Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

Of course, if the situation really turned against the imperialist camp, Britain would still stand up. But the current situation did not seem to be out of control.

France, needless to say, hadn't considered returning since withdrawing from Indochina. Charles de Gaulle had clearly understood that France lacked the capacity to manage its former colonies in Southeast Asia. So, de Gaulle's priority now wasn't to focus on changes in Southeast Asia, but rather on stabilizing the newly formed French Community.

Because of the independence movements in the colonies, the French Federation could not be maintained. Therefore, after Charles de Gaulle came to power, he changed the French Federation into the French Community.

However, even after the establishment of the French Community, the situation remained bleak, with many former colonial powers seeking to secede from the French Community. Therefore, Charles de Gaulle's biggest diplomatic task now was to stabilize the more than a dozen countries that comprised the French Community. He showed little interest in the Vietnam issue, far away in Asia.

In the imperialist camp, Britain, the United States and France are the backbone of the forces. Now Britain and France are taking a passive approach, and other European countries such as Italy have no idea.

For a world hegemon like the United States, the Indochina Peninsula is a place that cannot be lost. However, for many European countries, they have many problems of their own at this stage and really do not have the energy to care about Southeast Asia, which is thousands of miles away.

As for diplomatic condemnation, it's completely useless. During the Cold War, diplomatic condemnation was completely useless. Because both camps were constantly abusing each other, diplomatic condemnation was like fart.

However, some countries have responded. Thailand has been the most proactive, pledging its allegiance to the United States and expressing its support for the US.

There is a reason why Thailand is so actively involved in US activities.

One reason is Thailand's lack of security. Small countries in Southeast Asia are naturally afraid of a giant like China.

Although large-scale invasions of other countries' territories have become rare since World War II, they do exist. The northern superpower is simply too powerful for Southeast Asian countries.

Even if China shows goodwill, many Southeast Asian countries are afraid of China from the bottom of their hearts.

Among its smaller Asian allies, the US has signed protection agreements with Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Taiwan. Each of these agreements stipulates that the US is obligated to defend these countries if they are invaded. However, the US has not signed a separate protection agreement with Thailand.

Thailand has tried several times to sign a protection agreement with the United States, but was rejected by the United States. This has made Thailand feel very insecure.

Therefore, Thailand sought to tie itself to the United States. The US's attempt to form a "United Nations Army" similar to that of the Korean War had failed, and Thailand saw this as a good opportunity. Therefore, it immediately expressed its support for US military action, offering to provide military bases and even sending troops to participate in the operation.

Of course, in addition to the lack of security, there were also domestic issues. Ever since Khrushchev began to communistize Indochina, all Marxist-Leninist parties in Indochina had received assistance from the Soviet Union.

While not as large as the Vietnamese Workers' Party, it has received support to varying degrees, some financially, and some through cadre training. China's influence in this area is significant.

In particular, Chairman Mao's theory of encircling the cities from the countryside and his theory of guerrilla warfare were regarded as treasures by the Southeast Asian communist organizations.

The same is true of the Communist Party of Thailand. They originally supported the "urban revolution theory," and their leaders were primarily based in major cities. However, over the years, the results have been limited.

Although the Thai government recognized the Communist Party of Thailand as a legal political party after the end of World War II, it later cracked down on it in various ways and even arrested many Communist Party of Thailand leaders.

After receiving support from China and the Soviet Union, the Thai Communist Party secretly held its Third Congress in 1960, formally deciding to establish a broad Patriotic Democratic United Front and actively build rural bases. A large number of Thai Communist Party cadres entered the countryside.

The Thai government noticed the change in the Thai Communist Party's policy, so it stepped up its crackdown on the Thai Communist Party, and Thai Communist Party leaders left the big cities and began to move into the countryside.

In October 1960, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Thailand formally proposed the strategy of "surrounding the cities from the countryside and commanding the revolution from the jungle."

Although the Thai Communist Party is still relatively weak, with few rural bases and only a few thousand guerrillas, the Thai government remains deeply concerned about the expansion of the Thai Communist Party. In particular, it fears that a unification with Vietnam would directly impact domestic stability.

Therefore, Thailand is the most opposed to Vietnam being communistized by the Vietnam Workers' Party and establishing a socialist country.

To show its sincerity, Thailand even prepared a 6000-strong force ready to participate in military operations at any time.

Of course, Thailand, as a fence-sitter like a "three-surname traitor", is actively performing while asking the United States for military support.

