I could help with a map if you so desire--provided it's either in worlda or 2kbam format. Do PM me if you want a map done.
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The North Star is Red: a Wallace Presidency, KMT Victory, Alternate Cold War TL
- Thread starter TastySpam
- Start date
I guess the GOP will remain the "Party of Lincoln" much longer ITTL with a Dixiecrat in the White House.
I had the same feeling, that the North and the West would flip with a too oriented Southern administration. Also the country would be exhausted by Democratic rule and the next president may be likely Republican... I have a strong inkling who would be their candidate.
Thanks so much for the offer! However, I thought it'd be best for at least me to make a crummy map first that at least has the information. If you know of ways to make this uh, less ugly though, I'd love to see them!
Asia after the Chinese Invasion of Tibet (1950)
(disputed, unclear territories in white)
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From what I can tell, they were peacefully repatriated to Japan in 1945, so I can't imagine it would be any different here (since the ITTL KMT takes control of Taiwan in the exact same way as OTL KMT.)
Chapter 14 - The Troika: Post-War Politics of the People’s Republic of China
The Troika: Post-War Politics of the People’s Republic of China
Lin Biao was Chairman of the Communist Party of China, but his illness meant that he was forced to delegate many of his responsibilities. It is widely speculated that Mao elevated Lin Biao for this reason, figuring that he would be a non-offensive placeholder while Mao was away. However, there were other reasons to elevate Lin Biao, namely that he was commander of the Northeastern Field Army, the largest Army in the People’s Liberation Army.
While Lin Biao was in theory the paramount leader of Communist China, for all intents and purposes, a troika including Gao Gang, Liu Shaoqi, and Luo Ronghuan ruled the People’s Republic. Liu Shaoqi was Chairman of the Central People’s Government, the primary civilian governing body, giving him a key position. In contrast, Gao Gang was one of the lowest-ranked State Councillors in the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China. However, Gang’s State Councillor portfolio in the CPG was to be Chairman of the Northeastern People’s Government.[1] This meant alongside Liu, Gao was the most powerful Councillor, as the Northeast was the almost the entire region under Communist Control (the PRC controlled a tiny slice of Shanxi and Xinjiang province). Luo’s power rested in the military; he was Chairman of the Central Military Commission, a position he was naturally appointed to as Lin Biao’s chief political commissar for the Northeastern Field Army.
Gao and Shaoqi had largely overlapping responsibilities and Gao was known to be very ambitious. However, they somehow avoided clashing because of their shared political ethos. Both were solid Stalinists, trained in the Orthodox Soviet form of Communism. For that reason, they were both heavily favored by Moscow. In contrast, Luo was largely apolitical, which actually made him a relatively reliable mediator. In contrast to the early ROC, the early PRC had surprisingly few power struggles.
However, the Orthodox Communist programme fit obstacles. For one, the PRC was remarkably short on industrial machinery, much of it having been “requisitioned” by retreating Soviet troops in the aftermath of August Storm. The Soviet Union did provide some “humanitarian aid” (namely surplus food and WW2-era military equipment), but the PRC lacked in much industrial machinery. The PRC had no choice but to shift toward light industry, which ended up actually pretty effective in raising living standards. Throughout the early 1950’s, the PRC actually enjoyed a higher standard of living than the ROC.
The Communist Party of China consistently implemented one reform first in order to establish its power in “revolutionary base areas.” Land reform, which typically involved mass violence, usually lynchings, against landowners, with their land then unceremoniously redistributed into land collectives.[2] This was the brutal norm of earlier rule of Communist rule in its previous base areas.
