I've got to watch the video when I get a chance, love that channel.
沒有國民黨就沒有中國, Without the Kuomintang there would be no China, A Republic of China Story
- Thread starter CELTICEMPIRE
- Start date
World Leaders, 2001
In 2001, China is led by President Lien Chan, a member of the Kuomintang. He presided over an era of unprecedented prosperity for China. Chinese military might and power projection was growing as well. No one in the 21st century would view China as a country to mess around with. Lien’s Vice President is James Soong. A few opinion polls have shown that Soong is actually viewed more favorably by the Chinese public and within the KMT than Lien, and there is a great deal of speculation that Lien will face a primary challenge from his own vice president next year. He has also been relentlessly criticized by his predecessor Li Ao. Nevertheless, Lien Chan’s administration remains generally popular.
(Lien Chan)
The Russian-Belarussian Federal Republic, referred to by most outside of the country simply as “Russia,” is led by President Viktor Chernomyrdin and Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov. Primakov, who was born in Kiev, was tireless in his efforts to bring Ukraine into the Republic. Every former Soviet country, Ukraine and Kazakhstan in particular, were subjected to non-stop propaganda from Moscow promoting reunification. In the late 90s and early 2000s, Russia and Belarus saw extensive privatization of state-owned enterprises. The RBFR asked for development aid from both the US and China to help rebuild its broken economy. Russians and Belarussians were mostly poor. The fall of the Soviet Union saw only minor improvements in quality of life for most of its former citizens. The road to recovery would be long and difficult.
(Yevgeny Primakov)
Succeeding Jack Kemp and ending 16 years of Republican control of the White House is Al Gore. The Al Gore/Tom Harkin ticket defeated the Bob Dole/George Bush ticket 50-47% in the popular vote and 340-198 in the Electoral College. Democrats had already taken control of congress in the 1998 midterms. Gore has governed as a pragmatic liberal so far. Though some progressives are disappointed in him most democrats approve of the president. In his short time in office, he has promoted environmentalism and has worked with congress to strengthen environmental regulations. His administration has also seen slight reductions in America’s military budget. The United States still maintains the world’s largest military and still has bases all over the world, however.
(Al Gore)
America was not the only country to make a leftward shift after the end of the Cold War. Tomiichi Murayama of the Socialist Party is Prime Minister of Japan. Britain’s Prime Minister is Neil Kinnock of the Labor Party. In contrast, France is led by Jacques Chirac of the right-wing Union for the Republic Party. Reunified Germany is led by Helmut Kohl of the Christian Democratic Union. India is led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the BJP. What all of these leaders have in common is that they were democratically elected. Democracy is becoming ever more prevalent throughout the world, though many countries are still ruled by dictators. Some of the most prominent of these dictators are Suharto, who has ruled Indonesia for more than three decades, Libya’s Moammar Gaddafi, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, and Cuba’s Fidel Castro.
(Lien Chan)
The Russian-Belarussian Federal Republic, referred to by most outside of the country simply as “Russia,” is led by President Viktor Chernomyrdin and Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov. Primakov, who was born in Kiev, was tireless in his efforts to bring Ukraine into the Republic. Every former Soviet country, Ukraine and Kazakhstan in particular, were subjected to non-stop propaganda from Moscow promoting reunification. In the late 90s and early 2000s, Russia and Belarus saw extensive privatization of state-owned enterprises. The RBFR asked for development aid from both the US and China to help rebuild its broken economy. Russians and Belarussians were mostly poor. The fall of the Soviet Union saw only minor improvements in quality of life for most of its former citizens. The road to recovery would be long and difficult.
(Yevgeny Primakov)
Succeeding Jack Kemp and ending 16 years of Republican control of the White House is Al Gore. The Al Gore/Tom Harkin ticket defeated the Bob Dole/George Bush ticket 50-47% in the popular vote and 340-198 in the Electoral College. Democrats had already taken control of congress in the 1998 midterms. Gore has governed as a pragmatic liberal so far. Though some progressives are disappointed in him most democrats approve of the president. In his short time in office, he has promoted environmentalism and has worked with congress to strengthen environmental regulations. His administration has also seen slight reductions in America’s military budget. The United States still maintains the world’s largest military and still has bases all over the world, however.
