Eagle, I don't want to form an alliance anymore.

Only three days have passed since the Cao Dewang incident was reported, and Slava and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union have been subjected to a barrage of angry accusations from Western media. In a short time, a host of labels such as "Little Stalin," "Red Tsar," "Dictator," "Slavic Barbarian," and "Control Freak" have been slapped on his head.

In response to Western accusations and ridicule, TASS quoted the General Secretary's speech at the 19th National Congress and the 70th anniversary of the October Revolution in 1987:

"...Comrades, what the United States has never feared is Soviet nuclear weapons, nor Soviet tanks or nuclear submarines."

The Soviet Union's ground forces could only threaten Europe, while the United States' nuclear forces were no weaker than the Soviet Union's. The fundamental reason Americans feared the Soviet Union was because it possessed an ideology capable of completely destroying the Western capitalist world—

The core competitiveness of the Soviet Union lay in its communist ideology.

The Soviet Foreign Ministry's response to NATO's actions in this incident can be summarized by Pope's famous quote: "The more the enemy opposes me, the more it proves that I am right."

In short, the Soviet Union's "this is how I did it, what can you do about it?" attitude terrified the West. It was no longer afraid of Western condemnation and felt compelled to take strong measures—wait, it seems we can't win—we must condemn it even more fiercely!

Gorbachev genuinely cared about how the West evaluated him; awarding him the Nobel Peace Prize would make him happy for ages. Ivanov, on the other hand, was utterly shameless!

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

International Labor Day, May 1, 1995.

Every year on May Day, the Soviet Union would hold a grand parade and celebrations in Red Square, and this year was no exception. Workers' contingents, students' contingents, and military contingents marched from one end of Red Square to the other, with huge banners and slogans fluttering above the crowds.

But this year, several slogans were different for May Day:

"Workers of the world, unite! Regardless of nationality!" "Defend the rights of workers!"

"The Soviets are the workers' shield!"

This caught the attention of Western journalists stationed in Moscow. Following the Nakhodka incident, the word "Soviet" experienced a resurgence on the internet worldwide. Forums began to flood with posts discussing workers' rights to self-organization, and many workers in the Western world started proposing the establishment of Soviets in their factories.

These slogans have appeared every year, but this year is different. The workers' class consciousness—something that has been considered an empty ritual for decades—seems to have become real after the Nakhodka incident.

A worker in a Soviet factory really had the right to form a Soviet, and really had the right to stand up against the capitalists and win!

This is more powerful than any propaganda.

Yes, as long as Western workers haven't fallen below the death penalty threshold, their treatment isn't bad. As long as the Soviet Union hasn't abandoned its ideology and the Soviet regime still exists in the world, workers in the capitalist world are guaranteed a livelihood.

But these workers still wanted to do it because Soviet workers made them feel that they really had the right to do so. As for the result... naturally, the iron fist of capitalism was inevitable. The state had already given you unions, so why did you need to create a Soviet? Couldn't the unions already solve your problems?

A particularly audacious reporter actually interviewed General Secretary Ivanov during the Labor Day parade. The reporter began reading from a prepared statement, detailing the achievements of Slava's reforms over the years and their drawbacks from a Western perspective. The reporter also brought up the recent Cao Dewang incident, asking Slava whether the Soviet Union intended to use the issue of workers' rights to interfere in the sovereignty and internal affairs of other countries, to export revolution and ideology globally, and to spread aggression and war from the Balkans to Western Europe.

Before the reporter could finish reading, Slava started to drift off into thought. Suddenly, he saw a kitten belonging to the Kremlin pass by, picked it up, put it on his lap, and covered its ears.

"Mr. General Secretary, may I ask who you are?" The reporter looked at the General Secretary with some confusion as he picked up the black cat.

The black cat has two thick, slightly drooping white stripes on either side of its upper lip, making it look somewhat like a historical figure.

“Oh, its name is Meow-seph Stalin. I covered its ears so it wouldn’t hear your ridiculous remarks.” Slava shrugged, and two agents immediately came out and escorted the reporter out of the Kremlin.

Later, many netizens said that Da Lin thought Xiong Ge did a good job, so he specially asked his mentor to use his connections to be reincarnated in the Kremlin to visit his junior.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

At this time, Beijing was dealing with a major problem caused by Cao Dewang.

The photo of Cao Dewang hanging on a street lamp eventually ended up on General Secretary Jiang Huaimin's desk through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This mess became known to the whole world, so it was no longer something that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs could decide and resolve on its own.

