Sinsu/CSU Discussions

[Achkaerin]

To - President Teng Jia

The Cross-Straits Union has received your application to join the Union as a full member, as such it is the custom of the Union to invite a representative of your nation to the headquarters of the organisation located in Ashinxao, Rokkenjima. Arrangements will be made to transport your delegation from the airport to our headquarters where I and possibly some other representatives of the Union will meet with them and discuss the application with a view to making a recommendation to the membership.

Signed

Lìosa Càidh
Secretary General, Cross-Straits Union

[The Young Pope]

This would have been President Teng Jia’s first major international undertaking since she was elected to the presidency, becoming the first ever woman to get hold of that position in Sinsic society, which was quite the achievement in the hugely diverse federal republic. Teng’s views corresponded a lot with the Liberal Party, subscribing to social liberalism and her first party of choice ever since she became mature to decide the ideology that suited her tastes. Minorities, women and children were among the key societal groups that always engaged her in politics and in return were among her largest base of support, which could explain her chance for success at the presidential post, in addition of having half of her DNA belonging to one of said minority groups.

Being president however requires change in how she expressed her viewpoints on politics in general, the role subscribing to be above all types of party politics and instead act as a unifying force to the nation. It certainly helped that the Liberal Party was currently in league with the Conservative, Progress and Golden Dawn parties in government, Premier Deng Liuxian belonging to the firstly mentioned one. Even if she agreed with the importance of forming relationships with other nations, she wasn’t entirely convinced yet that it would need to be done with the ‘controversial’ nations as well, considering some of their internal cultural practices stood in contradiction against her own personal beliefs regarding progressivism and a just society in general.

In the end, she simply had to bite all of that hard substance and chew it significantly in order to defend these interests and in particular Premier Deng’s agenda. As the Sinsic presidential plane touched down on the runway of Ashinxao, she finished the final preparations with documents and what not ahead of the meeting with CSU Secretary General Líosa Cáidh, convincing herself that she had to represent Sinsu with the very best of interests and what the nation was all about. The door finally opened and she was the first of the Sinsic delegation to step down from the aircraft, unto the red carpet and be greeted by whoever was escort designated to take her to the CSU headquarters.

[Achkaerin]

The welcoming committee, though not a committee because it was just one person, was Madison Pryde, the Chair of the Council of Head of States for the Cross Straits Union, in short she was the Union's liaison with the memberships head of states, so she was well known to Pyrena and Valtheim's major players. Her main official duty was chairing the annual meeting of the head of states though with just two members that had so far amounted to setting up a conference phone call. She'd volunteered to meet the Sinsu President and bring her to the CSU's headquarters because there was honestly no one else available to do it unless one of the secretaries or receptionists was going to get sent along but that would hardly have sent the right message.

"Madam President welcome to Rokkenjima." Madison said "I'm Madison Pryde Chair of the Council of Head of States for the Cross Straits Union, I'm your escort to the Union's HQ where the Secretary General will meet with you, I have a car waiting if you'd like to follow me."

[The Young Pope]

Teng initial impression was good, personally being escorted by some highly-ranked in the CSU and Madison looked like those who carried smarts and talents with them in the bagage. “Greetings to you as well, Councillor Pryde, thank you so much for this discreet welcome. I’m looking forward to having the discussions with someone distinguished as Secretary General Cáidh.” Finishing the efficiently short welcoming ‘ceremony’ with a handshake, the President accompanied the Councillor to the designated vehicle, as the rest of the Sinsic delegation followed suit to separate vehicles. As soon as the last door was shut, the convoy began to speed away from the airport and into the downton area of the city.

Feeling cozy and relaxed in her seat President Teng began to have a conversation once more with Pryde, wanting to get to know her a little more. “So Councillor Pryde, may I ask how long you’ve been employed by the CSU? Do you enjoy the tasks and challenges at hand as well? Don’t get me wrong, you must love the job considering you’re in charge of an entire council catering to the CSU’s heads of states, but does it really feel like you made the right choice of career path so to speak? I’m just one year into the Sinsic presidency, having an additional 3 years to fulfill my duty as the foremost representative of Sinsu on the world stage, acting as the unified force the country needs at the same time, taking on whatever challenge presents itself. If the people desires it so, another 4 years is in the right order. But what will happen from that point and onwards, do I retire from politics altogether or will I serve as minor advisory role to any young, ambitious politician out there who’s got what it takes to lead Sinsu? As far as I’m concerned, it’s certainly not an easy role to undertake but quite rewarding and satisfying if one’s agenda follows the plan accordingly.”

