Empire of the Ring

Chapter 747: Baby Steps (3)

The amount of daily necessities and construction materials being supplied to Kashgar and Ngari Prefecture this time was enormous.

Along with it, the internal economy of Kazakhstan was improved.

All sorts of factories were operating 24/7 already due to the special war demand, and Kazakhstan had to supply all the necessary materials to both republics as the migrants to both regions increased.

Not only the daily necessity and the construction material industry but also the military industry had a high demand.

In order to establish new defense lines in Kashgar and Ngari, conventional weapons were greatly needed.

It was because the defense strategy to set the regions that became autonomous republics as the first defense line and the original border of the Federal Kingdom of Kazakhstan as the second defense line was established.

At the first defense line, the forces of the Royal Bodyguards and the militias were stationed. They had already made strongholds out of reinforced concrete equipped with towed guns and self-propelled guns.

This was only where it was seen from the outside, but the real power was the attack helicopters and missile air-defense network in the rear side.

Perfect defense line was established as the troops were deployed even to the Kunlun Mountains which blocked Kashgar and Ngari Prefecture.

Since the already exhausted supplies needed to be refilled, the factories related to the defense industry were running around the clock.

When Kazakhstan’s economy rose, so did the economy of Kazakh federal countries.

It was because the self-manufactured products started to fill in the vacancy of Chinese goods as the imports of Chinese products were completely stopped.

People, who were used to Chinese goods, were not in favor of Central Asian products which lagged behind the Chinese products. They had to follow the government’s policy that banned Chinese imports.

There was also a side effect of the forced patronization of domestic products.

Often the quality of domestic products did not meet the standards of people as they were sold well anyway regardless of their quality.

Manufacturers of daily necessities were too busy to meet the high demand to improve their products’ designs and quality. Such inconvenience was inevitable in a transitional period.

Those were sold at the factory price to the regions of Kashgar and Ngari as the people still did not have the normal economic ability yet. However, they still loved the products despite the lack of quality because they were cheap. There was a good reason behind their love for Kazakhstan’s products.

Until now, the daily necessities provided from mainland China were bought at high costs because of the long distance from the mainland. Not to mention, they went through a confusing distribution process by the Han people, making the costs even higher.

It was the Chinese government’s trick to preclude ethnic minority groups from amassing wealth. As many ethnic minority groups lived in small remote villages, the logistics cost of goods was almost murderous. It had been subtly defoliating ethnic minority groups in order to make a country centered around the Chinese people.

***

“This is terrible. The Chinese government must’ve been determined to slowly kill down the Uyghurs.”

Park Jong-il was explaining how the Chinese government had been treating the two people based on the intelligence service’s research.

“Does the health checkup conducted to the Uyghurs have the same reason?”

“Well, they did genetic tests on people and anyone who had Uyghur blood was monitored. I wonder what they were afraid of to do such things. They probably feared the Uyghurs and were determined to annihilate them eventually.”

“We should report all Chinese government’s wrongdoings to the international society. It’s no different from treating ethnic minority groups like animals.”

There were so many wrongdoings the Chinese government had done to ethnic minorities. It would not shake China even if those were reported to the international society, but there was a good reason to inform the Uyghurs.

Knowing such violations the government did to them, the Uyghurs would have a strong desire to seek revenge and to retrieve the areas that they had not yet retrieved yet.

Many Uyghurs thought the health check-ups were done for their benefits, but the real reason behind them was to collect their biometric data to monitor them.

“Has something like that happened to Tibet, too?”

“No, there was no need because Tibetans had been quiet.”

“Okay. We need to get to the bottom of this and expose the bare face of China.”

Human rights violations were less prevalent in Tibet.

It was because the Tibetans could not carry out an armed struggle because the exile government claimed non-violence independence struggle.

However, looking back, Tibetans should have been willing to take any risks for independence.

Part of Tibet became an autonomous republic all thanks to the Uyghurs. Many independence organizations were actively engaged in the struggle in Uyghur and that brought Western countries’ support leading to the current achievement.

On the other hand, Uyghurs’ ethnic temperament that did not want to be dominated by other people played a part.

As descendants of Gokturks and the pride of the people who ruled the world with Genghis Khan could not allow China’s dominance.

“I hope the Tibetan exile government won’t insist on non-violence struggle anymore.”

“I won’t unless it’s out of its mind. They achieved this with a lot of people’s sacrifices. Let’s leave Tibet to the exile government and see. Since they have Dalai Lama as their anchor, they’ll do fine. The problem is Kashgar...”

As there were so many independence organizations in Uyghur, each was raising its voice. Thankfully, people were acting carefully due to the existence of the Kazakh government. It was because without Kazakhstan’s support Kashgar could not last more than a few months.

“Why don’t we put a government service group in the front until they can operate alone? The interfactional dispute is already severe there and if we left them alone, the tiny place will be divided.”

Youngho also badly wanted to interfere.

However, the people had just gotten out of China, and if Kazakhstan was to interfere with them again, it would be funny.

It was also doubtful that the Uyghur people, who were known for their pride, would accept such a measure.

Besides, such a level of discord in a transitional period was natural and understandable.

“It’s still in the period of transition. It’s natural that each organization wants to take the initiative.”

“What if hardlines take the initiative? They’ll try to free the whole Uyghur. How are you going to take it?”

It would be unstable, but it was time when strong leadership was needed.

“It’s better to have strong leadership rather than a weak one. People will only unite under a strong will and goal.”

“I’m afraid there will be a dictator.”

“If we come up with a safety device to prevent prolonged rule, it’ll be fine.”

People, who experienced freedom, would demand all sorts of things from the independence government forgetting their reality.

If the internal unity was destroyed, the Chinese government might try to interfere under the pretext of keeping the order of the autonomous republic.

It was because Kashgar was China’s territory under international law.

“Again, it’s my opinion that a hardliner leader is needed in the early stages of independence. Of course, there shouldn’t be any oppression against opposition parties.”

Park Jong-il finally nodded in agreement.

“There are two hardliner groups. One is an organization that conducted terrorism without hesitation and the other is a comparatively rational one, but we’re not in a position to side with one.”

“Contact both organizations now. If they want to be accepted, they need people’s support. Ask them to establish a constitution first and have a referendum.”

***

Park Jong-il acted quickly and returned after meeting all leaders of the Uyghur hardliner organizations.

“They both agreed to have a referendum for now. The problem is that the people still don’t know about democracy and election.”

“Well, we need to make a promotional flyer and distribute it.”

“It’s too bad that the illiteracy rate is high.”

“Then can’t we broadcast it?”

“To do that, we have to restore the destroyed power system and broadcasting stations.”

“Oh, man. That’s a can of worms.”

“Didn’t you say there’s a thermoelectric power plant in Kashgar?”

“The militias destroyed all the important facilities to stop the Chinese military. We supply a lot of emergency power, so the computer work is processed during the day, but it’ll take months to restore the power plant.”

The power supplied by mainland China was discontinued and the whole region entered into darkness at night. Broadcasting facilities were useless in this situation.

It was a mistake made in the process of capturing the area.

The militias had randomly destroyed facilities even though they were the ones to use them.

Restoring facility-based businesses was necessary before starting to establish anything within the country.