NationStates Jolt Archive

It was no secret that relations with Japan had grown increasingly cold since the latest election which produced a nationalist Japanese government.

Both President Hu Jin Tao and Vice President James Chang were seeing red when the two senior members of the NDP, Akira Shigi and Asahiro Kensuke visited the Yasukuni shrine. Now the election was well over it, it was time to return diplomatic fire.

The first shot was not hard to miss. Wen Jia Bao, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, released a press statement supporting Korea's claim to the Dokdo islands as he prepared for a visit to Seoul.

Raleigh, Australasia

"That's petty of them," Christina said, pulling the covers up higher. It was an unusually cold night in Raleigh, and a fire was burning cheerily in the hearth. No gas heating for the Prime Minister, not until the Suez situation was resolved.

"Yes, isn't it?" Strathairn's voice was somewhat distant, his eyes scanning Seapower by Mahan. Clever fellow, that De Ruyter. His battles might be worth a bit more research. Strathairn was an armchair strategist, his study was lined with charts and maps as well as digital readouts of the current strategic situation. He was no Hitler, and refused to micromanage his forces, but he certainly took an interest in their deployment.

"Andrew, are you listening? The Chinese just acknowledged the Dra-Poel claim to the Dokdo Islands. This is what we in the politics business call a diplomatic incident." She sounded cross. Hmm... a blockade applied to the French coast could likely work again, so long as Britain agreed to allow Australasian warships basing rights. Something to consider.

"Dammit, Andrew. Listen to me." Strathairn yawned.

"Yes, dear." He slept on the couch that night.

OOC: A slight misunderstanding there - China refers to South Korea as Korea, and refers to Dra-pol as Dra-pol, not Korea.

(OOC: China, the ROK's government isn't in Seoul; that city is under Dra-pol rule. I'm sure you meant to say Taegu, which is where Geronia located the capital during the short time he ran the nation, but evidently your fingers slipped while typing.)

Tokyo

Akira Shigi scowled as Foreign Minister Yamamoto Hisoka explained the Chinese 'bitchslap' handed down.

"Arrogant swine! Let me guess, this is the 'China owns Asia' mentality shining through once again. Japan does something China doesn't like, so China interferes in Japanese affairs. Still, we knew they'd do something....what's the plan?"

Yamamoto turned the page of his report. "Well, we can renounce the claim to Takeshima, but that would seem like we're bowing to Chinese pressure. The fact is that the Shrine visit may have hurt relations with the Koreans, but as you so rightly stated we are sworn to their defense. The Chinese have only ever offered vague promises of not helping Dra-pol."

"Issue a statement, using that eloquent manner of yours. I have tea with Heika Tenno this afternoon; he'll probably raise an eyebrow or two at this, but I'm sure he'll understand."

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In response to Wen Jia Bao's statement, Minister Yamamoto issued his own press release. It reminded everyone that although there was still dispute over the aforementioned islands, it had never come between Japan and the ROK since the Ringists were pushed out of Japan. The release also stated that Japan had repeatedly stated their intention to defend the ROK alongside the Quinntonians should any power attack them, while the Chinese had made advances towards the 'Progressives' who would love nothing more than a Korean peninsula ruled by Dra-pol.

The release went on to say that since the Chinese were so intent on causing trouble between Japan and the ROK, Foreign Minister Yamamoto would undertake his own trip to Taegu to reaffirm Japan's commitment to the ROK's defense and continued existence. Yamamoto also stated that the Japanese government would be more than willing to discuss the status of the disputed islands if the ROK government wished to talk about them.

The Quinntonian government was fast to congratulate the Japanese on their handling of the situation. It would be hard to understand if the Korean government suddenly turned on the Japanese, the very people that signed a pact with Quinntonia and ROK to fight for their defense against the Dra-poel. That, and the billions in aid and the massive military support, joint mass training operations, the focus on technological interoperability of the ROK, Japanese and Quinntonian militaries, along with years upon years of mutual friendship and support meant that China was facing an uphill battle if they wanted to cause division between these close allies.

