WI: Chiang went ahead with "National Glory"?

Borderline ASB. The Project National Glory office was only established in 1961, and it was too late for Chiang to "recapture" the mainland. Many within the KMT, including Chiang Ching-kuo, son of Chiang Kai-shek, privately doubted the possibility of carrying out Project National Glory. After China got nukes in 1964, IMHO everyone with common sense except the aging generalissimo knew that it was all over.

Had Chen Cheng, Li Kwoh-ting, Yen Chia-kan or even Chiang Ching-kuo been in charge, they would tend to accept an early US proposal that separates Taiwan and China into two countries - not because they liked independence, they hated it to death - but because they knew Taiwan would either become ironically a "rebel province" of China, or an independent Southeast Asian country. Into the early 1970s, when Chiang Kai-shek came to accept the two states proposal, it was all too late. Recent research by historians even show that Chiang and Mao had secret contact due to that Chiang badly wanted reunification:p He personally found cooperation with Mao an option for him to get back to China:p It was the bigotry and old-styled nationalistic feelings of Chiang Kai-shek that creates the Taiwan problem today. Had he been more flexible and realistic, Taiwan would just be another South Korea instead of a rebel province. After all, the Communists were rebels, not the KMT:p

The only possible way for Chiang the senior to move ahead with "National Glory" would begin with the survival of John F. Kennedy:p:cool: According to some recent declassified documents, Kennedy promised assistance to India, including nuking China (to avoid a lengthy war), if a border conflict broke out between India and China. Let's say we got a Sino-Indian War in December 1963. It was just before China's success of creating their first nuke, and President Kennedy went too far by nuking China. Expect Lin Biao or anyone sensitive to topple Mao for peace, anyway Liu Shaoqi was in charge at the time since Mao disappeared for some years after the failure of the Great Leap Forward. China became pretty chaotic, that's the only possible way that Project National Glory could be carried out:p

What if the coup of Lin Biao succeeded? According to some accounts, Chiang Kai-shek cried non-stop upon hearing the death of Lin Biao. It is alleged that before the coup, Lin Biao sent a message to Chiang Kai-shek, claiming that he missed the years in Whampoa Military Academy and that he found it hard to work with Mao. According to this theory, Lin Biao would have invited Chiang Kai-shek to become a rubber-stamp figure inside his government to gain international recognition. I don't honestly think it could happen, the success of Lin Biao would only drive China into a bloody civil war, and by the time KMT leaders would try their best to prevent any direct involvement.

Or otherwise, I would just say, move this thread to the ASB forum please:p
 
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