Fourth Crisis: The Battle for Taiwan Read online

  FOURTH CRISIS

  THE BATTLE FOR TAIWAN

  By Peter von Bleichert

  Copyright 2012-2015. Peter von Bleichert

  Registered: Library of Congress; and, Writers Guild of America

  Proofread by Joseph P. Bogo

  All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including: photocopy, recording, or any information and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright holder/publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles/reviews.

  Books by Peter von Bleichert

  Fiction

  Crown Jewel: The Battle for the Falklands

  Non-Fiction

  Bleichert’s Wire Ropeways

  Blitz! Storming the Maginot Line

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHARACTERS

  NOTES

  BRIEFING

  1: MACHINATIONS

  2: RED DRAGON

  3: CENTERS OF GRAVITY

  4: POUNCING TIGER

  5: FOG OF WAR

  6: TIAMAT

  7: THE LAST DAY

  8: AFTERMATH

  CHARACTERS

  PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA (CHINA):

  Ambassador Fan Wei

  Captain Kun Guan

  Senior Lieutenant Peng Jingwei

  General Zhen Zhu

  …and, Vice President Ai Bao Li; President Xu Wai Li; General Piao Bai; & Chief Executive Yao Ou Pei.

  REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN):

  Major Han Ken

  Senior Master Sergeant Li Rong Kai

  Major General Tek Foo Chek

  …and, President Bing Rong.

  UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

  Captain Anthony Ferlatto

  Richard Ling

  Lieutenant Cynthia Pelletier

  Secretary of State Georgiana Pierce

  Captain Shane Whidby

  Commander Max Wolff

  Jade Zhang

  …and, Vice President Elias Campos; Special Agent Hunter Jackson; Rear Admiral Norman Kaylo; President William Keeley; Secretary of Defense Shawn Tillison; & National Security Advisor Nathaniel Westermark, Ph.D.

  NOTES

  Taiwan sits 75 miles due east of mainland China’s Fujian Province. The island is 245 miles long from north to south and 89 miles wide. The East China Sea is north of it, the Philippine Sea east, south is the Luzon Strait, and the South China Sea is located to the southwest. Taiwan is mountainous with a chain of jagged peaks running vertically down its middle that slope away to coastal plains. The island spans the Tropic of Cancer and has both tropical and subtropical vegetation.

  In 1979, the American Congress ratified the Taiwan Relations Act. The Act stipulated that the United States of America “...will consider any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific area, and of grave concern to the United States.” The Act was later supplemented with recognition by the United States of a One China policy. This policy recognized a single China, of which Taiwan was a part, though it did not express the form of government that should control One China.

  In 2005, the Politburo of the Communist Party of China announced the Anti-Secession Law. This Law authorized the use of force against Taiwan in the event of a declaration of independence or a threat to regional security.

  BRIEFING

  By the end of the Second World War, the Chinese Civil War had stalemated with the Communists on the mainland and the Nationalists on the island of Taiwan. Since this time, there have been three crises that have threatened total war between the People’s Republic of China (China) and the Republic of China (Taiwan):

  The First Crisis began when Taiwanese preparations to invade the mainland were discovered. The Chinese pre-empted the attack by assaulting and seizing several of Taiwan’s small island territories. With war raging on the Korean Peninsula, and convinced Communism must be contained, President Truman sent the US Navy into the Taiwan Strait, effectively separating the combatants and ending the crisis.

  A continuation of the First Crisis, the Second Crisis opened with Chinese shelling of Taiwanese territory. Taiwan returned fire. The bombardment claimed thousands of lives on both sides as the two air forces met over the Taiwan Strait. One hundred Chinese MiG 15s faced off against 32 Taiwanese F-86 Sabers in aerial combat. There was no clear winner and the Second Crisis subsided.

