Cold War - Chinese

The Cold War Chinese Perspective In the Cold War China was the weakest of the big Five. They had the weakest economy, second weakest military, no United Nations seat, and no ability to participate in the Olympics. Several things that happened in the simulation and in the real world kept China in this weak state. Our simulation beginning in the fifties contained many things that actually happened in real life, and many things that did not. Also China started with being involved in 3 wars. The first thing China did in the simulation was occupied Tibet. We did this to expand China. In real life, this actually happened in October 1950. Why this happened was much of the same reason. Tibet helped China in our simulation by providing an increased amount of money and it played a role in real life. China used Tibet’s people and economy to boost its own. Tibet added a sizeable part of land to China and added some financial aid. The Korean War was the next thing of importance that happened in the simulation. Communist backed North Korea and the United States backed South Korea. We continued to pump troops into the Korea’s with threats of nuclear power rising from both sides. The War eventually came to blows with each side attempting to crush the other.
In both real life and our simulation the border of the Korea’s changed several times and ended with a nuclear threat. However, this war ended in a draw however with the border more or less in the same area. This ended with both Koreas primed to set off in a tension that has lasted to this day.
Indochina was the next conflict China focused on. France did not want to relinquish Indochina and China/USSR wanted to claim that area. There were several conflicts that ended when the Battle of Dien Bien Phu were the Communists crushed the French. Although the communists lost a large amount of men the French lost backing of its people in the war.
This caused the Geneva conference in which France relinquished its control of its Indochina colonies and the land to be split into North and South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Something similar if not close to exact happened in the real world. It was not significant until the war in Vietnam ignited. The Indochina Conflict was one of the staging grounds for the Vietnam War. Another war that China was involved in was the Malaysian Incident. This war involved China fighting the UK. Although China maintained a strong military presence, bombing from the air force in Australia dwindled our numbers before the British finally crushed the Chinese backed armies. In real life there was also an armistice issued by the government of Malaysia. The terms were as followed: * Those of you who come in and surrender will not be prosecuted for any offence connected with the Emergency, which you have committed under Communist direction, either before this date or in ignorance of this declaration. * You may surrender now and to whom you like including to members of the public. * There will be no general "ceasefire" but the security forces will be on alert to help those who wish to accept this offer and for this purpose local "ceasefire" will be arranged. * The Government will conduct investigations on those who surrender. Those who show that they are genuinely intent to be loyal to the Government of Malaysia and to give up their Communist activities will be helped to regain their normal position in society and be reunited with their families. As regards the remainder, restrictions will have to be placed on their liberty but if any of them wish to go to China, their request will be given due consideration.
This amnesty ended after the talks that had been allowed during the peace time failed. This is where the communist armies were crushed.
Another war that the Chinese was in co-current to the others was the H.U.K Rebellion in the Philippines. Chinese weapons and munitions supported Philippine rebels. These back rebels attempted to win their freedom however the United States, using psychological warfare put down this rebellion, crushing the rebels and ending the conflict in Malaysia. In real life, the U.S.A provided assistance for the government allowing them to create battalion combat teams and take the offensive to the rebels.
The final conflict that China had in the 50’s was the Taiwan Straight Conflict. This conflict was a skirmish between Taiwan and China over the border. In our simulation we bombed Taiwan, and then Taiwan bombed China. In the real world it happened much the same way with 2,500 Republic of China troops dying and 200 People’s Republic of China troops dying. One devastating loss for the Chinese was the Great Leap Forward. This proposed economical gain was completely disastrous. The “theory” behind this idea was that in order to boost our economy, China needed to transform the Agrarian culture to a modern civilization. They tried to accomplish this by rapid industrialization and production. This was a sound theory in thought however the loss of grain and harvest decimated the culture of the Chinese. It inflicted staggering losses of money.
In our simulation the loss of money put us in huge debt. That debt still accumulated until the end of the Great Leap Forward Pandemic in 1964. In real life the Great Leap Forward was estimated to have caused 42 million deaths from starvation alone. The Chinese economy saw negative growth. In short, this was a very expensive mistake for the Chinese in the 50’s/60’s.
While the Chinese were getting wrecked by the GLP (Great Leap Pandemic) they also had an ace in the hole. In our simulation the Australian government had ties to the United States and the United Kingdom… And the Chinese. Harold Holt was a man who was slowly ascending in the government of Australia. He first began with Treasurer of Australia, feeding the Chinese information and points from either the UK or US.
