Brown, Dale - Patrick McLanahan 06 (76 page)

GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
BEIJING
,
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF
CHINA
THAT SAME TIME

 
          
A
group of Chinese Communist Party Politburo members had joined Jiang in
congratulating Sun Ji Guoming for his service. Jiang continued his praise for
Sun, saying to all of his colleagues, “A stroke of genius, igniting a conflict
on the
Korean
Peninsula
at the same time as your attacks against
the Nationalists. The Chinese Taipei issue certainly does pale in comparison to
the prospect of a new Korean War. ”

 
          
“In
your address to the world, Comrade President, may I also suggest that you offer
to mediate a resolution of the conflict between North and
South Korea
, and perhaps go as far as to refuse to
commit any of our troops to assist President Kim Jong-il if he refuses to
participate in negotiations,” Sun suggested. “That might prevent the South from
beginning its own offensive. Of course, if the South or the
United States
attacks the North first, we should threaten
to use all of our resources to assist President Kim. The same for the Iranian
conflict, if one should develop— we can offer to convince the Iranians to halt
any aggression, in exchange for a greater presence in that region.”

 
          
President
Jiang was obviously impressed by Sun’s ideas. “I still find it hard to
believe,” the Paramount Leader said, “that we have used
nuclear weapons
against the rebel Nationalists and even against the
United
States
, and we still apparently face no threat of retaliation. What has
happened to the vaunted American military machine?”

 
          
“The
machine is still there, Comrade President, and it is still powerful,” Sun
warned. “That American submarine was probably sitting near Bandar-Abbass for
weeks, and no doubt there are American submarines near most of our coastal
military bases and ports as well that we have failed to detect—perhaps even
with nuclear attack missiles. And if the Americans ever get proof that we
planted the nuclear explosive on the
Independence
,
we may indeed find ourselves at war with
the
United States
. But as long as Martindale and his generals
do not have a clear target, they cannot strike without being labeled as
‘warmongers,’ which is a hated name in
America
. We must not act rashly, but we must
continue to keep the American president unbalanced and uncertain.”

 
          
“Excellent
advice, comrade Sun,” Jiang said warmly. At that moment, an aide came up to
Sun, bowed to the president, and handed Sun a message. “You have been a trusted
and most valuable adviser to me. Your hard work and loyalty have been favorably
noted by the Party. ”

 
          
“Thank
you, Comrade President,” Sun said. He glanced at the note, then went on, “It is
my honor as well as my duty to carry out the wishes of the—” And then he froze
in complete surprise and muttered, “What in blazes?”

 
          
“What
is it, comrade Sun?”

 
          
“The
Quemoy
invasion forces at
Xiamen
Bay
are under air attack! ” Admiral Sun Ji
Guoming exclaimed. “Air defense sites, missile emplacements, amphibious assault
staging areas ... it is a massive attack force! But where? Where did it come
from?”

 
          
“What
about casualties?” President Jiang asked breathlessly. “Did we stop them? Did
we sustain any losses?”

 
          
Sun
Ji Guoming read the message carefully, his eyes widening and his jaw slackening
further and further as he read. Finally, he responded in a quivering voice,
“The air defense sites ... they were hit by precision weapons, some kind of
armor-piercing weapon that homed in on our antiaircraft radars. Then more
aircraft, believed to be Nationalist F-16 fighter-bombers, flew over and
dropped cluster munitions on the infantry staging areas. Casualties are . . .
believed to be high.”

 
          
“High?
How high? How many casualties?”

 
          
“There
is no report, sir,” Sun explained. “This is obviously a preliminary report—”

 
          
“What
do you mean, Admiral?” Jiang exploded. “There have been high casualties, but
you do not know how many? Where did this attack come from? I thought you told
me the rebel Nationalist air force had been destroyed!”

 
          
“It
has
been destroyed, sir,” Sun said,
his mind swirling in confusion. “I am sure of it! We hit every major rebel air
base with a nuclear missile, and we have attacked every known alternate rebel
air base with gravity weapons. The attack must have come from another base in
the region, perhaps
South Korea
or
Japan
, perhaps even the
Philippines
.”

 
          
“But
all of those countries pledged not to support the rebels or the
United States
in any offensive military missions,”
Defense Minister Chi Haotian interjected. “They promised that the
United States
would not be permitted to stage attacks against
us from their soil.”

 
          
“Then
the attackers must have come from
Formosa
,” Sun said. “I do not know how they managed
to sneak past our radar planes and elude our air defenses, but they cannot
destroy all our air forces. My Tupolev- 16 heavy bombers are standing by—I
shall order another heavy bombing attack against the rebels, this time
attacking their civilian airfields and alternate bases—any field capable of
staging F-16 fighter-bomber attacks against us.”

