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Chapter XIII
Qilai! Qilai!
A History of Modern China and the World



Liu Yandong (Democratic League)
February 2008 - February 2014
Part I: The Tenuous Peace

"The Iron Lady"
Liu Yandong was inaugurated as the 13th Chairperson of the Central Committee of the People's Republic of China-- which meant that she was Head of State. She was the second woman to hold this position in the China that had taken shape after the Great Peasant Revolution. Almost immediately after taking office, China's attentions were distracted with the preparations for the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the People's Republic. In the first six months of her tenure as Chairwoman, China was in a relatively peaceful state. While there was the occassional shudder of Mongol civil unrest in the recently-annexed Mongolia, it was nothing that civil police forces and pro-Chinese collaborators couldn't dispatch with ease. Focusing on domestic growth, and international goodwill, Liu made a speech before the World Economic Summit in March 2008 in Shanghai, pledging for China to reach new emissions goals by 2010, and asking other nations to do the same.

China's change in ecological policy under the prior two administrations had lead to a great shift of China's role in generating emissions. Where as under the Communist Party, her nascent industrial workforce had generated ungodly amounts of pollution, now, China was one of the nations leading the way in climate consciousness. This was a far-cry from the nations of Europe, whom were not very interested in regulating emissions, as they felt that their industrialism would be the only way to keep themselves from being overrun by the 'communist enemies' of the West and East. The European delegation to the WES gave a negative response, decrying China's insistence as 'hypocritical meddling', and withdrawing from the summit days later. It was not surprising when, days later, China's legislative body passed laws ratcheting up tariffs on countries whom did not adhere to 'competent industrial standards'--thus damaging European ability to export goods to China. Europe, in turn, ratcheted up tariffs on Chinese goods. This damaged a sizable community of Europeans whom were fans of the Commodore Amiga system, which had become the #1 personal computer in China after it's acquisition by a Chinese firm in the 1990s.

In response, China, utilizing some obscure legislative documents that had been left in the outremer of the legal consciousness since Mao's time, invoked an old communist law, and expropriated millions of yuan in European assets in China, from industrial equipment, to buildings, to 'summer homes' that Europeans owned in China. Bruxelles voiced their sheer outrage, but China gave no comment, as Liu did not feel she had to justify her government's actions to a group intent on seeding discontent in China-- particularly as the Nine Banners began to demonstrate more often in major cities, calling on Liu's resignation for the 'trampling of liberties and open markets'.

In August 2008, Liu made a state trip to Korea to give her commemoration to the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Republic of Korea. The People's Republic of China was thanked for their role in the liberation and establishment of a unified Korea. Japan did not attend the celebration, as the Prime Minister had duly informed President Kim Jong-il, "Considering what the context is, perhaps it is best if we do not attend. We, however, give our congratulations to our Korean friends for sixty years of independence."-- Kim Jong-il returned the favor, and visited Beijing in October 2009 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, even in the midst of the crisis that the Orange Revolution had sparked.

In late 2008, Liu and her associates worked closer to the establishment of perhaps the greatest master-stroke of diplomacy in decades. The United States and China had been growing closer than ever under the administrations of Zhao Ziyang, Wan Li and Yu Shyi-kun-- Liu felt it prudent to continue that closeness between the two Pacific powers. In November 2008, President Donald Trump of the United States secured re-election against Senator Anthony Michael Hall of California, whom attempted to unseat the immensely popular Progressive POTUS.

In early 2009, President Trump and Chairwoman Liu met at a summit in Hawai'i. It was there, that the two world powers announced the formation of the Pacific Federation, a supranational organization that would effectively combine the economies of China and the United States as extensive economic barriers were broken down between the two nations. China and the U.S. had such similar economic conditions that most analysts saw this move as a beneficial one. As well, shortly afterwards, the United States, Soviet Union, and China, formed the Council of Freedom, the successor to their three respective alliance systems. Liu angrily decried populism as 'two steps shy of fascism', and called upon all peoples of the world to 'resist the spectral influences of populism, to rise up and strike down those whom wish to destroy freedom for the people.'

This unification of the major alliance systems triggered a wave of panic through out Europe, which lead to the Orange Revolution in March 2009, which would test the fabric of Europe's ability to keep at peace in a time of great tension...

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