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I'm back with another map from my timeline '6 Days on The Rhine'. In this timeline, WWII doesn't happen after the French and British invade Germany when Hitler tries to remilitarize the Rhineland. Hitler shoots himself and the government is replaced (I explain this in more detail in my previous post)

Apologies for the mammoth essay so tl;dr: The Sino-Japanese War ends after Britain and France declare war on Japan and test a nuclear device. The Communists then try to continue the war with the promise of Soviet Support but said support never comes and they are crushed from both sides. The KMT government in China is fairly brutal in suppressing dissent and as a result, Chiang Kai-Shek is assassinated in 1950. He is succeeded by his son who purges the ranks of the KMT from corruption and leads an authoritarian state up to the 1970s when he begins to relax government control. In 2020, China is the worlds largest economy and has a huge population, however, it is afflicted by high inequality and large amounts of relative poverty for a developed nation. Read on for more detail...

Anyway, in the 'Far-East' the situation is also rather complicated. I went into some detail about the Sino-Japanese war previously and I'll use this as an opportunity to indulge in the Chinese side of things. In 1937 the Sino-Japanese war breaks out as IOTL and goes much a similar way, with the Japanese failing to secure a decisive victory and getting bogged down in Central China, against devoted soldiers of the United Front. At the same time, the Chinese are also receiving large amounts of support from Britain and France, and to a limited extent, the United States. These parties have a vested interest in China winning as Japan poses a serious threat to holdings in the Pacific such as Malaysia, French Indochina and the Philippines. By 1943, China was receiving money, weapons and expert advice from Western powers in their fight against the Japanese. It becomes clear to everyone except the Japanese that the war could not be won, especially with the growing threat of Soviet invasion looming in Manchuria - the flimsy Japanese-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact is unlikely to hold out against the current diplomatic situation, however, an apprehensive Stalin fails to use the opportunity to his advantage and doesn't strike any sort of alliance with the CPC until early 1945. In November 1944, the failure of Operation Ichi-Go in securing any meaningful gains finally put the IJA on a definite course for failure and also spurred the Soviet administration into action. Despite this, the Imperial Government still refused to even consider making peace and the Emperor demanded further offensives. This pipe-dream was shattered when a massive coordinated Chinese offensive in the South lay waste to the Japanese positions - Nanning and Canton were recaptured and the bulk of the remaining Japanese forces retreated to Amoy (Xiamen) where they would remain till the end of the war. This offensive had, however, exhausted a large portion of the Chinese's capability to fight and they had lost a lot of equipment in the struggle, giving more strength to the Communists in North China.

Seeing this, the British and French issued a joint ultimatum to Japan demanding that a peaceful end to the war be reached, with the requirement all Japanese gains after 1937 be returned to the Nationalists. This was no empty threat, and Britain had been building up its naval strength in the region for some time now and would be more than able to seriously threaten the up till then-dominant IJN. If war were declared, it would also allow the British to deploy large numbers of Indian and Australasian troops to the Chinese front which would certainly be the final nail in the coffin for Japan. It should also be mentioned that 'Tube Alloys', the British Nuclear Program, was nearing completion, and while it was unlikely for it to be used against the Japanese, it would certainly serve as a warning. However, in a spectacular demonstration of absurd nationalism, the Japanese government rejects the ultimatum and war is declared on 6th January 1945. The British Pacific Fleet, which by this point had swelled to form 75% of the British Navy, was deployed immediately and caught the IJN off guard - the IJN suffer crippling losses at the Battle of The Philippines Sea and then the Battle of Ryuku. Furthermore, the Australian Army is able to capture several Japanese pacific islands, including Micronesia and the Marshall Islands as due to all attention being on China, they were poorly protected.

The final blow came when a 20 Kt nuclear device named 'Hurricane' is tested off the coast of Australia in May 1945. The bomb was the culmination of a Joint Anglo-French nuclear program and was widely publicized as to draw as much attention to it from the Japanese government. Indeed, it was noticed and there was widespread fear that such a 'cruel bomb' could be dropped on the Home Islands (This was never seriously considered by the British of French governments, however) and as a result opinion in the Emperor's cabinet began to ever so slightly swing towards a 'peace with honour'. In early August, a Chinese, French, British, Japanese and American delegation arrived in San Francisco to organise a peace between the 4 nations. A conclusion was reached in early September 1945 with Japan forced to surrender all territory gained since 1937 except the island city of Amoy and the Chusan Archipelago. The Treaty also demanded that Japan pay recompense for the war crimes it committed throughout the war.

