News from China

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Kunming, October 4th, 1966
ROCAF ON ALERT AS SITUATION IN BANGLADESH DETERIORATES

Citing the increasingly unstable and widespread crisis in Bengal, the Military Affairs Commission has ordered all RoCAF units to be stood up to wartime alert status, pending the resolution of the current civil war.

In a public press release earlier today, Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed a desire to see the situation in Bangladesh "be resolved in a peaceful manner in keeping with the wishes of the people of Bengal." However, it has also cautioned that "any seeking to destabilise the situation further can only be considered both an enemy of the Bengali people - who have suffered so grievously in these past few months - and of humanity as a whole."

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Guangzhou, October 12th, 1966
AIR FORCE SAYS BOMBER LOSSES DUE TO AGGRESSIVE TACTICS, POOR EQUIPMENT

In a statement from the Military Affairs Commission today, Air Force commander General Chen Ruitian confirmed the rumours of disproportionate bomber losses over Bangladesh over the course of last week's Covenant intervention.

"The truth of the matter is, I think we've gotten too cocky," the air chief said, in an interview to Republic Daily. "Our pilots keep volunteering for the toughest strike missions and their equipment can't keep up. The JH-1 was our first real crack at a jet fighter-bomber, and while it was an impressive achievement at the time, it can't be expected to fly headlong into a modern military's air defences and come out in one piece."

The JH-1 fighter-bomber entered service in 1960. It is expected to be phased out by the new JH-4 beginning early next year.

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Guangzhou, January 21st, 1967
DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS SWEEP GENERAL ELECTION

After nearly three years as the junior partner in often-uneasy coalition with the Guomindang, the Democratic Socialist Party will be returning to power as the undisputed government of the Republic. Having won a majority of the 324 seats in the Legislative Yuan, CDSP leader Song Qingling now seems set to make history as China's first woman Premier.

Called after a CDSP-led vote of non-confidence following the Guomindang's contentious decision to extend the period of political tutelage in the newly-reclaimed northern provinces, this year's election has proved nigh-disastrous for the formerly-dominant GMD, which has lost nearly half of its seats to the Democratic Socialists and the CDL in the wake of a heavily criticised foreign policy, and allegations perceived neglect of industrial and social development in the inland provinces.

Guomindang leader Du Yuming has declared that he intends to stay on as party leader, at least for the foreseeable future.

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Guangzhou, February 9th, 1967
UNEXPECTED UNIFIERS? WHITE SUN REVEALS ROLE IN ANTI-WARLORD CAMPAIGNS

In an unexpected move today, the Benevolent Order of the White Sun has revealed that the humanitarian organisation had played a major role during the two anti-warlord campaigns in Zhejiang. These actions had included joint operations with undisclosed members of the NRA and other parts of the government in undermining the fascist coup regime which seized power over the Zhejiang Clique in 1959.

"The Benevolent Order of the White Sun was founded to help restore China, and that could not have been done without evicting the predatory warlords which controlled much of its territory," a spokesman for the Order has told Republic Daily. "We are proud of our actions, but we are happy to declare that such drastic measures will no longer be necessary, now that China has been unified."

The Order has issued a reminder that its charter forbids it from operating outside the Republic's de jure borders.

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Guangzhou, February 13th, 1967
DEBATE OVER DEMOBILISATION SUBSIDY PLAN IN LEGISLATIVE YUAN

A vigorous struggle has erupted today in the legislature, as Guomindang deputies have come out in strong opposition to the government's plan to grand generous demobilisation subsidies to soldiers of the National Revolutionary Army deemed surplus to current requirements.

"The Government had promised to reduce military spending. Instead it has somehow managed to spend more money reducing our armed forces than it would have cost to maintain them," declared GMD leader Du Yuming. "Is this ridiculous scheme really necessary?"

CDSL deputies then replied by claiming that the demobilisation subsidy would be necessary to allow returning soldiers to learn useful skills so that they might reintegrate into civilian life, instead of lapsing into banditry or other forms of crime.

With the end of the civil war, the Government intends to reduce the NRA's force levels by over 85% over the course of the next two years.