(Al Gore)
America was not the only country to make a leftward shift after the end of the Cold War. Tomiichi Murayama of the Socialist Party is Prime Minister of Japan. Britain’s Prime Minister is Neil Kinnock of the Labor Party. In contrast, France is led by Jacques Chirac of the right-wing Union for the Republic Party. Reunified Germany is led by Helmut Kohl of the Christian Democratic Union. India is led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the BJP. What all of these leaders have in common is that they were democratically elected. Democracy is becoming ever more prevalent throughout the world, though many countries are still ruled by dictators. Some of the most prominent of these dictators are Suharto, who has ruled Indonesia for more than three decades, Libya’s Moammar Gaddafi, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, and Cuba’s Fidel Castro.
I've said it earlier, and will say it once again - Russia with its natural resources would be a key element in Sino-American race for global domination. USA with Russia on its side will be able to balance the Chinese Dragon more or less. However, if China wins Russia over, then its game over for the U.S. and West as XXI century will belong to China.
Yes, thats the best strategy for Russia, but it could not be played indefinitely, as there will be a moment when Russia would be forced to make a choice about which geopolitical bloc to join.
Deffo China lol. If OTL is any indication they're choosing China. NATO will expand east, US will find it difficult to shrug off the Cold War think to see Russia as an ally and Democratic and old ally China as the enemy. All of these things are going to push Russia into China's arms.
Another problem here is that when Russia recovers from the collapse of the nineties, then gradually the oligarchs will have their own ambitions. And as you can see, the Federation considers the post-Soviet space a zone of its interests. In our world, the US and the European Union infiltrated the Baltic states and then Ukraine, which caused outrage in Putin's clique. However, the influence of the People's Republic of China cannot be underestimated. After the invasion, Russian capital loses its influence in Central Asia and Chinese capital penetrates there with greater activity - to the point that migrants are increasingly working in China. That is, both the "West" and China can be a threat to the interests of the Russian Oligarchy. Here, by the way, Primakov was considered at one time as a possible president who would turn Russia away from NATO concessions, because he became famous for taking a tougher stance during the Yugoslav conflicts and expressed a desire to help the Serbs.
Yes, TTL's Russia will also see post-Soviet states as its own sphere of influence. Russia's foreign policy will be heavily influenced on fact whether NATO and EU push eastward. If yes, then Russia will most surely join Chinese political bloc.
Until China tries to impose hegemony on Central Asia. I actually remember the atmosphere before 2008. Then many are sure that if Russia goes to war, then it will be with the PRC. And even after such moods were present. Actually "Russian-Chinese friendship" (more precisely, it looks like the Russian Federation is looking for support from the PRC with all its might, and the PRC gives it in exchange for fuel and money, carefully hoping that Russia's actions will not cost sanctions for Beijing).
Honestly I think the former European satelite states would be more of a concern for Russia rather than Central Asia which would probably push Russia towards the Chinese more than the NATO, even more so given in this timeline the USA and NATO was viewed as the biggest enemy even with a capatalist and hostile China, which further shows that the Soviet Union, now Russia, biggest focus was in Europe rather than in Asia. Probably due to the fact that Russia Heartland is in Europe while its central and eastern territories are resource rich but sparsely populated and undeveloped.
Russia need its European satelites because they provieded most of their economy as well as serves as buffer states for their heartlands. Central Asia is nowhere as important as it lacks both resources and population in comparison. Still I find it likely that Russia will play both China and USA against each other, at least for a little while they rebuild their economy.
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One need only look at OTL to see that it’s basically inevitable Russia will ultimately choose China over the US even as mere allies of convenience
2002, Round 1
The China Democratic Socialist Party would nominate Legislative Yuan member Song Defu of Fujian, the party’s 1996 Vice Presidential nominee, for President. Li Changchun, former Premier of Liaoning who served in the Li Ao administration, was selected as Song’s running mate. The China Youth Party would run an old man (ironically, they would often run the oldest candidates), 76-year-old former Vice President Lin Yang-kang of Taiwan. Lin was Li Ao’s Vice President, but he and his party were no longer interested in working with Li. His running mate was Legislative Yuan member Bai Qiang of Sichuan. Lin did not volunteer to run, but was drafted by his party as he was their most prominent politician (despite spending most of his political career in the KMT).
