Chapter 47: Aftermath of War

  In fact, war is not just a bad thing for a country; it also has a positive side. War greatly increases commodity consumption and in turn promotes the development of social productive forces. Taiwan's economy experienced another round of rapid growth after the Sino-Japanese War, and with the implementation of free education plans, medical security systems, and housing plans, the happiness index of the island's people is gradually increasing. To prevent some low-quality officials from damaging the government's reputation, Lin Feng returned to Taiwan and discussed with President Chiang Ching-kuo the next step in the government's "self-examination and self-correction" activities.

  Just as Taiwan was cracking down on a series of corrupt and derelict public officials, the Soviet Union began to refocus its attention on China. Since China declared Mongolia an indivisible part of it, the Soviet Union has increased the number of troops stationed in Mongolia and raised the security alert level along the Sino-Soviet border. Moreover, the Soviet Union gradually pulled some socialist countries over to isolate China comprehensively. In late 1976, Vietnam, which had just been unified, thoroughly turned to the Soviet Union under its enticement, began to expel Chinese people in Vietnam and strengthened military deployment along the Sino-Vietnamese border.

  Some Southeast Asian countries have seen the opportunity to get on board, and have signed economic aid agreements with the Soviet Union. Even North Korea has severed its exchanges with China. These countries apparently do not look favorably on China's future prospects, believing that even if China defeats Japan, it will not be able to defeat the Soviet Union.

  Lam Fung is currently working hard to develop his own economy and does not care about some small actions of neighboring countries. China's overall strength is far behind the Soviet Union, and it has the ability to compete with the Soviet Union head-on. As for some incidents between China and the Soviet Union, the US government breathed a sigh of relief. Since the United States lost its base in Japan, the base in South Korea has also become precarious. China's performance on the battlefield shocked the entire US military.

  According to the final assessment, even the US military would be defeated under the same conditions, which made the US feel a strong sense of crisis from top to bottom. The US was already somewhat exhausted from facing the pressure brought by the Soviet Union alone, and now it also had to face the rise of China's power, which made the US feel even more overwhelmed. Fortunately, the collision between the polar bear and the eastern dragon has relieved some of the pressure on the US.

  Southeast Asian countries, in order to jointly resist military pressure from China, signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia and the Declaration of ASEAN Concord at the first ASEAN Summit held on Bali Island in 1976. The treaty determined the purpose and principles of ASEAN and became an important milestone for its development. In 1977, the second ASEAN Summit was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The meeting decided that ASEAN would expand regional economic cooperation, strengthen dialogue and economic ties with countries such as the Soviet Union, the United States, Australia, and the European Community, and Southeast Asian countries actively sought external forces to balance China's rise.

  However, not all countries are hostile to China. Pakistan, which was once abandoned by the United States, is genuinely excited about China's victory. Because both the US and the Soviet Union were actively pulling India over to their side, Pakistan felt very left out. In the early 1970s, after the second Indo-Pakistani War, the US first abandoned what it called its "best friend in Asia" - Pakistan.

  In order to win over India, which was then leaning towards the Soviet Union, the US military delayed and withheld weapons and equipment that should have been quickly handed over to Pakistan, dealing a major blow to Pakistan's war reserves. Meanwhile, India had purchased large quantities of advanced fighter jets from the former Soviet Union before the war, and in one fell swoop defeated the Pakistani air force in the Indo-Pakistani conflict, gaining air superiority.

  At this time, Pakistan has actually become a "global orphan". A senior government official in Pakistan told the president: "We have been abandoned by the world." Just as Pakistan was anxiously watching India's show of force, a poor but large country suddenly stood behind Pakistan, and Pakistan began to increase its close exchanges with China. Especially after China agreed to allow Pakistan to produce J-7 fighter jets, breaking the Indian Air Force's advantage over the Pakistani Air Force, the relationship between the two countries became even closer. Even in Pakistan's elementary school textbooks, it is written: "China is Pakistan's most steadfast ally". Pakistan has always regarded the J-7 as a "guardian of the capital's skies", nicknamed the "Sky Sentinel".

  At that time, a earth-shaking "great introspection" movement began within Pakistan. The new government came to power and completely changed the original pro-American policy, turning to China instead. Now that the Chinese navy has defeated Japan and become the number one naval power in Asia, this has made Pakistan breathe a sigh of relief from top to bottom. They have more confidence in their confrontation with India.

  At a time when the world is abuzz with discussions about "China's rise", China is unusually quiet in the face of mounting external public opinion. Lin Feng is busy upgrading the mainland's military-industrial production system, while Deng Xiaoping personally approved a plan to strengthen military exchanges across the Taiwan Strait, which involves comprehensively enhancing the mainland's industrial production capacity.