The United States certainly couldn't let its allies down at this time, so it agreed to provide Thailand with $1.7 million in military supplies to arm the Thai army.

With Thailand's active support, the United States began to directly requisition existing Thai air bases and built a large number of airports in Thailand. In a short period of time, more than 700 aircraft were stationed in Thailand.

In addition to warships and aircraft, the United States mobilized army troops from military bases in Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and other countries into Vietnam.

The United States knew that North Vietnam was well prepared and that its response was slow.

The US's current thinking is similar to that of the Korean War: North Vietnam must not be allowed to unify Vietnam. Therefore, a large number of forces were deployed to Saigon to build a defensive fortification there and to protect the area centered on Saigon, buying time for the US to mobilize troops.

Therefore, the US military began to tell the South Vietnamese troops not to fight the Vietnamese People's Army in the field, but to build one defensive line after another. American aircraft would support them.

At the same time, the United States once again called on its allies to send troops to participate in the Vietnam War, but few responded.

Only Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, and South Korea are willing to send troops. However, South Korea and New Zealand have small populations and can only send a small number of troops.

South Korea, in particular, also had to guard against an aggressive North Korea. The US military had already withdrawn some troops from South Korea to Vietnam due to the Vietnam issue, significantly weakening South Korea's defenses. At this point, how could it dare to send more troops to Vietnam?

As for Japan, it was a defeated nation after all. Even if some Japanese troops were deployed, they would not be able to directly fight in the battlefield. They would mostly be used for logistical work.

As for the combat effectiveness of the Philippine army, the Americans really look down on it.

So in the end, the US military had to go into battle. After the US estimated the current strength of the Vietnamese People's Army, it prepared the first batch of 100,000 troops to enter the battlefield.

The whole world was in turmoil because of the Vietnam War, and China, as the supporting force behind Vietnam, was of course also very busy.

China needs to exchange information diplomatically with the Soviet Union, Vietnam and the Communist Parties of Southeast Asian countries.

Especially in terms of contact with the communist organizations in Southeast Asian countries, there are many things to do, such as training communist cadres in various countries, providing material support, and exchanging intelligence, which are very numerous and trivial.

Originally, as the main person in charge of party affairs of the CPC Central Committee, Wei Hongjun's job was to contact the communist organizations of these countries and handle relations between parties.

But compared with before, the Communist Parties of various countries in the Indochina Peninsula are now preparing for armed struggle, so there are dozens of times more things to do than usual, and Wei Hongjun simply does not have that much energy and time to deal with them.

If Wei Hongjun had to handle all these matters, the Secretariat would have no time to carry out its work.

Therefore, Wei Hongjun wrote a report to the Politburo, asking the Politburo to select someone to be responsible for these docking tasks.

After discussion, the Politburo agreed that Wei Hongjun, as a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, had too much to handle. The affairs of the Communist parties in Southeast Asia should be delegated to others. The Politburo ultimately chose Luo Qirong as the overall leader, with Wang Jiaxiang and Liao Chengzhi as its co-chairs.

Liao Chengzhi got involved because there are many Chinese in several countries in the Indochina Peninsula. The process of communistizing the Indochina Peninsula will also involve work with Chinese and overseas Chinese.

The three of them jointly handle daily work, and when major issues are involved, they must report to the Secretariat.

Wei Hongjun withdrew from some specific matters in the Indochina Peninsula and focused on the work of the Secretariat.

"Comrade Yang Shangkun, don't make a big fuss about finding a secretary for the Chairman. Second the cadre in the name of the General Office of the Central Committee. That way, even if this comrade doesn't pass the exam, it won't affect him when he returns to his original unit. But first, you must carefully study the confidentiality regulations."

Some cadres from the Central Political Secretary's Office needed to be sent to the localities for training. This was because the Organization Department's promotion regulations stipulated that anyone seeking promotion could not remain in the Political Secretary's Office, even if they were the Chairman's secretary.

The Chairman himself also supports people around him to go to local areas for training.

Of course, Wei Hongjun also had this intention. After the conflict in the General Office of the Central Committee, Wei Hongjun had this plan for the writers around the Chairman.

Working alongside central leadership at such a young age, these young people have become self-righteous, looking down on everyone and becoming overly arrogant. Without further training in the local areas, these people won't achieve much in the future.

