Battlefield Korea

Election Meddling

It was a beautiful day in Moscow. The sun had finally broken through the clouds and the summer flowers were in full bloom. Zhang Dejiang made a mental note to find time to take a short walk outside to enjoy the sun on his face, even if just for a few minutes before he boarded his plane back to Beijing. He finished tucking his shirt into his pants, looked down and slipped on his black dress shoes, freshly polished for that day’s meeting.

This was the last day of a three-day trip to Moscow to discuss a wide range of security issues, to include the American general election. This afternoon, however, was reserved to specifically discuss the final details for the post-American election world and what it would look like. More importantly, they were to strategize how Russia and China were going to assert their national wills on a greatly weakened America.

As he finished getting dressed, he motioned for his secretary, a beautiful young woman who had accompanied him on this long trip from home, to make sure he had his tie on straight. She made sure he looked polished, which was one of her primary duties. He gave her a quick nod of acknowledgement, which was the highest form of praise she received from him.

“Make sure my belongings and gifts are brought to my aircraft while I head off to my final meeting,” he directed.

“Yes, Sir,” she replied.

Zhang walked through the elegantly decorated lobby of the hotel and stopped for just a minute to marvel at the intricate crown molding and designs on the walls and ceiling. He really enjoyed staying at this particular hotel when he traveled to Moscow. “One of these days, I’ll bring my wife here,” he thought.

His deputy, a man named Liang Zhang Wei, signaled that their vehicle was ready to take them to their next meeting. Zhang joined Liang as the two of them left the lobby and entered the covered entrance where their vehicle was waiting. One of the hotel doormen held the door open for them as both men got in, gently closing it as the vehicle began to pull away.

Zhang looked for some reassurance from his counterpart, Liang. “Is everything ready on our end? Is there anything I need to be concerned about before we meet with the Russians?” he asked curtly.

While their upcoming meeting was to discuss the post-American election policy their two governments would take, Zhang also knew they would be discussing the Russian plans for Ukraine and China’s plan for Mongolia and Southeast Asia. It was imperative that the two countries coordinate their operations together so they could collectively benefit from the West’s inability to respond to multiple crises at one time.

“Yes, Chairman. Everything is in order, and has been prepared as requested,” his deputy responded with confidence.

Zhang trusted every word that came out of Liang’s mouth, on any topic. Liang was a brilliant and politically savvy man. Zhang was grooming him to one day become his successor, which is why he had been brought along on this trip and given such a high-profile position within his office. As the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Zhang was the third highest ranking person in China. He was a man with great power and influence. Zhang was also the deputy and de facto head of the National Security Commission, which is why he was meeting with his Russian counterpart at the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).

As their vehicle pulled up to the side entrance of Lubyanka, several security guards motioned for the vehicle to stop, and one of them held open the passenger side door for Zhang to exit. After several minutes passed while they cleared security, Zhang and his deputy Liang were escorted into a secured conference room to meet with Ivan Vasilev. Ivan had a long history both within the FSB and its predecessor, the KGB. He was trusted by both Prime Minister Mikhailov and President Petrov, which said a lot considering how selective those men were in garnering confidence.

The two men exchanged pleasantries and then got right down to business. They all knew that Zhang only had four hours before he needed to head to the airport if he wanted to stay on time. “Chairman Zhang, thank you for meeting with me before you return to China. We have much to discuss,” Ivan said as he took a sip of tea from the decorative cup.

Zhang had been working with Ivan for nearly six years; he was comfortable with him and knew him to be a straight shooter. He liked to get down to business and wasted little time on small talk. “I am glad we were able to meet. I wanted to ask you about the American election.” He leaned forward. “Is it true that you have a copy of the former Secretary of State’s government emails?” Zhang asked, hoping the rumors being told in the press were actually true.

Ivan’s lip curled up mischievously. “Let us just say if she wins, controlling her will not be a problem,” he replied.