The Quinntonians made contact with their many friends in the government, ruled by the National Christian Party, and offered to act as a mediator between Japan and ROK if it should come to that.

OOC-In RL, Korea is probably the most Christian nation in the world. The largest Protestant Church in the world is in Seoul, and though the percentages of religious background don’t make Christianity quite a third, these are all heavily practicing Christians, unlike in say, UK, where church attendance among professing Christians is about 20%, in Korea it more like 90%. The Christian religious groups hold great sway in Korean politics, and when LRR and I co-ran ROK, I know that the National Christian Party formed a coalition with his ruling party. And when Geronia took over, he played as though the next election carried the NCP to a majority victory due to the good relationship that was happening with Quinntonia and both Quinntonia’s and Japan’s untiring devotion to their defense of economy.

WWJD
Amen.

Wen Jia Bao flipped through a glossy hardback printed years ago titled "The Tripartite Pact - A new era in Asia". That book was printed 8, maybe 9 years ago at the height of Zhang's influence. He was yesterday's hero and now his legacy was gradually being dismantled by Hu's government. Nobody in Beijing saw the Tripartite as anything more than a paper agreement - the shrine visit had turned everyone in the administration against Japan, and relations with Quintonnia were at an all time low following firstly the Indonesian issue, then Libya, the Suez and now the Quintonnia's support of Japan's militaristic government.

Emperor Jonathan Zhang. A lifetime bible-basher. Perhaps he could be convinced to visit Korea and put on a charm offensive on behalf of Beijing? Throw in a few church visits along the way, pay for all expenses, attach a few holiday destinations, and the promise of concessions to the United China Party in parliament and it could be very possible. Still, Zhang was still in active communication with the Quintonnians and his loyalty to the new Chinese administration was very much in doubt given the personality clashes and the backstabbing going on in parliament.

The economy, the Suez crisis which was still hurting Korean trade, and fears of further conflict with Dra-pol clashing against a desire for unification and compassion for those on the wrong side of the border. These were the fears and worries that the Koreans experienced if Wen's own experience with the Sino-Xiaguo reunification were anything to go by.

In a statement released by Wen Jia Bao's office, he accused Japan of excessive militarism and attempts to "divide and weaken Korea" and announced "China's commitment to peaceful reunification under a market economy." (This was very ambiguos of course, even Dra-pol referred to herself as a market socialist economy.) Wen Jia Bao then offered to oversee and organise a mutual reduction in troops on the Korean border.

Of course, the Quinntonians would immediately point out that the only way that they would be supportive of mutual decreases would be to have Dra-pol first decrease their military to the numbers of the ROK.

WWJD
Amen.

In a statement released by Wen Jia Bao's office, he accused Japan of excessive militarism and attempts to "divide and weaken Korea" and announced "China's commitment to peaceful reunification under a market economy." (This was very ambiguos of course, even Dra-pol referred to herself as a market socialist economy.) Wen Jia Bao then offered to oversee and organise a mutual reduction in troops on the Korean border.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry releases yet another statement, asking for proof of Japan's 'excessive militarism'. No changes have been made to the Self-Defense Forces, and Japan has re-emphasised their commitment to the defence of the ROK. If that is 'excessive militarism', then what of China? Maintaining armed forces of such disparity with those of Japan yet accusing Japan of excessive militarism? If Japan were to repeat the 1930s as is being insinuated, the Chinese would easily stop them. Japan is well on the road to becoming a regional power to be sure, but excessive militarism would be pointless considering the number of states surrounding Japan which are militarily superior.

As for attempting to divide and weaken Korea, the Japanese government asked which state the Chinese would rather have. A Korea ruled by Dra-pol, which has in the past launched wars of aggression and tested missiles over the sovereign territory of others, or a Korea ruled by the ROK, which is a peaceful and stable nation which was ravaged by a vicious assault from Dra-pol. Japan then reiterated their desire to see a united Korea, where people were free to think how they wished without fear of government reprisal, where a dynamic economy was permitted and where there was no threat of invasion.

