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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Apr 10, 2021 17:36:57 GMT
OMAKE TWELVE: Recap on the Spratlys Conflict and the Taiwan Straits Crisis
SPRATLY ISLANDS CONFLICT:
March 14, 1994: Collins Reef Clash occurs between the Chinese and Vietnamese Navies. Chinese PLA-Navy scores major victory against the Vietnamese Navy.
June 30, 1994: China declares war on Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines. Plaridel, Pulilan, Baliuag, and other towns in Bulacan province come under Chinese bombing raid, marking the first time that the Philippines comes under aerial bombardment since end of WWII. Before the bombing, the Philippine Navy and Marine Corps had captured the Yangjiang, at the cost of the Iloilo and the Cebu vessels.
August 9-13, 1994: Chinese bombing of Central Vietnam.
December 26, 1994: Tuguegarao comes under heavy Chinese bombing. Over 1,536 people perish in the bombing.
January 6, 1995: Epiphany Tragedy occurs when an unopposed armada of Chinese HK-6 bombers flatten the town of Gapan, Nueva Ecija. In addition, Cabanatuan and Carranglan also come under attack.
March 14-19, 1995: Palawan is bombed, as well as the entire province of Batangas. Over 14,805 Batanguenos are killed within the span of five days, due to fires and bomb related injuries.
March 26, 1995: Cavite is bombed, including the home of noted Philippine national hero Emilio Aguinaldo. At the same time, Nicanor Faeldon becomes a folk hero when he retrieves a Stinger missile and shoots down a Chinese H-6 bomber that developed engine trouble while flying over Philippine airspace.
March 27, 1995: Nicanor Faeldon and his Marines capture the pilots of the defective HK-6 bomber, and after a speedy trial, they were executed by firing squad.
May 6, 1995: Chinese bombing of the Japanese Embassy in Manila kills 9 embassy staff members. Japan issues a diplomatic protest at the UN, but China simply brushes it off.
May 8, 1995: Russian and German Embassies come under PLAAF aerial bombardment. Artemio Tadiar decides to issue an order for all foreign embassies to close, to minimize casualties, and to evacuate all embassy personnel. The embassies of Australia, Japan, Mexico, and Chile will remain open.
July 12, 1995: Chinese ground forces launch artillery strikes at the two Taiwanese islands of Quemoy and Matsu. President Jackson, under pressure from his generals and admirals, reluctantly give the order for the US 7th Fleet to deploy into the Taiwan Straits, to prevent any potential Chinese amphibious invasion of Taiwan.
July 26, 1995: Battle of Hanoi begins. Vietnamese government evacuates to the city of Hue.
August 29, 1995: PLA forces capture Hanoi after a month and three days of fighting. Cambodia joins the Spratlys war on China’s side by mounting an invasion of southwestern Vietnam. Exhausted Vietnamese troops are forced to retreat in the face of an uprising from within Vietnam’s Khmer minority.
September 21, 1995: Khmer Rouge forces capture Ho Chi Minh City, which was depleted of its defenses, as the main Vietnamese Army marched north to await a Chinese offensive into the rest of Vietnam. Vietnamese paramilitaries carry out hit and run attacks against the badly equipped Khmer Rouge forces.
November 3, 1995: Hue and Da Nang come under heavy PLAAF bombing. By now, over 67% of Vietnam’s agricultural capabilities are degraded.
November 6, 1995: New People’s Army launches an uprising against the Tadiar regime, taking the Philippine military by surprise. Eastern Samar come under NPA occupation, before Philippine military returns to take the town. All NPA fighters are captured, and summarily executed.
November 9, 1995: Eduardo Quitoriano is extradited from Japan to the Philippines, on mutual agreement between the two governments.
January 16, 1996: German Chancellor Rudolf Scharping calls for diplomatic intervention in the Spratlys conflict by offering to host the peace summit in Berlin, Germany.