[Achkaerin]

"In the almost three years I've been in post it's been an interesting time to say the least." Madison said "Though bearing in mind that I never expected to end up negotiating the terms of Dartfordia's departure from the CSU in my first month. Apart from that all I really do is schedule the annual Cross-Straits Summit. But I would never question my choices, I prefer not to."

The car soon pulled up outside the headquarters of the Union, Madison led the President inside and up to a corridor where the Cross-Straits Secretariat had their offices. Madison's office was on this floor and directly across from it was the office of the Secretary General of the Union, once past the PA Madison knocked on the door and opened it. Sat behind the desk was Lìosa Càidh, she looked up and smiled another applicant nation here for their vetting interview there had been a few of those in recent weeks.

"Madam President welcome." Lìosa said "I look forward to a productive conversation. Would you care for a drink before we begin?"

[The Young Pope]

"A welcome which I happily receive with gratitude, thank you so much for this opportunity Secretary General." Jia had heard a lot about Líosa Cáidh prior to her arrival in Rokkenjima and now that she got to finally witness and talk to her in person, shouldn't have asked for anyone else to steer the CSU discussions. Hanging her coat over a rack, Jia took a seat opposite the SG and wondered what drink she would've like to have this time. However in order to not drag too much time on this, the Sinsic President settled on something that she was all too familiar with, though Rokkenjima had its own speciality of this drink.

"I wouldn't mind having a bit of tea if it's not too much of a hassle...any type is completely fine." she said, making a brief pause before continuing to speak; she recognised that smile which was emitted from Líosa. "It actually feels enlightening that I'm about to discuss terms with a person of Achkaerinese origins, considering I can't stop stating how much I'd enjoyed my time over there back in the old days, attending Freshwater University to complete my masters in law and getting to know Achkaerinese that I can happily call as my closest, kindest and most honorable of friends. Hopefully once this is done, I'd like to perform a state visit to your country and meet the Emperor in person, or vice versa whichever is most convenient."

[Achkaerin]

"The matter of visiting Achkaerin is one you'll have to take up with the Achkaerinese Government not with me, I have no say in that as I am not connected to the Achkaerinese Government." Líosa said as got up and proceeded to make the tea, it didn't take long for her to do it either because she routinely made the refreshments when she had meetings in her office. She handed Jia her drink and retook her seat.

"Let me begin by explaining the process that now takes place, today my role on behalf of the CSU membership is to discuss with you Sinsu's suitability for membership in the CSU, this is the opportunity for you to address the concerns that the membership may have and to 'sell yourself' as my old careers advisor at University put it to the Union. Following the conclusion of this meeting I write up a recommendation and give it to Councillor Pryde who oversees the final decision of the admission which is a vote of the Council of Head of States. Should they vote to admit Sinsu then I have to set an accession date which is the date from which CSU law and so on applies to Sinsu, this will normally be the first day of the following month." Líosa explained "Do you have any questions about the process or should we get on with the substantive questions?"

[The Young Pope]

"Certainly you're entirely correct in that regard, and thanks for the tea by the way." Jia said, raising her cup for a toast before taking the first sips from it. As Líosa briefed her on the application procedure, the President made her last mental notes in her mind, having already done her homework at home when it came to the most likely of concerns that had to be adressed, prior to an eventual admittance of Sinsu into the Union itself.

"I think there's no need for further questions on my part, and we ought to get on with substantive questioning the Union has in store for Sinsu, represented by the Presidency that's currently under my authority. Please begin and I'll happily answer to whatever is asked about." President Teng made herself clear and was ready to confront the oncoming 'storm' directly, knowing fully that the answers had to sound satisfiable enough and make a good impression.

[Achkaerin]

"It's not my style to dance around the issue." Líosa said "So I'm going to begin with the tough issue of your nations state of affairs with the SICR. The Membership is concerned that the situation has the potential to boil over into something far more serious than it presently is, as an organisation the CSU is committed to many things one of them being peaceful coexistence with ourselves and our neighbours though given the track record of the members there's a strong sense of not shirking away when push comes to shove. So can you enlighten us about what steps are being taken to resolve the issue and how they are progressing?"