(Lin Yang-kang)
The Liberal Party, at this point, was essentially the Li Ao Party. It had been apparent for quite some time that Li was going to seek a rematch with Lien Chan. His nomination by the Liberal Party was a surprise to no one. A small number of Liberal Party members wanted to bring the party back to its 70s and 80s roots instead of being what they criticized as a cult of personality around Li Ao. Li attempted to reach out to actor Chan Kong-sang [1] to get him to become his running mate. Once Chan made it clear he wasn’t interested, Li went with Xu Qinxian of Shandong, former general and Vice-Premier of China during the Li Ao Administration. Xu had gained fame by refusing to use the military against protesters in 1989.
(Li Ao)
The Kuomintang, as always, had internal divisions. There was a bit of a rivalry between President Lien Chan and Vice President James Soong. Some polls even showed that Soong was more popular than Lien, both within the KMT and among the Chinese public. Soong led an effort to make the KMT nomination subject to a popular vote amongst party members, inspired by presidential primaries in the United States. Lien Chan blocked the enactment of Presidential primaries in the KMT. At the nominating convention in 2001, 71% of delegates chose Lien Chan, 28% of delegates chose James Soong, and 1% of delegates chose other candidates. In order to prevent Soong from running an independent campaign and splitting the vote, Soong was convinced to stay as Lien’s Vice President in exchange for a tacit understanding that he would be the nominee in 2008 and have greater influence in government.
(James Soong)
There were several minor candidates as well. The New Democratic League was once considered an important part of the opposition to the KMT, but by 2001 they were reduced to less than 3% of members of the Legislative Yuan. The Party ran Wang Li-chun, former police chief and Premier of Xingan, an ethnic Mongol, for President and Legislative Yuan member Li Liling of Sichuan for Vice President. Former Hong Kong Mayor Martin Lee, a member of the Hong Kong Democratic Party, was nominated by Lee Teng-hui’s Chinese Federal Party, a party that wanted to give the provinces of China more autonomy. The Party nominated Tainan Mayor Chen A-bian of Taiwan for Vice President. Finally, a small group of Liberal Party members opposed to Li Ao formed the Liberal Democratic Party and met in Dalian where they nominated 1980s pro-democracy activist and former Legislative Yuan member Wei Ching-sheng of Hebei for President and Provincial Legislature member Huang Mingtao of Guangxi for Vice President.
(Left: Wei Ching-sheng, Right: Martin Lee)
The KMT was going to win the most votes on the first round. It was estimated that Lien Chan would win more than 40 but less than 50 percent of the vote, which would necessitate a runoff. Lien’s campaign entirely ignored Wang Li-chun, Martin Lee, and Wei Ching-sheng. This is because these candidates had no shot at victory and had little appeal to anyone who voted KMT. Some attention was given to Lin Yang-kang, as even though his chances of victory were slim, he would take votes from Lien Chan. Li Ao and Song Defu, in that order, were quickly identified as Lien’s major opponents. Lien Chan would continue to tout his accomplishments in both domestic and foreign policy. The economy was good and China’s power was increasing.
Li Ao had to face an uphill battle. He couldn’t ask the people of China if they were better off now than 6 years ago, because the answer for most Chinese was “yes.” The type of person for whom things hadn’t been improving over the last decade was probably going to vote for left-wing candidates like Song or Wang. Li would speak out against the presence of people with authoritarian impulses or shady histories in power under KMT rule. He also called for abandoning the Minguo calendar for the Gregorian Calendar and moving the capital to Beijing. His campaign printed images of Li Ao with maps of China in the background that included Mongolia and parts of Russia. He leaned into Chinese nationalism much more than he did in the past, trying to paint himself as more Nationalist than the KMT. Nevertheless, Li could not attract the same crowds to his speeches as he did in the 80s and 90s.
The consensus was that Lien Chan would face Li Ao in the second round for a rematch of 1996. But Song Defu was a formidable foe. He traveled to working class areas around China, even in blue areas, and was well-received. He and the CDSP often campaigned in places that Lien and Li ignored. For instance, while Lien Chan made one brief visit to Lhasa, Song Defu visited Shigatse, Lhoka, and Nagqu. The CDSP canvassed the industrial towns in Hebei and Henan in particular, as these high-population provinces could give Song an edge over Li in the first round. Song spoke out against the extensive privatization that occurred during the Lien Chan and Li Ao administrations, a message that resonated with some and repelled others. Song competed for anti-KMT voters in Northern China with Li Ao and to a lesser extent Wang Li-chun while he tried to persuade working class KMT voters in the South.