However, after these people left the Political Secretary's Office, Chairman Mao wrote to Wei Hongjun, saying that he needed a secretary to read English newspapers to him. He asked Wei Hongjun to select a cadre between the ages of 25 and 28 from among the editors and translators of the International Department of Xinhua News Agency.

There is also a secretary who has worked in local mass work and can help him organize internal documents.

After receiving the Chairman’s letter, Wei Hongjun gave instructions at the Secretariat’s daily meeting.

Yang Shangkun, the Director of the General Office of the Central Committee, was the essential person to oversee this work. Finally, Wei Hongjun would review the appointment before the appointment to the Political Secretary's Office. As the Chairman's secretary, extreme caution was required. If the Chairman passed the probationary period, the appointment would be placed in the Political Secretary's Office. If not, the appointment would be returned to the original unit.

"it is good."

After discussing the Chairman's secretary, Wei Hongjun said to Chen Tanqiu, "Comrade Chen Tanqiu, recent reports indicate that there are still many problems with cadre training. In particular, some provinces are still neglecting the development of junior and advanced classes at Party schools nationwide. The Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee must address this issue more strictly."

"The Central Organization Department should intensify its inspections. In provinces where Party school construction is neglected, not only the Organization Department heads, but also the deputy secretaries in charge of Party affairs and the first secretaries of the provincial Party committees will be held accountable."

"Also, regarding cadre promotions, those who fail to study diligently at the Party School and whose grades do not meet the standards must be stopped from being promoted. If they fail to study hard and whose grades do not meet the standards and are still successfully promoted, the local organization department must be held accountable."

"Cadres who even falsify their studies at the Party School need to be dealt with severely."

"it is good."

Wei Hongjun continued, "Also, for some outstanding young cadres to go to the grassroots level, the Central Organization Department should work with the provincial Organization Departments to come up with a more comprehensive plan. We can't just ignore the grassroots cadres. This is not the right way to train cadres."

"Recently, many provinces have spontaneously developed large cooperative associations and assigned some young cadres to work in these large cooperative associations. However, these cadres are not sent to the grassroots to serve as imperial envoys. There must be clear regulations in this regard."

"Ah."

Chen Tanqiu nodded while recording Wei Hongjun's words.

After handling some daily affairs, Wei Hongjun began to discuss the most important topic of this Secretariat meeting.

Taking advantage of the current nationwide drought, the Chairman decided to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the number of employees who were eating commercial grain. The first place to be investigated was the central government agencies.

The results were an unexpected report.

"Comrades, after recent investigations of various central government units, we've discovered a serious problem. You all now have the report from this investigation, which shows how rapidly the number of staff in our administrative departments and public institutions has expanded. In Beijing alone, the number of staff in administrative departments and public institutions exceeds 300,000, almost 400,000."

"With the rapid development of national construction, it is necessary to add some institutions and personnel accordingly. However, many of our departments, instead of considering actual needs and careful budgeting, have set up too many and overly large institutions. The result is bloated institutions, a large number of personnel, multiple policy makers, and mutual constraints, which has fostered bureaucratic practices."

"Although the number of newly added agencies at the central level is not too large, there is still a phenomenon of bloat and duplication. The current Production Department and Technology Department of the Ministry of Textile Industry are the most typical examples of duplication."

"There's even a saying within the Ministry of Textile Industry: the Production and Technology Departments are 'one business, two agencies; one task, two checkpoints; two teams for business trips and meetings; duplication of effort, bickering; each with their own opinions, unable to make decisions.'"

"Also, the Ministry of Foreign Trade, in addition to the import and export bureaus under the overall management, has set up four regional bureaus and 16 head offices to manage the same business. Over the past few years, there have been frequent disputes over work."

"Let's talk about our research units. Central government departments currently have over 400 scientific research institutes. The Chinese Academy of Sciences has its own research units for metallurgy, architecture, machinery, geology, pharmacology, genetics, and more. However, various State Council departments have also established similar research units within their own ministries and commissions."

"And similar situations exist between research institutes within various departments of the State Council, and even within a single department. For example, within the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry, the First Ministry of Machine Building, and the Second Ministry of Machine Building, which were all part of the Heavy Industry Department, there's a serious duplication of research units under them."

"Furthermore, these research institutions have serious duplication, but the number of researchers has increased only slightly. However, the growth rate of management and service personnel is many times that of researchers. In recent years, the number of researchers in Beijing's research institutions has increased by more than 3000, while the number of management and service personnel has increased by more than 20000."