Fortunately, at least in April 1995, the authorities were still able to effectively block information about Lao Zhong. Western newspapers couldn't get in, and the only means of communication with the outside world were telephones and the internet. At that time, only tens of thousands of people had internet access—mainly concentrated in a few universities and research institutions in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou; ordinary people basically didn't use the internet.

"...Due to a labor dispute, Chinese entrepreneur Cao Dewang was attacked by Soviet and Chinese workers in the Soviet Far East Special Zone. There was no bloodshed or death. The incident has attracted widespread attention from the international media. The Soviet government is currently inclined to support the workers and has requested instructions from the Central Committee."

Jiang Huaimin is in a real bind; he's now caught in a dilemma.

This year was not peaceful in China.

Since the political turmoil of 1989, the central government's policies have gradually become more conservative. A group of people, represented by Chen Yun and Li Peng, advocated "rectification and consolidation," which in essence meant slowing down the current pace of reform. The Soviet Union's current rapid development and promising prospects, which seemed like a reversal of the electricity meter, further fueled the trend within the Party that "it's better to learn from the big brother than to continue pursuing the market."

At the time, the debate over whether a system was "socialist" or "capitalist" was raging, and many local officials dared not conduct market economy experiments for fear of being labeled as taking the capitalist road. Although Deng Xixian himself had retired from most of his official positions after 1989, he saw that the momentum of reform might be completely reversed, so in 1992 he chose to redefine the reform by inspecting the south.

The core message of Deng Xixian's Southern Tour was clear: without reform, there is no way out; development is the only way forward; and we should not get entangled in abstract debates about whether something is socialist or capitalist.

The lessons learned from Britain's neoliberal reforms are evident: Thatcher pushed things forward, the Labour Party backed down, and now the new Prime Minister is pushing things forward again, resulting in a continued economic recession in Britain.

Deng Xixian believes that China must not waver on the path of reform like Britain has. This superpower with 900 million people is a chariot with huge inertia. Once it wavers, it will easily fall apart!

At this time, China's economic situation was very poor, its ideology was wavering and chaotic, its social order was declining, and the central government's control over local areas was constantly decreasing.

In the 1980s, local economic power continued to grow. After all, "the central government may not have money, but it can provide policies to help you carve out a path to prosperity." The fiscal contracting system, which involved "separate kitchens for meals," was implemented starting in 80. Each province negotiated with the central government to determine the proportion of revenue to be handed over, with the remainder going to the local governments.

This led to the emergence of the so-called "feudal economy" phenomenon in the early 90s—the rapid economic growth of coastal provinces such as Guangdong, Fujian, and Zhejiang gave local governments considerable fiscal autonomy, resulting in problems such as local protectionism and the establishment of trade barriers between provinces.

With development as the fundamental principle, China’s market economy reforms continued in 1992, and soon a new round of economic overheating emerged. In 1994, the inflation rate, as reported by the central government, had reached 24.2%, the highest level since the reform and opening up.

PS: That's right, the inflation before 1988 when the old clock failed to break through the price barrier was not as high as in 1994.

One of the main reasons for high inflation was that the reform signals released by Deng Xiaoping's Southern Tour encouraged local economic impulses. From 1992 to 1993, local governments lent out large amounts of money through local banks and credit unions, thus expanding credit in disguise. In 1993, Hainan, Guangdong and other places also created real estate bubbles and financial chaos. Some local governments and enterprises used their brains to liberate their thinking and boldly practiced, issuing a large number of quasi-monetary tools such as "tokens", "vouchers", and shopping vouchers.

Except for the fact that Chairman Mao is not printed on these banknotes, they are not much different from RMB.

During the period of local economic expansion, the proportion of central government revenue to GDP continued to decline. By around 1993, the proportion of central government revenue to national fiscal revenue had fallen to less than 30%, which was the most critical problem. Jiang Huaimin believed that if things continued like this, China would really be doomed. Therefore, in 1994, Zhu Rongji, the governor of the People's Bank of China, promoted the tax-sharing reform to centralize fiscal power.

So in 94, the central government began to reclaim power through the tax-sharing system and financial restructuring, and finally brought down the inflation rate in early 1995.

In 1995, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council implemented a series of measures, including moderately tight fiscal and monetary policies, hoping to achieve a "soft landing" for the overheated economy. However, things didn't go smoothly; 1995 was also the year of state-owned enterprise reform. At that time, some state-owned enterprises were dissolved, resulting in a large-scale wave of layoffs.