This ran into one problem in former Manchukuo - there weren’t any landowners left. Most landlords in Manchukuo were Japanese elites - and most had all fled. The leftover Japanese settlers were mostly impoverished settlers who moved from Japan, mostly the Tohoku region (now the People’s Republic of Japan), because living standards were actually HIGHER in China. The possibility of violence against these settlers was quickly ended by two factors 1) close PRC relations with the PRJ (Tohoku) and 2) the fact that the CPC used the specter of KMT “Han chauvinism” as a legitimating ideology.[3] Another fact underlying the lack of landlords was that the Northeast had almost no large farms. Unlike South China and its massive rice plantations, almost all farms in the Northeast were small-scale family plots growing wheat, soybeans, or potatoes.
The troika was also largely unconcerned about agriculture, and they felt immediate collectivization might drain popular support. As a result, Luo's compromise was to organize all the migrants from past the Great Wall into collective farms, but to largely leave the native Northeastern farmers alone until the Communist state was better established. Instead, the party would focus on industrial development.
The First Five-Year Plan (1948-1953) was directed primarily towards reconstructing light industry in the country to restore pre-war living conditions. The troika also outlined a future Second Five-Year Plan (1953-1958) that would focus primarily on heavy industry and a rapid military build-up (presumably for conquest of the ROC). Then, a Third Five-Year Plan (1958-1963) would function as a “Great Leap Forward” where the remaining farms could be collectivized and all agricultural collectives converted into industrial production.
In contrast to the Republic of China, the PRC Constitution quickly established a unitary state. The old provinces of the Republic of China were abolished and replaced with much smaller prefectures that enjoyed no autonomy or self-governing rights. The Constitution also abolished all the provinces under ROC control, but no one really paid attention to that part.
Although the official capital was Harbin (the first city captured by Communist forces in the Civil War), the de facto capital quickly became Xinjing[4], simply because it had so many empty government buildings from being the former capital of Manchukuo. In fact, most observers suggested that the PRC was only pretending that their capital was not in Xinjing just to avoid Manchukuo parallels. However, keeping the de jure capital in Harbin was also a node to Soviet influence, by keeping the official capital close to the border of the PRC’s benefactor.
The arrival of millions of migrants from primarily the Gansu, Shanxi, and Shandong regions also created an unusual language dynamic. Unlike the South, which spoke many different Chinese languages, almost all PRC citizens were Mandarin speakers, although of many different dialects and accents.
To standardize pronunciations, Communist leaders made a choice that shocked those across the Great Wall - they entirely dropped the use of Chinese characters. The regime opted at the time for the Sin Wenz romanization system, as it was already in use by many pro-Communist peasants coming in from the Yan’an Base Area. Sin Wenz was in many ways, an odd choice for a national script, chiefly because the script failed to delineate different tones. In revulsion, the ROC government dropped its plans to simplify Chinese characters, sticking entirely to the old script.
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[1] This was his OTL position [东北人民政府主席], which made him the most powerful man in Northeastern China.
[2] Land reform in China was remarkably violent - Frank Dikotter wrote a well-regarded book on this.
[3] OTL Mao often brought up Han chauvinism as an "evil" for the CPC to crush.
[4] OTL Changchun.
Smaller PRC, bigger North Korea, Communist North Japan, Taiwan under South China. What could go wrong? I can see a lot of troubles in Asia in the future because of TL changes. Asia will not be the same as we're familiar with in OTL.
And the PRC goes ahead with Romanized Chinese script. But at least the people there have easy time learning Chinese better than their Southern brethren.
On other note, the TL PRC is right not to pursue the certain 'disastrous' policies enacted by Mao, 'Great Leap Forward' and 'Cultural Revolution'.
And the PRC goes ahead with Romanized Chinese script. But at least the people there have easy time learning Chinese better than their Southern brethren.
On other note, the TL PRC is right not to pursue the certain 'disastrous' policies enacted by Mao, 'Great Leap Forward' and 'Cultural Revolution'.
Are all these nations going to stay split? If someone gets to unite, I think it'd be Korea. Syngman Rhee was a rather incompetent ruler, and with less territory, the Southern economy will be even weaker.
