Brown, Dale - Patrick McLanahan 06 (11 page)

 
          
“But
a B-52 can’t stand up to modern-day air defenses, Patrick,” Samson said. “All
of the reports and studies prove this. Even with two- hundred mile standoff
weapons, a B-52 can’t survive. Put it in a low- or zero-threat environment and
it could chew up a lot of earth, but it’s not worth the money to support a
bomber that can only be used once the war’s almost won.”

 
          
“General,
the Megafortress will cream anything the Air Force, Navy, or Marines can put up
against it,” Jon Masters. “All by itself, it’ll go up against a squadron of
whatever you want to put up and ‘destroy’ every strategic target in the RED
FLAG range—and it’ll come out alive, ready to fight again.”

 
          
“Spoken
like a true salesman, Doc,” Samson said over his shoulder, with a broad smile.
To McLanahan he said, “I’m not promising that anything will come of this, you
two, remember that. I did this flight test as a favor to you and Dr. Masters.
You and Jon might.not get a contract from the Air Force after all this is over,
no matter how well your gear works or how much of your own money you spend.”

 
          
“When
the Air Force sees what we can do, they’ll make a deal,” Masters said
confidently. “They won’t be able to resist.”

 
          
“General,
Jon’s business is making money—we all understand that,” McLanahan said
earnestly. “But my objective is to build the best long- range rapid-deployment
attack fleet possible with our shrinking defense budget, and I believe part of
that objective is the EB-52B Megafortress, combined with smart standoff attack
and defense-suppression weapons. Jon and his company are backing my ideas. All
I want is a chance to show the brass what we can do, and we need your help. We’re
the best, General. We need the chance to prove it.”

 
          
Samson
smiled and shook his head in amusement. “You better watch yourself,
Colonel—you’re starting to sound an awful lot like that old warhorse friend of
yours, Brad Elliott.” McLanahan smiled at the mention of his mentor. “He’s a
good buddy and one fine man, but he sure got stung by the hornets from all the
nests he stirred up. A friendly word of caution: don’t be like him.”

 
          
Judging
by the silence, Samson guessed that McLanahan hadn’t heard a word he said.

CENTRAL MILITARY COMMISSION
CONFERENCE ROOM, GOVERNMENT HOUSE, BEIJING, PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA TUESDAY,
27 MAY 1997, 2341 HOURS LOCAL (MONDAY, 26 MAY, 1041 HOURS ET)

 
          
“Loyal
fathers of the Party, stand and pay respect to our Paramount Leader!”

 
          
The
assembled general officers and ministers of the People’s Liberation Army stood
and bowed deeply as the president of the People’s Republic of
China
, Paramount Leader Jiang Zemin, entered the
conference chamber, bowed slightly to the others, and took his place at the
head of the table. They remained standing, all bowing at the waist except
Jiang, until the Chinese anthem, “Xiang Yang Hong,” or “East Is Red,” was
played. They stood at attention until after the Intonation of Strength and
Solidarity was read; then the ministers applauded the Paramount Leader as he
took his seat. The Intonation was a solemn promise to support and defend the
Communist Party, Zhongguo Renmin Gongheguo, the People’s Republic of China, and
the people; but unlike the American Pledge of Allegiance, the Intonation
contained a threat of the particular punishment one might expect if he or she
did not sacrifice ones life for the Party and for the people—disgrace,
humiliation, death, and public dishonor of self and ones ancestors.

 
          
Jiang
Zemin carefully watched the faces of the assembled ministers and generals as
the Intonation was read, looking to see if anyone’s eyes glanced over toward
his or to anyone else’s—the threat of death and humiliation in the Intonation
was sometimes enough to make a guilty or conspiratorial man fidgety. It was of
course possible to bury any outward signs of treason, but Jiang knew that a man
bent on betrayal sometimes looked for reassurance from coconspirators or for
evidence that he was under suspicion. Jiang was an expert in detecting such
subtle, outward signs of a mans innermost fears.

 
          
Paramount
Leader and President Jiang Zemin was seventy-one years old, in excellent health
and looking far younger than his years. He had a square, tough-looking face with
a high forehead and thick dyed black hair combed straight back. He wore a
simple olive short-sleeved open-collar rough-cotton tunic shirt belted at the
waist, with matching pants. His horn-rim spectacles were plain; he wore no
jewelry except a wristwatch. Educated as an engineer but trained in Communist
Party doctrine and theory in
Moscow
, formerly the mayor and Communist Party
chief of Chinas second-largest city,
Shanghai
, Jiang was a master at power politics in
China
, a man well-suited to run his nation’s
large and complicated Party mechanism.

 
          
Today,
Jiang Zemin was president of the worlds most populous nation and, as such,
arguably the most powerful man on planet Earth. Among his many responsibilities
and duties, the engineer from Jiangsu Province was general secretary of the
six-member Chinese Communist Party Secretariat, the genesis for all political
thought in China; chairman of the Politburo, the group of twenty-one senior
Party leaders who determined all Chinese political ideology and direction;
chairman of the Standing Committee, the highest policy-making body in China and
the body who actually wrote legislation (the 3,500-member National People’s
Congress always rubber-stamped their approval of all legislation drafted by the
Standing Committee and Politburo); chairman of the powerful Military Commission
of the Chinese Communist Party, who determined Party policy in military
affairs; chairman of the Central Military Commission, responsible for
implementing Party military policy in the People’s Liberation Army; and
commander in chief of the People’s Liberation Army—a force of two hundred
million regular, reserve, paramilitary, and militia troops.