In the first half of 1995 alone, 464 million people were laid off in urban areas across the country, and it was estimated that at least 120 million surplus workers would face the risk of unemployment.

At the same time, agriculture has begun to be considered the weakest link in the national economy. The development gap between urban and rural areas, between industry and agriculture, and between different regions continues to widen. Farmers' income growth is slow, and the contradiction between supply and demand of agricultural products is prominent, further exacerbating inflationary pressures.

Besides economic issues, corruption and public security were also the most pressing social concerns for the public at the time.

In this snowy and stormy weather, encountering such troubles, should we directly break ties with the Soviet Union? No, impossible. At this point, the Soviet Union is already a crucial factor in saving Lao Zhong's economy. The trade ratio between the Soviet Union and China is very large. Last year, the Soviet Union also signed a labor dispatch contract to help China absorb the wave of layoffs. In 1992, when the US and the Soviet Union jointly plundered Japan, the Soviet Union even left Lao Zhong a share of the spoils.

Moreover, we are still in the Cold War era, and the struggle between the socialist and capitalist camps is still ongoing. The United States would love for Zhong to break with the Soviet Union and ideally, for the two sides to fight. If Zhong stands up for Cao Dewang, it would be tantamount to opposing the socialist narrative, opposing worker unity, and opposing the alliance of the proletariat in front of the whole world!

Old Zhong was still in a socialist country, and the CPC was still the vanguard of the working class. For both reason and emotion, Jiang Huaimin would not have a falling out with the Soviet Union because of Cao Dewang, a capitalist!

The death of Cao Dewang is a small matter, but the damage to the current economic development is a big one. If there were no photo, even if Cao Dewang were hanged by workers and paraded through the streets, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would say that Cao Dewang accidentally slipped and put his head in the rope. But the problem is that the photo has been circulated too widely. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has to consider both socialist unity and foreign investment.

Yes, the Soviet Union was able to be so assertive in front of Western media, saying "Come if you want, get out if you don't" because the Soviet Union no longer relied on foreign investment. But Lao Zhong's market-oriented reforms desperately needed foreign investment!

At this point, trade between Lao Zhong and the Soviet Union had reached a short-term bottleneck and could not be further advanced for the time being—unless Lao Zhong could upgrade his industry and produce products that were more attractive to the Soviet Union, he could only rely on the demographic dividend and cheap labor to attract Western capital to build factories and save jobs and the economy.

Now this one-track mind has blocked both ends.

Supporting the Soviet Union? Cao Dewang wasn't the only Chinese investor in the Soviet Union. There were dozens of Chinese companies in the Far Eastern Special Economic Zone, many of which employed similar models to Cao Dewang: bringing Chinese workers, managing them using Chinese methods, and offering wages and benefits lower than Soviet standards.

The cost of supporting the Soviet Union was that Chinese companies would face significantly higher labor costs in the Soviet Union, making them less willing to go there. Foreign investors worried that China would also follow the Soviet Union's example and dare not enter the market.

Moreover, while the Soviet Union's offer of better treatment to attract Chinese workers to stay was a good thing in the short term, it was a bad thing in the long term.

After all, if Chinese workers had experienced life in the Soviet Union, would they be willing to return to Lao Zhong's sweatshop after returning to China?

In the early 80s, many mainlanders fled to Hong Kong or Western countries. Zhong had a ready-made narrative framework to digest this: these people were "blinded by the material temptations of capitalism," were "weak-willed individuals," and were "exploited by hostile forces." This discourse had been operating in Zhong's political culture for decades. Although the general public might not fully believe it, they at least wouldn't develop fundamental doubts about the system—after all, capitalism does have material appeal, a point Zhong himself tacitly acknowledged after his 1992 Southern Tour speech.

But the large-scale exodus of workers and their families to the Soviet Union posed a significant problem. Old Zhong couldn't say that a worker was "bewitched by the sugar-coated bullets of socialism"—that would be tantamount to admitting that someone else's socialism was better than his own—nor could he say that he was "weak-willed"—he was going from one socialist country to another, pursuing precisely what had been promised but not fulfilled: workers being masters of their own destiny, collective ownership of the means of production, and the rights of laborers.

This is extremely serious ideologically, and it will severely undermine the legitimacy of the Party's rule.

In 1995, the CPC relied on two legs: one was the legitimacy of economic performance, that is, the belief that only the Communist Party could lead China to modernization; the other was the legitimacy of ideology, that is, the belief that we were the vanguard of the working class. Neither leg could be broken.

