Deng Xiaoping (The Era of Relative Peace)

Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China in the years preceding World War III, from 1976 to 1989.

Deng was a moderate who managed over to win the power struggle from the Gang of Four, led by the late Mao Zedong's wife, Madame Jiang. Under Deng, he initiated economic reforms to the PRC while maintaining it as a communist state. His economic reforms saw it as the rapprochement with the West, with several foreign companies investing in China. This "courtship" with the United States was necessary for China as it continued its rivalry with the Soviet Union to the north. Also under Deng was the negotiation of the handover of Hong Kong with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in September 1982.

In April 15, 1989, Hu Yaobang, a liberal reformer within the Chinese Communist Party, died. Several students went to Tiananmen Square to mourn for his death. The number of students would increase in the following days. Soon, these students were joined with workers, taxi drivers, police officers, and even soldiers of the People's Liberation Army. By May 1989, countless Chinese citizens had gathered in the square. Party General-Secretary Zhao Ziyang went to the square urging the people for a compromise between the Central Government and the citizens. This caused Zhao to be relieved of his post within the Chinese Communist Party. On May 20, Premier Li Peng initiated martial law throughout Beijing. At this moment, Deng was in a hospital recovering from his illness. As a result, Li Peng quickly seized the opportunity and disposed of Deng in a silent coup de'tat, including his position as the Chairman of the Central Military Comission. Li then ordered the PLA to crush the student protesters on June 4, 1989, resulting in the Tiananmen Square massacre. When this occurred, several foreign media managed to capture the incident on tape and broadcast. This met massive condemnation from the international community; the United States and the Europe canceling meetings between government officials and suspending the sale of military hardware. This was soon overshadowed when the Soviet Union (under a hardliner leadership) invaded West Germany, thus beginning the Third World War.

Deng was placed under hospital arrest throughout the war. He was shocked to learn that Li Peng had joined the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies by March 1990. He knew it was a foolish move by Li since the U.S. and its NATO allies were more advanced technologically. Deng was right, as the war came into China's shores in the form of a Second Chinese Civil War. In the civil war, the pro-democracy rebels, alongside with Tibetan, Uyghur, and Taiwanese fighters, managed to overthrow the Chinese Communist Party and replace it with a democratic provisional government. It was headed nonetheless by Zhao Ziyang who would later become the first president of the Chinese Federated Union.

Deng would live his life away from the public eye, though he made occasional appearances and even reconciled with President Zhao himself. He passed away on February 19, 1997; just four months before the handover of Hong Kong to the Chinese Federated Union.