The Iron Army

After its loss of the mainland to Chinese communists, the Republic of China continued to operate out of Taiwan, contesting ownership of Chinese territory with the People's Republic of China. From 1949 to 1987, Taiwan would remain under martial law, with harsh government crackdowns on perceived communist spies and sympathizers resulting in the deaths of thousands over the years. As the global influence of the PRC skyrocketed over the decades, the Republic of China struggled for and slowly lost international recognition as "China",and in recent decades there has been a general shift for the Taiwanese to abandon these claims in establishing an independent Taiwan identity and government.
Taiwan became a focal point of the China War, where it acted as a staging ground for Armor Corps Coalition activities. However, an unfortunate series of diplomatic blunders lead to the Iron Army condemning ACC and forcing them out of the theater. The Iron Army now fights the China War for its own purposes.
==History==
===Pre-War===
Communist Chinese control of the mainland marked the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949 with the Chinese Nationalist faction fleeing to Taiwan. From there, the Republic of China put down its roots and continued to claim to be the legitimate government for both the island and the mainland. In 1952, Japan formally relinquished all claims to the island of Taiwan, but the matter of who the island went to was left unclear. The United States favored the Chinese Nationalists as “China”, while the United Kingdom favored the Chinese Communists as “China”. This trend of crisis of identity would continue over the next several decades, with foreign nations switching recognition from the Republic of China to the People Republic of China, and with periodic skirmishes and short battles between the ROC and the PRC over islands in the Taiwan Strait. In more recent years, old ideals of the ROC’s claims over mainland China gradually lost their footing, and a push for the ROC to claim an independent Taiwanese identity instead took hold, while the relationship between the ROC and PRC went from openly hostile to cordial and mutually profitable. 
===Human-Vannai War===
Taiwan did not escape the predations of the Vannai Puppets entirely, but the island’s small size relative to the mainland meant that Puppet attentions were generally focused elsewhere, while also naturally benefiting from close proximity to mainland China’s own defensive measures.
Taiwan was the very last city to be reclaimed in the Bright Offensive. Taipei 101, formerly a financial center, was turned into an information hub after the city’s recapture. During the events of Operation Skeleton: Clear Sky in August 2015, an ICBM from an unclear source was launched at the Taipei 101 building, assumed to have been fired by the traitorous elements of Armor Corps in an attempt to prevent the information contained within the tower from being brought to light. The building was destroyed, along with a significant chunk of Taipei, and the ensuing fires took care of the rest of the city. Survivors that had tentatively returned to Taipei following the city’s reclamation were instead forced to relocate to Kaohsiung.
In order to appease a population threatening to cut all ties with Armor Corps entirely due to the tremendous confusion of the ordeal, Armor Corps allowed Taiwan to form the Iron Army, an autonomous government, with terms and conditions stipulated in a series of agreements that granted powers to the Iron Army such as the capability to declare war without ACC approval, and the execution of treasonous pilots, with conditions such as the ACC's right to pick the High Officer out of a pool of candidates. However, through the threat of cutting off supplies and pilot support as their sole effective defense, the ACC still effectively ruled over the Iron Army. Tasking them with observation of China and Southeast Asia, the ACC then largely left the Iron Army to their own devices, choosing An Guo as the High Officer to lead it.
===Post-war===
When the Great Hibernation happened, the Iron Army was invited to send a representative to the Warlords' Summit. Believing this to be a chance for the ACC to secure allies and possibly territory of their own in China, High Officer An Guo requested the involvement of ACC pilots in operational and diplomatic capacities. This started a series of events that changed the landscape and fate of China forever.
====The China War====
After defeating the Luo faction, the Iron Army assumed control the territory of Xinjiang, which was far away from Taiwan as well as being sandwiched between Bandit and Huang territories. With An Guo continuing to act rashly, the Iron Army was stretched to its utmost limit, leading the High Officer to consider alliances that he would've found to be revolting just a few months prior.