What about supporting the West? Sino-Soviet trade cannot stop at this critical moment. The unity of the socialist camp must not be shaken by a stupid capitalist. Sino-Soviet cooperation in technology, military and economic fields is already very close. China cannot afford the cost of a second Sino-Soviet split.

What?

This dark cloud hung over Jiang Huaimin's head, keeping him awake at night.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The internal discussions in Zhongnanhai lasted for two days.

Ultimately, everyone agreed that the matter should be handled discreetly. Cao Dewang deserved to be sanctioned, so let it go. If foreign reporters asked, just brush it off and emphasize that Lao Zhong welcomes foreign investment and protects workers' rights.

Secondly, they blocked the news.

The ordinary workers of Lao Zhong should not be allowed to know the full picture of this matter. It doesn't matter if they know that "people's entrepreneurs have encountered trouble in the Soviet Union," but they cannot know that "Soviet workers united with Chinese laborers to form Soviets to fight against capitalists and won." We are already in the throes of reform, in the last glimmer of darkness before dawn, and we really cannot afford any more chaos.

Moreover, this incident made everyone realize the differences between China and the Soviet Union. For the sake of everyone, let's build a wall.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

On May 2, 1995, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a mildly worded statement:

"...China has taken note of the incident involving Chinese citizens that occurred in the Soviet Far East Special Region. China attaches great importance to the personal safety and legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens overseas and has lodged representations with the Soviet side regarding this matter. China hopes that the Soviet side will handle this matter properly in accordance with the law and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens. At the same time, China requires Chinese enterprises operating in the Soviet Union to strictly abide by local laws and regulations."

This statement was interpreted internationally as China tacitly accepting the Soviet Union's approach and that China would not let this incident affect the overall Sino-Soviet relationship. Chinese companies in the Far East Special Zones would be required to rectify their practices to comply with Soviet labor laws, and Chinese labor dispatch contracts would be adjusted to no longer include clauses regarding "repatriation upon termination of contract by the company."

In exchange, the Soviet Union did not publicize the matter much. Moscow did not make a big fuss about it in official media, but they could not control the spontaneous discussions on the international Internet.

After resolving the diplomatic issues, the next step is to clean up the mess at home and regulate the domestic internet.

Many Chinese universities have established online forums, such as Tsinghua University's Shuimu BBS, Nanjing University's Xiaobaihe BBS, and Peking University's Weiming BBS. They all use Soviet satellite browsers, which allow access to not only NATO networks but also Warsaw Pact networks. Many foreign IPs use proxies in China to access the "hostile camp's internet."

On May 18, 1995, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology was established in Beijing, primarily responsible for managing the domestic internet industry. That same month, Project Golden Shield was launched, deploying filtering and monitoring equipment at several key nodes of China's international internet gateway. All internet traffic entering and leaving China had to pass through these nodes, much like customs inspecting each data package.

Many web pages and communications containing specific sensitive words will be automatically blocked. The internet of NATO and Warsaw Pact countries will be completely blocked, and the IP addresses of domestic users who access blocked websites will be automatically recorded.

Only officially established VPNs for academic institutions are usable, and their applicability is limited to mainstream academic websites.

It seems that Austrian and Swiss IPs will once again experience exponential growth in the near future.

Just as everything seemed to have temporarily come to a close, and Jiang Huaimin was about to steer this giant ship through the storm to welcome the 21st century, a new major event suddenly occurred:

On May 23, 1995, Lee Teng-hui, the pro-independence president who was confined to a small island, successfully visited the United States.

The third Taiwan Strait crisis has begun.

Chapter 139 Don't say you weren't warned

Ithaca, New York, USA, May 23, 1995.

Lee Teng-hui stood on the stage at Cornell University and began his speech. He wore a dark blue suit and glasses, and at seventy-two years old, he appeared as energetic as a twenty-seven-year-old in front of the faculty, students, and alumni.

Hundreds of people sat in the auditorium, along with dozens of video cameras and hundreds of reporters.

Not only American reporters came, but Japanese reporters also rushed to join in the fun. Lee Teng-hui's speech was titled "What the People Desire Is Always in My Heart".

Ostensibly, this was an alumnus returning to his alma mater—Lee Teng-hui received his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Cornell in 1968, and it's normal for an alumnus to return to his alma mater to give a speech in any country.

