George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 315

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“No, it’s more than that. I’m working so hard to prevent a war. What do you mean, ‘when will the war break out?’ What kind of crazy talk is that?”

Frankly, Bush was quite displeased. He was working his tail off to prevent a war, and it wasn’t pleasant to be asked point-blank when it would break out.

“You’re the only one, Mr. President, who doesn’t think a war will happen given the current situation.”

The problem was that only a tiny minority thought war wouldn’t happen; the majority believed it would. As evidence, several countries began nationwide hoarding after the announcement of the U.S. military’s stationing in Taiwan.

“Of course, you would think so.”

“Mr. President, it’s not good to rely too much on secret deals.”

“The deals I’ve made are secret, but they’re not promises that can be easily betrayed. You know that well, don’t you?”

After all, what’s at stake is the so-called Big Deal, which includes everything from Qing Dynasty bonds [Bonds issued by the Qing Dynasty, often held by foreign entities] to the security of China and the survival of the Communist Party.

“Don’t you know that humans are not rational creatures? It would be truly regrettable if Chairman Li Keqiang were to die in an unforeseen accident. The person who would succeed him would not be so moderate.”

“Then it really is war. What more do you want? I’ve done all I can.”

That was the literal truth. Saying he had done all he could meant he had really done all he could, no more and no less.

“It’s not like we’re going to lose the war, and even if we do, we can just pull out. What’s the problem? Then the secret deal will completely fall apart, and we’ll have to start collecting bonds again. China won’t have really won even if it wins.”

Frankly, it was a completely rigged game.

The gist of the conversation between Bush and Li Keqiang was this: the U.S. would deploy troops around or within China as much as possible, and every time the Communist Party pretended to push them out, they would coordinate appropriately so that the U.S. could withdraw its troops. That was all there was to it.

“We’re living in field tents now, but we should have a decent base set up in about a week or two at the latest.”

“Something will happen before you have everything in place.”

“If your prediction is correct, Mr. President, then perhaps it will.”

As expected, the division that Bush had predicted finally arrived. It started with a protest in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.

The division was established when the military district refused to obey the central government’s order to suppress the large-scale anti-U.S. military deployment protests in Chengdu for ethical and conscientious reasons.

In fact, no matter how you looked at it, they were not anti-government groups. Rather, you could see them as patriotic groups to some extent. But what they got in return was a second Tiananmen [Refers to the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, a pro-democracy movement that was violently suppressed]. True patriots selflessly sacrifice themselves for their country, but frankly, how many people are really like that?

Besides, it’s the 21st century. It’s the end of the 21st century, when liberalism and individualism have reached their peak. Sure, China has less of that tendency thanks to its unique national ideology, but that just means it’s less, not that it’s nonexistent. The voice of freedom was seeping out in some way or another.

“We will not create a second Tiananmen! Remember April 15, 1989! The wildfire of democracy has not yet died down! Wildfire, engulf China, using the blood and sweat of the people as fertilizer! Freedom for China! China for freedom!”

Freedom for China, China for freedom. This slogan spread like wildfire.

It was none other than China’s ethnic minorities who most supported this. Tibet, in particular, took the lead. The reason Tibet’s sovereignty was helplessly plundered in the past was simply because it lacked power. There were some shortcomings in other areas, but the most fatal was the lack of military power. So, wouldn’t it be enough to build up strength? So, they decided to build it up.

The world was too cruel and harsh to resist through self-immolation based on the principle of non-violence. How long would Tibet have to be exploited and plundered?

But now it was too late to build up an army. By the time they tried to resist, it would be far too late. Even if the central government turned its eyes away, the local governments would not turn their eyes to Tibet.

The fact that Tibet would be invaded again the moment it resisted was too obvious to be doubted.

Moreover, a religious country could only be religious forever. For better or worse, it had to be religious. Even if they created an army, the Tibetan army, based on non-violence, could not be a strong army.

Then, relying on a less harsh foreign power would not be such a bad choice. But Tibet had already been betrayed by that foreign power. It was more accurate to say that the timing was not right than to say it was betrayed, but in any case, it was thoroughly ignored by the international community, including Britain, and finally believed in China, only to be annexed.

However, even with such a track record, they had no intention of sitting down and despairing. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that they had been waiting and waiting and waiting for, so eagerly that their hands would pop out of their necks. How could they miss this?

Therefore, the Dalai Lama declared separation and decided to stick with the United States to buy time to build an army. He focused on sticking with the United States. In response, the United States mediated with India to provide protection from India.

