The Rainbow Zhanlue: (Strategy)

By Jack D. Waggoner

A state visit to China during the first year in office is unprecedented for a U.S. president, but Barack Obama has made it. Moreover, the fact that President Obama spent four days and three nights of his seven-day visit to four Asian nations in Beijing and Shanghai has demonstrated the importance his administration attaches to China and to Sino-U.S. relations in its global strategy.


Six other U.S. presidents (Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, and Bush Jr.) visited China during their terms in office, but none went within the first year, and none went having accepted more than ten million dollars in campaign funds from their host.
The meeting between the American President, President Hu, and Jet How Chung precipitated the violent reaction of the commander-in-chief that took place on Air Force One as it sat on the tarmac in Beijing, November 2009.

This is a work of fiction, however, the facts and figures quoted are historically accurate. Most statistical data came from the Congressional Record or from accredited news sources. Some of the figures who appear, however, do so under their own names.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 6, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465308382

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Copyright © 2011 by Jack D. Waggoner.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2011961184

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4653-0837-5

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4653-0836-8

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4653-0838-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

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Dedicated to Yoshia Sawada and Bob King

Thanks to Cami King, Stephanie Buck, and Anita Harper

For unwavering support, the love of my life, Delia Grinzewitsch

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Chapter 60

Chapter 61

Chapter 62

Chapter 63

Chapter 64

Chapter 65

Chapter 66

Chapter 67

Chapter 68

Chapter 69

Chapter 70

Chapter 71

Chapter 72

Chapter 73

Chapter 74

Chapter 75

Chapter 76

Chapter 77

Chapter 78

Chapter 79

Chapter 80

Chapter 81

Chapter 82

Chapter 83

Chapter 84

Chapter 85

Chapter 86

Chapter 87

Chapter 88

Chapter 89

Chapter 90

Chapter 91

Chapter 92

Chapter 93

Chapter 94

Epilogue

CHAPTER 1

The unmarked all-white Gulf-stream GIV-SP, with twin Rolls-Royce jet engines, made a hot landing on the restricted airstrip that was located just outside the city of Baoding on the Chang Chia Tun military complex. Braking hard, the pilot missed the last exit ramp, which necessitated a U-turn at the end of the runway. Once completed he accelerated hard back up the runway to the taxi ramp that led to a large warehouse. The building was isolated from the rest of the military base by an intricate set of fences and barricades that were manned by special forces troops of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

The structure to which the jet approached was fully camouflaged with rooftop foliage and ground plants that, when combined with an earth-tone paint scheme, made the building blend into the rolling hills and tree-covered countryside. The entire area, within three kilometers of the site, was also manned by PLA Special Forces that kept prying eyes at bay.

As the jet pulled up to the building, massive doors opened automatically, and the plane nosed into the hangar. The pilot nursed the jet toward a suspended light bar that made a soft clicking sound as the center support member of the windshield made a soft kissing contact at which point the pilot powered down the two big jet engines, set the brake, and commenced closing down the flight systems.

Before the aircraft door could be cracked, the passengers experienced a sinking sensation as the floor of the hangar dropped down into total blackness. Finally lights from below materialized, and the elevator that the plane was riding nestled gently in a beautiful sunlit courtyard.

The passengers were greeted with a sight that only a handful of their countrymen would ever see. No palace entrance, anywhere, was more opulent. A red carpet stretched from the plane’s door across a courtyard of magnificent green-and-white marble to a flight of eight steps that led to a sparkling golden glass ingress. On each of the wide marble steps framing the entrance were huge highly decorated Chinese ceramic pots (each a breathtaking original) featuring gold inlays and ancient scenes, all from the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). The pots were filled with exotic tropical plants, and between each pot was a life-size earthen clay statue that had been taken from the Rent Courtyard Collection.

The president had put the life-size Rent figures here, at the entrance to his personal command bunker, to remind himself and his comrades of their past. He never failed to stop and admire the work of his friend, the contemporary artist Cal Guo-Qiang, who had completed the collection in 1965. During China’s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, the Rent Courtyard Collection was acclaimed a model sculpture in support of the revolution. The sculptures portrayed starving peasants standing in a sinister landlord’s sterile courtyard, struggling to pay the portion of grain demanded from them as rent.

The president stood next to a sculpture of a pathetic and downtrodden mother carrying her emaciated baby, both dressed in rags. He could see the pain and hurt in her eyes. It never failed to renew his sense of how far the revolution had come and how much he and his fellow countrymen owed to Mao and his nearly divine leadership. Whenever he looked at these pitiful clay figures, he rededicated his mind and body to eliminating such images from the Chinese landscape forever. There were no badges to show or guards to check the new arrivals. Each person in the president’s party had a small computer chip implanted in their left earlobe. The scanning computer immediately notified everyone within the bunker that the president and his personal staff were in the facility. The computer system would track the president’s movements until he departed the underground complex.

