China

**China**, officially the **People's Republic of China**, was a pre-War communist state in eastern Asia. China grew rapidly after World War II, and by the 21st century became a global superpower, rivaling the United States and the Soviet Union in power and wealth. Although severely affected by the economic crisis and the Resource Wars, China was able to compete with the United States for control of the last remaining resources on Earth and wage an eleven year-long war to conquer Alaska and later defend its homeland.

## Overview

During the 20th and 21st centuries, China and the Soviet Union competed with the United States. The space race was one particularly important field of competition in the 20th century. After the United States claimed that Captain Carl Bell was the first human in space in 1961, both the Soviet Union and China protested the claim. The United States never retracted its statement.

However, hostilities would not escalate until a century later, as the global energy and resource crisis grew more and more severe. Heavily reliant on fossil fuels. The People's Republic of China was hit particularly hard. In 2060, the Middle East oil fields ran dry, triggering the collapse of the European Commonwealth and the Middle East oil powers.Traffic on the streets worldwide ground to a halt as fuel became too precious to waste on automobiles. Alternatives were explored, with limited success. Two years later, Chinese operatives would be found across Canada and the United States, running interference and gathering intel that could be used to balance the scales. To counter communist interference, the next red scare was manufactured. As the situation across the United States worsened, both as a result of the deteriorating economy and the New Plague continuing to wreak havoc despite quarantine measures, the federal government used the increasing national paranoia to try and control the situation, by discouraging assemblies, fueling anti-communist sentiment, and encouraging reporting subversive elements. The Vigilant Citizen's Hotline was even established to allow citizens to report neighbors to the government for any behavior that could be construed as in support of communism.

To stave off collapse on the domestic front, China launched campaigns to annex neighboring countries and provide resources for the starved economy. While successful, the strategy was only a temporary solution to a much larger problem: Dependency on fossil fuels. The People's Republic found itself on the border of collapse in the spring of 2066. Trade talks with the United States revealed it to be unwilling to export its own reserves of crude oil. Aggressive negotiations resulted in the talks breaking down completely.

The situation was dire. Although China was able to tap a large deep-sea deposit of oil below the Pacific, it was unable to make use of it due to sabotage. American interference was suspected. Pushed up against a wall, Chairman Cheng decided on an ambitious and extremely dangerous plan: Invasion of Alaska and seizure of its natural resources by force. Chinese troops swarmed the state, with the primary push focusing on the city of Anchorage, necessary to maintain a link with the Chinese mainland. The Anchorage Front Line became a true battleground.

The invasion inadvertently triggered the gradual annexation of Canada, as the United States forced it to grant the right of passage to American military forces. The deployment of the T-45 power armor helped prevent Chinese tanks and infantry from overrunning Alaska. The situation rapidly deteriorated into trench warfare as neither side was capable of breaking the stalemate and forcing peace terms on the enemy and the resource shortage precluded large offensive operations by Chinese motorized forces.

The conflict raged for over a decade. The United States focused its attention on Canada, liberally exploiting its natural resources while ignoring protests made by Ottawan citizens. Riots and protests eventually culminated in a sabotage attempt on an oil pipeline in 2072. The United States military used the incident as a pretext to invade Canada outright and begin annexation.Meanwhile, China attempted to destroy American resistance with aggressive use of biological weapons, leading the U.S. government to commission West Tek with the development of a universal cure on September 15, 2073. The economy of the People's Republic relied heavily on fossil fuels, including uranium fuel, China having mined the most uranium in the world as of 2077. Despite this, the supply did not meet the demand and was the impetus for the invasion of Alaska, as it teetered on the brink of collapse due to the resource crisis.

Nuclear weapons were launched on October 23, 2077. Vaults are sealed as the air raid sirens blare for the last time. Within two hours, both the United States and China ceased to exist as nations, their cities vaporized in nuclear fireballs. The nuclear exchange was believed to have kicked back communist China into the stone age by remnants of the American government.

Remnants of Chinese culture and individuals survive in the United States, of all places. The Shi of San Francisco are descendants of the crew of a Chinese submarine that beached in the ruined city and are one of the most advanced organizations in the wasteland. On the opposite coast is the Chinese Remnant, the remains of the Chinese intelligence network in the United States, ghoulified and eking out an existence in a fortified safehouse within the ruins of Washington, D.C.

In Appalachia, the Chinese infiltrators of Fujiniya Intelligence Base eventually dispersed among the American survivors after the bombs hit. Loyalist holdouts still operated in Appalachia as well as the Capital Wasteland however, forcing the other Chinese survivors they tracked down to stay loyal and follow orders. Even 25 years after the war, these political officers were still in action.

Artifacts of the Chinese infiltration are also commonly encountered in areas with a heavy infiltrator presence and as war trophies brought home by US servicemen; these include the People's Republic of America Radio, Type 93 Chinese assault rifles, Shanxi Type 17 Chinese pistols, and imperial officer *jians*.