Chapter Fifty: Return to Taiwan

  The computer had some issues, so today's update was slow. This is an update from an internet cafe, please forgive me everyone.

  After seeing off Prince Sihanouk, Lin Feng was still not very optimistic about the situation in Indochina. Although he had no good feelings towards the Khmer Rouge, this did not prevent him from using them to consume Vietnam's strength. The strength of Cambodia and Vietnam differed greatly, and historically, Vietnam had occupied all of Cambodia, only to fail in the end due to the people's guerrilla warfare in Cambodia, and even so, it took Cambodia nearly a decade to achieve final success.

  In a medieval manor on the outskirts of Europe, far across the ocean, the entire estate exuded an aura of decay. Several old-fashioned oil lamps swayed in the wind, and in a spacious room, several pale-faced Europeans gathered together to discuss something. The one sitting in the middle, a white-haired European around fifty years old, said: "Gentlemen, our noble Anglo-Saxon descendants have ruled the earth for over a hundred years, but now we face a severe test. Those Slavs are competing with us for world domination, and those lowly Chinese are getting restless again. Does anyone have any ideas?"

  The one on the left of the second row continued, "Elder, now the barbaric Slavs have fallen into the conspiracy of 'Star Wars'. As long as we carry out our plan normally, within ten years the Slavs will be thoroughly plunged into internal strife. By then it will be the best opportunity for us to regain world dominance. As for the Chinese, what else do they have besides their brilliant civilization?" He finished with a look of disdain.

  "I don't agree with what you just said," a cold voice came from the opposite side of the person who had just spoken. "We absolutely cannot underestimate the Chinese, they are a people skilled at creating miracles, everyone must remember the lessons we learned from the Korean War, now they have gradually caught up with us in technology, and as long as they have the right opportunity, they will become the leaders of the world. We need to strangle this possibility in its cradle, the best outcome would be for the Slavs and the Chinese to mutually slaughter each other, both sides suffering losses, and we will ultimately reap the benefits."

  At this time, the person on the left said: "You say it's simple, but the Chinese are not fools, how can they listen to our arrangements and fight with the Slavs?" The cold-speaking person continued: "Hehe, the Chinese cannot be manipulated by us, but as long as we add a little fuel to the fire, with the historical hatred between their two countries, it's impossible for them not to erupt into conflict. When the two countries are fighting fiercely, that's when we'll come out and clean up the mess."

  The person called the elder showed a faint smile on his face, and after a moment of contemplation, said: "Right Guardian is right, next you are in charge of drafting a plan to weaken the power of Huaxia, Slavs are our current main opponent and Huaxia people are our future potential opponents as Anglo-Saxons." Right Guardian let out a cold laugh and said: "Elder, rest assured, in another year Brezhnev that old fool will invade Afghanistan under our instigation, we will give him a big surprise, and this time we will also pull the Huaxia people in"

  Lin Feng, who was in Taiwan, did not know that on the other side of the world, a group of white people were plotting against his nation. He was negotiating with Beijing about issues related to Taiwan. At this time, China is roughly on the road to revival, with its economy booming and having re-established itself as an Asian power after defeating Japan.

  Now that Hong Kong and Macau have returned to China as Special Administrative Regions, along with the Ryukyu Islands. Currently, China has a total of three Special Administrative Regions. The governments of these regions, except for diplomatic and defense powers, have relatively independent administrative powers. They have their own independent judicial systems and financial systems, and even their own unique cultural traditions, which are vastly different from those on the mainland. However, Taiwan is distinct from the Special Administrative Regions. In name, it is a province of China, but its powers far exceed those of other provinces on the mainland. Moreover, it differs from ordinary Special Administrative Regions in that it has its own defense forces. Therefore, defining Taiwan's status is a headache for current Chinese leaders. Some suggest directly incorporating all aspects of Taiwan into the mainland system, while others propose maintaining the current cross-strait status quo as better. Regardless, everyone feels perplexed about how to evaluate the new relationship between the two sides after the war.

  This is the moment to test the wisdom and courage of Chinese politicians. After a round of secret talks between Deng Xiaoping and Lin Feng, both sides reached an agreement on the Taiwan issue. The central government recognized Taiwan as China's new local autonomous government, enjoying high autonomy, with administrative power except for the right to declare war and diplomatic rights. The mainland central government deployed a small number of troops in Taiwan, symbolizing China's complete reunification.