Hm, well, the OTL Japanese education system doesn't really deny WW2 war-crimes. Obviously, they might not cover modern history in great depth, but I can't recall a widely-used Japanese history textbook that does so. There was an infamous textbook that denied such crimes, but almost every school in Japan refused to use it.
That being said, IIRC, current PM Abe Shinzo was I think associated with the group backing that textbook. And part of the reason such a textbook gets totally rejected is that OTL Japan's teachers' unions are extremely left-wing. But IITL South Japan pretty much abolished those unions...so uh...yeah, you get where this is going...
I'm actually curious who you think the next GOP candidate will be. I think I might split the 1952 elections into different posts (the conventions, the campaign, and election night). I've largely planned it out, and they'll be fun!
Well, the "Third Five-Year Plan" is pretty clearly obviously the OTL Great Leap Forward (the OTL PRC didn't collectivize all of its agriculture until then). Really, the IITL PRC's economic policy isn't that different from OTL, except there isn't a mass murder of landlords (due to lack of landlords). The romanized script is evidence that if anything, the IITL PRC is actually MORE ideologically extreme than Mao's China.
The ROK has less territory, but it's getting a lot more US military aid. So it's in a position of being poorer than OTL ROK, but having a larger/stronger army. Which works fine for Rhee, as he's a rather authoritarian ruler.
Apparently is "主体思想" which should mean "zhǔtǐ sīxiǎng" which should be likely translated as "subjective thinking".
I will tell you my idea in private.
"South" Japan is going to be more conservative and the Liberal-Democrats reigning supreme. But the worse would surely be on cultural and technological improvements... Japan isn't going to be the third economy of the world and maybe global technology may be slower in the 80's... Manga and videogames would be definitely affected.
I wonder if North Korea may avoid the Kim dynasty, maybe could go decisively better. It won't surely be obliged to the Manchurians, even in case of a war (because, what help could give TTL?) but definitely to the Soviets. South Korea without Seoul could however be stunted a bit.
I think there won't be "tigers" in that region... Maybe only from the 2000s onwards.
Chapter 16 - The Indonesian Revolution
Obviously, thanks to Emperor Xianfeng for his amazing work! While making that map, he reminded me that I really need to flesh out the rest of the world, especially Asia, before 1950.
Although the United States had been set to condemn the Dutch re-invasion of Java at the United Nations[1], President-elect Russel's foreign policy team informed France’s UN ambassador that a veto of United Nations Security Council Resolution 67, which would have condemned Operation Kraai against the Indonesian Republic, would be greatly appreciated. Russel's closest adviser on this issue, Secretary Forrestal, indicated that he saw Sukarno as dangerously anti-American (a previously Japanese collaborator). Forrestal still favored Indonesian independence, but desired to see it on Dutch terms that would preserve a democratic, federal structure.[2] Although Republicans in Congress called for aid to the Netherlands to be ended, Southern Democrats generally favored the Dutch cause. Russel's position further bolstered his position among the Dixiecrats he needed to pass his domestic agenda.
The French delivered a veto, convinced by the argument that global condemnation of the Netherlands would ultimately boomerang against the French in Indochina. To the great surprise of all, the Soviet Union also voted against the resolution. In a speech, the Soviet ambassador condemned Sukarno’s 1948 execution of much of the Communist Party of Indonesia leadership, claiming that Sukarno was not a legitimate representative of the Indonesian revolution and that his capture by Dutch forces was “just desserts.” This surprising swerve in policy was engineered by Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Suslov, the surprising last-man standing after Beria purged Zhdanov in the Leningrad Affair shortly before being fired alongsides Molotov and Mikoyan due to the failure of their China policy.