(Song Defu)
Despite running an ethnic Mongol from Xingan, the New Democratic League wouldn’t even win the provinces bordering Mongolia, and the party would continue to fall in popularity. The party’s hard-left positions were unpopular in an increasingly prosperous China. By 2002 the NDL was reduced to a third of its strength compared to 1989. Lin Yang-kang fared a lot better, but his performance was still underwhelming. He put a lot of effort into trying to win Taiwan, but he failed. Nevertheless, the China Youth Party performed reasonably in the National Assembly and Legislative Yuan elections. Wei Ching-sheng and the Liberal Democratic Party made very little impact on the race, only running a few radio ads in the Shanghai, Beiping, and Shenyang areas. Martin Lee and the China Federal Party were a non-factor in most of the country, and didn’t even win Hong Kong. However, he won 25% of the vote in Taiwan and 20% of the vote in Tibet.
(Wang Li-chun)
Just as in 1996, two debates were held. Lien Chan, Li Ao, Song Defu, Lin Yang-kang, and Wang Li-chun were invited. There was no clear winner. Lien saw no need to attend the second debate. At the second debate, Li Ao accused Wang Li-chun of being a Communist, which Wang denied. Li also went on the attack against his former Vice-President Lin Yang-kang. Li Ao and Song Defu didn’t want to go too hard on each other, as whoever made it to the second round would need the others’ voters. Song Defu was considered the winner of the debate. In the final two months of campaigning, the polling gap between Li Ao and Lien Chan widened, while the gap between Li Ao and Song Defu shrank. Voting for the first round would occur in March.
Lien Chan, unsurprisingly, came in first place, and it wasn’t even close. What was a little bit surprising was that he won more than twice the amount of votes as Li Ao, who came in second place. Li won significantly less votes in the first round in 2002 than he had in 1996. He also only barely received more votes than CDSP candidate Song Defu. The KMT won the majority of seats in the Legislative Yuan and the National Assembly, with the CDSP coming in second, and the Liberal Party coming in third. In fourth place was the China Youth Party, which would go back to working with the KMT. Lien Chan and Li Ao would prepare for a rematch in April.
1: TTL Jackie Chan
(Lin Yang-kang)
The Liberal Party, at this point, was essentially the Li Ao Party. It had been apparent for quite some time that Li was going to seek a rematch with Lien Chan. His nomination by the Liberal Party was a surprise to no one. A small number of Liberal Party members wanted to bring the party back to its 70s and 80s roots instead of being what they criticized as a cult of personality around Li Ao. Li attempted to reach out to actor Chan Kong-sang [1] to get him to become his running mate. Once Chan made it clear he wasn’t interested, Li went with Xu Qinxian of Shandong, former general and Vice-Premier of China during the Li Ao Administration. Xu had gained fame by refusing to use the military against protesters in 1989.
(Li Ao)
The Kuomintang, as always, had internal divisions. There was a bit of a rivalry between President Lien Chan and Vice President James Soong. Some polls even showed that Soong was more popular than Lien, both within the KMT and among the Chinese public. Soong led an effort to make the KMT nomination subject to a popular vote amongst party members, inspired by presidential primaries in the United States. Lien Chan blocked the enactment of Presidential primaries in the KMT. At the nominating convention in 2001, 71% of delegates chose Lien Chan, 28% of delegates chose James Soong, and 1% of delegates chose other candidates. In order to prevent Soong from running an independent campaign and splitting the vote, Soong was convinced to stay as Lien’s Vice President in exchange for a tacit understanding that he would be the nominee in 2008 and have greater influence in government.
