Tsengian military junta

From November 11 to December 20, 1968, the Tseng Republic was ruled by a far-right military dictatorship. During these 40 days, democracy was stopped and political opponents, specifically liberals, were killed. The coup was supported by the and other anti-communist countries.

The junta was headed by Tseng Armed Forces Colonels Phillippe Yong-wen and Dominic Jiang, and General Han Cheng-wen. They came to power on November 11, 1968, now known as the Coup d'etat of 11/11.

The military dictatorship was heavily disliked and mass rioting, protests, and demonstrations ensued. All members of the political spectrum somehow forgot the conflict the years before and united to stop the junta. At 8:43am on December 2, 1968, a group of people now known as the Twenty-Four Liberators, lead by Stephen Yang, flew the Tsengian flag on the Presidential House, National State Assembly and the State Court, ending the junta and the Luanzheng Era.

November 24 is Jingfeng Memorial Day commemorating the victims of the Jingfeng Massacre. The US apologized for supporting the dictatorship in 1992.

Background
The Luanzheng Era was a period of political and social violence that took place in Tseng from 1962 to 1968, the result of Bill 643, a 1958 law which prohibited anything related to communism in Tseng. Communists were angered that their freedom of speech was violated, however, they tried to protest using peaceful means rather than riot or take direct action. This changed when Frederik Bao, a far-left Maoist, took over the government and eliminated the moderate Jack Lin. Rightists were enraged by it, moderates tried to stop it, and the three groups fought for the control of the Tsengian government.

Even in the military there were differences. Since 1946, most officers were pro-NPP, but after the Longtan Coup more officers supported the idea of communism. Han Cheng-wen was very anti-communist and helped bring the Tsengian Armed Forces to support the right-wing. More turned anti-communist after the failures of the presidencies of Bao and Robert Bei-yang. Sick of the constant fighting, Han decided that a dictatorship would help end the violence, and gradually transition into a democracy. He met up with Colonels Phillippe Yong-wen and Dominic Jiang on November 1 to discuss the overthrow of the moderate Paul Zhang from power.

Dictatorship
On November 11, 1968, Han and his supporters overthrew the Tsengian government in the Coup d'etat of 11/11. Zhang was shot dead by Han in the Presidential House, and over the radio and television Han announced the arrival of the junta. The National State Assembly was incapacitated and the main legislative affairs were replaced by the military-led National Administration Council.

Han Cheng-wen declared himself president for life on November 13 and ordered the dissolution of all left-wing parties. Many people were outraged, and rioting ensued. Han's attempts to stop the riots (which involved killing of those rioters) only made the situation worse.

Propaganda
The justification of the military rule was that "Tseng was being destroyed by communists" (Han) when the last few months of the Luanzheng were almost all right-wing violence. Dominic Jiang said that the right-wing violence was secretly leftists in disguise. Another element of the dictatorship was Sinophobia. In the 40-day period of the junta, Han called the Chinese "可悲的老鼠" (deplorable rats) 79 times in interviews. There were daily burnings of the Chinese flags and Mao's portraits. Chinese Tsengians were treated as diseased animals who needed to be eradicated (even many Chinese Tsengians were second-generation).

Patriotic and nationalist Tsengian songs were broadcast over the airwaves almost constantly. The TBS broadcast outright lies (such as all Chinese ate dogs).

Freedom of the press was restricted. The only newspaper allowed was the Tseng City Times, which was severely restricted.

There was many torturing done during the 40 days in makeshift prisons all across Tseng. Methods of torture were water-boarding, force-feeding, white room torture, etc.

End of the junta
Seeing the severe public opposition to the junta and not wanting a civil war in Tseng, the leaders of the junta decided to resign. Phillippe Yong-weng resigned on December 6. Jiang resigned on December 17. After the announcement of Jiang's resignation, Han was angered and shot and killed Jiang. Finally, on December 20, 1968, a huge protest/riot took place in Guoqing Square in Tseng City. The Twenty-Four Liberators of the United Front arrived and flew the Tsengian flag (which had been mistakenly been painted a lighter blue than the 1946-1968 flag) on the government buildings, and Han was arrested and taken into custody.