Battlefield Korea

CMC and Politburo Pow Wow

The weather had finally turned cold and the fall leaves were nearly all gone. Winter would come soon enough, and then the smog would once again intensify as the 21 million residents of the city began to heat their homes and apartments. As Zhang walked into the private entrance to the Great Hall of the People, he removed his HEPA filter mask. He hated wearing that thing, but the smog this time of year made it a necessity.

It was not often that a meeting was called by the Central Military Commission (CMC) where the members of the Politburo Standing Committee were held in a joint session, but this was not an ordinary meeting. Today was the meeting that would decide whether or not China would move forward with Chairman Zhang’s plan to reassert Greater China and a new world order.

After everyone had gone through an extensive security check (which included a thorough sweep of electronic devices), the group was allowed to enter the secured briefing room deep in the bowels of the building. The secretive chamber was a suite of technology wizardry. One wall of the room was filled with large digital displays that could show power point briefings, or live satellite, drone or video feeds. The opposite wall had a large map of China, Asia, and the rest of the world. There were also several monitors that had various news outlets on as well.

Once everyone had entered the room, the eight members of the CMC and the six members of the Politburo Standing Committee took their seats at the elegantly hand-carved board table to discuss the future of China and the world. As Chairman Zhang had organized this joint meeting, he made sure to arrange the name placards on the table so there would be a member of the military sitting between each member of the Politburo. He wanted everyone to be involved in the discussion. Of course, his deputy, Liang Zhang Wei, was sitting against the back wall and would note each person who was against moving forward with the plan. Each person who raised objections would be dealt with separately, to include the President if need be. The future of China and the world was too important for one or two men to stand in the way of progress. Zhang would see to that.

President Xi knew Chairman Zhang was working behind the scenes on a grand and elaborate plan with the Russians. While he knew most of what Zhang had been working on, this meeting would bring to light the full scope of it. President Xi was no fool; he knew there were structural problems within the Chinese society that needed to be solved. The size of their population, the lack of eligible single women for the hundreds of millions of single men, and food and natural resource shortages were proving to be more than challenging to sustain. The time for China to break out of its shackles was quickly approaching.

Zhang cleared his throat before beginning. “Mr. President, Generals, Politburo members, thank you for your time today as we discuss the future of China. As you know, I have been working behind the scenes to organize and develop a plan to realize the dream of a Greater China, one where our lost provinces are returned and where we can see China exert our true destiny.”

The various generals and politicians at the table all rustled a little in their seats. Many of the generals and politicians at the table, while not outwardly against such a thought, were reluctant to risk their stature and position to further China as a nation. They were comfortable with the status quo, which was why Zhang needed to identify who the holdouts would be, so they could be dealt with and replaced.

President Xi interrupted, “-Generals, gentlemen, Chairman Zhang has developed quite a comprehensive plan. I believe everyone should hear him out before passing judgement.” He nodded slightly to Zhang. That was about as much support as he would provide until Zhang either convinced the others to endorse his plan or shut it down.

Zhang bowed slightly to President Xi as if to thank him, and then continued, “The increased activity of Islamic militants in Xinjiang province has become a national concern as the number of attacks across the region has increased to nearly one a week. The majority of these militants were being supported and trained in Afghanistan and Pakistan. For years, we have been pressuring the Pakistanis to deal with this problem. However, they are either unwilling or unable to deal with this travesty. Therefore, the time has come for us to sever military and economic ties with the nation of Pakistan.” Zhang saw several heads nod in approval. If there was a threat to the communist party in the rural areas of China, it was radical Islamic terrorism. They would not allow it to spread any further than it already had, even if it meant sacrificing a marginal ally.

“The ending of our relationship with Pakistan will give China an opportunity to resolve our longstanding dispute with the people of India.” A few of the eyebrows in the room raised in surprise. Zhang continued, unhindered. “As of two days ago, we have settled that issue. We have given up our territorial disputes with India, and ending of our military support to Pakistan was then sufficient enough for them to agree to a thawing of relations.”

Zhang continued, knowing that some of these points had already been gone over the day before by the Foreign Minister. “India has also agreed to cede Southeast Asia as China’s sole sphere of influence, while we will turn a blind eye to India’s conflict with Pakistan.” This gained more nods of agreement and smiles. They were probably thinking about the enormous activity that would be spurred between the countries now that their seemingly intractable issues had been resolved.