[The Young Pope]

"Of course." It was to be expected that SICR was one of the absolute pains in the bum that Sinsu had to deal with. "I would just like to firstly point out that this wasn't the first time SICR decided to shell ROS whenever they got the chance to do so and even when they feel like it, though the last time it happened happened quite a while ago, so these projectiles aimed at damaging our gas industries, the Muslim minority and our military installations came as a bit of a surprise, and I emphasize on the 'bit' part as you can surely understand why. I'm not saying that ROS has always been the 'angel' in this conflict and there are times I wish we could have handled matters differently, but when speaking from a point of view existing in the modern era, ROS has for the most part been advocating for a peaceful co-existence with out northernly Imperial neighbour and former master, knowing fully that the similarities between are far more superior in quantity and quality than the differences, however it's such a shame that it has taken a while for the SICR leadership to come to that conclusion." Jia paused as she drank from her tea before continuing.

"Without risking to speak about SICR without their input in such discussion, there certainly has been undertaken steps recently to enable a permanent peace and closer integration between the two entities. For example, I've recently held a meeting with my counterpart, President Max Herminstaat, which was all conducted in absolute discretion due to the volatile situation at the time of the shellings. What I'm telling you right now is supposed to be announced officially some time later, but it's safe to say that an good indication towards a peaceful co-existence started to appear during the meeting, despite the natural harsh words which were exchanged at the beginning. It's expected that a few more of these will need to be held naturally but my optimism has been renewed."

"As for other steps being taken, this matter has been referred to the Ardian Assembly, seeing its usefulness in mediating this conflict. ROS has pledged to follow the directives proposed by the Assembly, though unfortunately it's certain that SICR will most likely not adhere to them, which is intriguing considering they've signed to be a member of it. In any case if it's required, ROS would also be willing to accomodate to their wishes for a SANE member such as New Derusmia to act as a mediator instead of the Assembly whilst we hold these talks. As I'll reassure you, ROS will under my watch resort to only peaceful solutions to this mess; it's up to SICR now if they're willing to once and for all set aside their grudges and respect the existence of an independent Sinsu, as we're doing the same for them."

[Achkaerin]

"That's fair enough." Lìosa said "Just bear one thing in mind though Madam President, I sit here as representative of the CSU and if there's one thing the CSU membership likes it's calm waters not rough seas. We're a Union based around a Free Trade Area, diplomatic ties and cooperation in other areas the last thing the Union wants is to end up in a situation where we have to deal with a situation like this involving one of our members, now I believe that you want to see this resolved and I wish you well with it and if the Union can be of help let us know. Of course that's if you're admitted." she paused smiling again "So tell me what is Sinsu's unique selling point? What sets you apart from the other nations out there?"

[The Young Pope]

"Be rest assured Ms. Cáidh, that ROS under my watch wouldn't be the first to fire the trigger." Jia simply smiled as she listened to the second question being asked.

"Such a tough question to ask." Jia joked, regaining her composure before resuming to speak. "I suppose that the answer I'm about to deliver now depends on a few factors or maybe not. But ROS is part of the Chinese cultural sphere, despite what our lovely SICR neighbour in the north is trying to tell everyone, and as such we've developed a unique and special way of thinking and planning for the long term, which will always be of a continuous process. The truth of the matter is that there isn't such a thing like an 'end state' at the end of solving a problem, and as such new issues will always arise, which stands in contradiction to specific actors around Mundus who can only think and act on the short term, but not the wider picture. This in turn arises from and causes more confusion and misunderstanding, and then we're onto square 1 of trying to solve an issue."

"Maybe it's part of our ancient legacy of a few milennia and subsequent experiences throughout these decades of war, famine, colonization and globalization that has shaped ROS, but we've developed understanding and reasoning with other countries which doesn't necessarily translate into toleration at the same time, as the perception of time when it comes to development within different cultures and societies take place at different speeds. I'm not sure if this is a good selling point of ROS or if it's even unique, but what you're hearing right now is a testimony of complete trust and sincerity emitted from ROS, and what we expect in return from other actors in Mundus. It's an assurance that while ROS will seek out to countries with different cultures no matter their controversy, ROS would never stray away from its own commitment to values that are reflected in international treaties such as the MCUR and Uppsala Convention to name a few, as there's also an understanding here the importance of these so-called 'piece of paper' that other actors deem as 'unnecessary and infringing on sovereignty'."

[Achkaerin]

Lìosa was happy with that position, and she hadn't heard anything that was going to ring alarm bells yet so it was so far so good.

"So perhaps you could answer me this - what does Sinsu want to get out of membership of the CSU?" Lìosa asked