Due to the growing paranoia, anger, and stress brought upon An Guo by multiple pilots and finally Chad Dudley, who promised An Guo's head in return for the Axe Gang Bandits' loyalty, An Guo finally ordered a quick withdrawal of all ACC staff from Taiwan, allowing them to at least peacefully leave the region before denouncing the ACC as a whole. An Guo's newfound hatred of the ACC was not shared by all Taiwanese, however, and with some encouragement from Henry Locke, Ning Hui was able to contact ACC-sympathisers to instigate a coupe against the High Officer. This coup was unsuccessful but highly damaging to the Iron Army's command structure, leaving the faction paralyzed for months.
Following the defeat of the Gigafort Long Shadow, An Guo became increasingly reclusive, largely disappearing from the public eye and acting through subordinates instead.
==Government==
Historically, Taiwan has been governed for most of its modern history by a military dictatorship. In 1987, a democratic system was put into place instead. After the events of Operation Skeleton: Clear Sky, Taiwan was once again put under a military dictatorship under the control of High Officer An Guo, who ran the country from 2015 onward. Despite being a military dictatorship, life under An Guo’s Iron Army was generally considered relaxed, with free enterprise and basic rights ensured for all. This is largely attributed to ample support from the Armor Corps during this period, which seemed assured as ACC lost a major ally to the Dokuritsu Insurrection in early 2019.
Currently, the Iron Army acts as both the military and government of Taiwan and Xinjiang.
==Policies==
===Military===
Prior to the war, Taiwan possessed a fairly strong army oriented around defense of the island from attack from the mainland. Its military was quite modern and technologically advanced. Conscription was universal to all males of age.
Due to the defensive pact with the ACC, the Iron Army's direct combat forces were usually pilots from the ACC. As such, to provide maximum support to these pilots, the Iron Army focused their military development on support capabilities such as communications, detection, and transportation. The most remarkable of these is their Central Communications Tower (CCT), which is a facility capable of maintaining full encrypted contact with suit pilots and their own personnel all across China. 
During the China war, in order to help address the gap in military size between itself and the forces of the NLA and beyond, the Iron Army has also made a historic purchase of 20,000 Tactical Dolls, becoming the first nation to utilize autonomous robots in an active combat role. 
After gaining control of the Xinjiang territory, the Iron Army also inherited the military assets of the late Warlord Luo, nearly doubling their total population. Although the former Luo soldiers have honoured the last request of their previous leader and cooperated fully with the Iron Army since then, supplying the beleaguered and poorly-equipped ex-Luo forces 4,000km away from Taiwan has also been a challenge for the Iron Army.
===Economic===
Historically, Taiwan has boasted a very strong economy, originally due to significant gold reserves carried over by the Chinese Nationalists during their escape from the mainland, then with economic aid from the United States throughout the Korean War. In the 1970s, Taiwan’s economy became heavily export-focused and technologically oriented, coming to host the headquarters of a number of critical international technology and electronic manufacturing corporations, while its agricultural sector was moved to offshore locations. During the Human-Vannai War, collapse of global trade and a small domestic agricultural base brought on hard times for the Taiwanese, forcing them to rely heavily on the ACC for support.
After the Human-Vannai War ended, Taiwan made great strides in recovery. Kaohsiung was restored as the nation’s capital, and trade slowly began to flow once again, primarily between Taiwan, Oceania, and Tasman. Taiwan has also made the first steps to becoming a major producer of military-grade robotics, with several companies establishing factories on the island, attracted by the lucrative market created by the China War that, thanks to the actions of ACC, is unlikely to end any time soon.
==Diplomacy==
The Iron Army originally served in effect as the Asian branch of the Armor Corps Coalition, but has been an independent organization on paper since its inception in 2015. With the original mission of providing means of observation in the Far East, the Iron Army became the primary platform through which ACC conducted diplomacy with the other factions of the China War. 
Despite a history as rival powers, the Iron Army formed an uneasy alliance with the NLA at the behest of the ACC on 26 November 2019, which has thus far remained in place. 
After the leaking of a meeting between ACMP Chad Dudley and Han Nu of the Axe Gang in which Chad promised the death of An Guo in return for the Axe Gang’s loyalty to Armor Corps, the Iron Army became hostile to ACC, forcing their withdrawal from Taiwan under threat of violence mid February 2019. Attempts to smooth over relations with the Iron Army since then have been unsuccessful.
Category:PACYOA: TE
Category:China
Category:Iron Army