Japan in the Allies

[Mister Abbadon]

What if some time in the 20s Mao Zedong was defeated and China became a republic afew years go by and some of the Goumingdangs Luitenants becomes a kind of fascist leader. Japan on the other hand starts growing closer to the US by offering a joint US Japan New deal includeing a shared naval base on the Philipenes when the war starts china launches a supprise attack with their modernized Navy and air force on the Philipene Islands, can it happen is this plausible, is their any other way for Japan to be an Ally

 

[lothaw]

Rather easy. A stronger Sino-German alliance. The building blocks for that alliance were already in place OTL before Hitler decided Japan would make a better ally in the far east.

The defeat of the Communists earlier could very well do this. A united KMT China always struck me as a quasi-fascist type state with Chiang at the top.

If Chiang is able to consolidate his power by 1937, it's arguable if Japan would invade then or not, since China wouldn't be easy pickings. And the longer they wait, the harder it'll get.

The only trick to this scenario would be getting China on the opposite side of the Allies. The KMT maintain Mongolia is part of China, so maybe Chiang decides to invade, when Hilter attacks the Soviet Union. That'd actually be scary, even if Japan comes to the rescue so to say.

 

[maverick]

There's also the wave of growing nationalism within the Japanese army that started in the 1930s and culminated in a virtual takeover of the establishment between 1936 and 1940...if that is avoided, Japan could have a more democratic leadership and join the allies.

Or if the Navy wins in the powerstruggles over the army, meaning the Anglo-Japanese alliance can be maintain, maybe...