However, Lee Teng-hui's visit was political. In his speech, he repeatedly used the phrase "Republic of China in Taiwan," implying that the Republic of China is an independent political entity unrelated to the mainland.

In front of cameras around the world, Lee Teng-hui successfully made a political declaration: Taiwan is not part of China, Taiwan is Taiwan!

Beijing heard it, and the whole world heard it.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

But how did Lee Teng-hui enter the United States?

The whole story is more fascinating than his speech.

According to normal procedures, a foreign leader (or someone whose leadership is not recognized by Beijing) needs a visa approved by the U.S. State Department to visit the United States.

The State Department initially refused, as President Gephart did not want to get involved, and Secretary of State Baker also supported the president's idea.

Both men are relatively pragmatic. Gephart has been a champion of trade protectionism within the Democratic Party, representing the interests of manufacturing workers.

He was not a diplomatic hawk in the traditional sense, like Paul Nietzsche or Henry Kissinger; he was simply extremely tough on trade and economic issues, and he had a natural affinity for the narrative of "American workers losing their jobs to foreign countries."

Gerphart has served two terms as president since 1989, and his governing base has consistently been the Democratic Party's labor unions, blue-collar workers, and manufacturing interest groups. His foreign policy style in recent years has not followed the multilateral elite approach of George H.W. Bush in another timeline; instead, he has opted for economic nationalism combined with selective hardline tactics.

He was willing to cooperate with the Soviet Union to exploit Japan because it aligned with his core agenda of protecting American manufacturing; he was willing to swallow British finance because it expanded American economic hegemony. He was not so much driven by ideology—for him, diplomacy served the economy.

But America is not just Gephardt's America. The law stipulates that a president can only serve two terms, and there is also the Republican Party in American politics. The young Republican Trump is younger than him, more charismatic, and more hawkish. Gephardt can almost conclude that if Trump comes to power, America will almost certainly become a lone wolf!

The U.S. Congress is not short of smart people. The veteran politicians in Congress who have been in politics since the 60s and have experienced the most intense competition of the Cold War see further than these two populist youngsters.

They know that both Democrat Gerphart and Republican Trump are trade protectionists, and their foreign policy is basically about saving the United States by exploiting its allies. This policy is like an adrenaline rush; it may work in the short term, but it will cause problems in the long run!

Both the United States and the Soviet Union relied on their respective allies to fight each other during the half-century-long Cold War. Even when the Soviet Union was about to collapse, it was the allies who fell first, let alone the United States.

If things continue like this, the United States will eventually be abandoned by all its people. This really can't go on.

Fortunately, the United States has recovered. Since the Great Depression of 1987, the United States first sucked up all its allies, then cut off a group of Middle Eastern ally in the Gulf War, and in 1992 it joined forces with the Soviet Union to take down Japan. In 1993, Gephardt also joined forces with the Soros Group in the United States to short the pound, forcing Britain to withdraw from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, giving Britain a "Black Wednesday".

After all this, the United States now finally has the leverage to make a fresh move, no longer in a passive defensive posture as it was after the Great Depression.

Many forces both inside and outside Congress believe that it is time to find an opportunity to reintegrate the fractured NATO, take advantage of its allies to harm a few unfortunate members, and then peacefully divide the spoils, with everyone winning together!

As for why the US treated its allies so badly in previous years? That was all done by former President Gephardt, what does it have to do with my next president? The former president has already stepped down, what else do you expect? Do you expect the US to apologize to you?

So at this time, although Gephart himself was not so concerned about the Taiwan issue, and whether Taipei raised the five-star red flag or the blue sky with a white sun flag was meaningless to American workers, many Cold War non-establishment figures around him—the State Department, the Department of Defense, the military-industrial complex, the CIA's career bureaucrats—had completely different calculations about the Taiwan issue.

Old Zhong was not very familiar with these domestic political struggles in the United States. At this time, Old Zhong was still recovering his health, and his foreign intelligence work was also hampered by funding shortages and the swaying of domestic sentiments.

What Lao Zhong knew was that Lee Teng-hui applied to visit the United States first, and Secretary of State Baker personally made a promise to Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen: the United States would not allow Lee Teng-hui to visit the United States in any capacity.

Both sides felt this commitment carried significant weight, as the Chinese side believed the White House wouldn't want to offend Beijing at this critical juncture. While US-China relations aren't exactly good, the Gephardt administration is negotiating several small trade agreements with China, and the White House is unlikely to want to jeopardize US-China relations over Taiwan.