News from China

[Cataphrak]

Guangzhou, March 3rd, 1970
THE WIDOW TRIUMPHS: SOCIALISTS EXPAND MAJORITY

Jubilation at the headquarters of the Democratic Socialist Party today, as the late results from Yunnan and Shaanxi confirm what many had been expecting for months now. Song Qingling's CDSP has not only won another majority government, but has reinforced its position in the Legislative Yuan, adding another 31 seats at the expense of the League and the Guomindang. Not since Du Yuming's Guomindang landslide over a decade ago has a single party possessed so commanding a mandate.

The critics had been many, following the current government's first victory in 1967, but they are all silent now. Army Reform, High Speed Rail, the Pan-Asian Council - all once dismissed as impractical boondoggles by the opposition - now seem to be moving from strength to strength, and the government which has been so heavily associated with all three initiatives is now reaping the electoral benefits.

Some are even speculating that the CDSP may even win a third term, even despite the Premier's insistence that she does not mean to run again in 1973.

[Cataphrak]

Huhehaote, December 21st, 1970
ROC ADVISORS ARRIVE IN INNER MONGOLIA

The first of the Republic's advisory personnel have arrived by air today at Huhehaote, capital of the Independent Inner Mongolian Territories, colloquially known as 'Northern China" by the international press. They are the first of an extensive PAC-mandated mission to improve the backwards region's industrial base, and train its military to current East Asian standards.

At full strength, this mission will include over fifty thousand industrial advisors from both state-owned enterprises, and major private shipping and industrial concerns such as Berenson and Tsung, Tinghao Agricultural Developments, and ZhongGuoDianNao. It will also include an undisclosed number of military personnel, including a team of lecturers from the Jiang Jieshi School of Advanced War Studies.

Much rides on the success or failure of this mission. When the advisory team's mandate expires at the end of 1972, its success or failure will determine the outcome of the Pan-Asian Council's first real test.

[Cataphrak]

Guangzhou, January 28th, 1971
NANYANG EARLY WARNING LINE TARGET OF COMMUNIST SABOTEURS

The Military Affairs Commission has announced today that major parts of the Nanyang early warning radar system have been damaged by intentional sabotage. In a statement today, government officials have concluded that the devices used and general methodology of the attacks coincides closely with the methods used by the intelligence services of the Communist warlord state formerly centred around Beijing.

In response, the Executive Yuan has declared that administrative resources currently stationed in Guizhou Province will be permanently moved to Guangdong, to prevent further terrorist attacks.


Zhengzhou, February 1st, 1971
GSX DROPS AFTER HENAN PROTESTS SPREAD

The Guangzhou Stock Exchange has dropped 300 points this morning, following news that the the mass protests currently ongoing in Henan Province have grown in size. Demanding an immediate end to the Political Tutelage Period and the withdrawal of military rule, the protesters have until now refused to negotiate with the Central Government until its initial demands are met.

Henan was previously part of the Communist warlord state centred around Beijing. It has been under Martial Law since the end of the civil war.

[Cataphrak]

The Editorial Office, July 29th, 1971
ANALYSIS: SOVIET POLICE ACTION MAY 'MAKE OR BREAK' SOCIALIST GOVERNMENT

Since the re-establishment of the Republic, every government seems to have had to reckon with the prospect of a war which defines its legacy. Just as Long Yun and his first Socialist government faced the first Zhejiang War and the Guomindang under Du Yuming faced the final struggle against the Communist Bandits, Premier Song Qingling seems to be seeking out such a definitive test for her own government, if the transcript of her recent speech in the UN has been recorded accurately.

However, it ought to be remembered that while both of the Widow's predecessors came out of their respective wars victorious, it did neither much good during election season. The fallout from the Zhejiang War broke the power of the moderates within the Socialist Party, and Marshal Du's callous attitude towards collateral damage cost the GMD dearly in the 1967 elections. Neither of these precedents bode well for the current government going forward. Even if the Premier sticks to her promise to step down before the 1973 elections, her party may well inherit a foreign quagmire which will sink them at the polls.

