The Times and Trials of the East

Wen Jiang looked out across Shanghai from his office on the top of the Lotus Tower at the smoke rising in the South-West.

He frowned as he noted that it was not dissipating as quickly as he would like, though all things considered it was good that
he only saw a single columnof smoke, and it had been four days since the last riot, a major success given that only two
months ago their had been at least two major riots breaking out in most of the cities every day.
He knew that it wasn't just the well trained military, but the JPGDF and Taiwanese Marine squadron that had been sent to
help quash the rioting and violent protests.

After watching the thick black smoke swirl up high into the atmosphere before they dissipated he smiled weakly realizing
Ambassador Yosano had entered the room in his almost unnaturally quiet manner and turned to greet the man.

"You know Daisuke, I really think you must have been a Ninja in a past life, or perhaps you actually have trained to be
one at some point?"
"If I had been I assure you I do not remember being one, and as for training, well don't think the Meiji government,
or subsequent governments for that matter simply did away with the Ninja arts."

Jiang grinned and shook his head at the response before sitting down and motioning the Ambassador to do so as well.

"So Daisuke what is it that you need? I'm sure this is'nt a personal visit since you're still wearing your suit."

Daisuke sat down on the small couch that substituted as a chair in front of the desk before answering.

"As the Ambassador of the Democratic People's Empire of Japan and the Official Representative of Her Majesty, Empress Ishida
I've been tasked with collecting a daily report on the efficiency, behavior and overall being of the Japanese People's
Ground Defence Force units operating within the Shi'ang-ji Federation."
"Formal as ever in your duties I see. I'll have someone draw-up a full report by the end of the day, but to provide a
summarized version; The JPGDF troops have been a great help and are among some of the finest and well trained military
officers I've ever known of. Furthermore, it's because of their great skill that we managed to put down the revolt in the
North-East districts of Shēnchéng."

Daisuke nodded approvingly at hearing that his countries troops were doing so much.

Wen was about to go on before he noticed the time.

"Well Daisuke, I'd continue exalting the Japanese military for its success but I have to preside over the meeting of the
Metropolitan Councillors Conference." Wen said before thinking of something and continuing.
"You've expressed interest in observing the politics of Shi'ang-ji before, would you care to attend the meeting as an observer?"

Daisuke sat for a moment thinking before answering.

"Yes, I think I would, it should be rather..enlightening."

The two got up and left for the meeting.
 
"Gentleman and madame, if you will all please take your seat so that we may begin the meeting of the Metropolitan Councilors Conference." Wen Jiang said sitting down at the front of the long conference table.
Wen waited twenty some seconds as the other councilors sat down before beginning.

"Thank-you. Before we begin, for those who have never met him, this is Daisuke Yosano, the Japanese Ambassador to our Federation. He will be sitting in as an observer on this meeting to gain an understanding of our politics. Now, our first order of business, Councilwoman Lao has prepared a report on the cause of these riots. Madam Lao, I concede to you the floor."
"Thank-you Chief Councilor Jiang. As you all know the riots were originally began by various groups of anarcho-capitalists who did'nt like various reforms begin undertaken throughout the Federation, however they are not the only groups to blame. While they were the ones who started it various other violent extremist minority groups have seized the opportunity to commit their own riots and acts of terrorism. These groups are from across the political spectrum, ranging from the Maoist People's Liberation Militia to the far-right, xenophobic China Road Fighters to the anarcho-capitalist Shi'ang-ji Freedom Front. These groups, while acting as individual players have formed a coincidental non-connected network, that is as they all act towards the same goal, creating as much chaos, anarchy and disorder possible, they have formed links between the groups without realizing it as the chaos generally prevent s them form knowing who happens to belong to what group. While this is a very disconcerting fact it has had a positive affect as well, that being that we have managed to prevent any of the groups from gaining power over the others by being able to detain many members from the different groups at once, rather than collecting entire groups from the same group, which would cause a shift in power between them. I have been meeting with the heads of the Combined Security and Intelligence Agencies, however while, with the aide of the DPEJ and DRT, we have managed to quash many of the riots and uprisings, it is not expected that we will see an end to them until near the end of the year."

