The North Star is Red: a Wallace Presidency, KMT Victory, Alternate Cold War TL
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I'm normally very much in favour of a Sino-Indian axis, but this time...ehh... Hopefully better times are on the way for Asia, and both the Nehru-Gandhis and Chiangs get dethroned soon enough.
Off topic, I know, but how's Zhang Xueliang doing? This time around, I suppose Chiang doesn't get to blame Zhang for losing him the civil war, so maybe Zhang would get to retain some political influence? How are the other bigshots in the KMT warlords--say Yan Xishan, Long Yun and Li Zongren doing?
Off topic, I know, but how's Zhang Xueliang doing? This time around, I suppose Chiang doesn't get to blame Zhang for losing him the civil war, so maybe Zhang would get to retain some political influence? How are the other bigshots in the KMT warlords--say Yan Xishan, Long Yun and Li Zongren doing?
Hm, I'll do a full update on that later (because it's not thought out), but I can give a very bird's eye look.
Nobody really dares to challenge Chiang for national leadership. He's the man who defeated Japan and Mao. Of course, he has many internal enemies (like Li Zongren) who are salivating at a chance to take him down a peg. But they haven't seen such an opportunity and they won't move openly against him until he does. However, everyone is sharpening their knives for 1960, when CKS's second term should run out. However, it's not clear who his chosen successor will be, so some people are vying for that.
The ROC is of course ostensibly a constitutional democracy, governed under the 1946 Constitution. As a semi-presidential system, it shouldn't be that different from say, the United States of America. The Constitution requires every Province (except now Tibet) to have a Governor and Provincial Assembly. In practice however, most former warlords rule their home province as Governor and is so influential, they are elected with only token opposition. Not necessarily because raw force, but just because they know all of the local power elites and have clientalistic relationships. The army divisions from their provinces are all filled with friends. Of course, they have no term limits. Thus, Yan Xishan is Governor of Shanxi, Long Yun is Governor of Yunnan, the Mas run Qinghai and Gansu, Li Zongren runs Guangxi, etc. If they aren't directly Governor, someone they've picked is.
Shaanxi, Shandong, and Henan, all former Communist strongholds, are still under martial law and thus Chiang Kai-Shek's direct control.
Now I wish to read the entire article! Ah this timeline is getting more interesting by the day.
Chapter 25 - Political Aftermath of the Himalayan War (China)
The Political Aftermath of the Himalayan War (China)
Chiang Kai-Shek in particular declared that China's meditation of the Indo-Pakistani War heralded the return of China as a great power. Of course, he knew that China was far behind the West and even Japan/Korea in living standards and other measures of advancement, but at least as a diplomatic power, it was a great power, alongside the UK, USA, USSR, and France. Having seen the horrifying power of the atomic bomb bring Imperial Japan to its knees, Chiang immediately secured funding for a civilian nuclear program, specifically hoping that it would eventually lead to nuclear weapons capability. The United Kingdom was rather skeptical of handing out nuclear capability to any other party, even one they had cordial relationships with (such as ROC).[1] Instead in 1949, both Israeli and Chinese scientists visited the Saclay Nuclear Research Centre south of Paris, which marked the beginning of a fruitful nuclear partnership between the three nations.[2]
With the 1948 Legislative Yuan elections slightly delayed until after the Tibetan War, forces loyal to Chiang scored an even better than expected landslide. However, what became quickly obvious was that many of the local representatives were largely loyal first not to political parties, but to their political patrons in their respective home areas. For example, if Chiang wanted the votes of the the representatives from Shaanxi Province, the best way to acquire them was to give a call to Yan Xishan. Representatives loyal to Chiang controlled just under half of the seats in the Legislative Yuan, so it was fairly simple for Chiang to accomplish his agenda. The former warlords quickly became known as the "Kuomintang Oligarchs", a title taken from the Meiji Oligarchs of Japan. In many ways, the politics of KMT China was a remarkably close approximation of Meiji Japan, as a rivalry, discussion, and conflict between various oligarchs responsible for their victory in a civil war. In both nations, these oligarchs held power through personal prestige and deep clientalistic connections in their home regions, being continually re-elected with only token opposition. After all, running against your local political machine and oligarch was professional and political suicide.