The statement finished by stating that Japan would dearly love to see a mutual reduction in troop numbers, but an effort would need to be made by Dra-pol as well. It was also asked why China seemed so intent on slandering one of its allies, and why China had only now decided to intervene in Korea when the Quinntonians and Japanese had stood with the ROK for many years.

Beijing points out that since Hu's administration has taken office, relations with Russia, the ISC, Spyr, and soon ROK have been mended, while Tokyo has threatened to wipe out several nearby nations and cause major regional instability.

Beijing has indicated that it would be comfortable with a Korea that embraced the free market but also took on the better characteristics of socialism. As for accusing China of slandering, President Hu notes that Akira Shigi won the election in part through the use of anti-Chinese campaigns.

Back in parliament, former Emperor Jonathan Zhang has agreed to go to Korea, but it came at a price for the ruling Social Democrat party - Zhang wanted the energy regulation bill to be dropped.

[Before I continue on - would the history of AMW Korea mirror that of RL Korea exactly except the Korean war would have been a decade later?]

(OOC: I'm not sure about the Korean timeline to be honest)

Tokyo points out that Akira Shigi's comment "This world would be so much better if Spyr and Dra-pol were wiped from the face of the earth" was made during the election campaign and was not a statement of foreign policy. The comment was made during a heated live political debate, and Prime Minister Akira wishes the rest of Asia to know that Japan has absolutely no intention of 'wiping out nations'. It is most important to judge people not by what they think, or say, only by what they do. Actions speak louder than words, and the actions of the current Chinese government show that they are untrustworthy at best. Need it be pointed out that the Chinese elections saw impressive anti-Japanese protests which no party attempted to quell? Prime Minister Akira was acting according to those, and the perceived anti-Japanese sentiment of the new Chinese government.

What has Japan done? Apologised for the Pacific War, attempted to improve relations with all neighbours, spoke out against the aggression of the socialist nations. What has China done? Supported Strainist aggression in Indonesia, moving away from her democratic allies and cosying up to various dictatorships. China is making a powerplay in northern Asia, attempting to undermine the relationship between Japan and the ROK for her own selfish needs. No doubt she will attempt to turn the ROK against the Quinntonians, who have stood in defense of Taegu for many years while the Chinese sat back and watched Koreans die at the hands of their 'brothers' in Dra-pol. Socialist nations across the planet seem to be on the march, and now China says it would be comfortable with a socialist Korea.

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

In Taegu, Foreign Minister Yamamoto reiterated Japan's commitment to the defense of the ROK and categorically stated that if Taegu wished to negotiate over the disputed islands, then Japan would be most pleased to do so. He also pointed out that despite the Tripartite Pact between Quinntonia, China and Japan, China has never seen fit to acknowledge the ROK before, even though both Quinntonia and Japan have always had an excellent working relationship with Taegu. If there is to be a peaceful peninsula, then Dra-pol must make the first move. They have always been the aggressor in the past, invading the ROK, testing missiles over Japanese territory and never once showing an interest in unification unless it was completely under their own banner.

Sithin is quick to point out that the Choson People's Republic has been engaged in unilateral reductions of its military forces for some time now, and that the current Drapoel leadership has affirmed their commitment to re-unification of the Korean peninsula by peaceful means. It is wondered what motives Tokyo might harbour which caused it to ignore such realities in its statements, despite the fact that they are well known (particuarly in South Korea).

Sithin also states that it is in agreement with historic Korean claims to islands such as Dokdo, as aknowledged in the Drapoel-Spyran treaty that established territorial demarcations in the East Sea decades ago, and that while it is hoped that the Korean peninsula will eventually find unity, until that time the government in South Korea stands as proper administrative authority for such territories.

Sithin is quick to point out that the Choson People's Republic has been engaged in unilateral reductions of its military forces for some time now, and that the current Drapoel leadership has affirmed their commitment to re-unification of the Korean peninsula by peaceful means. It is wondered what motives Tokyo might harbour which caused it to ignore such realities in its statements, despite the fact that they are well known (particuarly in South Korea).

OOC: Could you please provide a link to the thread including that info, because obviously I haven't read it. Once again another reason to start posting new thread titles in our main AMW thread.