January 24-28, 1996: Berlin Peace Summit in Germany. Nations with claims on their portions of the Spratly Islands sign a peace treaty, giving away their claims to China, thereby recognizing China’s annexation of the Spratly Islands, except for the Philippines, which refused to sign the peace treaty. Arturo Tolentino walks out of the Peace Summit in anger at the humiliation he has endured, at the hands of the Chinese delegates. The diplomatic insult issued by Tolentino would lead to an event below.
January 29, 1996: Foreign Minister (and former Vice President) Arturo Tolentino dies when his plane was shot down over the airspace overlooking the Taiwan Straits, by Chinese anti-air defense troops. It is revealed that the order to shoot down the plane was not sanctioned by the PLA leadership, and the perpetrators were summarily punished. However, the murder of Arturo Tolentino would provide the Tadiar regime an excuse to maintain a permanent state of war with China, citing diplomatic irregularity.
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Excerpts from “The Collapshing Light at the End of the Tunnel: The Brutal Post-Marcos Dictatorship” By: Miriam Defensor Santiago ANU Press, published 2001.
Chapter Ten: An Unexpected Chance
It was seven years since my family and I were incarcerated in one of Tadiar’s concentration camps, that I began to learn something new while being forced to work on clearing a section of the forest to help build a new farm in Calusa Island. The camp, which was named Detention Camp No. 0721, had a food supply problem, and the commandant was tasked with creating a small farm where we could grow our own food. The situation was made worse by the Chinese bombing of our country, and while I did not like the Tadiar dictatorship, I liked the Chinese communists even less. One of the camp inmates also noticed that I had lost a lot of weight since coming into Detention Camp No. 0721, and I looked around my body, and was stunned that I started to look emaciated. The pictures of the Jews in the Nazi death camps conjured in my mind, and now I looked exactly like the Jews who were locked up in Auschwitz, Dachau, and many other camps. Some of the men in the camps looked like Allied POWs who were under Japanese custody, and there was another inmate who was taken away from the camp and was never heard of again.
Suddenly, there was a camp commandant who walked into the campgrounds, accompanied by his subordinates. He blew a whistle, indicating that we need to stop working for a bit and to listen to what he had to say. We were all scared of what was to come, because the last time the camp commandant visited the camp, five inmates were taken to a different camp, where it was rumored that they were subjected to medical experimentations. Others say that the five inmates taken from the camp would be interrogated, but I did not know what to believe anymore. What stunned me next, was the announcement he made.
“Camp Inmate No. 988!” The Commandant shouted. I slowly raised my hand because that was the identification number that I was given. “Come with me right now.”
I shook with fear as I approached the commandant. “R-r-reporting, as r-requested, s-sir.”
“You have a visitor. A particularly important visitor.” I followed the commandant into the building where they hosted the staff who ran the camps, but I was hooded first, to make sure I do not find a way to escape. I continued to walk with the commandant, until I was led into a small room.
When the camp guards took off the hood, I opened my eyes and they widened in shock, because the visitor in question, was the last person I wanted to see.
“You! You are the reason why I am here!” I shouted angrily. The camp guard tried to strike me, but surprisingly, Artemio Tadiar himself stopped the guard.
“If you are not happy with me right now, you can go back to whatever you were doing. That is, unless you would like to listen to what I will say. I will not be interrupted, so if you dare try to interrupt while I am talking, I will let the camp guard hit you. Clear?” Tadiar asked sternly. I nodded but glared at him.
“What is it that you want with me?” I asked suspiciously. Tadiar, for some odd reason, did not smile. Instead, he placed a folder on the desk, as I opened it to see what appeared to be a case from 1982. I gasped at the name attached to it. “If you have forgotten by now, I am no longer a judge. Your regime has pretty much blacklisted me.”
“I can reverse that order, just for this purpose. If you build an airtight case against the defendants in question, I will allow you and your family to leave the Philippines for Australia or America. I have approached the Australian government with an offer to have you and your family live out the rest of your days in exile.” Tadiar closed the folder. “Will you do the case that I presented to you?”
“What kind of case is this? If this is political, I would rather die,” I answered bluntly. Tadiar however, shook his head.
