MARCH 28
MINBURI, NORTHEAST OF BANGKOK, THAILAND
The man who saw himself as the next president of China was having trouble enjoying the
beautiful scenery in Minburi, a posh suburb of Bangkok. He was being taken out
there to meet a certain man.
Wang Tu Ku had been selected as the future head of state by a disparate group of people.
In the wake of the chaos following the Times Square massacre and the following coup,
members of the ASEAN group of Southeast Asian nations decided that they not only
had the right to intervene in China, but that it was a necessity. If the giant up north
collapsed, it was their countries that would be overwhelmed with a deluge of refugees
that would upset the delicate ethnic balances in each of their countries. It was their
countries that would collapse in an unceasing wave of ethnic tensions that could lead
to civil wars throughout the region.
Simultaneously, several “offshore” Chinese business associations met and debated
what kind of man or woman they thought should govern China. Delegates from
these associations from Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia all felt that
whoever stepped into the fray should be a native of Mainland China, with strong business
connections to the Chinese communities throughout Southeast Asia. There were few men
who met these criteria, except for Wang Tu Ku. He had a shipping business that operated
out of southern China for over a decade. In order to maintain these shipping
connections, he traveled frequently throughout Southeast Asia and did business
with the offshore Chinese communities as his ships plied the waters through the
South China Sea. He was even a member of the Communist party’s “business
faction” that helped bring Li Zhou Hu to the party chairmanship. He denounced
the new chairman after it became clear that he was not going to use his new
powers to quash the peasant revolts in the interior, which were disrupting
business for him and his colleagues. While he was the choice of the offshore
Chinese and the ASEAN nations that would provide the political muscle and money
for his movement, he was not an independent man. He would have to create a
movement that could sweep away the current regime, and he could not do it alone.
This movement would need an army. It a needed a commander, and it would
need someone who was comfortable operating in the darkest and most unseemly
corners of human behavior. Wang Tu Ku did not know such men. He did not know
where to begin. The members of the ASEAN nations did have such a man in mind.
He was called “the Colonel,” and Wang Tu Ku was on his way to meet him. He was
told that the colonel was a legend in the Royal Thai Police Department. He was half
Thai and half Chinese. He had started his career working in the outer provinces near
the Thai/Burmese border and even went undercover to infiltrate the Teochiu Triads.
He nearly destroyed their organization with the information that he provided
when the police finally brought the gang’s leaders to trial. His efforts were
even noticed by His Majesty, the King of Thailand. He worked vigorously for
several years in the Bureau for Narcotics Suppression breaking up several more
Triad rings in Thailand and Southeast Asia, in concert with other police and
intelligence agencies throughout the region. These prosecutions resulted in
dozens of gang leaders being executed or spending the rest of their lives in prison.
He eventually went on to run the Narcotics Suppression Bureau and became
deputy director general before his retirement. The colonel’s experience made him
the perfect person to run the military and intelligence wing of what would be
called the New China Movement. He had Chinese roots but would answer to Wang Tu
Ku’s benefactors based mainly in Bangkok.
In a patio behind his home, the man known as “the Colonel” was tending to his bauhinia
plants, a sacred plant in Buddhism that grows in his family’s home province in
Yunnan, China. The colonel spent most of his days seeking the calm and peace
that had eluded him for most of his life up to his retirement. He continued
working on his plants, even after his servant announced his guests. An older
Chinese gentleman entered the patio in the company of a major of the Royal Thai
Army, whom he knew personally. In the officer’s right hand was an envelope with
a familiar seal on it, which he also recognized.
Wang Tu Ku’s initial greeting with the colonel was awkward. He understood why
so many people were afraid of him, but he couldn’t explain why. The officer asked
the colonel to assist Tu Ku in going to China and developing the next government.
The old colonel hesitated; he had seen so much blood and suffering. He had
experienced so much pain that it transformed him into someone not completely
human. The young major then showed him the envelope. He opened the seal and
read the request written personally by His Majesty. The colonel took a deep breath
and knew that he could not refuse. He was not only duty bound to accede to a request
from the king, but to a request from a man who had saved him in the darkest time of
his life. He nodded to the men that he would help them.
