Manchuria (21st Century Crisis)

The Republic of Manchuria (Manchu: Гурун Манжуур, Chinese: 滿洲共和國, Russian: Республика Маньчжурия) is a country in Northeast Asia. It borders Russia to the north, China and North Korea to the south, and shares a maritime border with Japan.

Manchuria has a rich history, coming under the rule of Turkic, Mongol, Russian, Japanese and Chinese empires and Soviet rule. The indigenous group, the Manchus, ruled China via their own dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, as China's last ruling imperial dynasty. In its modern-day, Manchu, Chinese and Russian cultures and influences stand out and predominate the country. As a result, the country is known for its vast array of historical sites and monuments, and is considered one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. It is also known for its natural beauties as well as lush gardens.

Manchuria is one of Asia's economically strongest countries, and has East Asia's third-largest GDP. Manchurian citizens often enjoy a high standard of living.

Manchuria is a member of APEC, SCO and a number of global organizations.

Under Soviet administration, despite being a militantly State Atheist nation, Russian Orthodox preachers eventually crept their way into the Manchurian SSR, and converted many Manchu clans to Russian Orthodoxy.

In 1988, Lev Talbacik, Gioro Urhun, Fyodor Balashov and Don-Lai Li began Manchuria's independence struggle from the Soviet Union and much of Manchuria's early post-Cold War politics centered around these four. In 1989, they held their first election, with Lev Talbacik as the first President of the Republic of Manchuria, with Gioro Urhun as the Prime Minister, Fyodor Balashov became the Minister of Defence. However, President Talbacik stated he wished to maintain close relations with Moscow, having remembered that the Soviets saved Manchu culture.

In 1991, Moscow relinquished control of Manchuria, however, allowed Manchuria to keep Soviet aircraft and warships. In an act of cultural liberalization, Chinese was re-officialized to join Manchu and Russian as one of the official languages of Manchuria.

Between 1995 to 2005, however, leaders during that era favored close economic relations with China and the United States and massive westernization. This led to huge economic growth in Manchuria. However, Manchurian leaders have made it clear that they are a military ally of Russia. In 2015, amid the rise of ISIS, the government in Mukden called for increased Russian military presence in Manchuria.

World War II
During the second World War, Manchuria was invaded by Japan and the puppet state of Manchukuo was established. Under the Manchukuo government, Russian Manchurians underwent persecution. As a result, Manchukuo was rocked by guerrilla warfare against the Japanese, all throughout its entire period, forcing the Japanese rulers to cease its persecutions against the Russian community.

Despite following White Russian culture, many of them eventually called for Soviet aid, to induce fear against the Japanese, who had been beaten by the Soviets in the 1935 Soviet-Japanese Border Conflict.

In 1945, the Soviets eliminated the remnants of the Japanese military rule in Manchuria, in which the region was divided into the Manchurian SSR to the north and Northeast China to the south.

Cold War
After World War II, the Soviets occupied northern Manchuria, where the Manchurian SSR was established and the Chinese occupied southern Manchuria, where Northeast China was established. They installed Manchu nationalist Mikel Baijinbu. However, later heated disputes between the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of China led to the Manchuria Conflict, in which the Soviets drove Chinese forces out of all Manchuria under the leadership of Nikita Khrushchev. In addition, Manchuria became home to an active underground White Russian movement. Under Soviet occupation, the Manchu language was revived, and the Soviets used Manchu nationalism to their advantage. Despite that, ethnic Chinese constituted the majority of the Manchurian SSR, the Soviets banned Chinese from having any official recognition. Chinese were commonly suspected of being Maoist or even Kuomintang spies, and were therefore, severely discriminated against. The Soviets allowed Mikel Baijinbu to carry out nationalistic pogroms, which included an attempt to assimilate the ethnic Chinese, as well as the deportation of millions more. Baijinbu also carried out Manchu populist pogrom, offering to give work and housing priorities to ethnic Manchus who bear more descendants. However, as tensions with China rose, Leonid Brezhnev recognized the importance of having Soviet Chinese troops, and knowledge of Chinese could be very useful in helping rout out Chinese forces. However, the attitude regarding Chinese influence was very negative, and the Manchu and Russian elite in the Soviet republic opposed it. Nonetheless, Brezhnev allowed Soviet Chinese in Manchuria to establish Chinese-language schools, as long as they were CPSU-friendly. However, despite Manchu being co-official to Russian, it was written in the Cyrillic alphabet. Of all the Soviet republics, citizens of the Manchurian SSR enjoyed greater freedoms and standards of living. Soviet railroad workers were given decent housing and food, Manchus were allowed to continue their customs and traditions.

Post-Cold War
In the post-Cold War era, President Lev Talbacik instituted large-scale reforms, those of which, included making peace with some of the Soviet Union's old traditional enemies, such as China and the United States, without severing relations with Moscow. In 1994, despite being considered a national hero, President Talbacik was replaced by Fyodor Balashov in the 1994 Manchurian Elections, who served as his Prime Minister. Under the leadership of President Balashov, Manchuria remained a military power in the region, even as its main superpower ally, the Soviet Union went on the decline. However, living conditions in Manchuria were still pretty sub-par. This led to Dong-Lai Li being elected president in 1999. However, Dong Lai-Li's presidency also saw stagnant progress. However, in his later stages, he was the first actively encourage American tourists to come to Manchuria.

In 2003, Gioro Urhun became the fourth President of Manchuria, who truly is considered the architect of modern-Manchuria. President Urhun distanced his policies from those of the previous three presidents, whom he felt was reluctant to leave behind communist and Soviet ideologies, though praised their strengths.

