Hong Kong Accords

[Triyun]

Invitations were sent to Greater Timuridian Empire, the Athenian Federation, Novak, the Greater Nordic Empire of Dalmatia, Rebel Army, and Austria for discussions of the formation of a new military and political alliance. The conference would be located on one of the many islands off shore from Hong Kong in a secret resort reserved for high ranking members of the United Federation of the East's ruling Zeon Socialist Party. The airport would have docked nearby hovercrafts for the visitors from the foreign nations to go directly too avoiding any media circus.

[center][img]http://farm1.static.flickr.com/141/385678174_fa1086a7b3.jpg[/img][/center]

Jia himself arrived at the Island in the dead of night before the guests were scheduled to arrive to prepare for the conference.

Edited March 18, 2011 by Triyun

[Centurius]

For this special occasion the Eastern Empress would attend the meeting, quite shortly after Jia was there Ariadne would follow and arrive at the island.

[TheShammySocialist]

The Timuridian Amir, Sham Timur, would slip away quietly during the night from the Timuridian Empire, to attend this conference, taking a private flight to Hong Kong before boarding a boat, arriving shortly after the Eastern Empress Ariadne. Not one for large doses of publicity, the Amir was grateful that the venue selected was easily reachable by quick hovercraft docked near the airport.

[Sarah Tintagyl]

Maria Magdalena von Hapsburg will be in attendance for this conference on behalf of Austria.

Edited March 19, 2011 by Sarah Tintagyl

[Voodoo Nova]

"Srant Mali will be in attendance to this meeting to represent Novak."

[TheShammySocialist]

The Timuridian Amir had come with a small entourage; only one bodyguard one of the staffers from the Amir's personal staff, as he stepped ashore on the island, he breathed in the salty air. The air was heavy with humidity, it made the fair temperature feel much warmer than it actually was, he was not used to these types of conditions. In Ashgabat, the heat was a dry as bare bones, very little moisture could be felt in the air overhanging Ashgabat, certainly it was hot, but a humid heat was much more tiresome then a dry one.

He slowly walked along the dock, carrying his own bag and a briefcase, his staffers following behind him quietly, their footsteps echoing along the underside of the dock. The lights that lit the darkened island made reflections on the water that danced gaily along the surface of the water, the water only rippling slightly, there was no breeze driving it ashore. As Sham Timur walked ashore off the dock, he noted that some of the other invited guests had arrived, and saw the Athenian delegation gathered in the dim light of lamps ahead, probably having arrived only a short while before.

The island seemed to tower over the beach and docking facilities, a light visible in a building that marked the summit of the steeply-rising venue. It was a rather impressive facility, and seemed to be devoid of any other people, besides the Athenian delegation ahead. The lights and sounds of Hong Kong were barely discernible in the distance as he walked, rather noisily, up the wooden walkway overlaying the sand around the docks, approaching the Athenian delegation.

"Your Highness," nodded Sham, drawing even with the Eastern Empress of the Athenian Federation, and bowing his head as was customary in Timuridian royal customs. He smiled warmly, "I hope all is well in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean?"

[Lavo]

Amjad Tukar would board a ship in Alexandria and sneak under the cover of the massive traffic going through the Suez before departing for the Far East. As it was known among some inner circles, he would be the one to take over Lavo Shalam's place once he stepped down from the public service, and so he was a fitting person to negotiate future alliances. In board the small vessel was Amjad, the ship's staff, and a small entourage of bodyguards, encase some pirates were stupid enough to try and board the ship. It would arrive at the island itself, and the VIP would leave by himself, due to his confidence in the UFE's security and perhaps more importantly in the tradition that Lavo Shalam had established over the years.

[Triyun]

Several [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_courtyard_house]chinese courtyard style villas[/url] were made available one for each delegation to stay in during the talks and use for private meetings. Secure communications were made available to communicate to home governments and the embassies within the UFE. The houses while very traditional also had western style beds and facilities available for those who preferred them (including quite a number of UFE leaders), giving a feel for some of China's beautiful traditional architecture while not creating a total culture shock.

Chinese Coast Guard cutters were stationed off the Island at various points to maintain maritime security, while the Imperial Guard had its men stationed throughout the Island. A feeling of both seculsion and security would be very much in effect for the conference.

Jia stepped out of his study as he was informed that some of the guests had arrived. "Emir Sham, Empress Ariadne, welcome to Dragon Island." he said seeing the Emir of the GTE and the Empress of Athens already conversing with one another.

