Brown, Dale - Patrick McLanahan 06 (17 page)

 
          
“We
trust
you’ll do the right thing,”
Secretary of State Flartman said, “and eliminate any sharing of nuclear weapons
technology, with an eye on completely eliminating your nuclear weapons programs
in the
very
near future. It would be
extremely difficult for the
United States
to support any country secretly violating
American nuclear weapons antiproliferation regulations.
Very
difficult.”

           
The President hadn’t said a word,
but when Ambassador Kuo looked into his eyes, he saw disappointment and
distrust conveyed to him as surely as if Martindale had screamed it in his
face. The Taiwanese ambassador had noted with amusement the American people’s
preoccupation with their new President’s hair, but now he saw what they all
fixated on—the two silver-gray curls that had drooped across his forehead and
eyes, making him look sinister, like a gray wolf ready to attack. “I... I will
convey your message and request an immediate response,” Kuo stammered, averting
his eyes apologetically. “I assure you all, the Republic of China will obey
international law and honor our treaty obligations, and, most importantly, we
would not knowingly do anything to harm our strong and steadfast relationship with
the
United States of America
.”

 
          
“Then
our commitment will remain equally strong to the Republic of China,” the
President said, in a light voice that seemed to clear the room of a dense
choking haze. Magically, without a touch, the silver curls were now gone from
the President’s forehead. It is true, Kuo thought—this man certainly
is
bewitched!

 
          
Kuo
looked very wobbly in the knees as he got to his feet when the President stood,
signaling an end to the meeting. He extended a hand to Kuo, who accepted it and
added a deep bow. “We’ll set up a hot-line system with President Lee’s office
as soon as possible,” the President said. “Until then, we’ll be in contact with
you, and you may contact my office or Secretary Hartman’s office twenty-four
hours a day, for any reason whatsoever. It was a pleasure to see you again.
Please convey my best wishes and support to President Lee and Premier Huang.
Good day. ” Kuo looked pale and a little sweaty as he was shown out of the Oval
Office.

 
          
“God
bless it,” the President muttered, after Kuo had departed. “I’m getting ready
to put our political necks on the chopping block for
Taiwan
, and the whole time
Taiwan
is handing over the ax to use on us. I’d
like to talk with President Lee first thing in the morning—set it up,” he told
his chief of staff. Jerrod Hale nodded and picked up a phone to relay the
order.

 
          
In
the reception area down the hall from the Oval Office, Ambassador Kuo was on
his way to the staircase down to the West Wing driveway when several men
walking toward the reception area from the National Security Advisor’s office
caught his attention. Kuo stopped, then turned and walked over to them.
“Forgive me, sir,” Kuo said to the youngest of the men walking by, “but do I
have the pleasure of addressing Dr. Jonathan Colin Masters?”

 
          
Jon
Masters was surprised to hear his name. “You got it,” he replied. “And who are
you?”

 
          
“My
name is Kuo Han-min, Ambassador to the
United States
from the Republic of China, at your
service, sir,” Kuo replied, bowing and then extending a hand. “It is a great
pleasure to meet you. We met many years ago at the Singapore Air Show. Your
company’s exhibit was most impressive.”

 
          
“Thanks,
Mr. Min,” Masters said, shaking hands with him, not realizing he had mixed up
his surname and given name. When Kuo’s eyes wandered over to the other men, who
had walked on past them, Masters, feeling obligated to make introductions,
pointed to them and said, “Mr. Ambassador, that’s Brad Elliott, Patrick Me—”

 
          
“No
you don’t, Dr. Masters,” Patrick McLanahan said. Jon Masters didn’t know, or
had forgotten, about the extremely high security classification under which
they were working, a classification definitely off- limits to foreign
nationals. “Let’s go.”

 
          
“Elliott...
General Bradley Elliott?” Kuo said, with a knowing twinkle in his eye. “And so
you, sir, must be Colonel Patrick McLanahan of the United States Air Force. May
I ask . . . ?”

 
          
Just
then, two Secret Service agents stepped in front of Kuo, blocking his view, and
said in a stern voice, “I’m sorry, sir. Please move along.” Masters, Elliott,
McLanahan, and the big black general Kuo recognized as Terrill Samson,
commander of all the heavy bomber forces in the United States, were quickly
hustled away into the Cabinet Room to wait for their meeting with the National
Security Council, and Kuo was politely but firmly escorted outside.

