Peshawar Lancers Redux: Asia

The fortifications along the Manchurian-Chinese border were once again fully occupied by Japanese troops and restriction were once again put in place. It was like a return to the Cold War period between Japan and the Republic of China and the person to blame was the Chinese President. Similar restrictions had been imposed between the borders of the Royal Crown Colony of Hong Kong and the Vietnamese -Chinese border. Tibet had seen the building of some border fortifications and stepped up patrols by the Tibetan Defense Force backed by Indian Troops.
 
Britain had deployed a squadron of it Bombers to Singapore along with a squadron of Tornadoes and refueling aircraft. A carrier battle Group had been sent to the Far East as well as two nuclear attack submarines.
 
Parliament passed a no confidence vote in the Labor Prime Minister who had allowed this situation to develop. A new election was called for but the King summoned the leader of the Conservatives Richard Greene to the Palace. He was to form a caretaker government and should his party win the election he would be all set to go. He appointed Randolph Churchill as the Defense Minister.
 
Th Royal Governor of Hong Kong authorized the call up of all Military Reservist. He also asked the Colony's legislature to authorize the further expansion of the Royay Hong Kong Regiment from 16 Battalions to 28. It would be organized into 7 Brigades with two being armored. The Royal Hong Kong Police also called up all reservist for the duration of the crisis.
 
Major General Henry Rogers arrived in Hong Kong to assume command of the forces there. He had battle experience and had the ability to work with colonial troops. He met with the Brigade commanders and inspected the newly trained troops. He had requested additional antitank and antiaircraft missiles for the troops. The Royal Honk Kong Tank Regiment consisted of two battalions equipped with the older Centurion and 1 with a light tank. He had requested that the light tank unit be reequipped with the Centurion Mk VII which would insure that the unit had all Centurion tanks equipped with a 105mm gun. The 2 British tank Battalions were equipped with newer tanks armed with a 120mm rifled gun.
 
Russia's Foreign Minister Vladimir Ironov arrived in the Chinese Capital for talks with the Chinese President. China was interested in better relations with Russia and possibly purchasing Russian weapons. There was concern within the Chinese Military that the Chinese leader was cutting off a long establish relationship with the West.
 
After consulting with London the Governor of Hong Kong ordered the closing of the border with the Republic of China. Trade between the Colony and China came to a grinding halt as the colony was now sealed from the rest of China. Arrangements were made to import Rice from Southeast Asia and foodstuffs from Australia.
 
Fuel for Hong Kong arrived from the Netherlands East Indies, which was now self governing. The British colony was now assured of fuel for its vehicles,ships, the military and for power.
Russia had agreed to sell China oil and gasoline which would help to lessen the effects of the blockade on oil sales to China.
 
Japanese Warships escorted Japanese ships bringing goods into Hong Kong. Japan had exported Japanese MBT to Taiwan and had also supplied the country with fighter jets.Korea had also sold submarines to Taiwan and self Propelled artillery to the country.
 
In the Chinese capital demonstrations against the policy of the Chinese President were met by specially trained riot police. So far the Chinese military were not happy with their President's policy as they had lots of connection with the west. There was a belief that if the Chinese President ordered an attack on Hog Kong the army might not obey. If it ordered an attack on Tibet there was a 50 percent chance that they would not follow orders As regard a war with Japan over Manchuria there was a 60percent chance that the armed forces would obey but regarding Taiwan all of the military opposed any attempt to invade the islands which had not been under Chinese control for more than 136 years.
 
In China the demonstrations against the President's Aggressive Foreign Policy grew . In Shanghai the workers demonstrated against a lack of trade and rising unemployment. While the border with Manchuria was quiet there was no traffic and the military patrols were observing one another.
In Chunking the heavily armed Riot police cleared the street of demonstrators.
 
On March 1,2005 General Lee Chin Chief of Staff of the Army had enough and ordered the 20th Corp to secure the capital. The tanks rumbled into the Capital and the Police were ordered to stand down. The Presidents Security detail exchanged fire with the army units but despite being well trained and armed they were no match for the elite troops of the 20th Corp.. The President barely managed to escape from the capital with military units in pursuit. He was hoping to reach the Russian border.
General Chin announced that Martial Law had gone into effect and the President was wanted for crimes against the Chinese People. Nearly 100 officers and enlisted men in the Chinese Military were arrested .
 
General Chin installed a temporary military government in China> He began to look for civilians to take positions in the government and hoped that new elections could be held in 3 months. One of his first appointments was Lee Wong a Professor of International Relations to take over as Foreign Minister. Paul Chan was appointed as the new Attorney General.
The General reduced troop strength around Hong Kong and had the new Foreign Minister meet with the Hawaiian,British, Japanese Ambassadors. He met with the Russian Ambassador and warned him not to get involved in the internal affairs of the Chinese state. The Chinese President was believed to be in a hospital in Siberia.
 
The Chinese began to redeploy forces toward its border with Russia. General Chin had removed 4 divisions from the border with Tibet to the Russian border and 4 more divisions moved from Southern China to the North. Tanks ,planes and artillery moved northward> Chinese aircraft intercepted Russian planes.
 
Mark Sen Young was elected as the new President of the Republic of China He was the candidate of the Independent Republican Party and won with 62% of the popular vote.
He promised to make a number of changes upon election..One of the first was the recognition of the independence of Taiwan, He also began the process of settling the border with the Government of Tibet. Next he began talks with the British Government to acknowledge the special status of Hong Kong. As regards Manchuria the new President stated that China would continue to press for changes by renounced the use of force to bring about reunification..
He appealed to the Czar to end the border disputes that had lead to fighting along the border and in an effort to calm things the Czar ordered a halt to military clashes.Thuus it appeared that things were calming down.
 
China's President Young was quite busy repairing the damage that the last President had done to China's relations with its neighbors and allies. China now signed a nonaggression pact with Tibet and repaired relations with Japan. The Chinese had entered into talks with the Americans regarding favorite nation status. Still China did not close the door to better relations with Russia.
 
The US sold antitank missiles to the Chinese as well as to helping with the radar that Monitored the border with Russia. The US had restored Most favored Trade status with the Chinese.
 
The Governments of the Republic of Korea and the Kingdom of Hawaii were holding talks regarding the possible purchase of some weapons that were being manufactured by Korean industries for the ROK military. The Hawaiian Secretary of Defense was interested in the Korean Main Battle tank and the Korean Infantry Fighting vehicle. Hawaii was also interested in their artillery.. Hawaii had sold the Koreans an updated radar Early Warning system.
 
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