Excited that the Indonesian revolutionaries had lost the backing of both the United States and the Soviet Union, Dutch forces flooded into Java establishing control of every major city, and launching a bloody multi-pronged approach attack on Sumatra. Perhaps most infamously, Governor Louis Beel ended any hope of a negotiated peace by having Sukarno executed on trumped-up charges of WWII-era collaboration.[3] This was a grievous overreach. Both the US and USSR condemned the Netherlands though refusing to bow to congressional outrage, Russell refused to cut off the Netherland from further Marshall Plan funding. The move also outraged Indonesian rebels. The Netherlands, reeling from diplomatic pushback, approached Indonesian acting president Prawiranegara for peace terms. When he accepted, General Sudirman declared Prawiranegara removed from office, turning down Dutch overtures. Soon after, Sudirman succumbed to tuberculosis and was replaced with his deputy, General Nasution.
Although Dutch forces seized all major cities in Java and most coastal cities in Sumatra (relying on indiscriminate coastal shelling to clear dug-in Indonesian forces), Nasution adopted a guerilla warfare strategy by retreating to the countryside and continuing armed resistance to Dutch rule. The war intensified, with any semblance of civil disorder breaking down in Java/Sumatra. Much to British chagrin, Indonesian refugees often fled across the straits into Malaya and British Borneo, worsening the delicate political situation. The devastation and death quickly widely outpaced World War II, for both the Dutch and native Indonesians. Starvation and plague ravaged Indonesia, while angry lynch mobs and guerillas enacted horrifying brutalities on any European (assuming that they were Dutch) that they could find.
The Dutch diplomatic position significantly improved after the victory of Winston Churchill in 1950 - one of his first acts was to throw the entire diplomatic force of the United Kingdom behind the Netherlands, seeing the crisis in Malaya and Sumatra as inherently connected. In addition, seeking to undercut Nasution, the Dutch parliament adopted the Charter of the Federal Kingdom of the Netherlands, where Suriname, the Antilles, New Guineau, Sulawesi, the Moluccas, and Borneo were all uplifted as Constituent Countries alongsides the Netherlands itself. However, New Guineau, Sulawesi, the Moluccas, and Borneo remained under martial law that prevented any serious self-rule. On paper, Sumatra, West Java, Middle Java, and East Java were also constituent countries, but they had no meaningful civilian government. This seemed to buy the Dutch Empire some time.
Further bolstering the Dutch, General Nasution was unable maintain unity in a rebellion that spanned from Sumatra to Java to Sulawesi. The anti-Dutch forces quickly splintered, with Kartosoewirjo declaring an Indonesian Islamic State that fought both Nasution and the Dutch in West Java, Aceh, and South Sulawesi. The Communist D. N. Aidit barely escaped from Nasution’s attempt to have him and his followers killed - he fled to Communist China, but quickly snuck back into Sumatra with huge amounts of material and personnel support from the People’s Liberation Army to work closely with the Malay Communists across the strait. The Indonesian Communists would fight the Dutch, Islamists, and Nationalists simultaneously.
In response, one of Nasution’s subordinates, Colonel Suharto, sent death squads to execute any Indonesians suspected of Communist sympathies, while simultaneously greenlighting a campaign of mass terror, especially mass rape, against villages suspected of Islamist sympathies. As a result, the Nationalists were able to avoid being eclipsed as the primary anti-Dutch force, but popular opinion quickly soured on their cause, even as the Dutch remained just as despised. The war quickly broke down in a stalemate, as the anti-Dutch armies were too busy murdering each other to toss the Dutch out from their urban strongholds, but the Dutch armies were simply piling losses on, without winning many hearts or minds. The Moluccas and New Guineau were largely peaceful, while the Dutch at least some supporters in Sulawesi/Borneo, but they were utterly despised in Sumatra and Java.