Whether this should be called consideration or not, it was the best the United States could do. Of course, China protested as it did with Taiwan, but with China’s internal turmoil beginning, it had no time to pay attention to Tibet.

In any case, through this process, China was divided into exactly six parts.

That is, excluding the ethnic minorities, starting with Tibet, which had sprung up independently, taking advantage of the gap. The standard was the military district, and the Beijing and Shenyang military districts were the existing sphere of influence of the Communist Party. They claimed to be the legitimate government, and that tradition was recognized by virtually the entire world, led by the United States.

The other military districts were all similar, but among them, the Lanzhou military district was half floating rather than independent. It tried to help the Chengdu military district suppress the uprising in Tibet, but it had to cause a disturbance on the border with the Indian army, which was dispatched to incorporate Tibet into its sphere of influence, and barely managed to stop.

In particular, since this military district itself was organized in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the public sentiment was very fierce, so it showed a very cautious appearance. In addition, since it is inland and the land for growing crops is not so wide, it was scheduled to face chronic food shortages.

Anyway, apart from this, the movement itself was static due to many problems.

Hong Kong, which seemed like it would have called for independence first, did not become independent. The more chaotic the situation, the more conditions and justification for moving the military were created. For this reason, the more time passed, the more disadvantageous it was for Hong Kong.

No matter how much the citizens rose up, there was nothing left after the Guangzhou military district swept away those citizens with tanks and armored vehicles. Therefore, the most sensible choice now was to obtain more autonomy than now while being as obedient as possible. So that it can eventually become independent peacefully.

Of course, the road would be very difficult, but it was better than having its autonomy curtailed.

The other autonomous regions were strangely quiet. In particular, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region was very cooperative with the Communist Party. This was not only because of the problem of being right next to it, but also because most of it was made up of Han Chinese, unlike the name of the autonomous region.

Instead, Mongolia, which regarded the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region as its territory, was constantly eyeing it.

In the case of the Nanjing military district, since it had relatively strong power, it had been planning for a future away from China even in peacetime since China was hit by the United States and shaken greatly. As a result, the Nanjing military district was able to become the most powerful warlord on its own, excluding the Communist Party in Beijing.

In the case of the Chengdu military district, it sent a passionate love call to the Lanzhou military district. The Lanzhou military district caused a disturbance with India, but it was not only the Lanzhou military district that caused the disturbance. The Chengdu military district had the most casualties.

In the first place, the military district to which Tibet belonged was none other than the Chengdu military district. Moreover, the starting point of the opposition protest was in Chengdu, as can be seen from the name of the Chengdu military district. That’s why it was the most unstable military district.

It was considered that it would not be able to do anything properly with its own strength, so it had a close alliance with the Lanzhou military district, or it was in an ambiguous state that it was not said to have rebelled from the current Communist Party.

In the case of the Jinan military district, its power was weak in the first place. In addition, in the case of being caught between the most powerful forces, it was common to rely on other military districts as the best option, or if that was not possible, to fight to the end, but it decided to bring in foreign forces. The military, even if it could not hold the world, wanted to remain independent for at least half a century, even if the citizens did not.

“So, the Lanzhou warlord is saying, ‘I want the U.S. military to be stationed.’ What do you think, Chief of Staff?”

“Is there a need to accept them?”

“The more independence there is in China, the better. And frankly, it’s still not enough. This is not a real division. To cause a proper division, we need to bring that military district.”

“But, Mr. President, you didn’t intend to divide it more than necessary, did you?”

“To be exact, I’m going to divide it and then reassemble it. According to my taste. And the most suitable thing for my taste was the current Chinese Communist Party.”

“I doubt whether the Communist Party will accept this.”

Whether they accepted it or not, the result was the same. The United States’ actions had never deviated from the terms of the deal, at least until now.

“Is Tibet and Taiwan the only ones that have actually become independent?”

To Bush, China was a sculpture. They say that genius sculptors can see the sculpture sleeping inside the stone? This was the same for Bush. Bush seemed to see China after this was over.

And first of all, he knocked out Tibet and Taiwan, which were unnecessary components of the sculpture. Tibet saved itself on its own, but Taiwan could not, so it would be under the influence of the United States for the next 100 years, whether it liked it or not.

“If there is a request from a warlord like this time, let them infiltrate more. We need to increase diplomatic achievements for the hungry Communist Party.”

Bush was still hungry.