“And what if that flamboyant real estate billionaire wins? Can you control him as well?” Zhang shot back, probing to see if they had any leverage over him as well.

“Zhang, it really does not matter who wins the American election. We have people in place to plant rumors and enough misinformation to call into question the legitimacy of the election results, whoever wins.” He snickered before continuing, “The Americans love scandal, and they eat conspiracy theories up. We just need to drop a few breadcrumbs here, a few there, and their media will have the public so consumed with election tampering and collusion, they will not know what hit them, let alone be able to respond,” Ivan said as he pulled out a cigarette from the beautiful jade carrying case Zhang had given him when they first met many years ago.

Seeing the flash of jade, Zhang smiled, and his eyebrow raised in surprise. “You still carry that case Ivan?” Zhang asked.

Ivan chuckled before responding, “Only when I’m going to meet with you.”

The two men laughed for a moment, then returned to business. “So, how soon will you move on Ukraine?” asked Zhang.

Ivan sat forward in his chair with his cigarette hanging out of his mouth, “Soon. We have stepped up our training of separatist fighters and moved heavier weapons into the disputed territories. We are going to push for a referendum vote towards the end of next summer. This will give us the time needed to get the 1^st Tank Army fully outfitted with the new equipment, and allow many more months of hard training.”

Ivan took a long pull from his cigarette, then tapped the ashes into the tray on his desk. “How are the plans moving along on your end?” he inquired.

“As discussed previously, we are engineering unrest in Mongolia. We now have more Chinese guest workers living in Mongolia than there are native Mongolians. As the violence against our peaceful workers continues to escalate, we will look to intervene. We will, however, wait until Russia initiates the referendum vote in Ukraine. We want all eyes to be on Europe when our tanks roll across the Mongolian border,” Zhang said smugly.

Ivan snorted. “You really think anyone in the West (or the rest of the world) even knows where Mongolia is? They aren’t going to care about a landlocked country with a small population that looks Chinese. What I want to know is how you are going to pull off the acquisition of Myanmar and the rest of Southeast Asia, not to mention Taiwan,” Ivan retorted, a bit skeptical.

“Laos will be easy. We are communist brothers and we are already responsible for nearly 70 % of their exports, as well as providing them with enormous amounts of financial aid. We are already working to integrate them as a Chinese province as we speak. Right now, we provide them with security guarantees against Vietnam. Given the history between the two neighbors, they will welcome us.”

“Will Myanmar be as easy though?” inquired Ivan, probing to gain some additional information like a good spy master would.

Zhang smiled for a second, knowing exactly what Ivan was doing. “We are allies. Let me tell you about Myanmar. They are a terribly impoverished country; even now, we are providing additional aid to the people in the major cities and small villages to build up our support. Their military leaders are being recruited and paid off to not interfere when the time comes. As a matter of fact, with Myanmar and Laos, we plan on integrating their military into our own as an additional selling point to get them to comply. The plan has been well thought through, and we are confident it will work,” Zhang replied smugly.

His smile fell slightly as he continued, “The trickier part is going to be Vietnam. For the last several years, we have been slowly creating a food shortage problem in southeast China. This has caused food prices to rise sharply and placed a heavy burden on those living in the big cities. We have also ensured the media slowly mentions the enormous food production in Vietnam, and the rest of Southeast Asia while we struggle to produce food for our people. The stories usually also explain that Vietnam will not sell their abundant rice supplies or other food stocks to China, and when they do, they sell it to us at huge price markups. Public opinion over the last several years towards Vietnam has eroded and become hostile. Next spring, the food shortage will become even worse for those living in the cities,” Zhang said as he explained the strategy.

“Be careful my friend,” cautioned Ivan. “I do not want you to create a monster you cannot control.”

Zhang brushed aside Ivan’s concerns and continued, “We are even going so far as to organize demonstrations and food riots in the southern provinces. Of course, everything will be monitored and controlled, my friend, but it will drive people to action. Then, we will instigate violence in Vietnam against Chinese tourists and workers, which will be the catalyst used to drive our intervention. We will, however, wait until NATO has either withdrawn from Ukraine, or Russia invades. With the West’s eyes focused on Russia, there will be little they can do about us.”