Then again, it may also be possible that the Widow will find a way to turn adversity into triumph. If the last few years have taught us anything, it is that she excels at making mockeries out of the precedents of the men who have preceded her.

R. Zhou, Senior Politics Editor

[Cataphrak]

Guangzhou, August 2nd, 1971
MILITARY AFFAIRS COMMISSION HEAD RETIRES

Today marks the end of an era, as Marshal of the Republic Sun Liren steps down from his position as Head of the Military Affairs Commission, a post he has held for the past thirteen years.

Trained at the American Virginia Military Institute, Sun Liren was one of the few professional officers available to the National Revolutionary Army during the dark days of the Warlord Era. Rising quickly through the ranks despite his contentious relationship with the old guard of the Guomindang, he found himself thrust into prominence during the Japanese Invasion. There, as the commander of the 1st New Army, he won himself a reputation for integrity and diligence, while his tactical brilliance and daring won him recognition even by the Anglo-American press, who gave him the nickname "Rommel of the East".

Following the German Plague, Sun Liren reorganised the 1st and 5th New Armies alongside his colleague, Du Yuming. Together, the two generals eventually allied with the Yunnan Provincial Government to re-establish contact with the outside world, and re-establish the Republic on a firm foundation. Though both Sun Liren and Du Yuming had the means to declare themselves dictator, both refused do so, allowing the Republic to continue its path of political tutelage towards true popular rule.

Installed as the Head of the Military Affairs Commission by the Long Yun government and made a Marshal of the Republic by Du Yuming following the latter's election to the premiership, Marshal Sun has become a fixture of the Republic's military establishment. It has been under his guidance that the National Revolutionary Army has reunified the country, and attained its current shape. The NRA of today is very much Sun Liren's army, with his old command, the 1st New Army as its hard core.

Now, the old Marshal will pass into history. He has refused any attempt to memorialise his person. There will be no statues erected, no monuments to his glory. But his exploits will live on, both in the country, and the army which he has helped build.

[Cataphrak]

Guangzhou, July 1st, 1972
GOVERNMENT UNVEILS MASSIVE NEW INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAMME

High on the success of the Gaosu Project, the government has announced a second major development programme today, aimed at increasing the standard of public health throughout the Republic.

With the slogan of "Build new Hospitals, Strengthen the People", Premier Song Qingling has announced the construction of several dozen new large-scale medical facilities, each designed not only to function as fully-operational hospitals in their own right, but as administrative centres for a network of regional rural clinics, capable of rapidly responding to disease outbreaks and maintaining the public health of even the most remote settlements.

"Without health, there is no freedom," the Premier declared in a press conference this morning. "A poor man cannot be free if illness bankrupts him. A child will never be able to vote if she dies in her crib. Healthcare is a fundamental pillar of a free society, and to deny it to the people is to deny them every other freedom as well."

While initial construction will be limited to Liangguang and Yunnan, the plan envisions full coverage for all of the Republic's 700 million citizens within the next five years.

[Cataphrak]

Guangzhou, January 29th, 1973
ELECTION SPECIAL EDITION: AS ALL THINGS SHOULD BE?

With 98% of all ballots counted, Republic Daily can now confirm that this year's Legislative Yuan elections have resulted in an unprecedented two-way tie, with both the Guomindang and the Socialists winning 120 seats each in the Legislative Yuan - 43 seats short of a majority. Although Premier Song Qingling's government remains highly popular, her announcement that she would be retiring from the party leadership following this election, coupled with the high-profile debut of a new generation of GMD legislators have done much to erode the government's previous electoral dominance.

The power to determine who is to determine the next government now sits with the League. Once considered a spent force after half a decade in what one lawmaker referred to as 'political purgatory' during the Du Yuming Government, it has now clawed its way back to the position of supreme relevance: that of queenmaker - or perhaps kingmaker.