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[1] As OTL Operation Kraai
[2] Forrestal is basically right in a sense, since democratic federal Indonesia didn't last long after independence
[3] Sukarno was captured in OTL Operation Kraai
The Indonesian Revolution
Although the United States had been set to condemn the Dutch re-invasion of Java at the United Nations[1], President-elect Russel's foreign policy team informed France’s UN ambassador that a veto of United Nations Security Council Resolution 67, which would have condemned Operation Kraai against the Indonesian Republic, would be greatly appreciated. Russel's closest adviser on this issue, Secretary Forrestal, indicated that he saw Sukarno as dangerously anti-American (a previously Japanese collaborator). Forrestal still favored Indonesian independence, but desired to see it on Dutch terms that would preserve a democratic, federal structure.[2] Although Republicans in Congress called for aid to the Netherlands to be ended, Southern Democrats generally favored the Dutch cause. Russel's position further bolstered his position among the Dixiecrats he needed to pass his domestic agenda.
The French delivered a veto, convinced by the argument that global condemnation of the Netherlands would ultimately boomerang against the French in Indochina. To the great surprise of all, the Soviet Union also voted against the resolution. In a speech, the Soviet ambassador condemned Sukarno’s 1948 execution of much of the Communist Party of Indonesia leadership, claiming that Sukarno was not a legitimate representative of the Indonesian revolution and that his capture by Dutch forces was “just desserts.” This surprising swerve in policy was engineered by Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Suslov, the surprising last-man standing after Beria purged Zhdanov in the Leningrad Affair shortly before being fired alongsides Molotov and Mikoyan due to the failure of their China policy.
Excited that the Indonesian revolutionaries had lost the backing of both the United States and the Soviet Union, Dutch forces flooded into Java establishing control of every major city, and launching a bloody multi-pronged approach attack on Sumatra. Perhaps most infamously, Governor Louis Beel ended any hope of a negotiated peace by having Sukarno executed on trumped-up charges of WWII-era collaboration.[3] This was a grievous overreach. Both the US and USSR condemned the Netherlands though refusing to bow to congressional outrage, Russell refused to cut off the Netherland from further Marshall Plan funding. The move also outraged Indonesian rebels. The Netherlands, reeling from diplomatic pushback, approached Indonesian acting president Prawiranegara for peace terms. When he accepted, General Sudirman declared Prawiranegara removed from office, turning down Dutch overtures. Soon after, Sudirman succumbed to tuberculosis and was replaced with his deputy, General Nasution.
Although Dutch forces seized all major cities in Java and most coastal cities in Sumatra (relying on indiscriminate coastal shelling to clear dug-in Indonesian forces), Nasution adopted a guerilla warfare strategy by retreating to the countryside and continuing armed resistance to Dutch rule. The war intensified, with any semblance of civil disorder breaking down in Java/Sumatra. Much to British chagrin, Indonesian refugees often fled across the straits into Malaya and British Borneo, worsening the delicate political situation. The devastation and death quickly widely outpaced World War II, for both the Dutch and native Indonesians. Starvation and plague ravaged Indonesia, while angry lynch mobs and guerillas enacted horrifying brutalities on any European (assuming that they were Dutch) that they could find.
The Dutch diplomatic position significantly improved after the victory of Winston Churchill in 1950 - one of his first acts was to throw the entire diplomatic force of the United Kingdom behind the Netherlands, seeing the crisis in Malaya and Sumatra as inherently connected. In addition, seeking to undercut Nasution, the Dutch parliament adopted the Charter of the Federal Kingdom of the Netherlands, where Suriname, the Antilles, New Guineau, Sulawesi, the Moluccas, and Borneo were all uplifted as Constituent Countries alongsides the Netherlands itself. However, New Guineau, Sulawesi, the Moluccas, and Borneo remained under martial law that prevented any serious self-rule. On paper, Sumatra, West Java, Middle Java, and East Java were also constituent countries, but they had no meaningful civilian government. This seemed to buy the Dutch Empire some time.