Zhang handed over a tablet to Ivan, who extended his hand and took the device from him. He began to swipe through various pages on the screen, each showing a timeline of their objectives, digesting the information quickly. “This is impressive,” said Ivan, after just a few moments. “I must commend you Zhang; you have really thought through this intervention. How are you going to ensure India will not cause you problems? Your two nations are not exactly friends.”

Drinking some of his tea before it got cold, Zhang replied. “This is trickier. But we have a plan for that as well. Pakistan has been one of our military trading partners for many decades, mainly to just annoy the Indians. However, Pakistan has been harboring Islamic militant groups that are now starting to cause problems for us in China. We have asked them to handle this for the past decade, but they have been either unable, or unwilling to do so. Because of this, we are going to cut off our relationship with Pakistan. Of course, Pakistan does not know this is about to happen, and it will be used as a bargaining chip for our renewed efforts at improved relations with India.”

Taking the tablet back from Ivan briefly, Zhang opened up another folder before handing it back. “Our plan is simple,” he explained. “We declare to India that our state of hostilities between our two countries has gone on long enough. We agree to withdraw our military forces from the region and sever our ties with Pakistan, and in exchange, they agree to leave Southeast Asia alone as a part of China’s sphere of influence.”

Pulling out another cigarette to replace the one he had just finished, Ivan responded, “Just be cautious with the Indians. They are probably the only country that can cause you problems in Asia. We have some influence there as well. I will see what we can do to try and strengthen our economic and military ties with them. Perhaps we can use that relationship to keep them on the sidelines of your adventure when the time comes.”

Russia was in the midst of concluding a large arms sale with India. The Indian Air Force had just signed a deal to purchase 160 Su-34s (Fullbacks) and one hundred Su-57 stealth fighters in their bid to modernize their air force. Once the Americans sold the Pakistanis’ F-16s to fight the Taliban, the Indians had felt that they needed to upgrade their air force after decades of neglect.

The two men continued to talk for several more hours about the finer points of the plans. President Vladimir Petrov was on board with everything they had discussed; the trick was going to be getting President Xi to go along with the plan. That task was what concerned Ivan. If Zhang was not able to sway him, then he would need to be removed. As the afternoon turned into early evening, the meeting concluded, and the two men shook hands and said their good byes.

A sinister look stretched across Zhang’s face. “So, we will meet again in three months,” he said. “By then, we should know if Xi has agreed to be a part of the new world order, or if he is going to have an ‘accident’ somewhere along the way.”

Ivan chuckled. “I always did like how you think, my friend.”

As the Chinese group left the secretive meeting room, Ivan pulled a folder labeled “Red Storm” from his secured vault. Not trusting electronic documents, Ivan kept the details of the operation in a folder he regularly worked from. Everything was compartmentalized electronically in pieces, never revealing the whole picture, and when one piece was finished, it was printed and added to his master folder, which held all the pieces of the puzzle together.

During the flight back to Beijing, Liang leaned over to ask his boss a question. “Mr. Chairman, do you believe the Russians can pull off their part of the plan?”

Zhang quietly put his book down and then sat up even straighter in his leather chair. “Yes, Liang. I believe the Russians can and will.” He sighed. “What gives me pause is wondering who will win the American election. The former Secretary of State is more of a hawk on foreign policy and more likely to intervene in Ukraine and Asia. I don’t know enough about the other candidate to know how he will respond. That is something I task you with finding out.”

Liang seemed a bit unnerved by the question. Zhang continued, “I want you to put together a full dossier on this other candidate. Try to understand him and show how he can be manipulated to stay out of Asia, or if he will pose a threat. I will handle the rest of our people, but I need to know as much as I can about this Republican cowboy in case he is elected.”

“Of course, Mr. Chairman,” responded Liang dutifully.