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Guangzhou, October 8th, 1967
GOVERNMENT REVEALS SHAPE OF NEW PEACETIME ARMY

A new report from the Military Affairs Commission has laid out a vision for the new shape of the National Revolutionary Army following the demobilisation of much of its current standing force.

Previously built around large, army-sized formations supported by large numbers of irregular forces, the NRA's new organisation will reduce the size of the current army by nearly 90%, devolving military police and peacekeeping duties to provincial authorities, while reorienting the regular army around a small, hard core of well-equipped, superbly trained troops organised primarily into powerful, highly mobile brigades.

These changes are expected to take effect at the beginning of the new year, with a further transitional period of up to two years, as the NRA and RoCAF gradually demobilise the millions of fighting men and women free to return home with the end of the civil war.


Hong Kong, October 9th, 1967
CHARITY DINNER FOR ENGLISH REFUGEES SET FOR NEXT MONDAY

The great influx of British refugees fleeing from the cruel grip of Irish Communism have been of great concern of late to the local community, which is why it gives us great pleasure to announce that there is to be a charity dinner at Jardines House on Monday the 16th, hosted by the British and Anglo-Lusitanian Landing and Support Association of China and Korea, for the benefit of recent arrivals who have been so cruelly deprived of their property and previous livelihoods.

We here at the Times-Colonist wish them good luck with their most noble enterprise, and express our evergreen hopes that those exiled from the mother country will find their stay here both comfortable and temporary - and that one day soon, they may return home to islands once again basking in the light of British liberty.

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Tianjin, March 21th, 1968
MAOIST TERROR CELL RESPONSIBLE FOR HUANGPU BOMBING CAPTURED

A sigh of relief across the country today, as the Military Affairs Commission has announced that Republic special forces, operating with the assistance of local authorities, have captured the leadership of the so-called "Red Army Divisional Insurgency of the Capital Area and Liaoning", responsible for the massive bombing of the Central Military Academy last month which left over a hundred dead.

The government has announced its intention to subject the captured terrorists to summary execution, in accordance with military law.

"The Government of the Republic is more than willing to sympathise and respond to the legitimate grievances of the working class. Our response to the ongoing labour action in Zhejiang should be proof enough of that," said Premier Song Qingling in a statement today. "However, those who resort immediately to terrorism and banditry when other means of redress remain available are not protestors, they are criminals, and their goal is not redress, but murder, and this government intends to treat them accordingly."


Hangzhou, March 21st, 1968
GENERAL STRIKE IN ZHEJIANG SPREADS TO ANHUI

The general strike which began in the trainyards of Hangzhou has now spread to Anhui province, as hundreds of thousands of workers march through the province's cities in solidarity with those currently marching in Zhejiang.

The strike began three weeks ago, when workers on the Guangzhou-Beijing Gaosu Project downed tools, citing poor working conditions, and wage theft by corrupt local officials.

By all accounts, the mood is optimistic. Last night's address by Premier Song Qingling promising an investigation into working conditions and an immediate compensation scheme for those who have been cheated out of their pay by corrupt administrators seems to have mollified most of the strikers, but having seen so many government promises go unfulfilled already, they remain on the picket line.

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Marching Onwards to the People's Revolution, April 19th, 1969
RELICS OF REACTIONARY OLD ORDER TO BREED

Comrades! As we look to the future towards the inevitable victory of our glorious struggle, our enemies dredge deeper and deeper into the past. Having exhausted all of the depravities of bourgeois capitalism, the foes of the People's Revolution now seek to replicate the odious excesses of the ancient feudal order as well!

Witness the behaviour of the fascist who rules over our oppressed comrades in East Africa. Is it a surprise to anyone that she would amass so great a collection of concubines to exploit, much as the capitalist system she rules over exploits the working class? Spurred on by the animalistic accumulatory desires of the imperialist fascist, she has now laid claim to a new relic, a filthy worm who claims to be heir to the long-dead Song Dynasty.

It becomes clear that while we move forward, our enemies move backwards. Capitalism will strip them of all the trappings of civilisation, until they become nothing more than monkeys in human clothing - assuming they are not such already!

But animals are easy to hunt down, and rest assured, Comrades! When the Capitalist degenerates into her final form, we of the People's Red Army will be there waiting to ensure that such savage creatures will never exploit the worker and the peasant ever again.