  The Third Crisis began when the president of Taiwan accepted an invitation to deliver a graduation speech at his alma mater, Cornell University. The United States granted him a visa. Massive Chinese airborne and amphibious military exercises commenced, and ballistic missiles began to splash-in and near Taiwan’s ports. As a show of American determination to defend Taiwan, President Clinton sent the USS Nimitz carrier battle group into the Taiwan Strait. This temporarily cooled things off. Then, in the run-up to Taiwan’s presidential election and as a warning to voters not to put the pro-independence party in power, hundreds of Chinese missiles were fired and impacted within Taiwanese waters. Despite these attempts at intimidation, the Taiwanese people called China’s bluff. With more American firepower arriving on scene, the Third Crisis ended, and a long and uneasy peace began.

  At the beginning of the 21st Century, China had become Earth’s most populous nation. It also became the planet’s second largest economic and military power.

  The near future…

  1: MACHINATIONS

  “All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; When using our forces, we must seem inactive; When we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; When far away, we must make him believe we are near.”—Sun Tzu

  Cranes and smokestacks pierced the blanket of noxious gases hanging over Beijing. The unnatural stew tinted the low-hanging full moon a rusty orange. Beyond the Forbidden City’s Meridian Gate lay the vast flatness of Tiananmen Square. Only the Monument to the People’s Heroes and the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong interrupted a historical meeting place, the great plaza. Flanked by the massive Qianmen and Tiananmen gates, the west side of the square was hemmed-in by the Great Hall of the People, and, on its east side, the National Museum of China. The vibrant, modern Chinese capital that surrounded the old city center throbbed with midsummer activity.

  Bicycles and cars sped in all directions. An elderly, yellow-shirted vendor hawked barbecued scorpions outside a high-fashion boutique. A rickshaw runner yelled at a passing luxury sedan. Beneath the neon glow of video screens and billboards, a sleek, modern tram glided along its street track. It passed the Ministry of National Defense’s compound where the ‘August 1st’ building stood. Named for the founding of the People’s Liberation Army, it loomed over the neighborhood.

  Wearing a peaked, stylized roof adorned with antennae and satellite dishes, the building constituted a modern-day fortress. From its summit hung the red and gold flag of the People’s Republic, and, in a basement bunker far from the reach of foreign spies and twitchy locals, Party officials attended a late-night meeting.

  The bunker’s reinforced concrete and exposed steel columns and girders were made more welcoming by elegant antique Gansu carpets, cloisonné vases, and intricately carved mahogany-paneled screens. A large golden Seal of the People’s Republic of China hung on the bunker’s long wall, opposite a painting of Mao Zedong, the Chairman surrounded by happy workers. Marble busts of Lenin and Marx stared at the aged men seated around a large oval table. Most wore uniforms of the Chi
nese armed forces, and a few more were dressed in suits. Most of those gathered were spotted and bloated from excess, mere reflections of their former glorious selves. A tiny woman entered the chamber and fanned her hand at the thick-hanging tobacco smoke, moving it from her disapproving, crinkled face. She coughed and drew a colorful tapestry draped across the wall. Behind it were exposed two large video screens. The screens flickered on. Maps of the Pacific Ocean and the Taiwan Strait Theater exploded into view.

  “The Military Commission of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China is hereby called to order,” intoned Xu Wai Li, president of the republic and chairman of the gathered military commission. President Xu reiterated the purpose of the late night meeting: How to react to the announcement that the United States would furnish the renegade Chinese province of Taiwan with advanced weapons. People’s Liberation Army General Zhen Zhu sat among the members of the commission.

  A squat square of a man, General Zhen had a grey crew cut and one blinded eye, the consequence of a parasite during his youth. A golden aiguillette, collar insignias, star-covered epaulets, and a chest full of medals and ribbons adorned his olive-drab uniform. Perched forward, a peaked cap shaded Zhen’s dark brown gaze. Its black visor, outlined in yellow braid, served as a billboard for the red star insignia of the People’s Liberation Army.