The Treaty of San Francisco was finally signed on 7th September 1945 and an end to hostilities commenced. However, incensed by the lack of Soviet representation at San Francisco, Stalin had struck a deal with the now very powerful CPC and had agreed to support a Communist invasion of Manchukuo and further Communist takeover of China. Thus, on 27th September 1945, just 20 days after peace was reached, the Communists launched an invasion of Manchuria. Several weeks passed and the CPC were unable to make significant gains in the region while Soviet support never came. The reason Stalin did not give the help he had promised is unknown, however, it may have been the second nuclear test by Great Britain and the successful United States 'Trinity' test which convinced him to not risk his armies in China. The invasion of Manchuria was used as a pretext by Chiang Kai-Shek to launch a campaign against Communists in China and this combined assault by both Japanese and Chinese forces proved fatal to the People's Liberation Army. Those who survived melted into the mountains and forests where Mao Tse-Tung led a Communist insurgency for another 20 years.

However, control of China was not that easily won for the Nationalists - they had to rest control of much of the countryside from Communist insurgents and loyalists. To do this, Chiang engaged in a brutal and indiscriminate campaign against any and all people suspected of having Communist sentiments. The so-called 'Great Undoing' led to the deaths of an estimated 1 million people, the vast majority of which had no communist affiliations. This made KMT rule incredibly unpopular and student protests sponsored by the CPC were very common. The unrest culminated in 1950 when Chiang Kai-Shek was assassinated by a student in Nanking. This assassination would prove a blessing for China in the long run, as the autocratic and corrupt leader of the KMT was removed. However, in the short term, the infighting that resulted from this lead to widespread opportunism by the corrupt administration of the KMT. It became common for local warlords to exploit people under there control and military engagements between rival warlords were not unheard of, resembling the earlier warlord period of th 1920s. In 1954 Chiang Ching-Kuo, Chiang Kai-Shek's son was able to gain control of a large portion of the Nationalist Army and used it to put down rebellions with ruthless efficiency. He also made ample use of the secret police to extort, torture and murder a huge number of people suspected of corruption or communist leanings.

Thus, by 1957, Ching-Kuo had secured control over most of China and was even able to militarily coerce the new civilian government of Japan the 'Mukden Declaration' which promised the State of Manchukuo would be handed over to China within 5 years. He also led the invasion of Tibet and Xinjiang in 1961, thus restoring Chinese rule to the region. China did not become involved in the 'Atomic War' (This is a war between East and West that is considered the most high-stakes conflict of all time as both sides possessed nuclear weapons but by some miracle they were able to refrain from using them - I will go into a lot more detail in my next post).

During the 1970s Ching-Kuo began to relax his authoritarian rule and began to allow political dissent while also further opening the economy to foreign investment. Up to that point, foreign involvement had been limited and growth was as a result weakened (but by no means poor - the economy was still experiencing strong growth thanks to somewhat steady industrialisation). After the Trans-Eurasian Trade Agreement was signed in 1975 with the members of the European Community, China became open to European business and then American business in 1977. Since then, the Republic of China has seen tremendous growth in all sectors owing to its vast population and wealth of natural resources. It became the world's largest economy in 1992, overtaking the still fairly isolationist USA. It has also seen great leaps in liberalisation, with the Communist Party being legalized again in 2003 and the 'Commonwealth' being formed in 1995, following the quasi-invasion of Mongolia in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse. The Commonwealth gives equal representation to Mongolia, Manchuria, Tibet and the Republic of China in the vast Legislative Yuan and also gives the Western regions of China greater autonomy as Muslim Autonomous regions (no concentration camps this time). Overall, by 2020 China is a hugely influential player on the world stage with a gigantic economy and powerful military. However, GDP/capita still lags behind other developed nations and inequality remains high. Welfare provision is strong, with a National Health Service and a decent safety net for the downtrodden. However, it does not come close to solving the problems of poverty and inequality which are still widespread in both the countryside and cities. It is in a similar situation the USA IOTL, with rosy city life in a few wealthy places but still large amounts of poverty and suffering in more far-flung regions. The government also retains much of its power from the early days of government, being what one might call a 'nanny state' in many ways - not quite authoritarian but still maintaining a firm hand over certain areas of society.

Notes:

The map is in Wade-Giles as this was the official romanization system used by the Republic of China up to 2008 when it was changed to Hanyu Pinyin. I see little reason why this would be any different in this timeline and thus have decided to keep it for use on this map.

Hong Kong, Macau and Guangzhouwan aren't returned to China ITTL as an agreement is reached, in return for free trade with Europe and European investment in Chinese business, that the lease on these territories is extended by 999 years to 2974 AD.

