DBWI: No division of China?

As we all know, China was divided after the Second World War between the Republic of China in the South with it's capital in Nanking and the People's Republic of China in the North with it's capital in Beijing. While South China would become a thriving democracy and one of the main Asian powerhouses along with Japan and the Federal Republic of India , North China remains one of the few hardline communist regimes on Earth as even after the USSR has liberalized, the PRC is notorious for it's extremely oppressive government, constant sabre-rattling (which has been backed up by nukes for quite a while), and shitty living standards. So, what would happen if China hadn't been divided between North and South? Would the Communists or the Nationalists be more likely to unite China under their rule?
 
Unlikely. You'd need China not to join the Axis for that to happen. By doing that they gave Japan carte blanche to take them on as part of the Allied war effort and set up the Nanking regime as part of Greater East Asia.

Even today, the Empire has massive economic influence - Japanese zaibatsu are the major employers.
 
You'd need China not to join the Axis for that to happen. By doing that they gave Japan carte blanche to take them on as part of the Allied war effort and set up the Nanking regime as part of Greater East Asia.
Maybe the left-wing of the Kuomintang wins out in the power struggle after Sun Yat-Sen's death due to the fact that Chiang Kai-Shek admired the Croixist regime in France and based his "Greater Chinese State" on the Croixist regime in France, especially after Hu Hanmin was killed and Wang Jingwei (along with Soong Mei-Ling and Liao Zhongkai) was driven into exile in Japan.
 
True...

It occurs to me that a United China could well have displaced Japan as the dominant power in East Asia. Hell, South China on its own has become a leading power alongside Japan - united it'd probably be the power...

Of course, the rest of Greater East Asia wouldn't like that idea. Indochina, the Philippines, Indonesia...I don't see any of them being enamoured of a Chinese superpower.

Though a Republic of China would have been good friends with the US. America was always fairly lukewarm about cooperating with Japan against the USSR - it was Britain who really pushed that. A democratic united China... America probably would have backed them over Japan.
 
So, why do you think is North China so crazy? Is it due to the unique personality of it's leader or a result of radicalization caused by the PRC-ROC split or both?
 
So, why do you think is North China so crazy? Is it due to the unique personality of it's leader or a result of radicalization caused by the PRC-ROC split or both?
I think it has more to do with the Mao family filling the cultural vacuum left behind by the loss of the Chinese Emporers.
North China ( and China as a whole) had plenty of expirence worshiping their leaders by that point after all.
 
I think it has more to do with the Mao family filling the cultural vacuum left behind by the loss of the Chinese Emporers.
North China ( and China as a whole) had plenty of expirence worshiping their leaders by that point after all.
Well, East Poland is quite hardline as well due to the whole West-East split in Poland where the Republic of Poland in the West is backed by the Allied Pact with German, British, American, and other Allied Pact soldiers stationed in West Poland, so I'd blame the ROC-PRC divide for North China's craziness.
 
Well, East Poland is quite hardline as well due to the whole West-East split in Poland where the Republic of Poland in the West is backed by the Allied Pact with German, British, American, and other Allied Pact soldiers stationed in West Poland, so I'd blame the ROC-PRC divide for North China's craziness.
Your right on that point, the hardline communism does have a lot to do with the divide, just like Poland.
But when Jaruzelski died there weren't mass suicides in East Poland like there were when Mao Zedong died in North China.
That was the point I was trying to make.
 
Your right on that point, the hardline communism does have a lot to do with the divide, just like Poland.
But when Jaruzelski died there weren't mass suicides in East Poland like there were when Mao Zedong died in North China.
That was the point I was trying to make.
And neither does East Poland have nuclear weapons (except the ones the Soviets still station there even after the near-permanent detente and liberalization) despite the rumors.
 
And neither does East Poland have nuclear weapons (except the ones the Soviets still station there even after the near-permanent detente and liberalization) despite the rumors.
And that is why the most dangerous country in the world is North China.
Combine the largest army in the world with nukes and the fact that the government of North China has a cult like devotion to communist ideology and "Their Dear Leader", honestly I'm surprised North China has'nt started WW3 yet
 
Unlikely. You'd need China not to join the Axis for that to happen. By doing that they gave Japan carte blanche to take them on as part of the Allied war effort and set up the Nanking regime as part of Greater East Asia.

Even today, the Empire has massive economic influence - Japanese zaibatsu are the major employers.

Japan would have joined the allies no matter what.

The british empire and Japanese empire were old friends, and they desperatly needed a way to purge the craziest officers in the Japanese milatary after the failed assasination attempt on the prime minsiters life, and don't get me wrong dispite the heroic bravery of the Japanese soilger it was first and formost a purge, a way to forever end even the idea of government by assasination.

And it worked, take the sucidal attack on Gdańsk poland during D day. Every single one of them died essentally as a distraction for the real attack in france. Now look at the politics of the attackers, ultra nationalists, extremists, and wackos of various stripes the lot of them. Japan was looking for an excuse to make damned sure the civilian government regained control of the milatary. World war 2 was just that excuse.
 
Japan would have joined the allies no matter what.

The british empire and Japanese empire were old friends, and they desperatly needed a way to purge the craziest officers in the Japanese milatary after the failed assasination attempt on the prime minsiters life, and don't get me wrong dispite the heroic bravery of the Japanese soilger it was first and formost a purge, a way to forever end even the idea of government by assasination.

And it worked, take the sucidal attack on Gdańsk poland during D day. Every single one of them died essentally as a distraction for the real attack in france. Now look at the politics of the attackers, ultra nationalists, extremists, and wackos of various stripes the lot of them. Japan was looking for an excuse to make damned sure the civilian government regained control of the milatary. World war 2 was just that excuse.
Yea, the landings in France, which were extremely daring as well due to the Croixist regime's fortifications in their coast, but well, they were necessary to break the see-saw stalemate (OOC: Think the North African front on a much larger scale) on the Western Front between Croixist France and Germany.
 
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