 
          
Jiang
not only had the power to enforce laws, but also made laws and even created the
philosophy and ideas behind the laws, the ideals that formed the very basis of
Communist Chinese thought. He was not only leader and chief executive of the
most populous nation on earth, but was also commander in chief of the largest
military force on the planet—and now he was planning to set that huge machine
in motion.

 
          
Jiang
was presiding over a crucial late-night meeting of the Central Military
Commission, made up of civilian and military members in charge of the key
divisions of the military infrastructure: the Minister of National Defense, Chi
Haotian; High General Chin Po Zihong, chief of the general staff of the Chinese
People’s Liberation Army (PLA); General Yu Yongpo, chief of General Political
Affairs of the PLA; General Fu Qanyou, chief of the PLA General Logistics
Department; the chiefs of staff of the army, air force, navy, and the East
China Sea Fleet; and the chiefs of China’s ten military and civilian
intelligence agencies and institutes.

 
          
“Comrades,
loyal ministers and generals, there is a saying in the ancient military
philosophy of Zhongguo that the government must evaluate not only the enemy,
but evaluate itself before pondering the beginning of hostilities,” Paramount
Leader Jiang Zemin said. “I am here to inform you that the Party and the
government have looked deep within ourselves, at the state of our nation and of
the people and our way of life, and we have seen that our nation is being
pulled apart piece by piece by the encroachment of the Western world. It is
time to end the rape upon our nation, our people, and our way of life. In
China
, as it should be throughout the world, the
government must govern, and that is the will and the task of the Party.

 
          
“The
disintegration of the state is seen in the usurpation of several regions on the
periphery of our nation,” Jiang went on, “including India, Kyrgyzstan, Vietnam,
Mongolia, and threats against our Communist brothers in North Korea; and three
critical regions belonging to China since the dawn of recorded history: Senkaku
Dao, taken from us by Japan in World War Two; Nansha Dao, taken from us by
European imperialists and by Asian anarchists and dictators using Western
governments as their puppets; and Formosa Dao, taken from us by the
Nationalists and now protected by the United States. The Party’s stated goal is
simple, comrades: The twenty-third Chinese
province
of
Taiwan
will be ours once again. The Party demands
that our attack plan against
Taiwan
be activated.”

 
          
The
ministers and generals nodded dutifully, but Jiang was surprised to hear
applause from the commission! Rising to his feet while continuing to applaud
his president’s words was Admiral Sun Ji Guoming, the first deputy chief of the
general staff and General Chin’s expected successor. Moments later, other
generals followed Sun’s lead, rising and applauding, and even some of the aged
ministers clapped, their soft, withered hands making virtually no sound. It was
unheard of, totally out of character for a Chinese to express himself so
openly, especially a military officer.

 
          
“You
dishonor yourself by such a pretentious and disrespectful display, Comrade
Sun,” General Chin, the chief of staff, said in a low, croaking voice. “Be
seated.”

 
          
Sun
bowed to both Chin and Jiang. “Forgive me, comrades,” Sun said, without being
given permission to speak. “But I welcome the Paramount Leader’s words with
great joy. I meant no disrespect.” He quickly dropped back into his seat and
apologetically averted his eyes—but only for a moment.

 
          
“Comrade
Sun’s enthusiasm is shared by us all, Comrade Jiang,” General Chin said, after
giving Sun a deadly stern warning glance. “Implementing the Party’s wishes will
be a challenging but ultimately victorious task. I urge the Central Military
Commission to order the aircraft carrier
Mao
Zedong
and its new battle group into position to take Que- moy immediately,
so the Taiwanese Nationalists cannot use them as staging or observation bases
against us,” Chin said.
Quemoy
was
a large Taiwanese-occupied island just a mile from the Chinese mainland, used
as an observation outpost and tourist destination. “We can blockade the island
with ease with our task force, cut off their supplies, and starve them into
submission. The task force can land five thousand troops on
Quemoy
right away, and we can eventually move
three thousand troops a day onto the island. In two weeks, we can retake the
island and claim it.”

 
          
Jiang
was surprised at Chin’s comments—he expected resistance from the People’s
Liberation Army. Bloated, gargantuan, hopelessly encrusted and weighed down
with decades’ worth of nameless bureaucrats, the military seemed to require a
full ten years of preparation before embarking on the simplest program or
operation. Under Deng Xiaoping, Jiang’s predecessor, the People’s Liberation
Army had been reduced in size by one-fourth and the militias reduced by almost
half, but there were still over three million active-duty troops in
China
and over
two hundred million
men and women that could be mobilized for
military service.

 
          
The
centuries-old “sea of humanity” concept of warfighting was being replaced by
modern ideas, but it would take several generations to eliminate the old
ways—and the old inertia. Chin Po Zihong was a daring leader who truly believed
China
was destined to rule
Asia
, but he was not the best tactician. It was
Chin who had tried to form an alliance with a socialist government faction in
the
Philippines
; it was Chin who had devised the current
alliance among
China
,
North Korea
, and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Although
both programs had ended in disaster, thanks to the United States Air Force, the
political ties still held firm, and there was no doubt that China was becoming
a major economic, political, and military force in Asia.