“It is not. I am re-opening the case of Pepsi Paloma, and the case that should have gone to trial, but her mother signed the Affidavit, promising to not take Tito, Vic, and Ricardo Reyes, or Richie D’Horsie, as you would call him, to trial,” Tadiar answered back.
I scoffed. “Why would I be interested in building up an airtight case against the Sotto brothers, and Ricardo Reyes? They are in exile already if you did not notice.”
“Because the new President, Jack Kemp, has passed the so-called Political Exiles’ GMRC Act, which would allow the US government to deport any political exile who has committed any criminal offense. The reason this was passed, is so that the exiled politicians from this country will behave themselves. Well, Tito, Vic, and Joey de Leon got in trouble with the police at a Seattle pub, where they were behaving that is ill-fitting of a political exile. They groped two female servers and tried to bribe them in the process. On top of that, that drunk moron Erap Estrada got himself arrested for public intoxication at a Los Angeles nightclub. President Kemp is no longer going to host these buffoons.” I did not know the Sotto brothers well but given how the Pepsi Paloma case was a hot topic during the later years of the Marcos dictatorship, I started to understand that Tadiar fully intends to drag the exiles back home to be locked up in his concentration camps. As much as I hated him, the fact that the exiles had become a major embarrassment was nothing short of a travesty. I reluctantly nodded in agreement, indicating that I agreed to oversee the case.
“Your family members will be moved to Kabankalan to serve their time under house arrest, so that you will not do anything funny,” Tadiar told me, which I also nodded as well. “Australia would actually be the only place you and your family will go, as I have maintained diplomatic ties to them.”
“And are you sure you will not restore relations with America?” I asked again. Tadiar sighed but glared at the camp guard who wanted to beat me.
“I have imposed a de facto diplomatic isolation of the Philippines, for purposes that you will eventually find out.” Tadiar stood up and turned to the camp guard. “Make sure that the inmate is fed properly and escorted to Kabankalan.”
“Yes, sir!” The camp guard saluted as Tadiar started to leave, but not before he turned around and looked at me. What he said next, stunned me as well.
“Arturo Tolentino died for the Philippines. His plane was shot down by the Chinese, and the reason why I imposed a diplomatic isolation, is so that I can get revenge on China. That, along with what they have done to us. Arturo was brave enough to call out on China’s nuclear blackmail and walked out.”
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“My stepfather lived out the rest of his life in America, like all the Filipino exiles. However, my mother and I traveled through Japan, before settling in Vladivostok, Russia, in 1995. We lived there for only a year, before moving to Bulgaria, mainly because life in the post-civil war Russian Far East was more difficult. In addition, we converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, only when we arrived in Bulgaria. I eventually adjusted to life in that pleasant Balkan nation, and even learned how to sing as well. Soon, I started singing some songs in Bulgarian and English, and before long, I was approached by an agent, who connected me to various music companies. My first song, ‘White Rose’, was mainly about the life we had back in the Philippines, and I sang that by myself. My first duet was with a fellow SE Asian singer of Vietnamese heritage, a lovely friend of mine named Ani Hoang. I also went to acting school, and graduated from there. That is exactly how I landed my first acting gig in the popular Bulgarian sitcom, ‘Traykov’. ‘Traykov’ was basically the Bulgarian answer to Seinfeld, and it was in that show that I met my future husband, Stanislav Yanevski. We eventually married, and had three children: Ivan, who was born in 2004, Nevena, who was born in 2006, and Nikolina, who was born in 2009. I missed my beloved Philippines sometimes, but my life there is gone, no thanks to Artemio Tadiar and his military junta. Still, I was able to learn different styles of Balkan pop music, and my fans tell me that I sing better chalga songs than most of the other singers who were born here. In addition to learning Bulgarian, I learned a little bit of Macedonian, which allowed me to perform a duet with Tamara Todevska, and I picked up a little bit of Serbian, mainly because I dreamed of doing a duet with Svetlana Velickovic, who went by the stage name Ceca. I applied the Balkan styles of music for my first Tagalog language song, ‘Namatayang Bulaklak’, or Dying Flower, which became a hit with the Filipino diaspora. However, it was my first concert in the Philippines that really crowned my achievement as the first Filipino chalga singer that attracted President Legarda’s attention.” Karylle, from her documentary “Life of an Exiled Singer”.