Description

I'm back with another map from my timeline '6 Days on The Rhine'. In this timeline, WWII doesn't happen after the French and British invade Germany when Hitler tries to remilitarize the Rhineland. Hitler shoots himself and the government is replaced (I explain this in more detail in my previous post)

Apologies for the mammoth essay so tl;dr: The Sino-Japanese War ends after Britain and France declare war on Japan and test a nuclear device. The Communists then try to continue the war with the promise of Soviet Support but said support never comes and they are crushed from both sides. The KMT government in China is fairly brutal in suppressing dissent and as a result, Chiang Kai-Shek is assassinated in 1950. He is succeeded by his son who purges the ranks of the KMT from corruption and leads an authoritarian state up to the 1970s when he begins to relax government control. In 2020, China is the worlds largest economy and has a huge population, however, it is afflicted by high inequality and large amounts of relative poverty for a developed nation. Read on for more detail...

Anyway, in the 'Far-East' the situation is also rather complicated. I went into some detail about the Sino-Japanese war previously and I'll use this as an opportunity to indulge in the Chinese side of things. In 1937 the Sino-Japanese war breaks out as IOTL and goes much a similar way, with the Japanese failing to secure a decisive victory and getting bogged down in Central China, against devoted soldiers of the United Front. At the same time, the Chinese are also receiving large amounts of support from Britain and France, and to a limited extent, the United States. These parties have a vested interest in China winning as Japan poses a serious threat to holdings in the Pacific such as Malaysia, French Indochina and the Philippines. By 1943, China was receiving money, weapons and expert advice from Western powers in their fight against the Japanese. It becomes clear to everyone except the Japanese that the war could not be won, especially with the growing threat of Soviet invasion looming in Manchuria - the flimsy Japanese-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact is unlikely to hold out against the current diplomatic situation, however, an apprehensive Stalin fails to use the opportunity to his advantage and doesn't strike any sort of alliance with the CPC until early 1945. In November 1944, the failure of Operation Ichi-Go in securing any meaningful gains finally put the IJA on a definite course for failure and also spurred the Soviet administration into action. Despite this, the Imperial Government still refused to even consider making peace and the Emperor demanded further offensives. This pipe-dream was shattered when a massive coordinated Chinese offensive in the South lay waste to the Japanese positions - Nanning and Canton were recaptured and the bulk of the remaining Japanese forces retreated to Amoy (Xiamen) where they would remain till the end of the war. This offensive had, however, exhausted a large portion of the Chinese's capability to fight and they had lost a lot of equipment in the struggle, giving more strength to the Communists in North China.

Seeing this, the British and French issued a joint ultimatum to Japan demanding that a peaceful end to the war be reached, with the requirement all Japanese gains after 1937 be returned to the Nationalists. This was no empty threat, and Britain had been building up its naval strength in the region for some time now and would be more than able to seriously threaten the up till then-dominant IJN. If war were declared, it would also allow the British to deploy large numbers of Indian and Australasian troops to the Chinese front which would certainly be the final nail in the coffin for Japan. It should also be mentioned that 'Tube Alloys', the British Nuclear Program, was nearing completion, and while it was unlikely for it to be used against the Japanese, it would certainly serve as a warning. However, in a spectacular demonstration of absurd nationalism, the Japanese government rejects the ultimatum and war is declared on 6th January 1945. The British Pacific Fleet, which by this point had swelled to form 75% of the British Navy, was deployed immediately and caught the IJN off guard - the IJN suffer crippling losses at the Battle of The Philippines Sea and then the Battle of Ryuku. Furthermore, the Australian Army is able to capture several Japanese pacific islands, including Micronesia and the Marshall Islands as due to all attention being on China, they were poorly protected.

The final blow came when a 20 Kt nuclear device named 'Hurricane' is tested off the coast of Australia in May 1945. The bomb was the culmination of a Joint Anglo-French nuclear program and was widely publicized as to draw as much attention to it from the Japanese government. Indeed, it was noticed and there was widespread fear that such a 'cruel bomb' could be dropped on the Home Islands (This was never seriously considered by the British of French governments, however) and as a result opinion in the Emperor's cabinet began to ever so slightly swing towards a 'peace with honour'. In early August, a Chinese, French, British, Japanese and American delegation arrived in San Francisco to organise a peace between the 4 nations. A conclusion was reached in early September 1945 with Japan forced to surrender all territory gained since 1937 except the island city of Amoy and the Chusan Archipelago. The Treaty also demanded that Japan pay recompense for the war crimes it committed throughout the war.

