Africa, Israel, and Taiwan form the Axis of Outcasts in the 1970s. They exchange nuclear technology, chemical and biological weapons programmes, and all collaborate to develop indigenous arms industries in the face of international isolation and economic embargoes. Once Taiwan imports South African Olifants, the coalition is promptly renamed the Axis of Centurions.
More impractical idea: South Africa, Israel, and Taiwan form the Axis of Outcasts in the 1970s. They exchange nuclear technology, chemical and biological weapons programmes, and all collaborate to develop indigenous arms industries in the face of international isolation and economic embargoes. Once Taiwan imports South African Olifants, the coalition is promptly renamed the Axis of Centurions.
I like the Axis of Outcasts, but replace the Centurions with the Merkava and you're set. Joint developments with Israeli tanks, assault rifles, fighter jets and ballistic missiles and South African attack helicopters, apc's, atgm's and artillery would be cool as well.
All powered by the best microprocessors that Taiwan Semiconductor can fabricate.
All powered by the best microprocessors that Taiwan Semiconductor can fabricate.
And the financial capital for all of these. Cheap labor will go pretty far until they become the finance center they are now.
Perhaps a TL in which China is largely but not entirely unified under one state, and there are always a handful of ethnically Chinese states that remain independent of China proper. In this scenario, the "One China" doctrine never comes about, or is regarded as an idealistic pipe dream. Consequently there is no ideological brick wall to stand in the way of China recognizing Taiwanese independence.
King Helü of Wu
Banned
The data showed us 2 basic facts:Statistics said:
1) Taiwan, developing peacefully under the Japanese, was far more advanced than a Mainland plagued by wars and insurgency.
2) Arms races always slow the economy. Taiwan was not doing well in the 1950s because of the high military pressures from the Mainland. And the Mainland did terribly in the 1960-70s partly because the pressure to keep up militarily with the Two Superpowers ( Of course, ignore Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution was devastating)
Solution:
a) From (1), the simplest way for a Taiwan-wank was to avoid Sino-Japanese war and Pacific War. Give Japanese Taiwan more time of peaceful development (and trade with RoC), it's easy to wank Taiwan.
b) Between the Sino-Japanese War and China's open up, Taiwan's OTL history was already extremely lucky considering the great turbulence going on in the region. Sure, 228 should be avoided, but Taiwan could have been easily crushed in the clash of Titans (Sino-Jap War, Pacific War, China Civil War, Cold War) if things turned out a bit different (e.g. Nimitz won the debate and launched the invasion of Taiwan).
c) If Taiwan invested heavily (US$ 5-10Billion as Chen Lifu proposed) into the Mainland economy at its lowest point when it's just opening up, Taiwan today pretty much owns the Mainland economy, sadly they didn't.
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Have the US admit to the existence of the PRC earlier, with the proviso that Taiwan is legitmate.
I heard we try to get something like this done during the 60's
You are forgetting an important factor in the development of China relative to Taiwan in this period. As you said, Taiwan did develop under the Japanese colonial rule. In 1945, it was the second most developed place in all of East Asia, second only to Japan itself. However, when the KMT occupied it that year, they began stripping everything of value and sending it to China to help with the war effort there (in the civil war). China was able to catch up to near Taiwan's level partially because Taiwan was falling backwards, developmentally-speaking, through much of the period. It was only in the 1960s, when Chiang and co realized that they wouldn't be returning to China anytime soon, that they began to build up Taiwan once again.