  This time, China's easy victory over Japan is mainly due to the Taiwan military. Throughout the war, the Taiwanese Navy annihilated the Japanese Navy as the main force, while on land, the People's Liberation Army also witnessed the advanced equipment and strong combat power of the Taiwanese army. Before the Battle of Ryukyu was over, General Zhang Yuanpei at the front line reported to the central government requesting strengthening military cooperation with Taiwan. Now that the war is over, Lin Feng, with the support of Chairman Deng, has begun to fully transform the mainland's military-industrial production system. Lin Feng plans to build Shenyang Aircraft Factory into a "Haidongqing" production base, and of course, the avionics system required for this type of aircraft must be manufactured by Taiwan, because the mainland is far behind in information electronics technology.

  This renovated large aircraft manufacturing plant has a total of five production bases in five different locations. After the completion of the aircraft manufacturing plant, 300 aircraft can be produced in one year. Now, the "Hai Dong Qing" fighter jet has become famous after the Sino-Japanese naval battle, and even Americans want to buy a few back for research, but China currently does not have an export version. In addition to the Shenyang "Hai Dong Qing" production base, there are also the Chengdu Aircraft Factory producing transport aircraft and the Shaanxi Aircraft Factory producing helicopters. These are all factories that can produce Taiwan's most advanced military equipment at present.

  In addition to these aircraft factories, Lin Feng integrated Japan's shipbuilding technology with China's actual conditions and expanded three large-scale shipyards and five medium-sized shipyards. In addition to some technical personnel from both sides of the Taiwan Strait, there were also some Japanese technical workers in these shipyards, all of whom were poached by China from Japan.

  Several major shipyards are currently building four Renhai-class cruisers, six Chengdu-class destroyers, and four Emperor-class nuclear-powered submarines. In addition, two Shengren-class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers are under intense construction at the Taiwan Shipbuilding Corporation. If these warships can be successfully commissioned, the Chinese Navy's strength will undergo a sea change.

  In addition, China's **tanks have also been upgraded by Lin Feng, making them far superior to the original in terms of firepower, mobility and protection. Their performance has already reached the top level of third-generation main battle tanks in the world. Compared with the "M60A3" tank currently serving in Taiwan, it is only slightly inferior in terms of power, but in other aspects, it is already on par with the "M60A3".

  In the future, the main opponent of the tank will be the Soviet T-72. It can rely on its powerful firepower and advanced fire control system to easily defeat Soviet tanks. Chinese tanks are equipped with a large number of automatic sensing devices, achieving high automation and electrification, and have all-weather combat capabilities. The tank is equipped with a high-power engine, fast speed, and highly automated command and communication systems, which can greatly improve the mobility and combat efficiency of the tank. In addition, its protective ability is strong, the tank body is small, and it is equipped with a new generation of composite armor. Moreover, dozens of production bases for individual combat equipment have been built in various parts of the mainland.

  After the war, a large amount of private capital from Taiwan flowed into Japan and mainland China. The domestic financial groups in Japan had completely declined after this war, while there were no major private financial groups on the mainland. Now, the private financial groups on the mainland are mainly from Hong Kong and Taiwan, especially after Taiwan's economic development took off, Taiwanese private capital developed rapidly and its strength increased dramatically.

  Taiwan's private capital is currently mainly concentrated in light industry and part of heavy industry, and their investment on the mainland is mainly focused on construction, home appliances, pharmaceuticals and other industries. After the war, Taiwan took advantage of the opportunity to jointly celebrate the victory with the mainland to further increase its economic investment in the mainland, and now the whole world looks forward to China's economic development. Before the war, some countries were worried that China's defeat would affect its hard-won improved economic environment, but now China has cleanly defeated Japan, and no one doubts China's development potential. Since 1970, China's economy has maintained an annual growth rate of over 10%.

  After the Sino-Japanese War, the most noticeable change was among Chinese students studying abroad. Previously, some Westerners and locals looked down on them or even bullied them, but now people around them had a hint of fear in their eyes when looking at them. These students deeply felt the benefits that a strong motherland brought to them. In the past, the Western society hyped up the "China Threat Theory", and many media outlets arbitrarily distorted China's reality for the sake of sensationalism, describing it as an autocratic, centralized, and restrictive country.

  Now that China has won the war against Japan, Lin Feng organized writers to widely publicize in various parts of China that Western countries are dens of evil and natural enemies of China. As a result, Westerners have found that Chinese people's attitude towards them has changed dramatically recently. They no longer admire and envy the West as they used to, but instead harbor extreme hatred and disgust towards them. They are well aware that once this generation of Chinese develops malicious intentions towards them, it is likely that future generations will not have good feelings towards them either. In order to change their impression in the minds of Chinese people, Western countries spare no effort in buying off writers to publish articles praising American life. Unfortunately, at this time, Chinese nationalism is on the rise, and public opinion is mainly controlled by the government, so the tactics employed by Western countries do not achieve the desired results.