The Treaty of San Francisco was finally signed on 7th September 1945 and an end to hostilities commenced. However, incensed by the lack of Soviet representation at San Francisco, Stalin had struck a deal with the now very powerful CPC and had agreed to support a Communist invasion of Manchukuo and further Communist takeover of China. Thus, on 27th September 1945, just 20 days after peace was reached, the Communists launched an invasion of Manchuria. Several weeks passed and the CPC were unable to make significant gains in the region while Soviet support never came. The reason Stalin did not give the help he had promised is unknown, however, it may have been the second nuclear test by Great Britain and the successful United States 'Trinity' test which convinced him to not risk his armies in China. The invasion of Manchuria was used as a pretext by Chiang Kai-Shek to launch a campaign against Communists in China and this combined assault by both Japanese and Chinese forces proved fatal to the People's Liberation Army. Those who survived melted into the mountains and forests where Mao Tse-Tung led a Communist insurgency for another 20 years.

However, control of China was not that easily won for the Nationalists - they had to rest control of much of the countryside from Communist insurgents and loyalists. To do this, Chiang engaged in a brutal and indiscriminate campaign against any and all people suspected of having Communist sentiments. The so-called 'Great Undoing' led to the deaths of an estimated 1 million people, the vast majority of which had no communist affiliations. This made KMT rule incredibly unpopular and student protests sponsored by the CPC were very common. The unrest culminated in 1950 when Chiang Kai-Shek was assassinated by a student in Nanking. This assassination would prove a blessing for China in the long run, as the autocratic and corrupt leader of the KMT was removed. However, in the short term, the infighting that resulted from this lead to widespread opportunism by the corrupt administration of the KMT. It became common for local warlords to exploit people under there control and military engagements between rival warlords were not unheard of, resembling the earlier warlord period of th 1920s. In 1954 Chiang Ching-Kuo, Chiang Kai-Shek's son was able to gain control of a large portion of the Nationalist Army and used it to put down rebellions with ruthless efficiency. He also made ample use of the secret police to extort, torture and murder a huge number of people suspected of corruption or communist leanings.

Thus, by 1957, Ching-Kuo had secured control over most of China and was even able to militarily coerce the new civilian government of Japan the 'Mukden Declaration' which promised the State of Manchukuo would be handed over to China within 5 years. He also led the invasion of Tibet and Xinjiang in 1961, thus restoring Chinese rule to the region. China did not become involved in the 'Atomic War' (This is a war between East and West that is considered the most high-stakes conflict of all time as both sides possessed nuclear weapons but by some miracle they were able to refrain from using them - I will go into a lot more detail in my next post).

During the 1970s Ching-Kuo began to relax his authoritarian rule and began to allow political dissent while also further opening the economy to foreign investment. Up to that point, foreign involvement had been limited and growth was as a result weakened (but by no means poor - the economy was still experiencing strong growth thanks to somewhat steady industrialisation). After the Trans-Eurasian Trade Agreement was signed in 1975 with the members of the European Community, China became open to European business and then American business in 1977. Since then, the Republic of China has seen tremendous growth in all sectors owing to its vast population and wealth of natural resources. It became the world's largest economy in 1992, overtaking the still fairly isolationist USA. It has also seen great leaps in liberalisation, with the Communist Party being legalized again in 2003 and the 'Commonwealth' being formed in 1995, following the quasi-invasion of Mongolia in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse. The Commonwealth gives equal representation to Mongolia, Manchuria, Tibet and the Republic of China in the vast Legislative Yuan and also gives the Western regions of China greater autonomy as Muslim Autonomous regions (no concentration camps this time). Overall, by 2020 China is a hugely influential player on the world stage with a gigantic economy and powerful military. However, GDP/capita still lags behind other developed nations and inequality remains high. Welfare provision is strong, with a National Health Service and a decent safety net for the downtrodden. However, it does not come close to solving the problems of poverty and inequality which are still widespread in both the countryside and cities. It is in a similar situation the USA IOTL, with rosy city life in a few wealthy places but still large amounts of poverty and suffering in more far-flung regions. The government also retains much of its power from the early days of government, being what one might call a 'nanny state' in many ways - not quite authoritarian but still maintaining a firm hand over certain areas of society.

Notes:

The map is in Wade-Giles as this was the official romanization system used by the Republic of China up to 2008 when it was changed to Hanyu Pinyin. I see little reason why this would be any different in this timeline and thus have decided to keep it for use on this map.

Hong Kong, Macau and Guangzhouwan aren't returned to China ITTL as an agreement is reached, in return for free trade with Europe and European investment in Chinese business, that the lease on these territories is extended by 999 years to 2974 AD.