Chief of Staff, People’s Liberation Army Navy
Settling into his chair, he pondered on his meeting with the Supreme Council that morning where his concept was finally presented in totality. General Chang poured himself two fingers of scotch. Too bad we can’t go to Scotland as well, he thought.
“Comrade General, five years ago, you organized rural militias at considerable expense against the better judgment of this council. You explained at that time that the purpose of these militias was to provide manpower in the event of invasion by India, either separately or in consonance with the United States. It appears now, that your purpose of such organization was to provide an invasion force rather than a defensive force. Is that not correct?”
“You will forgive me, Comrade Commissar, if I admit such culpability. I and the remainder of the leadership of both the People’s Liberation Army Navy felt very strongly on this issue. It was felt necessary to deceive this council in order to maintain the utmost secrecy of long-range planning. Any hint of their true purpose would have given our enemies an indication of our intentions. This way, they are much less prepared.
“As you are well aware, Comrades, between seventy and eighty percent of our population is still rural. Historically, a peasant could grow enough food for his family on two to three acres in a good year. In bad years, they starved. Our floating population is mostly rural and is approaching two hundred million out of a total population of approximately two billion, essentially ten percent of our total population. Most of these people are less than thirty years of age. Now, as a result of decades of female infanticide, our population is skewed heavily towards young men who flock to the cities, looking for work, wives and wine. The institution of certain modern medical practices into the rural areas, such as amniocentesis and ultrasound, allowed the sexing of fetuses in utero. Couples had the female fetuses aborted so that they might have sons. Couples also bribed many local officials into falsifying death reports of infant sons so that they could have more than two children, all males. Lacking the essential population of young women to become wives for this population skewed towards young men, prostitution flourished. Along with it, a massive HIV epidemic with its tremendous economic burden has also flourished, as we are all aware.
“Many of these young people still in rural areas are out of work, roaming the countryside. Banditry, assaults and rapes have tremendously increased in the countryside. Rather than imprison or kill these people, the People’s Liberation Army decided to put them to good use. We have channeled their excessive energies into a useful purpose. By paying them a very lowly monthly sum, providing them with food, clothing, both civilian and uniforms, and teaching them military skills, we helped reduce the population pressure on our cities, especially along the coastline. This effort more or less tied them to their home villages.
“In a way, this has allowed our efforts at establishing collective farms to increase, a notable effort of this council. This mechanization and economy of scale has been a two-edged sword. Intensive manpower is no longer needed for agricultural production. With increases in education and awareness of the world and its material goods, the lure of a lifestyle above subsistence cannot be denied by many of these young men who are an excess population in our countryside.
“Not only are the rural militias well equipped, they are superbly trained and exhibit considerable unit cohesiveness. Everyone knows everyone else in these units, their strengths and their weaknesses. They have learned to adjust, to compensate, and have welded themselves into hardened, integral, cohesive units. We initiated a psychological campaign along with their initial organization that grew in complexity, intensiveness, and purpose. These units are now very aggressive, believe we are under imminent attack, and are fully prepared to do their duty. Such units allowed us to maintain very modestly-sized ‘regular units’ while building up a two hundred-million-person reserve. Our purpose here was to hide our capabilities from our enemies more than from this council.”
“How well, Comrade General, have you succeeded in disguising your efforts from the west, as well as our neighbors?”
“Comrade Commissar, we organized these units on a district basis. They are almost exclusively light infantry. We determined that any program to build armor, tube artillery, any heavy forces at all would send a strong signal to our opponents. Instead, the People’s Liberation Army put all of our efforts into logistical support for these units. We have amassed a tremendous truck fleet of the latest, most rugged design; we have developed underground storage depots along the axes of attack, calling them catchment basins for water, which is, of course, a function they also fulfill. Dehydrated foods, small arms munitions, limited medical supplies, spare parts, maintenance shops and so on, have been established right up to our borders. In some cases, we have extended a small number of these depots across our borders by bribing local officials, employing some of their people as guards, and providing them with small arms.”
“Comrade General, if the People’s Liberation Army has not invested in heavy forces, tanks, armored personnel carriers, artillery, how will you provide fire support for them?”
