NationStates Jolt Archive

Sent to all European nations -

Greetings and salutations from the Republic of China,

For many years, the ROC and Europe have been far apart. Located at opposite sides of the planet, distance has kept our interactions minimal. And so it has remained for decades since we first heard of each other.

But now, let us break the silence and share what we have - a mutual interest in economic and trade growth. A mutual interest in international security.

President Zhang of the ROC wishes to include your great nation among the destinations in his European tour. He would be grateful for a chance to meet and discuss issues of national important with your leaders.

Signed,

President Zhang
Republic of China

Sir Charlton Burrows, recently made Foreign Minister following a minor cabinet reshuffle, made replying to Zhang one of his first acts of office.

The United Kingdom would, he said, be delighted to entertain the President at some point during his proposed European tour, the British Industrial Democratic Party government seeing the Republic as the least dangerous way into contact with China.

The Deparment of Foreign Affairs thanks the British for their reply, and passed the message onto President Zhang.

[An OOC note - Seeing as it will be much too troublesome to tour the European nations one by one, I'll just do em all at once]

Zhang's advisors were busy planning the journey and every single minor detail. It was decided that Zhang should first visit some English attractions with his British counterparts (if they were happy with it as well) to loosen the atmosphere. A visit to leaders of the local immigrant community was also slated. Best to keep the PR nice and friendly, with lots of smiles, handshakes, and hugs. Finally, the friendly discussions with the head of state.

The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, would invite the Xiannese to Moscow, as the position of Secretary of State is not yet filled, as the man chosen to the position was shot by a Mafia hitman. But do not worry about security; the Russian armed forces along with Quinntonian peacekeepers will provide it.

The plane journey to Heathrow was uneventful. Escorted by a small group of bodyguards and luggage handlers, Zhang awaited the arrival of his British escort.

Here, he was nobody. There was no throng of protesters waiting to meet him. He waited patiently for an official to arrive and notice him.

----------------------------

A reporter from Taipei Times arrives in Moscow to cover the Xiannese-Russian meeting.

Bump

His Most Christian Majesty had no initial interests from the Taiwanese offer of relations. After all, why bother to speak with an island that appeared to be antepasto to the mainland lunatics.

However, seeing that Taiwan was activley being courted by the British and Russians, and after the Foreign Ministries consideration of Taiwans geographic posistion as 'important' to French 'efforts' in the East, a cordail invitation would be issued to Taipei.

"His Most Christian Majesty Louis XX would be honored to accept a Taiwanese delegation at Versailles."

After all, a King must needs be polite.

Official Imperial Response

We would be delighted to host President Zhang in Rome. In fact, we have already begun to plan games in his honor and entertainment.

-Senator Marcus Crassus

OOC: Doomingsland, can you do an introcuctory RP? An explanation of how Italy suddenly went back to the days of Caesar?

(Oh, it could happen at the drop of a hat! Remember when they fought the greatest imperial war in history? Man, I'd never have expected Albania and Abyssinia to fall so quickly!)

Zhang's arrival at the world's busiest airport served as a brief reminder of the sort of disruption once common place, and largely eliminated since the British Industrial Democratic Party took power and started to put service ahead of profit. Certainly it had more or less halted Britain's relatively good economic growth, but the breif and mild recession had at least passed into history, and, as Prime Minister John Bull persistantly pointed out, prosperity was only worth mentioning if it could be seen in action rather than in bank statements.

The temporary re-nationalisation of British Airways had put Concorde back into the air, though there was a considerable lobby to drop that e granted to the original project's French partner, and examples could be seen -and heard- climbing and descending around the airport.

Zhang was eventually met by a small party that was headed by Sir Humphrey, a noted member of the Diplomatic Service who'd spent most of his career puffing cigars in Roycelandian resteraunts while representing British interests in that region.

The President would be greeted warmly and invited to enter a shiny Rolls (more BID nationalisations and partial re-privatisations) outside the terminal, margined by equally shiny Jaguars and further items of national prestige. All of these -from Concorde to Roller, and more- would be frequently and oh so casually referenced in export-friendly framework during the President's visit. My, didn't Zhang look good in such a fine car, and gosh, wouldn't he have got here sooner in a Concorde! Ah, not to belittle Chinese industry, mind...

The party was driven at fairly high speed to one of the capital's better hotels where conference facilities had been made ready under significant security. Armed police with MP5s or Sterlings were to be noted in small numbers near the hotel, but nothing more dramatic than that would be seen.

[I'm not quite sure if Zhang has anything specific in mind, regarding any talks, but feel free to steer conversation.]