  General Zhen contemplatively ran his finger over scar tissue. During the chaos of the ‘June 4th Incident’—the name chosen by the Party for the massacre of citizens at Tiananmen Square—a chunk of glass had been embedded in his cheek. A medic’s sloppy stitching left him with the Frankenstein-like blemish, though Zhen wore the mutilation with honor. Having personally shot nine of the pro-democracy demonstrators that summer night, his only regret was he had carried a pistol instead of a machinegun. Besides this Tiananmen blemish, combat in Vietnam, at the Indian border, and Tibet all had exacted their toll upon his aging body, leaving the old warrior with a shambling gait and sleepless, aching nights.

  General Zhen sighed with impatience as he surveyed the men of the supreme martial committee. Most of them were half-drunk from dinner, and the rest, on the verge of sleep. All waited for People’s Liberation Army Air Force General Piao Bai to finish his droning statement.

  “In conclusion,” General Piao half-mumbled, “I would advise against the army’s plan to invade Taiwan, continuing instead on a path of rapprochement, softly integrating Taiwan into our economy with agreements; essentially a de facto non-violent unification.” One man yawned. “As for the Americans,” Piao continued, we all know they will defend the island, so why fight those we can instead starve? Our 20-year plan to dismantle the economy of the United States and pilfer its technological jewels is on track. Soon, the Americans will no longer be able to afford aircraft carriers. Yes,” he exclaimed, nodding with self-agreement, “We must ignore this latest transfer of weaponry by the Americans and stay the course.” General Piao smiled to the president—his old schoolmate—and the rest of the committee attendees. Feeling his position unassailable, he creaked back down into his seat.

  The president took back the floor. He reminded the committee that they had all read the air force’s proposal, and trusted all were in agreement: the plan would be adopted, energies focused on pressing issues at the Indian frontier, and with the restive Muslim population in the northwestern province of Xinjiang. General Zhen cleared his throat for attention and raised his hand. The interruption, a veiled challenge to paramount authority, and, therefore, the president’s nod of approval met wholly unenthusiastic acceptance.

  “Thank you President Xu. With all due respect to the chairman and this body, General Piao is wrong.” Zhen stood, buttressing himself on the table with straightened arms. “Perhaps my distinguished colleague in the air force would be more comfortable wearing the uniform of the girl scouts?” Zhen taunted Piao. Piao’s blotches turned several different shades, and he looked to the president for intervention. None came, and Zhen proceeded. “Taiwan…” the poisonous contempt he held for the island came through clearly, “is no longer about an unfinished civil war, or the disrespectful meddling of a foreign superpower. Taiwan is about the ascendance of China to a place of glory befitting her new global power. My comrades…” the general paused, scanning the membership. “Let me take Taiwan and deliver China to this rightful place of glory.” Zhen raised a fist and began to pace behind the now wide-awake men. “We are blocked from the Pacific by the first island chain, of which Taiwan is the keystone,” the general tantalized. “Once the island is back in the fold, I will use its air and sea bases to drive the Americans all the way back to Hawaii. After that, gentlemen,” he smiled wolfishly, “it will be our bombers and warships conducting exercises off San Diego and King’s Bay, our aircraft carriers that steam on the horizon.”

  “Insanity,” an admiral of the People’s Liberation Army Navy scoffed, Zhen’s rant. “You presume much general.” The admiral looked around for eye contact and support. However, most of the commission stayed neutral by looking to Mao’s portrait. The admiral hung in the wind. General Zhen continued:

  “Must the commission be reminded of the massive firepower at our disposal? Of the new weapons deployed along the coast? While some…” Zhen looked indicated the direction of the fuming General Piao, “cling to faint-hearted policies; it is we who possess the advantage and the initiative. Gentlemen, it is time. If I may?” Zhen asked, though he was already in motion, reaching an arm under the table. President Xu extended an arm in invitation. Zhen produced a small remote control from a drawer. He strode to the map, and, like a scornful professor, waved his arms. Computer-generated icons populated the screen: little red airplanes, infantrymen, parachutes, rockets, ships, and tanks.