“Easily enough, Comrade Commissar Po. Each of these battalions will have several truck-mounted light rocket launchers. We found that mortars and small rockets could effectively and cheaply replace heavy and expensive tube artillery. The launchers are easily reloaded in a few minutes and can be reloaded while moving, albeit at reduced speeds. This helps avoid counter battery fire. We took a lesson from the Americans in that these launchers are computer-controlled ground radar effective and can initiate counter battery fire with accuracy of plus or minus five meters at a range of twenty miles. They are far less expensive than tanks or tube artillery and are mass produced as a single rocket. One does not have to worry about the proper powder charge, or so on. They have various warheads, from anti-armor, high explosive, smoke, and anti-personnel. They have greater range than the American 105- or 155-millimeter tube artillery, which has been purchased or supplied to most of America’s so-called allies. Incidentally, the American artillery has the shortest range of any Army in the world. It was their doctrine, tactics and training that made them so effective in the two Gulf Wars. Now, they have suffered inadequate training for years. They study tactics on computers but have no money to practice them in the field. Due to budgetary constraints, the Americans do not often drill in units larger than a battalion. When they do, it is merely as a brigade. The American Army of today is one more of theory, not of practice. They think they can do everything through their concept of what they call C4I; that is communications, command, computers, control, and information. They use simulators rather than field exercises because it is so much cheaper. They have not recognized the difference between video war games and real war.
“As regards to the People’s Liberation Army Navy, the decision was made to expand the state-of-the-art diesel submarine force in the last decade of the last century. Our latest models are the quietest in the world, virtually undetectable from the air, by surface forces, or other submarines, unless you are within one kilometer of them. We now have a fleet of over one hundred such late-model submarines, due to our underground and undersea submarine pens at Qinhuangdo and Yingkou. Being in close proximity to the steel works and coal mines of Shenyang made this possible. Our enemies believed all of the required metals went into railroad stocks for the further development of the Northwest Provinces, what the west calls Manchuria. The electrical, computer and ceramic industries of Shenyang were also valuable resources. We sold a few submarines of our latest model without the more sophisticated systems to our North Korean allies, to assist them in their endeavors. Those submarines we sold were built at our very modest facilities of Dandong. Not even the North Koreans are aware of the enormous size of our submarine fleet.”
“And Comrade General, do you expect this enormous submarine force to offset the Americans strength in aircraft carrier battle groups? Do you expect these submarines to engage these groups and destroy them?”
“Yes, Comrade Commissar Ling, with tremendous assistance from our North Korean allies, and others, we do. Actually, we anticipated the Americans would support South Korea under their treaty obligations. Their order of battle calls for two carrier battle groups in the Sea of Japan and two in the Yellow Sea. When or if we make our threatening gesture towards our province of Taiwan, the Americans will have to commit two more of their battle groups to the Straits of Taiwan. The Americans cannot sail more than six battle groups at any one time. In fact, they will find it extremely difficult to have five battle groups at sea all at one time. Too many of their ships are being retrofitted, crews are stretched to their limits, and due to extended time at sea, the American Navy suffers a tremendous shortage of qualified sailors. The American Navy is now one-fourth of the size it was in the 1980s. Their navy now totals less than three hundred ships, many of which are obsolete, are logistically oriented, and by that, I mean antiquated freighters, and smaller craft rather than capitol ships of the line. They have not kept pace with building warships to replace those which become obsolete or too expensive to retrofit. Since the end of what they call the Cold War, they have reduced the number of their carriers from thirteen to eight. They lack sufficient numbers of destroyers, cruisers and frigates. The design of their first line Los Angeles class nuclear attack submarines is now more than forty years old. When we begin our attack, should any of the American Navy choose to engage us, those American ships still remaining afloat will be attacked by our submarine and surface ships and air forces. We have the advantage of land-based aircraft, as opposed to the carrier-based capabilities of the Americans. It was our hope that, with any skill at all, the North Koreans would have very seriously degraded the American air fleet at sea. Still, even though the Americans did not come to the aid of South Korea, they are stretched logistically to the breaking point. They fear our invasion of Taiwan, and so guard it zealously.
“This submarine force is aimed not only at the Americans, however. It is also aimed at the growing Indian Navy in particular. They patrol the Indian Ocean as partners with the American Navy. The Australians might choose to support the American efforts but are of little consequence. They have few submarines, some older cruisers and destroyers, and a few frigates. They have little of the Aegis capability of the Americans and not very much of the network centric computerization. They will be sunk by our submarines waiting for them if they sail out of their harbors to engage us. Our ally Pakistan has little naval capability to counter the Indian Navy. We will fulfill that role for them while Pakistan neutralizes the Indian Army. Kashmir will again become part of Pakistan. Or so they think.
