Operation Red Dragon and the Unthinkable

Chinese Manifest Destiny

The Chinese had consolidated their gains in Southeast Asia, securing Thailand and Singapore. They used these countries as jump off points to invade Malaysia and the Philippines, further securing their hold on the South China Sea and the Malacca Straits. Prior to the war, nearly 95 % of the world’s shipping had passed through this region. As the Chinese secured more territory, they established new military bases and defensive networks in order to ensure that China would retain their newly won territories should the US or any other nation try to evict them.

The situation between China and Japan began to heat up once the Chinese learned of the American attempts to move their military force out of Japan to Alaska. The Reds issued an ultimatum to Japan; either intern the remaining US Forces in Japan and sign a non-aggression pact, or be prepared to be invaded. Although in the past, the Japanese had been known to be fearsome warriors, they capitulated to the Chinese demands with relatively little resistance, and 11,345 American soldiers, sailors and airman were interned for the duration of the war. Fortunately, before the Chinese had caught on, the US had already moved the majority of their aircraft, naval ships and heavy equipment out of Japan to Alaska. The loss of troops would certainly hurt, but not nearly as bad as the loss of equipment would have.

The Chinese continued the preparations for their offensive on Alaska. The invasion force would sail for Alaska on May 1st and arrive on the 15th. This would provide the Chinese with the most optimal weather to conduct their assault and complete their objectives before the winter closed in and cancelled any further major offensive operations. Operation Red Dragon was on schedule.

The war in the Middle East was heating back up again. The Russians had made some significant breakthroughs, and were pushing forward near Tel Aviv. They had asked for additional Chinese reinforcements to be sent so they could finish the Israelis and Americans off. The PLA agreed to send an additional 300,000 soldiers to the Middle East.

The Reds also sent an additional 250,000 troops to their bases in Africa. The Premier had decided that it was now time for them to exert their muscle in Africa and start their conquest of East and South Africa. The Americans were in no position to stop them, and with the invasion of Alaska happening soon, the Americans would be powerless to stop them. It was time for China to assume its position as the preeminent global superpower.

Premier Zhang Jinping gathered with his senior advisors and military leaders in the Command Bunker to discuss strategy. First, he looked to Admiral Wei Shengli, the commander of the PLAN, and asked, “Are we ready to begin the invasion against the Americans?”

“We are ready Premier. The attack will commence on schedule. We will have six of our seven aircraft carriers with the invasion force. Once we have secured a beachhead and several of the airports, the PLAAF will begin ferrying in thousands of fighter drones and manned fighters.”

During the 2020s and 2030s, the Chinese had started construction of six super carriers as they began to build out their blue water navy. The Russians had provided a lot of expertise in building aircraft carriers, and the Chinese had also stolen a lot of the designs via well placed spies within the American ship building companies (and through the rampant use of cyber-espionage). They quickly incorporated the latest in American technology into these ships, as well as some of their own. During the fifteen years it took to build their blue water navy, they conducted numerous naval training exercises through both the Russian and US Navy partnership programs. Now these bastions of Chinese achievement were going to be put to the test.

“I have 150,000 Naval Infantry that will secure multiple beachheads for the PLA. These soldiers will be using the new exoskeleton combat suits. This will be our first major use of them. If they work as well as they are supposed to, then we will look at equipping the entire army with them,” Admiral Wei Shengli said, confidently showing an image of what the new exoskeleton suits would look like.

General Fang Wanquan, the Commander of the PLA, jumped in at this point to ensure his thunder was not lost. “Premier, I have 4,400 light drone tanks and 3,800 main battle tanks in the following landings, along with 400,000 troops. I have another 1.6 million follow-on forces and 4,000 more main battle tanks that will arrive once we have secured our foothold. We will conquer Alaska by the end of the summer and begin moving down into British Columbia to threaten the American West Coast. During the winter months, we will move another 2 million more troops into Alaska,” bragged General Wanquan, swelling with pride.

For nearly a hundred years the rivalry between the PLA, PLAN and PLAAF had only grown. Each service believed they were the true protectors of the PRC. Their constant bickering and vying for attention and preference from the Premier was very annoying to their leader. At times this caused a lot of problems for the PRC as the three groups seldom wanted to work together; this caused a host of coordination and collaboration issues that the Americans seldom had to deal with.

“Before this meeting ends, what was the outcome of the meeting our agents had with their Central and South American counterparts?” asked the Premier.

Clearly, no one wanted to give the bad news to the Premier, General Wanquan stepped forward to give it. “Premier, the meetings did not go well for us. Central and South America (with the exception of Bolivia) have chosen to join the Allies in declaring war against the PRC and have already formed a multinational army, which the Americans are going to train and equip. Our agents were able to estimate how many soldiers will be allocated to this multinational force, and we believe that they have collectively committed one million men and women to this new army, though that number could go much higher, if needed.” He waited for the scolding he thought he was sure to get from the Premier.

However, the Premier only sighed before he replied, “It was a longshot getting them to join the Axis instead of the Allies. They already have their Grain Consortium, so it was going to be challenging getting them to leave that in favor of fighting against the Americans.”

Jinping continued, “Admiral, I want more of our submarine forces sent to their waters. If they want to be a part of the war, then let’s work on sinking their navy and commercial shipping. We may not be able to directly threaten their countries now, but that does not mean we cannot hit them with a few cruise missiles from time to time to remind them they chose the wrong side.”

With that, the meeting was dismissed.