Quinntonian and Korean leaders, Christian and otherwise are aghast at the comments from Sithin, but not very surprised. It is pointed out that even if it were true that the enclave at Hamhung and the embattled people in the Republic of Korea were pleasantly disposed towards their terrifying northern neighbors, they would be far from ready to believe the things that are being spouted by foreign governments known to have supported the genocidal regime(s) in Dra-pol.

With the visions of the hordes of Dra-poel soldiers descending on their borders and killing, looting and raping everything in their path while the images of the reported over hundred thousand crucifixion victims that were often proudly displayed on various Dra-poel borders seared like red hot metal into the minds of the people here, they would be quick to see the hypocrisy in any claim that the Dra-poel were some kind of world leader in the department of peaceful coexistence with their neighbors. Some would admit to a unilateral demilitarization of the Dra-poel borderlands, but say that the mass graves that were filled with the latest round forced ruralisation and the losses that were inflicted on that nation in their multiple wars of aggression would account for much of that. And that the regime’s brutal policies towards its own people and mass militarization on a scale unlike anything seen anywhere in the world is forcing starvation on a massive scale on their own people. The kinds of mass deaths and purges that are seen on this scale are unlike anything that has been experienced since Stalinist Russia, and that nation had a reported 20 million losses of their own people under his brutal reign as well. Perhaps the critics of the ROK would say then that Stalin was a harbinger of arms reduction and peace unlike any in his day, using the same logic.

The people of Korea know who has been fighting on their behalf, supporting them financially, and preparing them for what the average citizen thinks is the inevitable next invasion by the insanity that is the Choson. The only Progressive friendly nations that they would even come close to trust would be Hindustan, who fought the Dra-poel on their behalf, when Lyong and even the former regimes in China and the Soviets supported the Dra-poel. This was not so long ago that the citizens cannot remember the graves they themselves dug to bury loved ones and the fighting that they did, the personal sacrifices they made to bleed the ground red for their freedom and in the eyes of most, their very survival.

The mass executions, public tortures, and insane waves of invaders have changed this peninsula forever. And when the ROK looks for their friends, they are not so easily swayed, it would seem, by a sudden shift in propaganda from their neighbors.

They will never knowingly submit to Dra-poel aggression, and will use anything in the massive arsenal that has been supplied to them by their Quinntonian and Japanese allies to fight for their brothers, sisters, homes, lives and children.

That is the true state of the Korean psyche, even as they pray to whatever gods they hold dear that their captured relatives in Seoul are someday returned.

WWJD
Amen.

((This thread is significant to the current Korean situation (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=499657).))

In the Choson People's Republic all the people, the military, and the government had quite enough to think about and to do without being drawn once again into the fall-out of Sino-Japanese-Quinntonian meddling in the Korean peninsula, which is exactly how the latest diplomatic crisis is regarded across Dra-pol.

Having mandated that Dra-sul -the liberated if drastically depopulated portion of South Korea, inclusive of Seoul- should become, "ten percent of Spyr", Director Hotan had stepped-down as Secretary of the Korean Communist Party and the membership had elected to support his recommendation of the relatively unknown comrade Kim Hyun-Ki as the new man for the job.

Sithin had been making significant efforts to restore Drapoel pride and prevent the nation's ignominious collapse, and Strainist rhetoric along with Armandian aid looked like it just might hold the People's Republic together.

Under Kim's day to day administration -Hotan had not been seen since returning from his last trip to Lyong- a second attempt at local elections in Seoul has been announced, along with a further reduction to already down-sized Assault Divisions. Fifty thousand of the UPA's former recruits are now far away, under Strainist command at the Russian border. Market-socialism is being tried in Dra-sul with an impressive sample population of six-million.

Secretary Kim has recently agreed to meet with Chinese leaders and diplomats, and he describes a distinct Hotanite era dominating Dra-pol after the groundwork of Kurosian I Thought and the abomination of Neo-Suloism, both of which are rejected in the future planning of the KCP.