(James Soong)
There were several minor candidates as well. The New Democratic League was once considered an important part of the opposition to the KMT, but by 2001 they were reduced to less than 3% of members of the Legislative Yuan. The Party ran Wang Li-chun, former police chief and Premier of Xingan, an ethnic Mongol, for President and Legislative Yuan member Li Liling of Sichuan for Vice President. Former Hong Kong Mayor Martin Lee, a member of the Hong Kong Democratic Party, was nominated by Lee Teng-hui’s Chinese Federal Party, a party that wanted to give the provinces of China more autonomy. The Party nominated Tainan Mayor Chen A-bian of Taiwan for Vice President. Finally, a small group of Liberal Party members opposed to Li Ao formed the Liberal Democratic Party and met in Dalian where they nominated 1980s pro-democracy activist and former Legislative Yuan member Wei Ching-sheng of Hebei for President and Provincial Legislature member Huang Mingtao of Guangxi for Vice President.
(Left: Wei Ching-sheng, Right: Martin Lee)
The KMT was going to win the most votes on the first round. It was estimated that Lien Chan would win more than 40 but less than 50 percent of the vote, which would necessitate a runoff. Lien’s campaign entirely ignored Wang Li-chun, Martin Lee, and Wei Ching-sheng. This is because these candidates had no shot at victory and had little appeal to anyone who voted KMT. Some attention was given to Lin Yang-kang, as even though his chances of victory were slim, he would take votes from Lien Chan. Li Ao and Song Defu, in that order, were quickly identified as Lien’s major opponents. Lien Chan would continue to tout his accomplishments in both domestic and foreign policy. The economy was good and China’s power was increasing.
Li Ao had to face an uphill battle. He couldn’t ask the people of China if they were better off now than 6 years ago, because the answer for most Chinese was “yes.” The type of person for whom things hadn’t been improving over the last decade was probably going to vote for left-wing candidates like Song or Wang. Li would speak out against the presence of people with authoritarian impulses or shady histories in power under KMT rule. He also called for abandoning the Minguo calendar for the Gregorian Calendar and moving the capital to Beijing. His campaign printed images of Li Ao with maps of China in the background that included Mongolia and parts of Russia. He leaned into Chinese nationalism much more than he did in the past, trying to paint himself as more Nationalist than the KMT. Nevertheless, Li could not attract the same crowds to his speeches as he did in the 80s and 90s.
The consensus was that Lien Chan would face Li Ao in the second round for a rematch of 1996. But Song Defu was a formidable foe. He traveled to working class areas around China, even in blue areas, and was well-received. He and the CDSP often campaigned in places that Lien and Li ignored. For instance, while Lien Chan made one brief visit to Lhasa, Song Defu visited Shigatse, Lhoka, and Nagqu. The CDSP canvassed the industrial towns in Hebei and Henan in particular, as these high-population provinces could give Song an edge over Li in the first round. Song spoke out against the extensive privatization that occurred during the Lien Chan and Li Ao administrations, a message that resonated with some and repelled others. Song competed for anti-KMT voters in Northern China with Li Ao and to a lesser extent Wang Li-chun while he tried to persuade working class KMT voters in the South.
(Song Defu)
Despite running an ethnic Mongol from Xingan, the New Democratic League wouldn’t even win the provinces bordering Mongolia, and the party would continue to fall in popularity. The party’s hard-left positions were unpopular in an increasingly prosperous China. By 2002 the NDL was reduced to a third of its strength compared to 1989. Lin Yang-kang fared a lot better, but his performance was still underwhelming. He put a lot of effort into trying to win Taiwan, but he failed. Nevertheless, the China Youth Party performed reasonably in the National Assembly and Legislative Yuan elections. Wei Ching-sheng and the Liberal Democratic Party made very little impact on the race, only running a few radio ads in the Shanghai, Beiping, and Shenyang areas. Martin Lee and the China Federal Party were a non-factor in most of the country, and didn’t even win Hong Kong. However, he won 25% of the vote in Taiwan and 20% of the vote in Tibet.
(Wang Li-chun)
Just as in 1996, two debates were held. Lien Chan, Li Ao, Song Defu, Lin Yang-kang, and Wang Li-chun were invited. There was no clear winner. Lien saw no need to attend the second debate. At the second debate, Li Ao accused Wang Li-chun of being a Communist, which Wang denied. Li also went on the attack against his former Vice-President Lin Yang-kang. Li Ao and Song Defu didn’t want to go too hard on each other, as whoever made it to the second round would need the others’ voters. Song Defu was considered the winner of the debate. In the final two months of campaigning, the polling gap between Li Ao and Lien Chan widened, while the gap between Li Ao and Song Defu shrank. Voting for the first round would occur in March.