“Now comes the tough part,” thought Zhang. “Time to sell them on moving forward with the actual plan of Greater China.”

“We have some tough choices to make going forward,” he told the group sternly. “As you know, for the past several years, violence against our people working in Mongolia has continued to increase. The Chinese workers are essentially treated like slaves in Mongolia. They are not allowed to own property, they are not allowed to marry women from Mongolia, and they are not treated with basic human respect and dignity.”

Zhang could see the Politburo men nodding their heads, even some of the generals agreed. “Mongolia continues to thumb its nose at us, believing that their new-found wealth allows them to rise above their station. I would like to draw your attention to the folder being given to you on how we may deal with Mongolia,” Chairman Zhang announced as Liang walked around the table giving each member a folder with a political, military, and economic plan to deal with Mongolia.

Several hours passed as Zhang painstakingly put forward the benefits of his plan. The group then discussed the future of Mongolia, and ultimately concluded that China should move forward with its acquisition of Mongolia under the guise of protecting their citizens. As the talks continued, tea was eventually brought in for everyone to share.

As the stewards left the room, Zhang turned towards the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) ground commander. “General Liu’s forces will absorb Mongolia in a single day.” Liu puffed his chest out at being mentioned in such a strong light.

“During the dark of night, our airborne forces will secure the various airports across the country in a swift and decisive move. While their people sleep, our Special Forces will capture the TV and radio stations, along with other key targets throughout the city. They will also capture the Mongolian President and Prime Minister.” There were even more nods of approval and smiles from the generals. They loved to have their egos stroked, and Zhang made sure each general was mentioned in glowing terms in front of the Politburo members.

“While our armed forces are capturing their objectives, our cyber warfare and electronic communication groups will seal the country off electronically. By the time the sun comes up, the entire country of Mongolia will be cut off physically and electronically from the rest of the world.” General Liu smiled broadly at the thought of his forces being given this great honor; he would be given the opportunity to show the world how powerful the Chinese military had become.

One of the Politburo members, Huang Li Jun, signaled that he wanted to speak. Zhang nodded towards him to take the floor. “Mr. Chairman, while I support the overall premise of Greater China, the Americans just elected a new President. Many of us do not know who he is, or how his government would respond to China’s provocative move. From what he has said during the campaign, he appears to want to take a hardline stance with China,” Huang said as he brought up a very real concern.

Zhang knew this question would be asked, and had prepared a response for it. He signaled for Liang to present the next set of folders for everyone to review. “We have done a detailed assessment of the new American President. His interests are largely related to trade deals, jobs, and currency values. His agenda is heavily slanted towards domestic politics and going after Islamic terrorism, not Asia. As a matter of fact, we have it on good authority that his new Ambassador to China will be none other than Governor Max Bryant.”

Zhang gestured to President Xi, “Mr. President, I believe you know Governor Bryant well. Do you believe he will be a problem for our Greater China strategy?” he asked, hoping to get the President to place his stamp of approval on his plan once and for all.

The president smiled. He knew exactly what Zhang was doing, but at this point he was already on board with the plan. Looking at the others at the table, Xi replied, “No. I do not believe he will be a problem. Max is going to be focused on increasing trade and reducing their trade imbalance with us.”

Xi sighed, then continued, “What most people do not realize (or do not want to believe) is that America is not the tiger it used to be. Their forces are spread out fighting in the Middle East and Afghanistan. Their military members are tired from nearly two decades of war. Their equipment, aircraft and ships are also nearing the end of their service life.”

He paused for a second to let that sink in before continuing, “When the Russians initiate their plans in Ukraine, the US will have to decide if they are going to come to the Europeans’ aid or not. If they do come to Europe’s aid, then they will not have the ability to stop us in Asia. We will have a finite amount of time to implement our Greater China strategy. ‘Possession is nine/tenths of the law,’ as the Americans say. Once we have control of Southeast Asia and Mongolia, the Americans will not be able to do anything about it. They will just have to accept it and deal with us, just as they will have to deal with Russia once they control eastern Ukraine.”

Seeing that everyone was agreeing with what he had just said, he moved forward with his recommendation. “I commend Chairman Zhang on his work organizing our efforts to initiate the Greater China strategy. I want everyone at this table to begin their part of the preparations. We have less than nine months to be ready to initiate the plan.”

He had danced around approval for hours, but with this last statement Xi had finally officially announced his support of Zhang’s strategic initiative. It was now incumbent on the others to do their part and get the country ready to expand its national borders.