“The Japanese failed to take Australia, stopped by General McArthur in New Guinea in World War II. The Japanese learned the value of submarine warfare the hard way. Now, they are more advanced than the Americans in the anti-submarine warfare aspects that are detection and discrimination. Fortunately, they have never put any such technology or forces into capitol ships. We can continue to trade with Australia for the time being, rather than attempt to conquer it now, as it has such relatively small defenses, but that is a decision for a later time.”
“Comrade General, will you please elaborate on these rural militia forces? I am very much interested in them, particularly the role of the women in them.”
“Certainly, Comrade Commissar Po. These forces are organized as five-man teams, three teams to a squad, and three maneuver squads to a platoon. Each platoon also has a machine gun section, a mortar section, a medic, a communications-computer-radio technician, and a noncommissioned officer chiefly as an administrator. It is led by a platoon commander. There are three such maneuver platoons to a company. Each company also has a motor pool section with its organic trucks, a mess section, a communications section, two additional aid personnel, and so on. There are three such maneuver companies to a battalion. The battalion controls the rocket artillery. It also has its own headquarters company for administrative purposes, mess facilities, and so on. It provides logistical support for the companies. It is responsible for moving ammunition from the regiments to the maneuver companies. The regiments are composed of three companies and a regimental headquarters. The regiments are the highest of units in the militia. There is at least one regiment per district. These regiments contain approximately 3000 personnel. The depots are under a different organization and command. They will support the regiments as required. Any regiment can draw upon any depot.
“Women are an integral part of each unit, beginning with the platoon level. Most of the truck drivers, mess personnel, medical personnel, clerks, and so on are women. Some platoons, however, have incorporated women into their infantry squads. All reports indicate that the women do almost as well as the men in infantry functions and often exceed the men in the support and ancillary functions. Many of our snipers are women. They have finely-honed motor skills, are extremely patient, dedicated, and well trained in the arts of field craft and camouflage.
“We do not care if couples form within these units. Pregnancy, however, is not permitted. Abortions are free but frowned upon, as it takes the female soldier out of duty for a time. Rather, birth control methods are freely distributed by medical personnel without question. Given the lack of a number of suitable young women for wives in our society, many of these young female soldiers enjoy the affections of many of their male comrades. While this has caused some problems with unintentional bonding, it has not led to many serious difficulties. Discipline is swift and harsh whenever it is required, which is very infrequently, as everyone understands their position. Some of the platoon leaders and even a few of the company commanders are women. All are quite capable.
“For those personnel who are infected with the HIV virus, we have pooled them in each district into special battalions. These battalions are composed exclusively of HIV infected people. Each of these battalions has a full complement of people. In some cases, they are over staffed. This has occurred in the districts with high rates of HIV infection. Some prostitutes are in these units. This is of no concern to us, as all concerned are already infected with HIV. We do require that they limit the practice of their trade within their own company. We do immediately treat any cases of usual venereal diseases simply because it reduces the effectiveness of the soldier. We do not provide any medications at all for their HIV infection. When their infection becomes too severe for their duties, we try to find a less difficult position. For example, an infantryman might become a truck driver, or a truck driver a weapons maintenance specialist, something less physically demanding. When they can no longer perform any useful function, they are given the option of being released from service or voluntary euthanasia by chemical means; simply an overdose of sleep-inducing drugs.”
“Comrade General, will you please elaborate what your specific goals are with this overwhelmingly ambitious war that you feel we should engage in? Why are you suggesting that we engage multiple countries simultaneously in a terrible ground war? How can we possibly accomplish so much simultaneously?”
“We have, Comrade Commissar, only a little better than ten percent of our population in the militia. They total approximately two hundred million soldiers. We have the population to spare. We can double this militia force over the course of two years, or even less if required. Our regular forces can be held to be utilized if, and when and where, they are needed. These militia forces will, to a great extent, live off the land as they march. While not exactly a scorched earth policy, they are to destroy the target populations in order to have what the Germans of World War II called ‘lebensraum.’ This is room for our Han Chinese people.
“Comrade Ling, we have a number of objectives which we feel we will accomplish all at once with this plan. I have just explained a most significant one, that of what Hitler called ‘lebensraum’, or room to live. Also chief among them are seizure of the oil and gas fields in the Central Asian Republics. This is necessary to ensure that our economy will have sufficient petroleum and energy supplies to continue to grow.
“While the iron ore from T’ung-hua and the coal from Fu-shen have created the largest iron and steel industry of Asia, they are becoming depleted. The coal mines of Fu Shen will not last forever, and the oil contained in the oil shale there is particularly difficult and expensive to extract. New sources of coal and iron from overseas will allow inexpensive delivery via ocean vessels to our Darien-Port Arthur industrial complex. These seaports and the raw materials that this operation will provide, inexpensively shipped via ocean going ore carriers, will result in an expanded industrial complex that will become the heavy manufacturing center of the world.