Via a personal face-to-face agreement between the four, they agreed that the country should be led by a "new generation of Manchurians" led by "new generation ideas". Therefore, the other three stepped away from politics, while Urhun allowed for the formation of new political parties.

Yan Qu-Duan of the Liberal Party of Manchuria would become elected as the new Prime Minister, Sergey Ponomaryov succeeded Fyodor Balashov as the Minister of Defense. Together, Urhun, Qu and Ponomaryov worked to revamp Manchurian economy, society and defense.

Urhun successfully entered Manchuria into APEC and the SCO. Urhun continued Dong-Lai Li's tourism policies, and began rigorous opening of Manchuria to the Chinese, Japanese and American markets. Major American companies opened businesses and branches in Manchuria. The competition between the four would come to transform Manchuria into a major global economic power. In 1991, Manchuria's GDP was $832.53 billion, by 2006, it had risen to $1.47 trillion. Future presidents continued Manchuria's global economic involvement, leading to the rise to the global power that it is today.

In 2007, President Wang Jalafungga, made official the use of the traditional Manchu script alongside Manchu Cyrillic.

Economy
Manchuria's economy is considered one of the Asia-Pacific Rim's strongest, at $3.43 trillion, below Japan's. It is the third-largest economy of East Asia. Industrial is Manchuria's strongest-points, but is mainly concentrated in northern Manchuria, and agricultural economy is in Southern Manchuria. Manchuria has one of the largest steel outputs in East Asia, and is China's main and largest exporter of steel.

Technology, tourism and agriculture are considered Manchuria's strong economic points, as Manchuria is one of the largest populations of those in the Computer Science fields.

Due to Manchuria's rich and diverse history, it also has a strong tourist industry. It hosts a large number of tourist destinations and heritage sites for foreigners studying Manchu, Chinese or Russian language and culture, as Manchuria is important to all three, and has many performing arts centers that caters to all three cultures, such as the National Manchu Arts and History Center, the Russian Cultural Center of Manchuria and the Chinese Manchurian Center for the Arts and Cultures. In addition, there are also Russian-language and Mandarin-language schools all throughout Manchuria, in addition to the majority Manchu-speaking.

In terms of foreign trade, Manchuria is considered a global economy. Its strongest economic partners are China, Japan, the United States, Germany, Scandinavia and Russia, know as the "Big Six" in Manchurian economics.

Politics
Currently, Manchuria is a parliamentary republic. The head of state is the president, and head of government is the prime minister. Manchuria is considered very democratic, and while the United Manchuria Party is the ruling party, other political parties, with the exception of Fascist-like ones are allowed to operate in Manchuria without any interference from the government.

Military
Main Article: Manchurian Armed Forces 

The Manchurian National Forces are the armed forces of Manchuria, divided into the Ground Army, Aerial Forces (air force), Maritime Forces (navy) and the Gendermarie (national police).

Russia is Manchuria's largest military exporter and partner, with 88% of all Manchurian military equipment imported from Russia.

In addition, the city of Port Arthur, serves both the navies of Manchuria and Russia, where ships of Russia's Pacific Fleet operate and dock. Manchuria is also working out agreements with Beijing to open it to the Chinese navy.

Ethnic Groups
Currently, Manchus, Han Chinese and Russians constitute the three largest groups in Manchuria, with large numbers of Koreans, Japanese, Mongols and other ethnic groups.

Manchus and Chinese constitute roughly equal parity each, with an estimated 37.4% of the population being ethnic Manchus, and Chinese being 33.7%, although that is only counting native speakers of Chinese languages as ethnologists suspect that the Chinese Manchurian population is a lot higher, including those of non-Chinese speaker backgrounds due to the assimiliation pogroms that were forced upon the Chinese during Soviet rule. Russians make up an approximate 22.4%. Many ethnologists have proposed that over 34.9% of the ethnic Manchus in Manchuria are of assimilated Han Chinese background, which would make the ethnic Chinese population higher than the indigenous Manchus. Many of the assimilated Han more-less display nationalistic attitudes when it comes to their Chinese background, with some outright claiming that they are ethnic Manchus, while others seem to comprimise and claim they are mixed Han and Manchu descent.

Still, as a similar trend in other countries, the majority of Manchuria's economic elite are ethnic Chinese. There is a common stereotype and de facto tradition, in which the president is a Manchu, prime minister is Chinese and defense minister is Russian. All of Manchuria's defense ministers have been Russian, from its Manchurian SSR days under Soviet leadership, up to today. Most of Manchuria's prime ministers were Han Chinese, although the 2017 elections changed that trend when the first native Manchu was elected prime minister.

Religion
Manchuria is multi-religious. In accordance with their ethnic groups, Manchu Shamanism, Buddhism and the Russian Orthodox Church. The 1989 Manchurian Constitution guarantees freedom of religion for all citizens of Manchuria. The religious makeup of Manchuria is roughly split between Manchu Shamans and Buddhists, unlike during Soviet rule, Moscow did little to interfere in the religious lives of Manchurians. More often-not, Shamans and Buddhists intertwine their religious beliefs since the two faith systems are nearly compatible and have shared close historical relations.

Russian Orthodox form the third largest single religious group, Manchuria contains East Asia's largest Russian Orthodox Cathedral, as Russian Orthodox churches and cathedrals dot all of northern Manchuria. There have been attempts to create a distinct Orthodox church within Manchuria, which would blend Manchu Shaman practices with Orthodox practices, as during the Soviet era, Russian missionaries converted many Manchu clans to Russian Orthodoxy.