 
          
“It
is so ordered,” President Jiang said. “You must execute this mission
immediately. We must retaliate against the Nationalists right away.” “Yes,
sir,” Sun said, relieved that the president and Politburo members weren’t
turning this bad news against
him.
“I
also ask permission to use the entire fleet of Tupolev-26 supersonic bombers to
spearhead the attack. If some of the rebels’ F-16 fighters survived our air
raids, we must use the high-speed bombers to penetrate their fighter screen and
attack the targets.”

 
          
Jiang
Zemin hesitated. He did not approve of Sun using the newly acquired
Russian-made supersonic bombers—at one and a half billion
yuan
each, the six Tupolev-26 supersonic bombers and the other
weaponry, spare parts, test equipment, and support items necessary to maintain
the high-tech machines, purchased from Russia amid great international fear and
outrage, represented one of China’s biggest single defense outlays. But Jiang
also did not want to appear too reluctant in front of the Chinese Communist
Party Politburo members to do all that was necessary to defend the country and
subdue all its enemies. If he asked the Politburo for permission to use the
Tu-26s, he would probably be refused—but now, with an apparent disaster
confronting them, each Politburo member was wondering why Jiang was taking so
long to give Sun Ji Guoming the weapons he needed to win. “Permission granted,”
Jiang said finally.

 
          
“Thank
you, Comrade President,” Sun said. “The rebels will be put back in their place,
I guarantee it. This was the Nationalists’ ‘
Battle
of the Bulge’—it does not represent a
change in fortunes for them.” Sun turned and strode purposely out of the
chamber, feeling the concerned and dubious stares of Jiang Zemin and the CCP
Politburo on the back of his neck.

 
          
President
Jiang was immediately joined by General Chin Po Zihong, the chief of staff of
the People’s Liberation Army, who looked at the retreating form of Admiral Sun
Ji Guoming with obvious distaste. Jiang motioned for Chin, his foreign minister
Qian, and his defense minister Chi to join him in a private office. “I want a
full report on this attack, Comrade General,” President Jiang ordered. “This is
unthinkable and totally unacceptable!”

 
          
“Yes,
Comrade President,” Chin said. “The admiral has clearly lost control of the
situation. He thinks that the Americans will simply retreat like scared
rabbits. This situation proves how wrong he is.”

 
          
“But
his plan seemed to have been working so well.”

 
          
“How
so, Comrade President?” General Chin retorted angrily. “Your original orders
were for the People’s Liberation Army to return Zhong- gua to its rightful
position in the world, with all of the lands taken from us returned and our
country unified once again. Despite all our losses, civilian and military, and
despite the loss of face we have suffered by using nuclear weapons, have we
actually taken any territory away from our enemies anywhere? Our thirteenth
province,
Formosa
, has been blasted into a charred rock. We spent billions of
yuan
mobilizing our invasion forces, but
Sun has not even landed one battalion on either Quemoy or Matsu—he sends his
little ‘probes’ out, but he has not mustered the courage to lead the People’s
Liberation Army on a true mission, only these long-range aerial bombardments.
Now, with hundreds of thousands of our best troops exposed and vulnerable, the
rebel Nationalists and their capitalist masters have struck hard against us. We
may not have the forces available to accomplish an invasion now. No one is to
blame except Sun Ji Guoming.”

 
          
President
Jiang was clearly horrified by Chin’s argument. “What can we do?” he asked.

 
          
“The
American-led attack on our forces near
Xiamen
could have come from one place
only—Andersen Air Force Base on the American- occupied
island
of
Guam
,” Chin said. “Our intelligence clearly
showed that several of the stealth-modified B-52 bombers were secretly sent
there—no doubt more of them, and other long-range bombers as well, had been
dispatched since Sun’s indiscriminate bombardment of
Formosa
.” He paused, drawing Jiang’s full attention
to him; then: “We must destroy Andersen Air Force Base. We must destroy the
American bomber base that threatens us.”

 
          
“Destroy
an American air base?” Jiang repeated in a horrified voice. “A direct attack
against one of
America
’s most important bases in the Pacific theater? We cannot!”

 
          
“We
must
, Comrade President,” General
Chin said urgently. “Otherwise we will be open to attack at any time by
American bombers. We must strike quickly and decisively.” Jiang hesitated,
clearly fearful of even
thinking
of
making such a decision. “This is not an act of aggression, Comrade President,”
Chin went on. “This is retaliation for their attack against our ground forces.
We have the right to defend ourselves against American stealth bomber attacks.”

 
          
“But
destroying this base will not stop the American long-range bombers,” Minister
of Defense Chi Haotian, who had joined the discussion after Sun had departed in
such a hurry, interjected. “We now know that the Americans were able to fly
stealth bomber attacks into
Iran
from their North American bases.”

 
          
“With
Andersen Air Force Base shut down, the Americans will have to use far more
resources to attack us,” Chin argued. “We are far stronger than
Iran
—where one stealth bomber nearly decimated
the Iranian military, it would take many more even to begin to affect the
People’s Liberation Army. This will only serve to bring all the parties
involved to the bargaining table sooner.”