Dragon Fire

Zhongnanhai, Beijing, China

‘The Indian Ambassador is insistent that a renegade military unit is responsible,’ said the Chinese Foreign Minister, Jamie Song.

‘They were Tibetans, trained by India and using Indian equipment,’ said the Chinese President, Tao Jian. ‘We must decide on a suitable response.’

‘We have declared martial law in Lhasa,’ said Tang Siju, the third man present and the Second Deputy Chief of the General Staff. Tang had served as defence attaché in London, Washington and Berlin, although his German tour was cut short when it became clear he was heavily involved in covert intelligence gathering. His brief now was intelligence and strategic gathering, but his grasp of Western military technology, coupled with his hawkish views and uncompromising discipline against internal dissent, gave him power far above his status. As debate within the Chinese leadership swung between authoritarianism and reform, Tang was often tipped as a successor to President Tao. Jamie Song was on the other end of the pendulum’s swing.

Three of China’s most powerful men walked along the shore of the lake known as the Central Sea in Zhongnanhai, the walled compound in which the Chinese leadership lived and worked. The air was filled with spring blossom swirling like snowflakes, although it had been a cold night and tiny wafer-thin patches of ice clustered in the corners, showing that winter had only just passed.

Tao nodded, but Song blanched.

‘Our policy in Tibet, more than anywhere else, will impact on our global position,’ Song argued. ‘Since the 1989 Tiananmen incident and the Dragon Strike event, we have skilfully become a role model for the developing world.’

‘Tibet is an internal matter,’ said Tang bluntly. ‘The incursion by India has given us an opportunity to act. We should not lose it.’