OOC: Doomingsland, can you do an introcuctory RP? An explanation of how Italy suddenly went back to the days of Caesar?
OOC:I'll do it tommorow. Oh, is using alternate histories out of the question?

OOC:
theya ren't out of the question but think long and hard about possible repercussions.

IIRC msot AMW alt history is msot defiantly post WW2 and i think msot epople work on the basis of the Cold war happening (although Estenlands throws a major spanner in that works as without ukraine russia would ahev had a big problem maintaining thier levels of industrial output).

European joint ventures are a particularly thorny area in my mind, never mind TBF and elkazor ripping airbus and MBDA appart think what a rahter different italy woudl mean: no tornado, no typhoon, no augusta westland, perhaps even no EH101...

Fun isn't it :)

not to put you off or anything it just that all these more extreme european nations are putting far more of the world's arms deals into the hands of the brazilians...

As Zhang alit from the Rolls Royce, he was clearly impressed by the beauty of the vehicle. But then again, he was sure he had seen a near-perfect counterfeited copy during his visits to Sino.

"So tell me a little about Britain," Zhang said to Sir Humphrey as he admired much of the London scenery. "London looks like a very nice city."

--------------------------------------

The diplomatic service quickly accepts the invitations from Italy and France, sending them detailed documents with regards to preparation.

(Assume Zhang lands in your airports from the next post)

(Good job Harrier IV/Sea Harrier 4 is in the works then, eh? This probably means that I'm going to have to re-open more of those, 'oh, for some slightly made-up reason, we can't afford it' projects... these things keep me from deciding to let TBF go after having Bull lose an election so someone else can take over. Who could I trust to restore the proper programmes and oppose the continental tyrants? Sigh! The pressure!)

(I guess that Quintonnia's Boeing has a monopoly on the Jet airliner market then right?)

(I'd imagine they're doing well in the wake of presumable Airbus failure, but the UK is making some sort of effort in competition. Concorde I assume to have been created before the French restoration, and since Bull came to power, the defunct British fleet was, well, forcibly nationalised and put back into action, and the possibility of production for export now exists again. I sort of imagine it having a better chance, now, in a changed world of show-offs and big powers. Elements of BAe were nationalised and some of them re-privatised again, and companies like Vickers have begun to turn-out airliners once again. I doubt that they're making Airbus-like dents in Boeing's share, but they're [shock horror] doing rather well in the domestic market, at least.

Then there's rather more radical considerations like the fact of the communists' wing-in-ground-effect vehicles entering into mass production over India way...)

Zhang's initial impression of the hotel was somewhat shallow. He had seen hotels in Taiwan that were much better and greater in excesses. He noticed that the facilities were lightly guarded, perhaps a testimony to the low crime rates. Something to take note of, maybe something the Taiwanese police could learn.

He took a deep breathe as he prepared to enter the conference room. His English needed practice, but it wasn't too bad for a 65 year old Chinamen.

"Good evening Mr...."

(Who is he meeting with?)

i think (and elkazor has hinted) that airbus still exists but likely in a rather reduced capability form (after all a vast proportion of airbus's fabrication plants are outside of france ie the wings for most of the aircraft are biult in britain as are about half of the engines, the other half comming from the US).
I would imagine that most of the assests were pretty much split up between the partner companies (BAe etc) with the various nations renaming the versions they produce (hence elkazors airbus 9000 VIP aircraft, perhaps he merged Airbus and dassult hence the rather extreme deviation from from the AB nameing scheme 9000 would in my mind be an appropritate designation for a dassult aircraft broadly similar to A318, 319, 320, 321 or ACJ).

As to Boeing dominance who is to say that quintonia hasn't made sure that MacDonald Douglas is still around?

just a tag

IC:

Hudecia's government watches with interest Zhang's movements towards Europe.

TAG

IC:

"He's on to it." Liu spoke to the other generals in the war room as he showed a news footage announcing Zhang's visitations to Europe.

(I guess that Quintonnia's Boeing has a monopoly on the Jet airliner market then right?)

Elias Aerospace will probably enter the market sooner or later as military business has definately peaked, and the huge number of Soviet built civil airliners in UE start to need replacing urgently, unless of course we just buy Boeing, time will tell.

(No more sidetracking hopefully)

TBF? Are you there?

Tag....?too late?

Way too late...I think TBF has gone inactive.

With the rise of a new Ireland and revolution in Spain, plans are made for new visits to Europe.

Come visit Moscow! Weapons agreements need to be discussed. Taiwan's got the technology and the finances, Russia has the labor, resources, and factories.

Finance Minister Li Mei Chen has expressed interest in returning to Moscow to discuss trade and defence links.