Further bolstering the Dutch, General Nasution was unable maintain unity in a rebellion that spanned from Sumatra to Java to Sulawesi. The anti-Dutch forces quickly splintered, with Kartosoewirjo declaring an Indonesian Islamic State that fought both Nasution and the Dutch in West Java, Aceh, and South Sulawesi. The Communist D. N. Aidit barely escaped from Nasution’s attempt to have him and his followers killed - he fled to Communist China, but quickly snuck back into Sumatra with huge amounts of material and personnel support from the People’s Liberation Army to work closely with the Malay Communists across the strait. The Indonesian Communists would fight the Dutch, Islamists, and Nationalists simultaneously.
In response, one of Nasution’s subordinates, Colonel Suharto, sent death squads to execute any Indonesians suspected of Communist sympathies, while simultaneously greenlighting a campaign of mass terror, especially mass rape, against villages suspected of Islamist sympathies. As a result, the Nationalists were able to avoid being eclipsed as the primary anti-Dutch force, but popular opinion quickly soured on their cause, even as the Dutch remained just as despised. The war quickly broke down in a stalemate, as the anti-Dutch armies were too busy murdering each other to toss the Dutch out from their urban strongholds, but the Dutch armies were simply piling losses on, without winning many hearts or minds. The Moluccas and New Guineau were largely peaceful, while the Dutch at least some supporters in Sulawesi/Borneo, but they were utterly despised in Sumatra and Java.
---
[1] As OTL Operation Kraai
[2] Forrestal is basically right in a sense, since democratic federal Indonesia didn't last long after independence
[3] Sukarno was captured in OTL Operation Kraai
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jesus, the fact that the old European empires just won't die is really gonna make things worse in the developing world
Well nothing new on this front. What is worrisome is the fragmentation of Indonesia. Is going to be a quagmire...
Well Indonesia is a mess. Wonder how Indochina will play out? Is the VNQDD still active?
Chapter 16.5 - Foreign Intervention in the Indonesian Revolution
Minor update, for something I clearly overlooked.
The United Kingdom under Winston Churchill quickly came in on the side of the Netherlands, offering naval support and logistical aid as part of a unified Southeast Asian strategy. France was unable to offer significant support, but was the most reliable diplomatic supporter of the Netherlands. However, the staunchest support for the Dutch cause came from an unexpected corner of the world: South Africa.
In 1950, the Afrikaner-dominated National Party in South Africa was rapidly instituting their ambitious apartheid system of white supremacy. South African media breathlessly covered tales of horrific atrocities inflicted on Europeans in Indonesia. Due to linguistic similarly, it was easy to publish almost anything that was covered in Dutch newspapers at the time. Many extremists called for South African intervention in Indonesia, but the Netherlands was actually not particularly interested. However, the Dutch army was still taking too many losses in what quickly became one of the bloodiest post-WW2 conflicts. The Dutch leadership was loathe to actually call for conscription.
As a compromise, the South African government allowed officers and soldiers in the army to take a "leave of absence" from their commissions and rent "surplus military equipment", at which point the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army would immediately hire them as mercenaries at a bargain bin price. As a result of this, the South African government could claim to foreign observers that it had nothing to do with this. However, one major downsides is that due to the voluntary nature of this expeditionary force, it tended to be comprised of the most ideologically extreme elements of the South African Army, infamously acting with little Dutch oversight. South African forces in Indonesia proved to both be extremely brutal and effective, and radicalized by their war experience, would play a large role in South African politics. Indonesia also became a hotbed for "military advisors" who had "experience" in World War II that made it problematic for other countries to hire.
The Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) was most closely supported by the People's Republic of China, which was in turn supported by the Soviet Union and the rest of the Eastern bloc. Contrary to contemporary views, it was not the policy of Stalin to prop up the Indonesian Communists, but it was his policy to prop up the PRC, which had a tendency of passing on all of his surplus weapons to the PKI. Kang Sheng was sent abroad to tutor the PKI in the Maoist way of war, whose brutality they quickly emulated. In particularly, the PKI organized brutal lynchings of sultans, rajas, and other local landlords that quickly had the effect of pushing much of Indonesia's traditional ruling class into the hands of the Islamists.