“Not only do we need the oil for the present and future, but burning oil as opposed to coal will lessen the severe impact coal burning technology has on the quality of our air. As everyone is well aware, the atmospheres of our cities are so polluted with smog from burning coal to generate electricity and vehicle exhaust as to constitute a serious health hazard for all. Therefore, our second goal is new sources of energy.
“Our third goal is to gain arable land for further food production. The total population of the planet is approaching eight billion people according to the United Nations. It is expected to reach nine billion by the year 2050. India’s population is now the same as ours, or very close to it. According to the United Nations, India will surpass us in population in ten years. That means half of all of the world’s population will be in China and India. If you add the other populations of east and central Asia, then two-thirds of the world’s population will live on this continent. The Islamic world is also rapidly expanding. Muslims average five and a half children per family, worldwide. The competition for food will be enormous in the coming decades. Our own population exceeds 1.8 billion and growing, albeit slower than in the last three decades. Nevertheless, it is more than we will be able to feed in the coming years. We cannot afford mass starvation or a repeat of the turmoil and dangers of the Cultural Revolution, especially as that occurred in the summer of 1966.
“The second green revolution has not occurred as many have hoped. In the 1960s, population explosion was predicted, and it would outstrip food production. Then, the first green revolution occurred. Plant genetics provided the tremendous increase in production to keep pace with the growing world population. Our agronomists tell us there will be no second such great leap forward, particularly in grain production. We have reached the point of diminishing returns. Indeed, soils are wearing out around the world. This is working to our advantage in this plan. The demand for meat protein is dramatically increasing in our own population. We must have grain to feed to meat-producing livestock. Africa, in particular, is suffering tremendous famine, disease, social unrest in the form of revolutions, and brigandage. There is little or no organized resistance to stop our African acquisition.
“Of course, we do not intend to conquer all of Africa. That is unnecessary. We will concentrate on Africa south of the Sahara. Over thirty of these countries south of the Sahara have HIV prevalence rates above thirty percent. Some are approaching prevalence rates of fifty percent. The prevalence rate is the percentage of the population that is infected at any given time. The infection rate is increasing exponentially in some of these countries. A number of these nations have incidence rates approaching fifty percent, that is, the number of new infections in a year’s time, of those for each year of birth below the age of twenty-five. They really are no longer nations, not even city-states, but have deteriorated to the point of no governmental control, only local autonomy and perhaps not even that. Banditry, famine, and anarchy reign in many places. Many of those infected are in full-blown disease development, fully incapacitated with AIDS. Our agents tell us that in many locales they are so devastated by AIDS, they cannot even bury their dead. The populations of these countries are dominated by orphans. Most of these orphans are also AIDS infected as a result of transmission at birth or in early infancy. They have little to live for except the smallest of pleasures of their day to day existence. They have little chance of resisting us. In fact, in some states, we have organized them into bands ourselves. They will be useful to us for a limited time. We have determined major methods to eliminate these bands and what other little resistance we encounter at the appropriate time. In the meantime, we provide them with small arms and food, and they do our bidding. We have had thousands of agents in Africa for years. We fully comprehend that situation; what we can and will do is to eliminate any opposition. We expect that the African question will be settled in less than a year, most probably within six months after our invasion begins. What depopulation AIDS has not already accomplished, we will. At the appropriate time, we will deny them any more weapons, ammunition and food. This will guarantee the concept of Hitler’s lebensraum for future generations of Han Chinese in the finest lands of Africa.
“The weather gods have not been kind to us these last few years. With alternating drought and floods in our northern plain, the tremendous erosion and dust and sandstorms, we have reached the point where food production has been a major concern. Our industrialization program of building a factory in a rural area, then a town around it, has consumed considerable quantities of our more productive farmland. Nowhere is this more pronounced than in the lower Yangtze River Valley, our most agriculturally productive land. This has happened in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and other developing countries. We should more carefully consider consolidation, rather than dispersal, of our industries. At any rate, in one to two years, especially if drought continues, we will not be able to feed the population we have today. Again, this is a fact of which we are all acutely aware. This plan will give us the tremendous rice growing areas of Southeast Asia, particularly the Delta of Vietnam and other great rivers. I do not have to remind you of the long-standing difficulties we have suffered with this southern neighbor that was once a province of China for a thousand years. With this plan, such difficulties will cease to exist, as the Vietnamese as a people will cease to exist. This area will also provide us with rubber, tin, some iron and coal, and a secondary source of petroleum. Of course, the Spratley and Paracel Islands are included in our plan.
