Chiang Kai-Shek

Chiang Kai-Shek (Chinese 蔣介石) (October 31, 1887 – April 5, 1975) was a Chinese military and political leader who assumed the leadership of the Kuomintang (KMT) in 1925. He began his military education at the Baoding Military Academy, in 1906. Attended the Military State Academy in Japan in 1907. Chiang Kai-shek served in the Imperial Japanese Army from 1909 to 1911. He commmanded the Northern Expedition to unify China against the warlords and emerged victorious in 1928 as the overall leader of the Republic of China (ROC). Chiang led China in the Second Sino-Japanese War, during which Chiang's stature within China weakened, but his international prominence grew. During the Chinese Civil War, Chiang attempted to eradicate the Chinese Communists. He failed, and the KMT was forced to retreat to Taiwan. He served as the President of the Republic of China (which now consisted solely of Taiwan) until his death.

Chiang Kai-Shek in The Hot War
The United States pointedly recognized Chiang Kai-Shek as the legitimate leader of China even though he only held Formosa. The outbreak of World War III certainly didn't change their position.

Chiang Kai-Shek in The Man With the Iron Heart
With Japan defeated, Chiang Kai-Shek and the Kuomintang turned back to their direct conflict with the Chinese Communist Party. The years 1946-1948 saw a series of set-backs and downturns in Chiang's fortunes, events which were detrimental to popular support for US President Harry Truman's foreign policy.

Chiang Kai-Shek in Worldwar
With the arrival of the Race's Conquest Fleet in 1942, Chiang Kai-Shek found himself working uneasily with both Japan and the Chinese Communist Party against the Race.

Chiang was viewed as corrupt and worthless by most average Chinese. Chiang had evacuated Peking quickly in the face of the approaching Japanese. Ironically, the Japanese had fought the Race tooth-and-nail in a failed bid to hold Peking. The Communists proved far more adept at fighting the Race, and so Chiang and the KMT lost favor.

Nonetheless, Chiang remained an important figure in China, and continued to fight the Race's occupation into the 1960s, although he continued to fight the Communists, as well.

Chiang Kai-Shek in The War That Came Early
As the leader of China, Chiang Kai-Shek was supposed to be fighting the invasion of Japan. However, many people (Communists especially) believed China's only real hope lay with Mao Tse-Tung. Even the Japanese, while worried about Chiang's troopers, were more worried about the guerrilla tactics of the Communists throughout the war.

Still, Chiang's actions against the Japanese were effective. His troops maintained a secure hold in Yunnan Province, and received a measure of help from Britain in the form of supplies from India. Japan responded in the Fall of 1941 by releasing cholera bacilli and rodents infected with plague into Yunnan.

Chiang Kai-Shek in Joe Steele
Chiang Kai-Shek was the President of China before, during and after World War II, including the period when Japan had invaded China. Throughout much of this period, Chiang was locked in a civil war with Mao Tse-Tung's Reds. In August, 1945, the Soviet Union pushed Japan out of China. However, Soviet Premier Leon Trotsky ensured that Manchuria went to Mao. Throughout the remainder of the 1940s, Chaing's forces lost ground to Mao's forces, until, in October, 1949, just two months after the end of the Japanese War, Mao and his Reds pushed Chiang's forces off of the Chinese mainland.

The U.S. had backed Chiang, and refused to recognize Mao. For a time, U.S. President Joe Steele had considered using atomic bombs to support Chiang, as they'd effectively ended the Japanese War. However, the Soviet ambassador to the U.S., Andrei Gromyko, suggested that any U.S. atomic attack in China might be met with a Soviet atomic attack in Europe.

Literary comment
Chiang is only referenced once in the short story, but his role is identical to the novel, and OTL, for that matter.