"Furthermore, whether it's an administrative department or a public institution, the internal organizational structure is also multi-layered and multi-level. Just like our central ministries have departments, bureaus (departments), divisions (offices), sections, and groups. Some scientific research units even have as many as seven levels, divided into academies, institutes, offices, sections, large groups, small groups, and even stalls, each with a group leader and a stall manager."

"Due to overlapping organizational structures and numerous layers, leaders at all levels are out of touch with reality. Most of the direct work is done by section officers and clerks. Many department heads and section chiefs, despite their rank, simply relay documents and pass them along. The result is that a simple task becomes a cascade of handoffs, with each level of waste, reports, and circularity. Ultimately, work is delayed, quality is low, and efficiency is extremely low."

"What's even more serious is that many of our units have established unnecessary subsidiary organizations. Many central government units have established professional art troupes and sports teams, including song and dance troupes, drama troupes, opera troupes, acrobatic troupes, and folk art troupes; they also have basketball, volleyball, football, table tennis, tennis, and track and field teams; some have also established art colleges, sports colleges, theaters, and art factories, etc."

"Some units have art troupes and sports teams with as many as two to three thousand people. Why? These are work units, or even art departments. They're obsessed with sensual pleasures, extravagant, and meaningless. They set up professional art troupes to perform exclusively for leaders. They set up sports teams to compete with other units every day. They've forgotten their jobs."

"Also, every unit now has its own printing plant. This survey shows that central government units have over 130 printing plants. But central government ministries and commissions don't have that much printing work. Currently, these central government printing plants are idle for more than half the year. The annual printing work of over 26000 workers is less than what to local workers can accomplish."

"Comrades, the problem is very serious now. If the central government agencies are in such a serious state, you can imagine the situation at the local level. The Secretariat must come up with a comprehensive streamlining plan."

1096

"Comrades, streamlining our work is a major undertaking, and we must be resolute. However, we cannot streamline blindly. Comrade Liu Xiufeng, please speak on behalf of the Compilation Committee."

Because the most important task of this Secretariat meeting is the streamlining of central institutions.

Therefore, Liu Xiufeng, director of the Central Organization Committee, and Zhou Rongxin, director of the Personnel Bureau, both attended the Secretariat meeting.

Liu Xiufeng, a longtime Party member who joined in 1926, spent six years in a Kuomintang prison during the Agrarian Revolution. He served as Propaganda Director of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region during the development of the Jin-Cha-Ji base area by Marshal Nie. Later in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he served as Deputy Political Commissar of Yang Quanwu's Ji-Central Military Region and Deputy Secretary of the Ji-Central District Party Committee.

Before the dissolution of the North China Bureau, he served as the head of its Organization Department and the deputy head of its North China Work Department. After the Eighth National Congress, he served as mayor of Tianjin and later as director of the Central Committee's Compilation Committee.

Liu Xiufeng, 51 years old but with extensive experience, said: "I believe the rapid expansion of staff in Beijing's party and government departments and public institutions is mainly due to three issues."

"The first issue is the situation of the Compilation and Development Commission itself. Since its split ten years ago, it has always been under the State Council and is a department under the State Council's leadership. The Compilation and Development Commission's scope of management is mainly focused on national administrative departments."

"But in our country, in addition to administrative departments, there are also Party committees and numerous public institutions. But the establishment committee can't handle so many aspects."

"Furthermore, after the establishment of several working committees at the Ninth National Congress, the relationship between the establishment committees and administrative departments was disrupted. Previously, the establishment committees approved administrative department staffing, and only new agencies could be established with the signature of the State Council. But now, many administrative departments no longer go through the establishment committees and the State Council, and the working committees are no longer responsible for the establishment of their subordinate ministries and commissions. This has led to a situation where administrative department staffing is left unattended."

This is also a problem that arises when the Politburo directly manages several working committees.

The State Council nominally manages these ministries, but the actual work of the ministries is managed by several working committees, and the real power lies in the working committees.

As a result, the State Council lost its management authority over the ministries and commissions under the State Council, and the Compilation and Establishment Committee became awkward. As a department under the State Council, after the State Council lost its management authority over these ministries and commissions, the Compilation and Establishment Committee also lost its control over these ministries and commissions.

"As a result, without constraints, administrative departments, Party committees, and public institutions have experienced serious staff expansion. The main reason for the expansion of administrative departments is that too many functions are concentrated in the capital."