MINBURI, NORTHEAST OF BANGKOK, THAILAND
The man who saw himself as the next president of China was having trouble enjoying the
beautiful scenery in Minburi, a posh suburb of Bangkok. He was being taken out
there to meet a certain man.
Wang Tu Ku had been selected as the future head of state by a disparate group of people.
In the wake of the chaos following the Times Square massacre and the following coup,
members of the ASEAN group of Southeast Asian nations decided that they not only
had the right to intervene in China, but that it was a necessity. If the giant up north
collapsed, it was their countries that would be overwhelmed with a deluge of refugees
that would upset the delicate ethnic balances in each of their countries. It was their
countries that would collapse in an unceasing wave of ethnic tensions that could lead
to civil wars throughout the region.
Simultaneously, several “offshore” Chinese business associations met and debated
what kind of man or woman they thought should govern China. Delegates from
these associations from Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia all felt that
whoever stepped into the fray should be a native of Mainland China, with strong business
connections to the Chinese communities throughout Southeast Asia. There were few men
who met these criteria, except for Wang Tu Ku. He had a shipping business that operated
out of southern China for over a decade. In order to maintain these shipping
connections, he traveled frequently throughout Southeast Asia and did business
with the offshore Chinese communities as his ships plied the waters through the
South China Sea. He was even a member of the Communist party’s “business
faction” that helped bring Li Zhou Hu to the party chairmanship. He denounced
the new chairman after it became clear that he was not going to use his new
powers to quash the peasant revolts in the interior, which were disrupting
business for him and his colleagues. While he was the choice of the offshore
Chinese and the ASEAN nations that would provide the political muscle and money
for his movement, he was not an independent man. He would have to create a
movement that could sweep away the current regime, and he could not do it alone.
This movement would need an army. It a needed a commander, and it would
need someone who was comfortable operating in the darkest and most unseemly
corners of human behavior. Wang Tu Ku did not know such men. He did not know
where to begin. The members of the ASEAN nations did have such a man in mind.
He was called “the Colonel,” and Wang Tu Ku was on his way to meet him. He was
told that the colonel was a legend in the Royal Thai Police Department. He was half
Thai and half Chinese. He had started his career working in the outer provinces near
the Thai/Burmese border and even went undercover to infiltrate the Teochiu Triads.
He nearly destroyed their organization with the information that he provided
when the police finally brought the gang’s leaders to trial. His efforts were
even noticed by His Majesty, the King of Thailand. He worked vigorously for
several years in the Bureau for Narcotics Suppression breaking up several more
Triad rings in Thailand and Southeast Asia, in concert with other police and
intelligence agencies throughout the region. These prosecutions resulted in
dozens of gang leaders being executed or spending the rest of their lives in prison.
He eventually went on to run the Narcotics Suppression Bureau and became
deputy director general before his retirement. The colonel’s experience made him
the perfect person to run the military and intelligence wing of what would be
called the New China Movement. He had Chinese roots but would answer to Wang Tu
Ku’s benefactors based mainly in Bangkok.
In a patio behind his home, the man known as “the Colonel” was tending to his bauhinia
plants, a sacred plant in Buddhism that grows in his family’s home province in
Yunnan, China. The colonel spent most of his days seeking the calm and peace
that had eluded him for most of his life up to his retirement. He continued
working on his plants, even after his servant announced his guests. An older
Chinese gentleman entered the patio in the company of a major of the Royal Thai
Army, whom he knew personally. In the officer’s right hand was an envelope with
a familiar seal on it, which he also recognized.
Wang Tu Ku’s initial greeting with the colonel was awkward. He understood why
so many people were afraid of him, but he couldn’t explain why. The officer asked
the colonel to assist Tu Ku in going to China and developing the next government.
The old colonel hesitated; he had seen so much blood and suffering. He had
experienced so much pain that it transformed him into someone not completely
human. The young major then showed him the envelope. He opened the seal and
read the request written personally by His Majesty. The colonel took a deep breath
and knew that he could not refuse. He was not only duty bound to accede to a request
from the king, but to a request from a man who had saved him in the darkest time of
his life. He nodded to the men that he would help them.