Da'Khiem maintains that Drapoel militarism has been necessary due to the revolutionary struggle that birthed the Choson People's Republic and the harsh division of Dra-pol and the creation under foreign interests of the artificial Republic of Korea, which has received military support from the United States and others ever since its inception. Independent Dra-pol has been unable to match such support and so has been obliged to enforce absolute discipline and maintain high numbers of troops to defend against the capitalist hammer held over the independent vessel.

Kim has not dropped his people's complaints against the outside world: the United States has pursued a policy of imperialism since the Second World War, dividing the sovereign nation of Dra-pol not once but twice, denying the independent Drapoel first the forgiving lands of the south and then the best agricultural soil of the mountainous north, which they have made into a concrete mess dependent upon imports.

Under Kim and Hotanite Thinking Da'Khiem works towards the day upon which the opponents of the old authorities, residing in Hamhung and Hungnam, may return to independent Dra-pol, and follows the Strainist position on the sovereignty of islands disputed by Japan: they are Taegu's until Da'Khiem is once more capital of all Korea, free, united, independent, and well-fed.

Beijing has not endorsed anti-Japanese sentiment for 40 years. The anti-Japanese riots were a small group of Liuists in Sino - the people that destroyed much of Northern China, have not been in power for decades and will never again have any sort of influence on Chinese politics again. Beijing also points out that if any member of China's parliament had made the same comments as Akira Shigi about wiping Japan out from the face of the earth he or she would have been charged with inciting violence and racial hatred.

(I will post in the other thread before Zhang touches down in the ROK - If I get bogged down and leave for a few days, assume that China has met with Dra-pol and discussed financial incentives for endorsing market socialism)

It is interesting that China did not feel Prime Minister Akira's comments to be worthy of mention until they decided to approach the ROK, at which time it has now become a major issue. Why not lodge a protest at the time? It was not made at a time when China could use it to foster anti-Japanese sentiments in the ROK, which she is attempting by resurrecting the issue of the Dokdo/Takeshima Islands. China is openly trying to split the alliance between the ROK and Japan, despite still being allied with Japan. Japan has never threatened China, and will never be a threat to China.

Yes, there was concern regarding China's new political position due to the overt imperialism of leftist nations across Asia. If it is not Europeans trying to colonise Asia, then it is the Strainists. Sithin cannot deny that they have a hand in the open and unprovoked invasion of Indonesia by Sujava, as Sujava always takes direction from them. The Chinese government have supported this, apparently abandoning any ideas they may once have had about the sanctity of a nation-state. Their actions led the Japanese people to elect a government that would take a stronger line with Beijing, and Beijing has proven them correct in this need with this meddling in the business of the ROK.

The Japanese government finds it most interesting that Beijing has waited several months to make Prime Minister Akira's comment into an international incident; how long until they follow suit with Dra-pol's usual policy and resurrect the issue of the Pacific War? China's actions are no more than bullying; they want something that they perceive a smaller neighbour to have, so they browbeat that neighbour into submission. It is also most interesting that China chooses to focus on Japan, the newest contributor to the ROK's defense and also the weakest of the powers contributing to the ROK, rather than the USQ. It proves that China, and now Spyr, are nothing more than bullies, attempting to gain some enjoyment by resurrecting old issues and then throwing mud when Japan attempts to defend herself.

The Fourth Indian Soviet Commonwealth, its first act the carrying-out of new elections to the Soviets, its second the dismantling of its strategic nuclear force, makes its third act the contacting of the Drapoel embassy in Sithin. Attempting to restore relations with the Choson People's Republic is considered to be in-line with the Third Commonwealth's late moves to cease competition with Strainist influence in South East Asia, re-open trade with China, and approach the Combine diplomatically for the first time on record.

A Soviet Consul in Japan has spoken during the current diplomatic hostilities in the region only to say that, to her knowledge, the Sujavans are far from being at the beck and call of the Spyrians but rather have the ability to out-vote them if choosing to act as such a block.

Raipur hasn't commented on Dokdo, but it is no secret that the Soviets have yet to see a Japanese government they liked.

[With Japan leaving, how would we do this? Quint mentioned something about the RL Emperor taking control again so I'm not too sure what's happening.]