Lien Chan, unsurprisingly, came in first place, and it wasn’t even close. What was a little bit surprising was that he won more than twice the amount of votes as Li Ao, who came in second place. Li won significantly less votes in the first round in 2002 than he had in 1996. He also only barely received more votes than CDSP candidate Song Defu. The KMT won the majority of seats in the Legislative Yuan and the National Assembly, with the CDSP coming in second, and the Liberal Party coming in third. In fourth place was the China Youth Party, which would go back to working with the KMT. Lien Chan and Li Ao would prepare for a rematch in April.
| President | Vice-President | Votes |
| Lien Chan (KMT-Liaoning) | James Soong (KMT-Hunan) | 225,590,304 (45.1%) |
| Li Ao (LP-Songjiang) | Xu Qinxian (LP-Shandong) | 103,033,091 (20.6%) |
| Song Defu (CDSP-Fujian) | Li Changchun (CDSP-Liaoning) | 102,540,999 (20.5%) |
| Lin Yang-kang (CYP-Taiwan) | Bai Qiang (CDSP-Sichuan) | 45,200,281 (9.4%) |
| Wang Li-chun (NDL-Xingan) | Li Liling (NDL-Sichuan) | 15,000,065 (3.0%) |
| Wei Ching-sheng (LDP-Hebei) | Huang Mingtao (LDP-Guangxi) | 4,500,018 (0.9%) |
| Martin Lee (HKDP-Guangdong) | Chen A-bian (CFP-Taiwan) | 2,508,011 (0.5%) |
1: TTL Jackie Chan
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Always enjoying the leadup to these elections. Looking forward to how it pans out.
As someone who has lurked here for a bit, I got to say I like what you've been doing so far. Would like to see more detail on how the rest of the world is impacted.
Nice update, and I particularly like the fact that you strike a balance between detail and length which makes the story easy to follow and intriguing.
Just to point out as far as I can recall, Martin Lee's father was a KMT general in Guangdong in the 1940s so his family wouldn't have to move to Hong Kong if the Communists did not take over China. (Anyway, there's no need to edit this).
By the way, how did Chinese academia and intelligentsia develop without the destruction brought by the Cultural Revolution? Sadly the career of many scholars and writers was destroyed by the Communists in the 1950s and 60s and the Chinese cultural sphere had to be rebuilt from scratch in OTL during the Deng years.
I heard that there is also a similar Chinese-language alternate-history fiction about a KMT victory called the "Second Year of Jianfeng", have you checked that out? (The book is obviously banned in China).
Just to point out as far as I can recall, Martin Lee's father was a KMT general in Guangdong in the 1940s so his family wouldn't have to move to Hong Kong if the Communists did not take over China. (Anyway, there's no need to edit this).
By the way, how did Chinese academia and intelligentsia develop without the destruction brought by the Cultural Revolution? Sadly the career of many scholars and writers was destroyed by the Communists in the 1950s and 60s and the Chinese cultural sphere had to be rebuilt from scratch in OTL during the Deng years.
I heard that there is also a similar Chinese-language alternate-history fiction about a KMT victory called the "Second Year of Jianfeng", have you checked that out? (The book is obviously banned in China).
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I forgot to add a footnote, Chan Kong-sang is TTL Jackie Chan, so Li Ao tried to get Jackie Chan to be his running mate.
Well, there's still a second round,
But I think you can all see where this is going.
Currently under Hosni Mubarak, and a Western ally. There was a lot of unrest in the 80s by both far-left and Islamist groups but they failed to take over the country.
After the second round is finished, I will be writing about the Middle East.
He was actually born in Hong Kong though.
Chinese academia developed pretty similarly to Taiwan OTL. The lack of the Cultural Revolution (along with the Great Leap Forward) is probably the best thing to happen as a result of the Nationalist victory.
It sounds interesting, I'll have to check it out.
It has been a while since I comment in this thread...so..let's go through these updates
meanwhile back in China...
Ao party is really in shambles liao... and I honestly think that Li Ao (is it me or he is increasingly out of touch and unaware of his surrounding) manage to escape a predicament since I am pretty sure Kong-Sang is at a low point at this time.
Overall..a good set of updates.
