Chapter 11: The Two Tigers Plan (Part 1)

  Article 1:

  October 5, 2007, in the morning of Washington D.C., the capital of United States, the weather was fine with a temperature of 23 degrees. "What a perfect day for an outing! Isn't it, dear?" Judy Taylor said gently while preparing breakfast in the kitchen, looking at the bright sunshine outside the window.

  "Yes! But before we leave, I need to make a call to the President and tell him that I have come down with acute gastroenteritis. Don't worry, Mr. President won't suspect anything, he already knows how good my wife's cooking is." Howard Taylor, the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, said jokingly to his wife while leisurely sipping coffee and reading the newspaper in their living room.

  "Any news?" came the cheerful voice of his wife from the kitchen. "Sorry, no sales at the department store ads today. The whole page is taken up with Chinese and our 'Golden Eagles' in Indonesia. Sorry, I've got to run. Got a few things to take care of." Howard put down the paper, walked into the kitchen, kissed his wife goodbye, and picked up the sandwich she had just made for him.

  But once he stepped out of his warm home, the 42-year-old was no longer the gentle and considerate good husband in his wife's eyes, nor the lofty and enlightened father in his three children's eyes. He was an advisor to the President of the United States, a central control system of a powerful national machine.

  "The political landscape of Southeast Asia is changing, the Pentagon has predicted that if we don't intervene, within 2 years or at most 3 years China will turn the South China Sea into their inland lake. The entire Australia will be under the threat of a powerful Chinese navy. I'd like to hear your views." Howard knew that in Beijing his colleagues generally liked to categorize US presidents as: pro-China faction, anti-China faction, moderate faction and hardline faction. However, he believed these people must have encountered trouble now because they really couldn't find an appropriate category for President Mike Lee.

  As for personal character, President Li is a person without any flaws, he is the father of two children, born into an ordinary family in Nevada, kind and approachable to people, with almost no bad habits. Three years ago, the vast number of voters chose him because he was almost an ordinary person, who had little concern for war and international trade conflicts, meeting the widespread mentality of the American people after 9/11 and the Iraq War who yearned for peace.

  But in fact, the White House is not enthusiastic about this new master. He is almost a loyal supporter of previous policies, and he has been strictly adhering to the existing policies designated by the previous US presidents during his three years in office. Once an unavoidable problem arises, he will always choose to retreat at the first time. Although he is not a weak person, he often chooses the simplest plan for the suggestions put forward by the National Security Council.

  "OK! Let's get out of here. These problems are theirs, not the Americans'. Right?" Mike Lee always habitually threw up his hands and shrugged his shoulders in a helpless gesture. Then he replied lightly. When the Chinese government adopted a strategy to win over Taiwan and promote peaceful reunification, it was like this... when Argentina sent troops to Chile and annexed Uruguay, it was also like this.

  During his tenure, the US withdrew all troops from South Korea and Japan, handed over NATO's main defense responsibilities to European countries, no longer imposed strict sanctions on Iran, and gradually reduced its garrison in Iraq. The United States' political influence around the world was shrinking. The Republican Party out of power repeatedly criticized the current administration, while within the Democratic Party there were also voices calling for a strong response to international issues. However, President Li remained unmoved.

  "We can't intervene. Mr President, we don't have a suitable forward base on the First Island Chain. Australia is our bottom line. We've already made that clear to the Chinese and now all we can do is strengthen our military presence in Australia." Although the Pentagon had drawn up countless contingency plans for intense clashes with Chinese troops in Southeast Asia, Howard believed the President wasn't interested in any of them.

  "Is that so?!" The President seemed dissatisfied with Howard's answer. He stood up and began to look at the lawn outside the White House.

  "In the past, Americans always liked to look at problems from their own perspective, and the world was just America. Any slight disruption of the existing framework would affect our lives. Hemingway said, 'Don't ask for whom the bell tolls.' The funeral bell is always tolling for America. But in the end, we have to admit that America is not the whole world, and no country can dominate the entire world's situation. America was like this, and now increasingly powerful China is also like this. There will always be regional powers standing up to challenge those emerging countries trying to break the existing framework. Our predecessors were always coming out to clean up the mess when they were exhausted from fighting, such as Germany in the early 20th century, Britain during World War I, Nazi Germany and Red Russia. We don't need to press every wound with our fingers."

  The President today seemed a bit different from usual, and Howard was somewhat taken aback. "You mean India?" he asked, following the President's train of thought. "No. The Chinese mast has appeared in Malacca."

  President Lee habitually pinched his own fingers and said, "So you mean to let China and India compete for Southeast Asia." Howard felt that he and the president had swapped positions, and he became a consultant.

  Southeast Asian countries will not easily lean towards China or India. Geographically, in the event of a conflict in the Strait of Malacca, India will have the upper hand." President Li still did not turn around.

  "If it's just a short-term, small-scale conflict, then the high-tech equipment India gets from Russia will undoubtedly help them defeat the Chinese expeditionary force. But once the war expands and prolongs, China's current military-industrial production capacity and technological reserves will eventually exhaust India." Howard began to counterattack.

  "Not bad, but China and India are both nuclear powers. They won't have an uncontrollable large-scale conflict between them. In fact, if the two countries maintain a long-term standoff, it's the most beneficial situation for the US, isn't it? Alright, I think we should talk about the situation in Argentina now?" President Li turned around, still wearing that amiable smile on his face, as if the previous conversation had never happened.

  At dusk, in the Strait of Malacca, the Royal Thai Navy's HTMS Ratchayothin (633) minesweeper is fully engaged in its week-long mine clearance operation off the coast of Port Klang. Indonesian insurgents are still skirmishing with ASEAN troops that have penetrated inland on Sumatra.

  The minefields near the port of Singapore were never thoroughly cleared, causing large numbers of troops and military supplies to be stockpiled on Bangka Island in Indonesia. The rebels also laid floating mines along the coast of Sumatra, greatly disrupting daily shipping through the busy Strait of Malacca.

  Since the withdrawal of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces from Indonesia, five cargo ships from various countries have hit mines in the Malacca Strait, causing the five ASEAN countries to lose face. However, in order to avoid Chinese troops getting involved in the Malacca region, ASEAN countries have repeatedly declined China's request to send mine-clearing troops to the area.

  Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand have almost concentrated all their minesweepers in the area, but the slow progress seems to be unable to keep up with the speed of the Indonesian rebels' mine-laying, thus forming a strange circle. On the one hand, without completely clearing the sea mines, it is impossible to transport troops on a larger scale, and on the other hand, without transporting troops to the island, it is impossible to thoroughly control the coastal areas of Sumatra and put an end to the Indonesian rebels' mine-laying activities.

  Meanwhile, on the other end of the strait, the Indian Navy is transferring the main warships of the original Eastern Fleet to the Far East Fleet based in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In the military airport within the fortress area of the islands, a batch of brand-new Su-30 and Su-32 fighter-bombers are secretly deployed and conducting combat readiness training.