[Sarah Tintagyl]

It was as if time never took a rest and immediately after having been present at a military conference between Athenian and Timuridian military advisors in Vienna, Maria was back on a plane crossing the vast expanse of Europe and Asia to the United Federation of the East. In truth, the invitation had surprised her, Sino-Austrian relations were not on par with friendships with Timuridia, Athens, even the Germanic Union, but it was the words of her sister, Theresia that made the Duchess feel that perhaps the Federation could become one of Austria's greatest allies. Her sister had been in Beijing and other Chinese cities for well over six months now and the letters, which were mailed back to Vienna spoke of nothing short of hospitality and kindness from the Chinese. A treaty was in the works of being approved and Maria hoped to talk about the possibility of an alliance with Imperator Jia personally, as well to finally meet the man who Theresia held in such high regard.

While landing in Hong Kong, the Duchess was taken by boat to Dragon Island off the coast of the Federation, and upon stepping onto the shore saw the smiling face of her sister running down the path towards her.

"Maria!" The youngest Hapsburg sister said and jumped into her sister's arms. It caught Maria completely off-guard and nearly dropped the Duchess to the ground.

"Theresia please, I'm here on business," she shook her head. "What on earth are you doing here anyways?" Though it was hard not to smile. She knew Theresia had been through hell the past few months and the light scars could still be seen on her cheeks and neck.

"His Excellency, Imperator Jia and I, we're quite good friends. I've told him all about you and I'm sure he's excited to meet you, apparently there are rumors at the beauty of the three Hapsburg Sisters. Isn't it great?"

"Well don't tell Angelika that, it might make her head explode. Anyways," Maria said pointing up at the lights on the mountain. "Are you going to introduce me?"

The Princess nodded and took her sister's hand as the two Hapsburgs walked slowly up the path towards the villas set aside for the foreign representatives. There were alternate, faster ways to get up to the summit, but Maria and Theresia spent the walk conversing about the past six months and before they knew it, the Austrians had wandered into the room where Ariadne, Sham, and Jia were speaking. The youngest turned back to her older sister with a smile, though for Maria, seeing Ariadne at the conference placed a large elephant in the room. She sighed and took a deep breath, making sure not to ruin Austria's reputation in this conference of power players. But before she could say anything more, Theresia had pulled her up to Jia and the others and began a hasty introduction.

"Jia, may I please introduce my sister. Her Grace, Maria Magdalena von Hapsburg of Austria. Maria, may I introduce, His Imperial Highness, the August Imperator, Jia of the United Federation of the East."

Maria curtsied then extended her hand. "It is a pleasure, Your Excellency, a true pleasure, thank you for your invitation. Austria is humbled by the other powers here."

She looked around, nodding to Sham in greetings and making brief eye-contact with Ariadne. Maria stuck to neutrality, if the Greek was going to be a !@#$%*, she could do it on her terms.

[Centurius]

Ariadne had been looking around the area for a while, the island and everything on it had been very impressive so far. Because she had been caught up in her thoughts she hadn't heard someone else walk in initially.

[i]"Your Highness, I hope all is well in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean?"[/i]

"Thank you your highness, luckily everything is. I trust central Asia is doing well too?" She asked. "Such a fascinating place here".

A few minutes later she had noticed Jia had walked in too, a person she hadn't actually ever met in person. Prior negotiations had always been held with the West.

[i]"Emir Sham, Empress Ariadne, welcome to Dragon Island."[/i]

"Thank you, your excellency. It truly is a pleasure being here and I would like to thank you for this kind invitation"

She had expected Maria would be there too and was reluctant at first however she herself would keep up her own neutrality with a short nod at Maria as the two made eye-contact.

[TheShammySocialist]

Sham nodded at Ariadne and smiled, "Very good to hear, Central Asia is going well, progress at the Gwadar super port is progressing smoothly, which is very good news. Although this business down in Australia has distracted us some, we hope it is resolved as soon as possible. And I agree, I am definitely enjoying this meeting location, I'm not one for too much media attention," he said, with a slightly nervous laugh.

As soon as Jia approached, Sham bowed his head, "Your excellency, it is good to see you again, I daresay I already like this venue," offering his hand to Jia.

As soon as Maria arrived, Sham bowed his head, and offered a warm smile in quiet response when she nodded at him, watching the ongoing exchange of pleasantries between Jia and Maria.

[Triyun]

"I am glad you could make it Empress. I once again would like to thank you for your assistance in keeping the peace in North America." he said to the Athenian Empress, t he August Imperator nodded to the Amir, "Thank you, I think a change of pace from the normal scenery of national capitals with glass sky scrapers is a nice change of scenery." he said to Sham. "The Executor and the Admiralty inform me that our South Pacific Forces are positioning to support your operations." he said as he spotted Theresia out of the corner of his eye. Behind her he saw the Duchess of Austria, the last Hapsburg sister. Theresia had become quite close to Jia, while from what his military commanders had told him, Angelika had less positive view, Jia now wondered how the last sister would react to an offer of friendship.