Things are progressing very well...
except for Indonesia ITTL, which is a yikes..
the dictators are predictable (since there really not much change that could be done by China)....
...uhh...
... nevermind ...
meanwhile back in China...
Well the LiberalThe China Democratic Socialist Party would nominate Legislative Yuan member Song Defu of Fujian, the party’s 1996 Vice Presidential nominee, for President. Li Changchun, former Premier of Liaoning who served in the Li Ao administration, was selected as Song’s running mate. The China Youth Party would run an old man (ironically, they would often run the oldest candidates), 76-year-old former Vice President Lin Yang-kang of Taiwan. Lin was Li Ao’s Vice President, but he and his party were no longer interested in working with Li. His running mate was Legislative Yuan member Bai Qiang of Sichuan. Lin did not volunteer to run, but was drafted by his party as he was their most prominent politician (despite spending most of his political career in the KMT).
(Lin Yang-kang)
The Liberal Party, at this point, was essentially the Li Ao Party. It had been apparent for quite some time that Li was going to seek a rematch with Lien Chan. His nomination by the Liberal Party was a surprise to no one. A small number of Liberal Party members wanted to bring the party back to its 70s and 80s roots instead of being what they criticized as a cult of personality around Li Ao. Li attempted to reach out to actor Chan Kong-sang to get him to become his running mate. Once Chan made it clear he wasn’t interested, Li went with Xu Qinxian of Shandong, former general and Vice-Premier of China during the Li Ao Administration. Xu had gained fame by refusing to use the military against protesters in 1989.
but there could be some cracks forming at the KMT..
the other parties probably decided that the legislative election matters more than winning the presidential election outright and thus not creating a coalition.
Hmm, I think the CDSP will be the number two party, although it depends if there are other members of the parties that has his calibre...The consensus was that Lien Chan would face Li Ao in the second round for a rematch of 1996. But Song Defu was a formidable foe. He traveled to working class areas around China, even in blue areas, and was well-received. He and the CDSP often campaigned in places that Lien and Li ignored. For instance, while Lien Chan made one brief visit to Lhasa, Song Defu visited Shigatse, Lhoka, and Nagqu. The CDSP canvassed the industrial towns in Hebei and Henan in particular, as these high-population provinces could give Song an edge over Li in the first round. Song spoke out against the extensive privatization that occurred during the Lien Chan and Li Ao administrations, a message that resonated with some and repelled others. Song competed for anti-KMT voters in Northern China with Li Ao and to a lesser extent Wang Li-chun while he tried to persuade working class KMT voters in the South.
(Song Defu)
...perhaps there could be a DSP-FP joint ticket in 2008?
and the results are predictable, and we will see Lien Chan (which I think would get around 68% of the second round vote) his second term. Things could actually getting extremely interesting under the surface though since I do not think that the KMT gets a majority in the legislative assembly.Lien Chan, unsurprisingly, came in first place, and it wasn’t even close. What was a little bit surprising was that he won more than twice the amount of votes as Li Ao, who came in second place. Li won significantly less votes in the first round in 2002 than he had in 1996. He also only barely received more votes than CDSP candidate Song Defu. The KMT won the majority of seats in the Legislative Yuan and the National Assembly, with the CDSP coming in second, and the Liberal Party coming in third. In fourth place was the China Youth Party, which would go back to working with the KMT. Lien Chan and Li Ao would prepare for a rematch in April.
President Vice-President Votes Lien Chan (KMT-Liaoning) James Soong (KMT-Hunan) 225,590,304 (45.1%) Li Ao (LP-Songjiang) Xu Qinxian (LP-Shandong) 103,033,091 (20.6%) Song Defu (CDSP-Fujian) Li Changchun (CDSP-Liaoning) 102,540,999 (20.5%) Lin Yang-kang (CYP-Taiwan) Bai Qiang (CDSP-Sichuan) 45,200,281 (9.4%) Wang Li-chun (NDL-Xingan) Li Liling (NDL-Sichuan) 15,000,065 (3.0%) Wei Ching-sheng (LDP-Hebei) Huang Mingtao (LDP-Guangxi) 4,500,018 (0.9%) Martin Lee (HKDP-Guangdong) Chen A-bian (CFP-Taiwan) 2,508,011 (0.5%)
Overall..a good set of updates.
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