  At the same time, all troops in Taiwan were reorganized into the Taiwan Military Region of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. The Taiwan Military Region became China's eighth largest military region and also the most powerful military region in China. Lin Feng served as the first commander of the Taiwan Military Region. Chiang Ching-kuo served as the first chairman of the Taiwan Provincial Autonomous Government.

  Lin Feng certainly does not want Taiwan to leave China and become independent, otherwise he would not have strongly suppressed the Taiwanese separatists. However, he also does not want Taiwan to be completely incorporated into the mainland system, which would greatly reduce Lin Feng's autonomy. The current situation is exactly what Lin Feng hopes for, with present-day Taiwan being similar to the warlords of the Republican era, having a great deal of autonomy in all aspects except for nominally submitting to the central government.

  In May 1977, mainland and Taiwan representatives reached a consensus on the status of Taiwan in Beijing and formally issued a joint statement. This declaration indicated that the central government of the mainland had perfectly resolved the cross-strait relations issue, but in fact, this hidden danger has been kept in mind by many people. The sudden outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War brought the relationship between the two sides of the strait closer again, but the post-war situation made many people see that the prospect of reconciliation across the Taiwan Strait was once again overshadowed.

  In the war, the Taiwanese army thoroughly defeated Japan as the main force and became China's greatest contributor to winning this war. Taiwan showed its strength, leading many international observers to believe that Taiwan, as a local government, had demonstrated greater power than ordinary national strength, even surpassing the mainland central government's military strength in conventional combat capabilities. This is a typical case of "central weakness, local strength". Some countries with ulterior motives began to exaggerate Taiwan's role, trying to create internal chaos in China. Fortunately, Chairman Deng was a high-IQ politician who eventually reached a peaceful agreement with Lin Feng. After the declaration was issued, all sorts of ambiguous arguments from outside suddenly disappeared, and mainland China's overall strength rose to another level after merging with Taiwan.

  After Taiwan returns to China, it has no impact on the ordinary people on the island. Everyone still works and lives as usual. The most affected are some ambitious people hiding in the dark, especially those Han traitors bought by international financiers, and the lingering Taiwanese separatists. Lin Feng's move completely blocked their attempt to seek Taiwan independence.

  The Taiwanese separatists have been constantly attacked by Lin Feng, and they can no longer form a trend in Taiwan. However, those so-called elite elements bought by international financiers are slowly infiltrating various levels of Taiwanese society. They originally planned to control Taiwan's power and turn it into a frontline against China, but now this goal has completely failed.

  Moreover, their infiltration plan is not going smoothly. According to their idea, Taiwan should be implementing free economic policies, which was indeed the case before the 1970s.

  Since 1970, Taiwan has completely abandoned liberal economic policies and implemented a planned free economy. Although it is still nominally a free economy, in reality, it is a public ownership planned economy similar to the mainland. The major companies in Taiwan are all state-owned, and these companies control more than 90% of Taiwan's wealth. The remaining wealth is controlled by local ethnic capital, and shares can be transferred among Chinese people on the island, but foreigners are prohibited from intervening. International financial giants only hold some insignificant enterprises, and their so-called elites play no role in this society dominated by the government. All economic activities are conducted under government supervision. Any illegal behavior will not escape government punishment, and with a mechanism for public supervision, no civil servant dares to abuse power or break the law, otherwise, they will face severe government crackdowns.

  Now these former plotters and ambitious people with different purposes have come together to deal with the same goal, although their individual strength is weak, but the two sides are still quite impressive when they gather together. In the end, they decided to continue to infiltrate Taiwan's politics and economy. These are not known to Lin Feng for now, and there are many things in the Taiwan military region that are being created from scratch. There is also the matter of training the Cambodian army, which was established according to the standard of the Second Army Group of Taiwan.

  The group army has a mountain division, an armored division and a mechanized infantry division. After half a year of hard training, this force has initially acquired combat effectiveness, but due to the low cultural quality of these people, they still need some time to master the new equipment. Lin Feng estimates that it can probably be put into battle by the second half of next year. The peace talks between Cambodia and Vietnam have completely broken down, and both sides have exchanged fire several times along the border. Vietnam's intention to invade Cambodia is "the heart of Sima Zhao, known to all", and Prince Sihanouk, despite his inner anxiety, understands that strength is the most important thing after Lin Feng's guidance, and he also stays in the military camp all day.

  Lin Feng returned home to receive a delightful news, Chang'e No. 1 successfully returned to Taiwan after two weeks of space work, this message made the whole nation joyful, various places held celebrations, even Zhao Yazhi and her company planned to hold a celebration party.