WesWorld

July
The Dalai Lama asks the Chinese government for more support in the search after the famous warlord Zhang Xueliang. According to recent reports,
he is in his mountain fortress near Shigatse. After intensive discussions in the chinese government, China decided to send more troops to the region.

07.July

"Then we would agree" said Deng Hau Min to his visitor.

"Yes we would. Where I come from, such transactions are getting doused with tequila." answered José Domínguez, the mexican ambassador
with a smile on his face. "The ships are now chinese, but what do you want with these old ladies ?"

"It's always a pleasure to make business with our mexican friends ... " Deng Hau Min smiled "You can be sure ... they are helpfully for us."

Office for foreign affairs, Beijing, 20:22hrs, July 19th 1940

"Damned ! Now we have the incident !!!" screamed Deng Hau Min, the chinese minister for foreign affairs, loudly. "Okay, there are the fishing grounds
near the Philippines, but that is far from the right for the fishermen to go fishing there. Even if they did this for centuries. Times have now changed
again !!! BUT what now ????" he asked thoughtfully to himself.

He pressed the button for the internal communication "Connect me as soon as possible with the headquarters of the Condominium and the south-fleet.
IMMEDIATELY !!!" roared he into the microphone "I must act quickly before the situation escalating completely", he thought to himself.

11.August
Representatives of the chinese and thai government met to talk about their neighborly relations. Initial reports indicated, that China has purchased
another ship of the Thai navy. After the purchase of the small aircraft carrier, this is another sign of a positive trend between the two nations.

Office of the CO of the COF (Condominium-Force), Itu-Aba, 21:45hrs, July 19th 1940

"Yes sir", the CO of the COF spoke in the telephone."I will do all necessary things ! There will not be any further incidents."

Furious he hung up the telephone and went in his office back and forth and speak to himself "Now my soldiers must watch even on our fisherman,
only because of the bang bags of the damned Filipinos. And all that, because our fishermen should not hurt again the philippine territorial waters."

01.August
The Chinese government announced, that China declares on this day a 12-miles-zone as territorial waters.

In addition with today, The international Lema Channel Agreement between China, Great Britain and Iberia comes into force.

Undisclosed location, August 3rd 1940

It was just passed an hour since the last shot was fired and all shipwrecked were on board the De Chang. The chinese ship has left his position
just within the philippine territorial waters and was now back in international waters. Captain Chow was still sitting in his room and still brooding
over the message, which he wanted to send to the HQ. Finally, he folded the sheet of paper and went to the bridge.

"XO. Set course to our home port Kaohsiung - Speed 20 kn." ordered Chow

"Eye Sir ! Course 298 - Speed 20kn !"

"Message to the HQ:

6:34 hrs - Opened fire on philippine ship to help chinese trawlers.
6:48 hrs - philippine ship heavily hit and sinks, also observed the sinking of the chinese trawler
7:00 hrs - salvage of all shipwrecked and wounded completed

Slight battle damage on Chang De. Set course for Kaoshiung."

The response from the chinese headquarters looks as follows.

"Right action against philippine threat !! Expect immediate personal report as soon as arrived in Kaoshiung."

Of course, the "Tabano incident" was also examined on chinese side. A commission was immediately appointed to investigate the incident thoroughly. After completion of the surveys the chinese government presented its inquiry report. It clearly stated that the hostile action was initiated by the filipino ship and when the chinese ship would not be nearby, this was probably a crime against humanity.

The payment of compensation through the filipino government then saw China as an admission of guilt and refrained from demanding a public apology for the incident and saw it as done.

Completely surprising was the dissolution of the co-dominion on 15th September.

late September

Of course, the resolution of the co-dominion by the Philippines were not without consequences. Immediately after this message reached the chinese government,
they continued their talks with the representatives of their allies. India and Japan insured a benevolent neutrality.

China assured Iberia and Great Britain,that in a future conflict between China and the Philippines, the Lema Channel Agreement would of course remain in force
and therefore a safe ship traffic from and to Hong Kong and Macao is promised. Similarly, China promised that, because of the NAP (Non-Aggression-Pact) between
China on one side and France and Russia on the other side, that neither french nor russian ships were targets of hostile acts.

Since China was not willing to give up the co-dominium without violence, a plan was drawn up as in the case of a conflict is to proceed. For this reason,
the patrol flights in the Strait of Luzon were intensified, and a more ships and aircrafts were allocated to the Condominium Force.

Thanks for those posts - that helps bridge the gap between the issues raised earlier and the start of the war. It helps to demonstrate a bit of the Chinese mentality going into the war.

You're welcome ..... i'm still working on the posts filling the gap ... but my time is limited because of my wedding on 4th June.

Aha, understandable. (And congratulations if I didn't say so before!)

Agreed, Congrats! I'll follow you in that Handbasket 2 months later!