The Nationalists had the keen support of both the Republic of China as well as various Japanese unemployed WW2-era veterans and far-right extremists, who enabled by the Hatoyama Government, often left the country to continue waging World War II against the Dutch. However, after Suharto's infamous "extermination order" of Chinese-Indonesians, the ROC largely dropped its support of the Nationalists. Instead, China pursued a policy of attempting to reconcile the Dutch and the Islamists in order to box out both the Nationalists and the Communists.
The United States, under the Russell Administration, gave diplomatic support to the Netherlands, but fastidiously stayed out of the conflict. President Russell viewed the possibility of a "quagmire in Asia" with great fear.
Foreign Intervention in the Indonesian Revolution
Each of the factions in the Indonesian Revolution had its supporters from abroad, who often changed their policies around.
The United Kingdom under Winston Churchill quickly came in on the side of the Netherlands, offering naval support and logistical aid as part of a unified Southeast Asian strategy. France was unable to offer significant support, but was the most reliable diplomatic supporter of the Netherlands. However, the staunchest support for the Dutch cause came from an unexpected corner of the world: South Africa.
In 1950, the Afrikaner-dominated National Party in South Africa was rapidly instituting their ambitious apartheid system of white supremacy. South African media breathlessly covered tales of horrific atrocities inflicted on Europeans in Indonesia. Due to linguistic similarly, it was easy to publish almost anything that was covered in Dutch newspapers at the time. Many extremists called for South African intervention in Indonesia, but the Netherlands was actually not particularly interested. However, the Dutch army was still taking too many losses in what quickly became one of the bloodiest post-WW2 conflicts. The Dutch leadership was loathe to actually call for conscription.
As a compromise, the South African government allowed officers and soldiers in the army to take a "leave of absence" from their commissions and rent "surplus military equipment", at which point the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army would immediately hire them as mercenaries at a bargain bin price. As a result of this, the South African government could claim to foreign observers that it had nothing to do with this. However, one major downsides is that due to the voluntary nature of this expeditionary force, it tended to be comprised of the most ideologically extreme elements of the South African Army, infamously acting with little Dutch oversight. South African forces in Indonesia proved to both be extremely brutal and effective, and radicalized by their war experience, would play a large role in South African politics. Indonesia also became a hotbed for "military advisors" who had "experience" in World War II that made it problematic for other countries to hire.
The Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) was most closely supported by the People's Republic of China, which was in turn supported by the Soviet Union and the rest of the Eastern bloc. Contrary to contemporary views, it was not the policy of Stalin to prop up the Indonesian Communists, but it was his policy to prop up the PRC, which had a tendency of passing on all of his surplus weapons to the PKI. Kang Sheng was sent abroad to tutor the PKI in the Maoist way of war, whose brutality they quickly emulated. In particularly, the PKI organized brutal lynchings of sultans, rajas, and other local landlords that quickly had the effect of pushing much of Indonesia's traditional ruling class into the hands of the Islamists.
The Nationalists had the keen support of both the Republic of China as well as various Japanese unemployed WW2-era veterans and far-right extremists, who enabled by the Hatoyama Government, often left the country to continue waging World War II against the Dutch. However, after Suharto's infamous "extermination order" of Chinese-Indonesians, the ROC largely dropped its support of the Nationalists. Instead, China pursued a policy of attempting to reconcile the Dutch and the Islamists in order to box out both the Nationalists and the Communists.
The United States, under the Russell Administration, gave diplomatic support to the Netherlands, but fastidiously stayed out of the conflict. President Russell viewed the possibility of a "quagmire in Asia" with great fear.
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Quite possibly, though I guess it will differ by region to region. Indonesia seems to be worse off, but uh, I guess East Timor will probably be better off. Probably.
I should probably do that next...