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simeon
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Post by simeon on Apr 10, 2021 23:53:50 GMT
I fear the Pepsi trio could arouse sympathy from the more conservative and misogynistic elements of the exile media if the regime revealed too much of a persecutory air for their trial. Do you plan for a trial of the century?
Did you also plan for Balkanwood to somewhat undercut Hallyu, anime, and other burgeoning media interests of the 21st century?
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Apr 11, 2021 0:33:28 GMT
I fear the Pepsi trio could arouse sympathy from the more conservative and misogynistic elements of the exile media if the regime revealed too much of a persecutory air for their trial. Do you plan for a trial of the century? Did you also plan for Balkanwood to somewhat undercut Hallyu, anime, and other burgeoning media interests of the 21st century? It might be one of those trials that would probably be televised, but since it is Miriam Defensor Santiago who is overseeing the trial, it would not have too much of a persecutory air. For instance, the Sotto brothers and Richie D'Horsie will have defense lawyers, and Pepsi Paloma's mother and former boyfriend would testify, but only the latter would have witness protection. As we will see, Balkan culture might take a bit more exposure, namely because they have not gone through a devastating war, unlike OTL. The fact that someone like Karylle is living in Bulgaria ITTL would indicate that it might emerge as a surprising destination for the Filipino exiles who do not want to live in the Anglophone countries, or OFWs who could not go back for fear of political persecution. Korean wave, Japanese wave, and even Turkish soap operas might actually compete for the most popular pop culture ITTL. ITTL, we are also seeing more joint collaborations between various nations on movie making.
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gillan1220
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Post by gillan1220 on Apr 11, 2021 3:49:08 GMT
March 26, 1995: Cavite is bombed, including the home of noted Philippine national hero Emilio Aguinaldo. At the same time, Nicanor Faeldon becomes a folk hero when he retrieves a Stinger missile and shoots down a Chinese H-6 bomber that developed engine trouble while flying over Philippine airspace. Where did Faeldon get the Stinger? Was that supplied from the Yakuza using the Yamashita's gold? September 21, 1995: Khmer Rouge forces capture Ho Chi Minh City, which was depleted of its defenses, as the main Vietnamese Army marched north to await a Chinese offensive into the rest of Vietnam. Vietnamese paramilitaries carry out hit and run attacks against the badly equipped Khmer Rouge forces. Correct. The badly equipped KR have no hope holding out HCM. Not to mention the KR are not organized enough hence why their regime collapsed in 1979.
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Apr 11, 2021 3:52:33 GMT
March 26, 1995: Cavite is bombed, including the home of noted Philippine national hero Emilio Aguinaldo. At the same time, Nicanor Faeldon becomes a folk hero when he retrieves a Stinger missile and shoots down a Chinese H-6 bomber that developed engine trouble while flying over Philippine airspace. Where did Faeldon get the Stinger? Was that supplied from the Yakuza using the Yamashita's gold? September 21, 1995: Khmer Rouge forces capture Ho Chi Minh City, which was depleted of its defenses, as the main Vietnamese Army marched north to await a Chinese offensive into the rest of Vietnam. Vietnamese paramilitaries carry out hit and run attacks against the badly equipped Khmer Rouge forces. Correct. The badly equipped KR have no hope holding out HCM. Not to mention the KR are not organized enough hence why their regime collapsed in 1979. 1) Remember the Corsairs who smuggled those anti-air weapons, shortly before the arms embargo was imposed? That might have been it. 2) True, although as we will also see soon, with China potentially being targeted by the terrorist attacks, Vietnam might break the treaty that was imposed on them in Berlin to retake those lost territories. They could even launch their own version of Operation: Storm, expelling the Khmers from southwestern Vietnam.
