The Chinese Democratic Republic of Manchuria

Maybe, but slower. OTL the KMT had two sources of pressure on them to democratize- criticism from the US, and, more importantly, the need to co-opt ethnic Taiwanese who would otherwise be attracted to the Independence movement.

As rulers of mainland China, the KMT would be much less reliant on the US- they could play their own "Soviet Card", and they could, like the present day CCP, use the size and still-large areas of underdevelopment away from the coast to argue that China wasn't ready.

Maybe a Singapore-style "guided" democracy.
 
Let's say that WWIII didn't happen, China increased its development in the 60's and there was a reunification of China after the collapse of the SU. Would China remain ruled by the Kuomintang, or it would turn into democracy like Taiwan did in OTL?

It would become more democratic and would eventually reunify with Manchuria maybe in the 1970s or 80s.:D
 
A neat thing I learned today: As late as 1949, Stalin was urging a divided China.

I'm sure you can guess why.
 

Hendryk

Banned
A neat thing I learned today: As late as 1949, Stalin was urging a divided China.
There's little doubt in my mind that, if you remove Mao from the picture before 1948 or so, the likely result is going to be a Communist Manchuria and a Nationalist China.
 
Would the world had been better off with a large Nationalist China and a smaller Communist China? Would there had been more conflict or less?

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How could we make Communism collapse earlier in the 1970s instead of in the 1990s? And it has to be a total collapse with no Communist nations left in the world.
 
Aaah!:eek: I can't see Stalin losing his only real puppets/allies in Asia. [Especially since with a much smaller state the PRC would be far more under his control]. As such I see WWIII developing here, although hopefully it might be limited to NE Asia. Could be very messy. If things get totally out of control the good news is there are very few nukes and no nuclear capable missiles at this time so the death toll may not exceed ~50-100M:(

Steve

They always had Mongolia and also I doubt Stalin would want to risk World War 3, he's not foolish and OTL he was quite friendly with the Nationalists in the 40s.

Wendall

They will if the US is willing to pump up nuclear production and use a lot but things will be very messy. If things stay conventional and limited to NE Asia it would be a much larger Korean conflict expanding over larger areas of northern China and a considerable death toll. Might end up with Communist China being destroyed but it won't die quietly.

Steve

I don't think the Soviet Union will intervene (see above) and even if it does nuclear strikes will only be against a few strategic targets before the Soviet Union leaves Manchuria to be crushed.

Would the world had been better off with a large Nationalist China and a smaller Communist China? Would there had been more conflict or less?

There'd been far less conflict. Either no or quicker Korean War, no Vietnam War, no Pol Pot, no Indo-Chinese wars, and no China blocking humanitarian missions in the UN.

How could we make Communism collapse earlier in the 1970s instead of in the 1990s? And it has to be a total collapse with no Communist nations left in the world.

Hard but if the Soviet Union collapses in TTL there'll be no strong Communist state to lean on and the rest would probably collapse.
 
They always had Mongolia and also I doubt Stalin would want to risk World War 3, he's not foolish and OTL he was quite friendly with the Nationalists in the 40s.

He was friendly because he was looking for influence and a way of tying up Japanese forces. If their trying to take 'his' China from him he will not be very friendly at all. [Whether the Nationalists would be willing to fight a major war, especially since the US was at most lukewarm about it being expanded, is a big question].

I don't think the Soviet Union will intervene (see above) and even if it does nuclear strikes will only be against a few strategic targets before the Soviet Union leaves Manchuria to be crushed.

I think it would. Also I doubt if the US would be willing to escalate further to nuclear conflict.

Steve
 
KMT China would be a lot like India, only perhaps worse since at the end of the war there was far less infrastructure there. The industrial powerhouse KMT is just wishful thinking until the 1980s at the very least.

Not to mention that KMT managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in OTL. This TL is, how to say, highly improbable.
 
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