Jia bowed to the Duchess, "Your Grace, welcome to the United Federation of the East. We have greatly enjoyed Theresia's presence in the Federation. She has been an excellent representative for your nation. I am very glad we finally have had a chance to meet."

[Voodoo Nova]

Srant Mali arrived on the island in due time. He arrived via speed boat, something he was not too accustomed to in his travels. He brought along a suitcase designed to hold several suits, and a picture of his son's family. It has been a while since Mali has been in China, however that did not deter him from enjoying the culture. Srant has been in his position for decades, serving under several administrations. He was accustomed to meeting new counterparts, however he noticed many of these people were many years his junior. He reacquainted himself to the Athenian Empress and introduced himself to the other representatives he had not met before. Mali noticed Jia walking down as well. He has been a no-nonsense person when it comes to diplomacy. He didn't know why Shakir chose him to attend this meeting, knowing Shakir himself was a much more charismatic person. However this was the time to learn about each representative.

[Malatose]

For this meeting, the Greater Nordic Empire will send Jorhan Stahl, on behalf of Michael Visari.

[Sarah Tintagyl]

"Well I'm happy that she's taken to her role as Plenipotentiary so well, I've only heard good things about China and a supposed friendship in the works." Maria said to Jia, "To be quite honest, I was surprised that something like this would ever come to pass, Austria and the Federation cannot say that we see eye to eye on everything, but that is what makes a dynamic and strong friendship."

She tuned and looked at the other men arriving, most of which she had never seen, only heard of by name or in passing at other diplomatic conferences. Having Theresia there was a God-send, an immediate ice-breaker for the Duchess and as time passed she waded gently into the crowd of representatives and leaders.

"But if I may be so bold to ask Your Excellency," Maria said to the August Imperator. "What brings all these different nations together? I'm quite interested at the reason for this meeting."

[TheShammySocialist]

Having recently grabbed a glass of champagne off a servers' tray, Sham was standing close to Jia and Maria when she queried the August Imperator about their reasoning of being there. He stepped into the group, with a smile and a bow of the head, "I believe the Duchess and I share the same question," he nodded, and looked at Maria and then said with a smile, "Good evening Maria, I hope I find Austria's ruler in good health, and I hope things are well in the Osterreich?"

Edited March 21, 2011 by TheShammySocialist

[Triyun]

"Yes, I have gathered everyone here today to propose what I hope to become a new strategic alliance to shape Eurasia. I have gathered you here because you are the most impressive leaders and nations in Eurasia today. My past experiences with large alliances in the past have lead to disappointment. Many of you have shared in these past disappointments. The nations gathered here today have both proven that they can be trusted, and are capable of carrying their weight within the alliance whether it be through diplomatic means, military, economic, or a combination of the three." Jia said.

[Malatose]

Stahl grabbed a glass of wine and sipped it slowly.

"It is an honour to be here gentlemen. How are you all doing?"

[TheShammySocialist]

"With no ideological underpinnings?" asked Sham, taking a sip of his champagne. After considering Jia's words, he said with a nod, "Sounds like a rather interesting venture to me."

"It is a pleasure to see you again, Your Imperial Highness," nodded Sham, turning to meet Stahl, and bowing his head, before offering his hand.

[Centurius]

Ariadne herself had stayed with a simple glass of water for now which she took a sip off as she looked around the room.

"Well your excellency, on a quick look it really is only the Timuridians we aren't currently allied with and thanks to the Duchess of Austria we have been planning to change that for a while. So please tell me. What kind of alliance were you thinking of specifically?"

[Triyun]

"Ok how about we make article I, after the first "Your Excellency" we go with Imperator, Imperator Jia, Jia, or a simple hey you." he said jokingly, "I'm not a freakin' ruskie czar." He was still not comfortable with some of the "royal esque" manners which others treated his new title with. To him he was more a very very high ranking general but still a soldier in what had its roots as a peasant army.

Pondering the questions and comments he got from his idea he then spoke.

"Joking aside. In regards to it being an ideological bloc, I do not see a reason for it to be this. As the Athenians have said, the objectives of Red Dawn are secure, the United Federation of the East largely agrees with this assessment. It is my opinion that instead we should focus on our more pressing foreign policy objectives: anti-separatism, anti-terrorism, non-proliferation, and anti-extremism. I would like to propose what would amount to a full geo-strategic alliance to protect Eurasia from these tendencies. Today the threats are not of war between the classes but more war between those who wish to be part of a peaceful world order and those who wish to see the world burn.

Its our opinion that we should stand firmly on the side of order. This requires a stance by our nations to maintain a policy of strength through economic cooperation, military supremacy, and deep diplomatic engagement."