  “In Fujian...” Zhen said as he pointed to the Chinese province adjacent to the sweet potato-shaped Taiwanese island, “I have under my personal command over 1,500 East Wind ballistic missiles, and over 400 highly-accurate East Sea and Long Sword cruise missiles.” He paused to allow his declaration to sink in. Then, with the push of a button, the computer simulated a massive single coordinated missile launch against the island; a ‘wargasm,’ as it were. “Then,” Zhen continued, “I command an entire airborne corps, four amphibious divisions, and countless armored, infantry, and mechanized divisions ready to be air- and sea-lifted across this…miserable little Strait.” Zhen sneered, and his tobacco-stained teeth glistened. “Our enemies cannot match our cyber-warfare capabilities, and the limitations of the Taiwanese armed forces are well known to this body.” The general activated a laser pointer on the remote control. With the red dot it projected, he circled the measly number of blue icons that represented Taiwan’s defenses. “Taiwan can at most field a few trifling divisions, and their air force and navy cannot endure our overwhelming onslaught. My staff has programmed several attack simulations into the new ‘Blue Lantern’ supercomputer, with each employing a multi-phase attack. First, our surface-to-surface missiles will rain down upon Taiwan’s military and air defense bases and critical infrastructure. Then, our long-range surface-to-air missiles will blast scrambling Taiwanese aircraft as they take to the air. Next, our air force will fly in, cudgeling any surviving enemy aircraft and ground targets; and, the final blow will be delivered by our amphibious and airborne forces as they land at Taiwan’s air and seaports, fanning out across the island. Blue Lantern has predicted that, against all possible defenses, we will have total victory in six days.” On the wall display, computer-generated arrows swept east from the Chinese coast, and turned the simulated island of Taiwan blood red.

  “That is enough,” People’s Liberation Army Air Force General Piao shouted, standing again, his legs cracking and popping as he rose. Finally, on his feet, he growled, “We all know where this will lead: nuclear war with the Americans.”

  “And risk our atomic reprisal? Never,” General Zhen roared at his counterpart. “The United States is bankrupt, distracted, and divided. The Americans have no stomach for a nuclear exchange
. They would not risk Los Angeles for Taipei. Your conclusions are flawed and clearly exhibit diffidence. Perhaps retirement would better suit you general?” Zhen stabbed.

  “How dare you?” General Piao rumbled, shaking with anger. “You ask us to risk everything; all our hard-won progress, just to satiate your craving for battle and conquest.”

  “Gentlemen,” President Xu interjected, with the lilt of a man entertained. “I suggest we proceed with General Piao’s plan. We will boycott the American companies that provided the weaponry, but otherwise, do nothing. Time is on our side. We will use it. This is my executive recommendation. Is there any more discussion?” The president looked right at Zhen, and his glare willed the general to sit again. With that, a vote was called.

  Zhen dissented in disgust. He scanned the old men. He despised their obediently raised hands and pudgy faces that looked to the president like submissive pets awaiting their master’s praise. In that moment, deep beneath the ‘August 1st’ building, General Zhen decided China could no longer wait for those lapdogs to become men.

  ◊◊◊◊

  Having retired for the evening to his government apartment, Zhen settled into an over-stuffed couch. He lit an unfiltered cigarette, spit a bit of tobacco from the tip of his tongue, and then gulped the last of his glass of Scotch. He looked out at one of the Sea Palace’s two lakes, and, beyond, the Imperial Palace and the Hall of Harmony. With wisps of blue smoke still curled about him in the still air, he stared far, as though in a trance. The general swirled the golden alcohol about the crystal glass before he took another sip. With a deep breath and sigh, he reached for a cellular telephone and dialed a memorized number.