@johnnymarr:
Per LH 8-12-09
The French territories will be French but there will not be any French units located on the AAP map. They will appear in the Europe game however. As for the Global game… I’m not sure there is a large enough French presence to warrant French units in FIC.
I’m not sure what he means by that. France maintained a prescense there, not a huge one, but enough, I would think, to warrant at least an infantry.
And sure a naval base might help Japan, but I think that would play out to be a double-edged knife: it becomes more of a tempting target to the Japanese, but since it’s Global game, an attack on French Indochina means risking the ire of the UK and ANZAC.
Unless, of course, Larry already has a rule that says even in Global a Japanese attack on French Indochina won’t provoke Britain and ANZAC. Though I think it would seem better if it was non-provocative only after Paris falls…