He then became Vice President, allowing him to give more information and points over to the other side. Finally he became President, being able to feed the most information possible. However, he was soon to be found out regarding his connections to China until he disappeared when swimming in the Pacific. Little to the world’s knowledge the Chinese had kidnapped Harold and had him executed therefore hiding their ties to Australia. In real life, Harold Holt did become President and was found missing off the coast of Australia, however no one knows whether or not he was really affiliated with China. There is no proof that China, or Harold Holt, had any connection. The possibility of him being a Chinese spy is quite real though. No one knows what really happened to Harold Holt or what he really did when he was inside the Government of Australia. The most important event in the 50’s was the civil war in South Vietnam. This conflict was between communist back North Vietnam and Viet Cong and USA supported South Vietnamese loyalists. The war started when the leader of South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem refused to participate in the election to make North and South Vietnam into one large Vietnam because he would lose. This led to North Vietnam to invade its Southern counterpart, and Southern Rebels (Viet Cong) to start attacking the Southern government, along with the US troops that would be there later. When U.S. troops arrived they immediately blocked the border between the two Vietnams. However, the Viet-Cong still received troops and supplies from the North Vietnamese. They had used a trail, known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which went through the countries of Laos/Cambodia. This was represented in our game by letting us roll to add troops in South Vietnam. This roll was like this: Roll a die for every “x” number of armies you have in South Vietnam. That “x” was determined by the political situation in Laos/Cambodia. Towards the end of our game, the U.S. began having to pull out armies, because of the pressure from Americans. The Tet Offensive caused the people of America to resent the Vietnam War. This forced the U.S. to pull out American troops, we would have crushed the Southern troops had M.A.D. not been initiated. Beginning in the 60’s we began to get political power in Iran as the Tudeh party rose. This culminated to the assassination of the Shah of Iran. We (the communists) had loads of control and power after that. The Bay of Pigs Invasion balanced it out, in which Castro was killed and communist Cuba destroyed. One goal that we had as China was to be recognized by the UN. This recognition would have included gaining our security seat back, and be able to participate in the Olympics. In real life China was recognized in the 60’s but in our simulation, we were never recognized. This was very frustrating and deterring. The USA thought that we would nuke if we were let into the UN, however we would have nuked had the Soviets not. This UN Security problem was one of the contributions to what happened at the end of the game. China first tried peaceful talks to gain entry but when we were rebuked we resolved to threaten. It was going to work, except the one country we did not threaten nuked us. I believe this was done in part because of the underhanded deal between USSR and USA. Albania was one of China’s strongest allies. Their relationship began when China began selling chemical weapons to Albania, allowing Albania to have greater potential in wars. This was risky as there would be major repercussions if the world found out. This also had Albania asking the UN Security council, every year, to accept the People’s Republic of China as the real China and give them their UN seat back. China had some small foreign events that did not play a huge role in our game. These events included the shooting down and execution of 2 Taiwanese pilots that were spying for the US. Another was the North Korean capture of the USS Pueblo, a US boat. Eventually we gave the crew and the ship back to the US, whereas in real life they only gave the crew back and our ship still resides there. There was also the rise of the Maoist in the 3rd world country. This helped China and China in turn supported it. The final foreign/domestic thing was the Himalayan Border War. This was China fighting Indians in the Himalayan. We won the war although in real life it was a draw, with the Indians sustaining more losses but the Chinese withdrawing. There were several domestic things that China had to deal with. These included the Government of China dealing with over population; we chose to enact the 1-Child policy, instead of doing nothing or forcing abortions. In real life the Chinese started with forced abortions and moved on to the 1 child policy. The 1 child policy was the government giving China the incentive to only have 1 child. This “bonus” included financial aid along with other government help. Another domestic thing was the incident in the French Embassy, with Bernard Boursicot. This man had an affair with a Chinese woman man named Shi Pei Pu. This let us blackmail the French man into bring up French secrets. This was represented in our game by letting us know where the French were score wise. The final domestic change was the Cultural Revolution. This was an attempt to introduce Maoist/Communist tendencies and eliminate all opposition. In our game this was represented by giving us free armies in our border war with Russia (later) and allowed us to convert political points to military points. At the end of the Cultural Revolution, the universities in China were improved. One of the greatest prospect of the early 60’s was that the aid from the Soviets. When China needed nuclear power, Russia provided it. When China needed financial aid and Satellites, Russia provided yet again. The USSR help China become a contender in the world. With Russia and China combined, they were the dominant world military, and held strong political sway.
In real life the Chinese did in fact receive aid from the USSR. This aid came in the form nuclear aid with the intentions of the nuclear aid being for peaceful use. However the Chinese were relentless in the pursuit in the direction of warfare and arms. They wanted this in order to be able to check Taiwan and the USA in the Taiwan/China UN issue. This aid did not however extend to satellites, but in our simulation we had a decade slip that caused us to lose points for not having a satellite in space. The USSR, eventually, gave us the satellite after long talks and negotiations. I think that in our simulation, the Soviets regretted giving us the technology, satellites and money they did, because several years later, China lost its one ally. In 1964 the Chinese and Soviets had a major disagreement on what true communism is. The roots of the Sino-Soviet split were founded when Moa Zedong did not feel like the USSR would back China in a Sino-American War. This worsened when Moa Zedong publicly denounced USSR’s ideology as the product of Revisionist Traitors. In the real world China used this as a stepping board to gain influence with the United States. In our game the United States used this as a way to gain influence in Russia. Instead of the real world China-American Alliance there was an under the table deal between the United States and Russia. In our simulation, the American Ping-Pong team came to China and was suppose to be followed by the President. However, we did not invite the president over and instead we decline for fear of Soviet retaliation. Although no skirmishes occurred in our simulation, they did occur in real life. This was one of the fears for China because Russia had a greater military power and more money than China had. This proved right to fear the USSR as the USSR launched a major nuclear strike on China. The strike consisted of 10 I.C.B.M.’s. This was the first launch of M.A.D. or Mutually Assured Destruction. The theory here is as follows: If one nuke is launched, than another will be, and repeating until the world is destroyed. After Russia’s launch, we launched our own arsenal consisting of 2 Atomic Bombs. After this was all said and down the USA launched their own strike that brought 3 I.C.B.M.’s down on China. This ended the world and game.