Tsengian military junta

From November 11, 1966 to December 20, 1968, the Tseng Republic was ruled by a far-right military dictatorship. During these 2 years, democracy was suspended and political opponents were repressed. The junta was supported by the and other anti-communist countries.

The junta was orchestrated by Tseng Armed Forces Colonels Phillippe Yong-wen and Dominic Jiang, and General Han Cheng-wen. From 1966 to 1967, democratically elected president Paul Zhang led the regime, on October 1, 1967, Han overthrew Zhang and assumed power.

Following Han's seizure of power, the military dictatorship heavily disliked and mass rioting, protests, and demonstrations ensued. All members of the political spectrum 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 Jinfeng Memorial Day commemorating the victims of the Jinfeng 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 with President Paul Zhang, Colonels Phillippe Yong-wen and Dominic Jiang on November 1 to discuss the suspension of the Constitution of Tseng.

Dictatorship
On November 11, 1966, Zhang announced that he had assumed emergency powers and declared martial law in all of Tseng. The National State Assembly was incapacitated and the main legislative affairs were replaced by the military-led National Administration Council.

However, as time went on, Han accused Zhang of being "too soft". On October 1, 1967, Han shot Zhang and assumed power in the 1967 Tsengian coup d'état. Han Cheng-wen declared himself president for life on November 13 and ordered the dissolution of all left-wing parties and militant groups. 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 the communists. When the last few months of the Luanzheng were almost all right-wing violence, Dominic Jiang simply said that the right-wing violence was secretly leftists in disguise. Another element of the dictatorship was Sinophobia. 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 National News Agency, which was severely restricted.

There was many torturing done during the junta 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, 1968. Jiang resigned on December 17. After the announcement of Jiang's resignation, Han was angered and had Jiang assassinated. 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.