[TheShammySocialist]

Sham almost choked on a sip of his glass when Jia jokingly described the first laugh, emitting a hoarse laugh as gave a hard pounded fist to his chest, and coughed. "I can certainly agree with that, no one need call the Amir of Timuridia anything more then 'Sham' or 'Mr. Timur', we're all equals here," he said, with a smile.

"We can certainly agree to something outside the realm of a non-ideological bloc; and being of the opinion that extremism has been a problem as of late, we should be able to agree to some sort of bloc. I'm rather interested in these propositions," nodded Sham, polishing off the last of his champagne glass.

[Voodoo Nova]

[quote name='Triyun' timestamp='1300731882' post='2672406']
"Ok how about we make article I, after the first "Your Excellency" we go with Imperator, Imperator Jia, Jia, or a simple hey you." he said jokingly, "I'm not a freakin' ruskie czar." He was still not comfortable with some of the "royal esque" manners which others treated his new title with. To him he was more a very very high ranking general but still a soldier in what had its roots as a peasant army.

Pondering the questions and comments he got from his idea he then spoke.

"Joking aside. In regards to it being an ideological bloc, I do not see a reason for it to be this. As the Athenians have said, the objectives of Red Dawn are secure, the United Federation of the East largely agrees with this assessment. It is my opinion that instead we should focus on our more pressing foreign policy objectives: anti-separatism, anti-terrorism, non-proliferation, and anti-extremism. I would like to propose what would amount to a full geo-strategic alliance to protect Eurasia from these tendencies. Today the threats are not of war between the classes but more war between those who wish to be part of a peaceful world order and those who wish to see the world burn.

Its our opinion that we should stand firmly on the side of order. This requires a stance by our nations to maintain a policy of strength through economic cooperation, military supremacy, and deep diplomatic engagement."
[/quote]

Mali listened to Jia. Approving of what he was saying, Mali added on to his statements. He chose his words carefully, seeing the need to do so while he was here.

"Ideological blocs are destined to fail as the world evolves, progresses and changes. While they may united people based off a singular, umbrella ideology, they do not unite with a single goal in mind. Without a singular goal for all to work towards, there is bound to be tension as each member tries to accomplish their own goals with the bloc being their backing. As a non-ideological bloc, we can have this uniting factor without the need for an ideology. We don't single out a group of people we want to help, we can choose to help anyone in favor for our goal as a bloc. Should our goal be a peaceful world order, we shall be united in that cause as we each work towards that goal. In order to be united, we must be able to cooperate with each other and ignore ideological differences. As our ideologies are different, remember we are all here for one reason. We want to maintain peace and order in this world."

[Centurius]

"Speak for yourself, I still prefer 'Your Imperial Highness'" Ariadne said jokingly in response to the recent voices for informal addresses.

"As for the bloc I can agree with mister Mali. Lacking an ideology we need another point to rally for, ensuring peace and order in Eurasia might be a solution however we might want to extend the protection in itself on a more global scale. A global force with the ability to assist in matters where we unanimously desire involvement"

[Sarah Tintagyl]

"Well lets be honest here gentlemen," Maria spoke up from the side of the room, placing her glass onto the table and standing up to her feet, crossed towards the circle of leaders. "People's opinion of peace is rather misconstrued. Peace for some people is making sure that their empire's stretch without problem from one piece of dead land to another. Peace for others is the extermination of weaker peoples in their nations. Peace for others still is the removal of ideological sentiment from their neighbors as to create an unbreakable barrier so that a specific nation or ideology will never fall. Gentlemen, I am sure that each one of us are guilty of certain points that I've mentioned. I'm guilty of them myself, I would want nothing more than to see Austria expand across Europe and the world. I would love nothing more than to see Catholicism restored to its rightful place in the world, the dominant message of all Christians."

She looked around at their faces and looked down at the ground and smirked. "I don't mean to come off as being against a world order of peace and prosperity, but we're looking at peace through our eyes and thus stability is relative. Stability is only useful when it is to our advantage. However, what we have to understand is that if this alliance of ours is going to go public, the world dislikes police orders, they feel threatened, they feel weak, and even separated across the world, we can be vulnerable. My suggestion is then to keep this relatively private. Think, nearly everyone here is allied in some way or another, or at least has mutual friends across the divide, we don't need a public alliance to be friends with each other, all we need to know that we will support our friends when they require it."

Then she chuckled. "Oh, and please don't think that I'm saying this just because I'm surrounded by the power players of the world. I would be thinking this anyways. But I figure that we might as well realize that idealism is not the way to govern the world. Humans can't grasp idealism, they grasp power and strength and conviction. We can protect the world, we can stabilize the world, and benefit all at the same time."

Maria looked at Ariadne and nodded. "Mixing idealism and cynicism, maybe opposites can attract."