In the postwar era, besides Li Zongren (Vice President of China) and Sun Fo (Speaker of the Legislative Yuan), these "oligarchs" were largely permanently re-elected governors: Yan Xishan (Shaanxi), Cheng Qian (Hunan), Bai Chongxi (Guangxi), Ma Hongkui (Ningxia), Ma Bufang (Qinghai), Ma Buqing (Gansu), Long Yun (Yunnan), and Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme (Xikang). A different group of oligarchs made themselves permanent fixtures of the national bureaucracy, such as H.H. Kung in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and T.V. Soong in the Ministry of Finance. Alongside Speaker Sun Fo and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wellington Koo, the Fo-Koo-Kung-Soong group quickly became known as the "bourgeoisie clique", known for their liberal political and economic views, and pro-Western foreign policy. With their combined role in the KMT civil service, they often restrained Chiang's more anti-colonial and socialistic impulses, though they did lose several notable fights (such as when Chiang went over their heads to institute land reform or strengthen relations with Nehru).
Although most former Communist-controlled provinces were still under martial law, such as Shandong, Henan, and Shaanxi, and most other areas were core-KMT (Chiang) strongholds, a few areas had genuine peaceful electoral contests for power, such as the major cities (such as Shanghai) as well as Guizhou, a diverse province in the Southwest.
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[1] The British are aware that Hong Kong might become a problem.
[2] OTL, this was just an Israeli-French thing.
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That was a great update! I echo @theg*ddam*hoi2fan about South Japan? Also what is the official name of South Japan and is Tokyo its capital?
Just the "State of Japan" (close to OTL) and yeah, Tokyo is the capital. I will probably since it seems popular, though tbqf, it's probably the least interesting of the four directional countries, since it's not THAT different from OTL Japan.
As a heads up, I'm going to be in China for a week (not for pleasure). I strongly suspect this website is going to be massively turbo-blocked, which means no updates for a while. Or on the off-chance that it isn't, you'll get like 6 updates during my flight because I can't sleep on airplanes.
Also whats the status on Kim Gu? Does he still get assassinated? That being said Kim Gu was very Pro-KMT/Pro-Chiang Kai-Shek.
I actually have no idea. Because as far as I can tell, people aren't exactly sure why Kim Gu was assassinated and even who wanted him dead. Do you have any suggestions?
Well he was assassinated by Syngman Rhee since they didn't exactly get along when they were in the Korean Government in Exile. Plus he lead the Korean Exiles from much of the 1930s - 1940s.
Also he was assassinated during an election against Syngman Rhee.
Fair enough. Though with the different Article 9 and the whole ‘Red Army Right Across The Border’, the military’s probably a lot bigger. I wouldn’t be surprised if they brought back the draft a la Germany and Italy.
Nope. Not blocked. We're not nearly important enough to show up on the CPC's radar, which makes AH.com my only solace when I'm visiting my hometown in Chaozhou.
Chapter 26 - The People's Republic of Pakistan
The People's Republic of Pakistan
In the aftermath of the Kashmir War, relations between India and the United Kingdom fell to a new nadir. Nehru. The defeat of Anglo-Pakistani forces and the fact that British diplomats basically had to fly to India, groveling for the release of British officers, was a humiliating spectacle that highlighted the failure of Clement Attlee's India policy. This was one of many reasons that led to Winston Churchill's 1950 victory. However, Nehru and Churchill further detested each other, as Nehru was familiar with Churchill's wartime persecution of the Indian National Congress. Nehru however, felt in a position to dictate terms, and he relished it. Churchill, to his credit, did not allow his personal feelings about Nehru get in the way of his dealings with India. Nehru openly threatened Churchill, claiming that he would provide logistical suport to the Communist rebels in Burma if Churchill didn't cut all military ties with Pakistan. When Nehru agreed to release all captured British officers, Churchill agreed, and the British military cut off Pakistan.
The abandonment of the British shocked the Pakistani army. They quickly found themselves with no friends. China had clearly thrown it lots in with Nehru and the British had abandoned Pakistan. Prime Minister Ali Khan quickly found himself under attack on all sides. When Nehru reneged on the cease-fire deal by refusing to hold a plebiscite in Kashmir - instead arresting and beating protesters who demanded one, Ali Khan's political support fell even lower in the military, who lambasted his "peace policy." Ali Khan turned instead to the United States, but when US-backed forces stormed the eastern coasts of Saudi Arabia, Muslim clergyman also denounced him. Similarly, leftists had detested him from the start. In desperation, Ali Khan turned to the Soviet Union for support, but this simply turned the Americans against him, seeking to remove him. In 1951, a US-backed assassin shot at Ali Khan, injuring him but not killing him.[1] While he recuperated, a group of military officers led by Akbar Khan declared him "unable to act" and "removed from office."[2] Khan then also removed Governor-General Nazimuddin, immediately taking office himself as President of Pakistan, appointing his close allies in charge of the President. Ali Khan was quickly put under house arrest.