 
          
So!
Kuo thought. The President was
meeting with the three-star general in charge of all the long-range bomber
forces, and also with Elliott, Masters, and McLanahan. Those three had an
international reputation for developing very high-tech attack weapons that were
reportedly put to effective use in conflicts from
Russia
to eastern Europe to the
Philippines
. Now that he saw them all together, it made
very good sense that such forces were used recently against the Islamic
Republic of Iran—to extraordinarily great effectiveness. Now, with a probable
conflict between
China
and
Taiwan
brewing, the President was conferring with them once again? Could the
President be considering the use of stealth attack bombers in the defense of
the Republic of China?

 
          
Kuo
Han-min filed that brief but extremely interesting chance encounter away in his
head—the information might be vital someday very soon.

 
          
“Okay.
We’re getting ready to side with
Taiwan
against
China
, which is bound to stir up some shit in the
Pacific for sure,” the President said. “What about
Japan
and
South Korea
? I hope they’re not reacting.”

 
          
“I’ve
spoken with Japanese deputy prime minister Kubo and President Kim of
South Korea
, and they’re watching events closely but
not reacting, except for a few South Korean reinforcements along the DMZ,”
Hartman replied. “
North Korea
is blasting
Taiwan
and saying they’re provoking war in
Asia
, but they don’t seem to be exacerbating any
conflicts— at least, not more than usual.”

 
          
Hartman
looked a little uneasy, and the President picked up on it. “What else? Did
Nagai have a comment?” Kazumi Nagai was the new prime minister of
Japan
, an ultra-left-wing politician of the new
Kaishin Party, a coalition of left-wing political parties including the Japan
Communist Party. Nagai was staunchly but carefully anti-West and anti-United
States; he’d won the recent elections by opposing continued U.S. military bases
in Japan, by extending a two-hundred-mile Japanese economic exclusion zone
around islands also claimed by South Korea, Taiwan, and China, and by calling
for gradual increases in japan’s military expenditures and total Japanese
nuclear self-reliance. Few of his more radical programs and propositions had
been passed, but the favorable attention he was receiving in
Japan
was cause for concern in
Washington
.

 
          
“Exactly
what you might expect,” Hartman replied with a sigh. “Kubo told me the Prime
Minister is going to give a speech tomorrow, calling for the
U.S.
to end its support of
Taiwan
as long as they claim ownership of the
Senkaku
Islands
. The buzz is that Nagai will call for the
Diet to withdraw basing rights for
U.S.
warships if we continue support for
Taiwan
.”

 
          
“Christ
almighty,” the President muttered. “Jerrod ...”

 
          
“I’m
ahead of you, sir,” Hale shot back, getting on the phone to order the staff to
schedule a call to the Japanese prime minister’s office. From his years as vice
president, Martindale had learned that a simple phone call to a foreign leader
was worth a dozen communiques and State Department visits, and he spent quite a
bit of time on the phone.

 
          
“Okay,
so
Japan
and
South Korea
aren’t saying anything about Chinese
military moves,” the President summarized. “It seems no one would really shed a
tear—except
Taiwan
, of course—if
China
took back
Quemoy
,
Matsu
, or
even
Formosa
.”

 
          
“That’s
because
Taiwan
has a fairly balanced trading ledger and is a stiff trading competitor
with everyone else in
Asia
—except the
U.S.
and
China
,” Hartman explained. “
Taiwan
is the ninth-largest economy in the world
and competes as an equal with
Japan
,
Indonesia
,
South Korea
, and
Singapore
. But
Taiwan
has a ten-billion-dollar trade surplus with
the
United States
and holds two billion dollars’ worth of
U.S.
currency and bonds. Its balance of trade is
even more one-sided with
China
—all in
Taiwan
’s favor. Most Asian nations see the
Taiwanese Nationalists as rabble-rousers supported by the
United States
, similar to
Israel
. They feel that
China
should absorb
Taiwan
as it is absorbing
Hong Kong
—as long as the Communists allow them to
keep making money. ”

 
          
“What’s
the balance of trade between
Japan
and
South Korea
and
China
?” Vice President Ellen Christine Whiting
asked. A former governor of
Delaware
, Ellen Whiting’s expertise was economic
matters, whether on a local, national, or international arena—she believed the
world revolved around money, and she was most often correct. “
China
’s total economy has got to be, what? Ten
times larger than
Taiwan
’s?”

 
          
“Something
like that,” Hartman admitted.

 
          
“
China
is the trading partner everyone wants. Over
a billion potential customers—that’s why almost every nation in the world,
officially including the
United States
, has abandoned
Taiwan
in favor of mainland
China
,” Whiting maintained. “If
China
wants
Taiwan
back, who says the other Asian countries
would stand in their way? Why would they make an enemy of
China
in favor of
Taiwan
?”