“The North Indian plain will become part of China. We need this tremendous grain producing area. The demand for grain for human food will be approximately 47% greater in the year 2025 than it was in 2010. The demand for grain for livestock will increase by more than ten percent. Poultry and pork are the most efficient converters of grain energy to animal protein. This opens the way for large, commercial animal protein endeavors. The Hindus of India worship cows and will not eat them. We will eat their cows.
“Our fourth goal is the tremendous wealth south of the African equator. One fourth of the world’s necessary minerals for continued growth are in this region of Africa. There are deposits of chromium, manganese, molybdenum, uranium, gold, diamonds and oil, especially Angola is rich in oil and diamonds that are of much value. We will control the major sources of these minerals between what we acquire and what we already possess. We will be the manufacturing center of the world. We will control much of the heavy manufacturing for durable goods for the world. Our automotive industry is but one such indicator and successful undertaking. We will be able to produce household goods for our own people to enjoy the way America has enjoyed them in the past. This will be the century of China when we can do this.
“A fifth goal that will never be admitted anywhere but this innermost circle of the National People’s Congress and our highest command is to reduce our population pressure. It is disturbingly skewed towards young men, angry, unemployed, hungry young men. To reiterate, much of this is a result of female infanticide over the last three decades. In a way, this has helped reduce our population, as fewer women are available to give birth. This will help in bring our population back into a reasonable balance. It will also reduce our AIDS burden, as we will utilize many HIV infected young people for our conquests as possible. We will direct these battalions primarily to the south.
“A sixth goal, relative to the others but not as an important goal, is to control waters. We have proposed a dam on the upper Brahmaputra River. This will be a tremendous undertaking. It will allow us to regulate water flow into what is now Bangladesh. We will increase the rice production of the delta. It will allow settlement of Han Chinese in this area. Of course, once we clear the area of its current occupants. The Muslim population of Bangladesh will not be a formidable obstruction in any event. This dam will be below the Namchbawasham Mountain and will provide considerable water for several irrigation systems.”
“Comrade General, what reaction do you anticipate from the Russians?”
“Comrade Commissar Leng, your question is most excellent. Today, Russia is a government that essentially exists in name only. Ninety percent of all Russian businesses pay extortion money to organized crime. Organized crime controls over fifty percent of the Russian economy. Even their armaments industry is heavily influenced by the cabals of organized crime. The Russian government sells most of its latest weapons production to us. A few other countries also buy some of their weapons, notably our ally, North Korea. Russians lack the logistics, transportation and most importantly, a consensus, a national will, to come to the aid of their former socialist republics today called the Central Asian Republics, a former part of their vast empire. Indeed, many, if not most Russian citizens would believe that these Central Asian Republics are getting what they deserve for fragmenting away from the Former Soviet Union. As long as we do not attack Mother Russia itself, there will be no rallying cry, no emotional reason for the Russians to interfere. We will make it extremely clear to the Russians that we will very strictly honor their territory. I am sure we will remain, as our generals are ordered, at least one hundred kilometers away from Russia’s borders. If any refugees flee into Russia, then it is up to Russia to seal their border. This will leave any refugees in a sort of no-man’s-land.”
“Still, Comrade General, this does not address our basic relationship with Russia in the aftermath of our seizure of the Central Asian Republics. What does the People’s Liberation Army Navy see of our relationship after this endeavor?”
“Comrade Po, our subtle inquiries, nothing explicit, with the various cabals, suggests they and the Russian government have little to say about it. They realize they cannot prevent it. They are realpolitik. They understand they must have the oil and minerals themselves and will have to purchase them from whoever possesses them. It is most notable that the great majority of the wealth from mineral extraction in Russia has wound up in foreign bank accounts of members of the cabals rather than being reinvested in Russian infrastructure. The country is essentially bankrupt. All that is left of moral equivalents is nihilism. The cabals that do not flee still have Siberia to exploit. Tremendous oil and gas reserves there have only been recently discovered, of which the world is unaware. Announcement of these reserves will not be forthcoming until the appropriate powers, the criminal cabals, have secured them, both legally and literally. The cabals indeed do employ modest private armies, mostly of battalion size, but a few of regimental size. They are equivocal to paramilitary light infantry forces, lacking heavy weapons. They are of no consequence.