Khan was most strongly backed by Marxists such as Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Sajjad Zaheer, whose intellectual influence ensured that all of Pakistan's newspapers celebrated the new Khan reigme. Commander-in-Chief Ayub Khan, who opposed the coup, fled the country, while Iskander Mirza vacillated and supported the coup once it was clear that it was a success. Although Khan was a West Pakistani with very little love towards the East Bengalis, Pakistan's Communists were largely concentrated in East Bengal. As a result, while Ali Khan became President, the Bengali Iskander Mirza became Army Chief of Staff. The Bengali Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, who was conservative but allied to the Communist Party in East Bengal, became Prime Minister in a contested vote, defeating the also Bengali Khawaja Nazimuddin. His mother-in-law, Jahanara Shahnawaz, was then elected Vice-Prime Minister. Khan was remarkably ambitious and egotistical, but cared more about being in charge than actually what specific domestic policies were implemented, leaving most of the intricacies to Suhrawardy. Khan was instead mono-manically focused on building up an army large enough to take back Kashmir from India. With a keen understanding that he depended on support from East Bengal, when language protests broke out that year across the province as to what the national language of Pakistan would be, Khan relented from the plan to make Urdu the sole national language, instead making Urdu and Bengali co-equal national languages. With these, Bengali politicians quickly became a bedrock of support for the regime. In contrast, the Jamaat-e-Islami movement quickly became Khan's greatest enemy, viewing his Communist-backed regime was an even greater threat than Ali Khan. They hated his "pandering" to the East Pakistanis, who the Islamists degraded as "less than pure" Muslims. Although Khan regularly preached about the Islamic nature of his regime, many Islamists remained unconvinced.
Although neither Khan nor Suhrawardy were Communists, they took advantage of support from the Communist Party, immediately opening up relations with the Soviet Union. The situation in Afghanistan turned to panic, as they viewed themselves now surrounded by "Communist powers." Prime Minister Shah Mahmud Khan was quickly sacked and replaced with the more pro-Soviet Mohammed Daoud Khan. Soviet development aid came rushing in (coming through Iran and Afghanistan), outraging the British. Churchill concluded that the Soviets had finally acquired their warm water port, and that it was necessary to take out the leaders of all three countries. Pakistani Army officer Yahya Khan launched a coup, funded by the British and Americans, but he failed and died. Indeed, Churchill's fears came true - the Soviet Union quickly used Pakistan as a way to secretly funnel military support to the Communist rebels in Burma (ie, for every 9 guns the Pakistani Army gave over to the Burmese Communists, the Soviets would gift 10 into Pakistan). Under Soviet tutelage, the Pakistanis were instructed to station more troops in East Bengal than West Pakistan, because this allowed the Soviets to covertly ship the maximum amount of arms to Burma. To assuage fears of India, the Soviets promised to aid the Pakistanis in any case of a military confrontation with India in West Pakistan, but this was not widely known, so many West Pakistanis felt neglected by the government, especially those in Baluchistan. In addition, the formidable Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence grew even more formidable, with direct coaching from the Soviet KGB, East German Stasi, and Japanese MIPA (North Japanese foreign aid dramatically ramped up as well.) This was greatly appreciated by Khan, but the KGB also slowly worked to cleanse the Pakistani ISI of anti-Communists, unbeknownst to Khan. Regardless, this arrangement was genuinely pleasing to Pakistan's military establishment, who saw their military power expand.
In 1952, Pakistan decided to sever its last official ties with the British, choosing to even leave the Commonwealth. The 1952 Constitution declared the founding of the "People's Republic of Pakistan", a "parliamentary democracy founded on the principles of Islamic socialism." Although at first diplomatically isolated, Pakistan would soon find ideological comrades in other Muslim states, such as Iran's Mossadegh, Afghanistan's Daoud Khan, and Syria's Afif al-Bizri.
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[1] Ali Khan died OTL.
[2] This failed OTL.
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