Wen nodded to himself as the Councilwoman finished and retook her seat.

"I would like to get all items on the agenda discussed so if everyone will please wait until after that point to ask questions or raise issues I would appreciate it." Wen said in a soft, though fatherly voice, looking at the other councilors nod their agreement.
"Alright then, the second item on the agenda is the progress on the Trans-Metro MagLev. Councilman Zheng, as you are in charge of the oversight of the project I concede to you the floor."
"Thank-you Chief Councilor Jiang. The progress on the TM MagLev is going very smoothly, in fact the passenger tracks for the Guangzhou-Macau line and Shēnchéng-Nanking line have been finished and our set to open for operations beginning next week. The Hong Kong-Macau bridge is coming along quite well as well. The other lines are all coming along at a steady or slightly accelerated pace. We've estimated that the full passenger line should be finished by the end of this winter and the cargo line should be complete by the middle of next spring."
Wen waited for Zheng to sit down before moving on.
"Now, for our third and final item. Councilman Chieu, as you're in charge of Foreign Relations, could you please give us a brief overview of the Foreign Affairs situation?"
"Of course Chief Councilor. The current situation is this, their are two wars currently raging in Africa, one between Chad and Sudan and the other between the Congo's, which is currently in a ceasefire that, as you all know we negotiated. Their are no major events in North America or Europe. The integration plans in South America are continuing on, despite the Colombia-Ecuador border incident last year. The PRC seems to be adopting some areas of economic and political liberalization, however do to their secretive and chaotic nature it is unknown if these will last. Finally, the Joint Japan-Shi'ang-ji-Taiwan Military agreement is in the process of being finalized and should be ready to be signed by August."
"Thank-you Councilor Chieu, now I'll open the floor to questions and debate.

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One Hour Later
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Daisuke stood outside of the meeting room, quickly typing notes into his smart phone as he saw Chairwoman Lao exit.

"Madame Lao." he said as he began walking beside her.
"Ah, Ambassador Yosano, what can I do for you?"
"Your report on the riots and extremist groups was quite impressive. Actually I am curious, did you study such things?"

She stopped for a moment before continuing walking and answering.

"You could say that, in a way.. I was a member of 'Shining China' when I was younger."
"Shining China. That was a Leninist anti-Mao, pro-Greater China group, was'nt it?" Daisuke asked.
"Yes, that is what it was. Though I think the term supportive of mainland unification would be more appropriate, Shining China was one of the few groups that actually did'nt oppose Taiwan being a separate country at the time."
"I see, I stand corrected and shall remember that. If you don't mind me asking, what made you join?"
"No, I don't mind. To be honest, it was alot of things, at the time I had nothing, my family had been killed in Mao's cultural revolution, I was all alone and I suppose I wanted revenge, not just for the loss of my family, but revenge for the loss of the life I had lived up until then. A few months after my family was killed I found Shining China, and after I learned what they stood for I found it to be a perfect fit for me."
"So, what made you leave? Daisuke asked, letting his curiosity get ahead of his otherwise impeccable manners and unemotional outward appearance.
"Well, I did'nt leave, I was one of the few who stayed in Shining China all the way up until it broke-up in the early 90's. After that I realized that I did'nt really support mainland unification, and eventually I ended up here in the Shi'ang-ji Federation, after a few years I realized I wanted to try to atone for some of the things I'd done, so I entered civil service, to serve the people."
"I see, that is quite intriguing."

Daisuke stayed silent for a minute, thinking before coming to a decision.

"Madame Lao, would you care to join me for lunch?"
"That would be delightful, yes I think I would very much like that, and please, call me Sonia."

The two walked out of the building into the busy streets of the city arm in arm.
 
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