Long Live the People's War!


Dar Es Salaam, June 11th, 1969
VICTORIAN QUEEN CUTS DOWN WOULD-BE ASSASSIN

A shocking scene in the Victorian capital today, as an unknown assailant attacked Queen Catharine of Victoria with a semi-automatic pistol.

A Republic Daily camera crew was there at the scene, capturing the exact moment the East African monarch was struck by the second of three rounds. Our cameras captured the Queen's rapid reaction as she drew her dress sword and attacked her prospective attacker, striking him with deep cuts to the neck and abdomen.

Victorian authorities have been yet to ascertain the affiliation or motives of the attacker, who died on the scene.


Hong Kong, June 14th, 1969
RED PERFIDY IN KIANGSU?

When the red hordes overthrew the rightful Tsar of Russia in 1917, the Times-Colonist was there to warn its readership of the dire times ahead. We warned all who would listen that a Bolshevik Russia would not rest at any length - that no savagery was too brutal, no method too underhanded, and that the red menace would not cease until the whole of the world fell under their vicious dominion.

And once again, we have been proven correct, for we at the Times-Colonist have uncovered irrefutable proof, that the recent disturbances in Kiangsu Province have been the work of agents of the so-called "Soviet Union". As we did fifty years ago, we once again call upon the governments and peoples of the civilised races to band together against what is surely the forebear of a new wave of slavic barbarism. If we do not, then the world will be plunged into a new dark age of Bolshevist rapine and slaughter quite unlike that which it has yet seen.

[Cataphrak]

Guangzhou, November 21st, 1969
MORALE AGREEMENT RATIFIED

After nearly three years of fraught negotiations, a binding charter for the Multilateral Organisation for the Regulation of Asian Legislatures and Economies has been ratified with universal approval from all twelve signatories.

A top priority of Song Qingling's Democratic Socialist mandate, MORALE is intended to serve as a trading bloc capable of leveraging the combined power of the economies of East and Southeast Asia for the purpose of mutual aid and development, while instituting measures intended to de-escalate potential conflicts between MORALE members. It is hoped that this new organisation will eventually lead to closer economic and diplomatic cooperation in the future.

The first meeting of the newly-established Pan-Asian Council is expected to begin early next year, once the intended facilities in Guangzhou finish construction.

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Guangzhou, February 1st, 1970
NEW HIGH SPEED RAILWAY NETWORK BEGINS SERVICE

One of the Democratic Socialist Party's flagship infrastructure programmes, the All-China High Speed Railway Network begins its first operations today, the culmination of over half a decade of planning, development, and construction. Intended to be both a vital new transport link between the Republic's major cities and a symbol of China's rebirth, the Zhōngguó Gāosù Tiělù (or simply "Gaosu" as it is already being known) is a truly national project. Everything from the specially designed stress-resistant railways to the futuristic streamlined passenger cars have been designed by Chinese minds to carry Chinese passengers through the unique conditions of China's vast expanse.

Yet not only is this cutting-edge transportation network a step forward for the country, but for the entire world as well: the Gaosu is the first high-speed passenger rail network of its kind, capable of moving tens of millions of passengers a month from one end of the Republic to another at the hitherto unheard of speeds of 200 kilometres an hour. Previously, it took a traveller half a week to get from Kunming to Guangzhou. Now, he can get on the train at sunrise in the capital, have a bowl of authentic Yunnan guò qiáo mǐxiàn in Long Yun Park, and get back on the train in time to catch the evening news back at home, all in the course of a single day.

Most importantly of all, the entire service is to be offered free of charge, to be publicly funded by tax revenue and the fees levied by the Republic's public freight lines. The comfort and speed of the new rail network will not only be for the rich and powerful, but for the common man and woman as well - something which will no doubt prove a boon to the country's growing population of seasonal migrant workers.

While the project still has its detractors, public enthusiasm for the new rail lines are riding high. Some in the government are already proposing new lines beyond the current Tianjin-Kowloon-Guangzhou-Kunming trunk line.

Perhaps one day, every city in the Republic will be able to boast a link to the Gaosu. Until then, we can only join our readers in watching with astonishment as the new silver trains streak across the country, and think of the bright future ahead.