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gillan1220
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Post by gillan1220 on Apr 11, 2021 3:59:27 GMT
Where did Faeldon get the Stinger? Was that supplied from the Yakuza using the Yamashita's gold? Correct. The badly equipped KR have no hope holding out HCM. Not to mention the KR are not organized enough hence why their regime collapsed in 1979. 1) Remember the Corsairs who smuggled those anti-air weapons, shortly before the arms embargo was imposed? That might have been it. 2) True, although as we will also see soon, with China potentially being targeted by the terrorist attacks, Vietnam might break the treaty that was imposed on them in Berlin to retake those lost territories. They could even launch their own version of Operation: Storm, expelling the Khmers from southwestern Vietnam. How many H-6K bombers did the Philippines shoot down? I remember the Corsairs were using portions of the WWII loot to fund illegal black ops activities around the world. I'm wondering if that Golden Lily chapter took place after the war as Tadiar mentioned that he wanted to collapse China's economy using the mythical gold. As for Vietnam, yes I would see them march into Phnom Penh once more. So will the Cambodian monarchy be restored here?
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Apr 11, 2021 4:18:29 GMT
Only one so far, and that was the bomber that developed engine troubles, but the PLAAF would have targeted the anti-air defenses first. The fighter jets that the PLAAF had on the other hand, they would have been targeted by the anti-air defenses. I could realistically see at least five to six Chengdu J-7s getting shot down.
While Tadiar could try and collapse China's economy, using the Japanese gold to do so would have also infuriated Japan, since they are trying to get their gold back. Their economy is also on the line as well, if they revealed that they had more gold than the world had expected them to have.
Not sure if the Cambodian monarchy would be restored, since there was one Cambodian Prince who collaborated with the Khmer Rouge, so that might be an iffy. However, I could see Vietnam actually gaining a little bit of Cambodian territory that was once held by the Nguyen Dynasty (the dynasty that also presided over the French colonial period in Indochina), before regaining northern Vietnam from the PLA.
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gillan1220
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Post by gillan1220 on Apr 11, 2021 5:53:14 GMT
Besides, the KR lost their credibility in the 70s and so they are little more than Beijing's useful puppets at this point. Beijing would need them to destabilize Vietnam so the Chinese won't need to spend further resources.
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Apr 11, 2021 6:41:44 GMT
Besides, the KR lost their credibility in the 70s and so they are little more than Beijing's useful puppets at this point. Besides, the KR lost their credibility in the 70s and so they are little more than Beijing's useful puppets at this point. Beijing would need them to destabilize Vietnam so the Chinese won't need to spend further resources. True on both accounts. Next update will be done soon.
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Apr 11, 2021 13:50:20 GMT
Besides, the KR lost their credibility in the 70s and so they are little more than Beijing's useful puppets at this point.
As I've said before I can't see the Cambodian government allowing the KR any role in their state, let alone marching through their territory given their behaviour during the occupation when so many were murdered.
If it did occur I fear for anyone one in Ho Chi Minh City given their character, especially if there is any resistance. That would probably see thousands murdered and an even deeper hostility toward Cambodia in Vietnam.
I can't see Vietnam seeking to take back its lost provinces while China is still an active threat but if its removed as such by any means then that's very likely to happen.
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Post by TheRomanSlayer on Apr 11, 2021 20:41:12 GMT
True, and the fact that the Khmer Rouge has actually invaded Vietnam, the Vietnamese would be eager to expel them, and sadly, many other Khmer minorities living in Vietnamese territory. TTL Vietnam's situation is similar to that of OTL Croatia, before Operation: Storm.
Yep, Vietnam and Cambodia have been historical rivals in most of SE Asia's history, and TTL is about to turn Cambodian-Vietnamese enmity into a kind of ethnic hatred that you'd see in the Balkans IOTL.
Ironically, Tadiar might be credited with his contribution to restoring Vietnam's territorial integrity, mainly by those terrorist attacks that he sponsored against China. Plus the Uyghur separatists might actually be more open to the idea of relocating their training camps to the Philippines, which could add another angle to the whole 'state of war through diplomatic irregularity' kind of thing. Also, you could see more Vietnamese guerrilla attacks aimed at the occupying PLA troops in Northern Vietnam, thereby giving China its own version of Afghanistan and Iraq in the process.
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