It is not known who the League favours a coalition with, though a spokesperson for the party leadership has declared that a decision is to be made "soon".

[Cataphrak]

Guangzhou, March 1st, 1973
ELECTORAL DEADLOCK ENDS WITH DRAMATIC PARTY SPLIT

Many were the predictions which filled the air over the past month of deadlock. With both the Socialists and the GMD winning the same number of seats in the Legislative Yuan, the decision as to who was to form the next government seemed to come down to the Democratic League, thrust into sudden prominence as queenmaker.

Now, it seems, the League has fallen just as precipitously as it has risen. Citing irreconcilable differences, the League's senior leadership announced today that effective midnight tonight, the CDL would cease to exist as a party. Having ousted much of the party's old guard in an internal election, the majority of the former League deputies have reorganised themselves as the Democratic Progressive Party, filling the League's former position in the centre of the Republic's political spectrum.

No sooner was this announced did the leaders of the new DPP announce that it had concluded coalition talks with the Socialists, forming the basis of a new government. The new Executive Council is expected to retain many of the members of Song Qingling's government, although the now-former Premier herself has not yet been offered a position. Already, there are speculations that this new government will not last the next three years. Some experts anticipate a great deal of friction between the DPP's isolationist faction, and the often proactive character of Socialist foreign policy.

Only time will tell if this unstable alliance will hold.

[Cataphrak]

Hong Kong, March 14th, 1974
CAPITULATION AGAIN: WEALTH OF CHINA TO ENRICH BOLSHEVIST SAVAGES

Dire news from the Premier's office in Canton today, as the government has announced a new wide-scale programme of industrial and military aid to the Federation of Malaysia, following the successful conclusion of the supposedly similar mission into Inner Mongolia concluded successfully last year. The project is supposed to involve nearly 250 billion yuan in funding, as well as a long-term advisory mission which is to remain in the country for an indefinite period afterwards.

While we at the Times-Colonist are typically in favour of endeavours to bring the light of civilisation to the benighted corners of the world, a closer inspection at the particulars of this mission gives great cause for concern. For those unaware, Malaysia is primarily peopled by two groups; the Malays, a golden-skinned south-asiatic people of great industry and some cleverness - and the disreputable cast-offs of Chinese society, those shirkers and degenerates who were exiled from the mainland for their crimes and indolence, and who proceeded to organise themselves in communist militias upon their arrival in their new land, hiding in the foothills of Malaya, preying upon innocents, damaging property, and treating white planters and their families with particular cruelty.

It is these violent and unreformed criminals which much of the resources of this advisory mission are to go towards, for the so-called purposes of "de-escalation". While we cannot fault the motives of the widow of the great Sun Yat-Sen for her initiative, we can only wonder if she has been taken in here by the more radical members of her party, some of which now reside in the very highest halls of power, including the Premiership. Perhaps she has been convinced that there remains some bond of friendship between the cast-offs of the Chinese race, and their more upright cousins here in their homeland. Perhaps she truly believes that these bandits might be pacified with running water and electric lights and the suppression of the supposed (and justified!) hatred of the Malay towards these violent criminals and their sympathisers

But we would like to think we know better, and history takes our side of the argument. One cannot appease a Communist any more than one might domesticate a wild beast simply by feeding it. There is no profit in such attitudes towards the red terrorists, and we can only hope the government learns this lesson before the interests of the right-thinking peoples of the world are fatally compromised due to it.

[Cataphrak]

Guangzhou/Lhasa, July 17th, 1975
MARKET TUMBLES AS TIBET CALLS FOR MORALE SUPPORT

Concern in the Pan-Asian Exchange today, as the government of the Republic of Tibet officially requests support from other MORALE countries in dealing with its current border disputes with the Kingdom of India.

Though the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that its foremost priority is the establishment of a diplomatic solution to the current situation, the possibility of an escalating conflict with the Kingdom of India remains a constant fear for many on the trading floor.