The security team that oversaw the operation was led by a senior staff deputy that had been with the president since his rise from army grand general to Communist Party leader and then last year, in 1997, to the position of supreme president.

Inside the golden glass doors, a vast three-story entry hall greeted the visitor. It was, in reality, a small museum with artwork from the greatest Chinese masters. Every dynasty was represented in the vases and the tapestries on the walls alongside contemporary and ancient paintings. It was a dazzling display of Chinese art and culture. The president never failed to take a few minutes upon arrival to stop and scrutinize different items, marveling at the artifacts that his ancestors had created. Today his attention was captured by a jade carving depicting sixteen prancing horses. The piece was about sixty centimeters long, thirty high, and ten deep. Each of the steeds was in a different running, almost flying, position that made the entire piece seem alive and in motion. It reminded him of the Flying Horse of Kansu, the original of which was sitting on the desk at his Beijing office.

Manes and tails flying, the piece was fashioned from white-streaked jade that made it seem almost ghostlike. It had been carved from one huge chunk, and the detail was astonishing. You could almost see the wild stare of a young stallion as his pale-green eyes flashed. The sculpture was cold and hard yet somehow soft to the touch, and the president found himself stroking the back of the leading horse, wondering about the artist who created this masterpiece. It was almost as if he traveled back in time to the magical age of art that the Chinese brought to the world while the Europeans were still struggling through the Dark Ages. It was truly amazing, and as his thoughts of the past collided with the present, he remembered that this was to be a very important day. Returning to reality and looking around, he saw that his staff were all silently waiting for him to finish his passage so they could continue theirs. Everyone knew this was a special day. They were not sure about the details, but they could tell and sense that something big was in the works. The president smiled at each person as he continued to rub the nose of the lead horse.

In a low tone he said, Thank you all for your service to the people. And then he continued in a nearly inaudible voice that made each listener strain to hear, We are the glue that holds this wonderful country of ours together, and we all must continue yi ren wei ben [putting the people first]. Go do your work for the people and remember this day. The world will change, and you and I will be directing that change. It is the hardest work we shall ever do, but we each have a special strength derived from our ancestors. He looked again at the sculpture in front of him, and the motion of the running stallions was like a cascading waterfall; motion that when started could not be stopped, and he was excited about the prospects of implementing the Rainbow Zhanlue.

President Yanlin Hu was proud to be Chinese and to invoke the memory of his ancestors, talking to them and asking for their advice; but those times were over. The plan was complete and ready to be put into action, strategy that he was confident would change the world. Not today or next year, but within ten years the world would start to change, and he would be the master pulling the strings. It was so simple but required great patience, and he was more than ready to get on with the project. His fingers lingered on the cold jade that seemed to impart energy. He could feel a tingle up his arm, and he looked down at the piece and wondered again who had created this incredible work of art. Who had labored to find the stone and then carve and polish it for decades to create this masterpiece? If his ancestors could labor over one piece of art for so long, he could wait for his zhanlue and the resulting plan to come to fruition. He could wait. His finger slid off the lead stallion’s nose, and he turned to start the journey that would change the world.

At the far side of the entry hall were two elevators, one marked up and the other marked down. The president moved across the marble floor with a renewed purpose. As he neared the down elevator, the door opened automatically, and the leader of the People’s Republic and his loyal aide entered while the rest of the staff went to their various offices on the upper floors. The elevator dropped down to level 16, which, when he was in the bunker, served as his private quarters and office.

As the door of the elevator opened, the president stepped out to be greeted by his old friend and security chief, Jet How Chung.

Jet, it’s good to see you, the president said as he put his arm around his old friend’s shoulder and guided him toward the presidential office.

It’s good to see you as well, Comrade President, and I am looking forward to the unveiling of your zhanlue.

Yes, I am excited as well. It will be good to bring this matter to a conclusion. Do I assume that I have your undivided support?

Jet How gave his mentor a smile and said, Of course, and then continued, My support was never in question. Actually I have been thinking about nothing else since you outlined the plan last month. I am looking forward to the challenge but have been wondering if you expect any resistance from the conservative members of the council.

The president walked around a huge piece of glass that floated in the middle of the room. Its only visible means of support was an I-beam at one end. He sat down in his chair and replied, No, I think not. In the long run they all know that we have to take this bold step in order to achieve our long-range goals, and there are only two ways to do that—either all-out world war or the Rainbow Zhanlue. Yes, I think the council will go along with the plan. He leaned back in his chair and put his highly polished boots on the edge of the floating glass. Jet, this is going to be an incredibly difficult task, and it will require a great deal of money, but in the final breakdown I don’t think we have any choice. How much better is it to be the Trojan horse than to risk an all-out nuclear war? Jet How nodded agreement as the president continued, When it is done we will truly be the dominant force in the world, and then we can implement the second-phase plans. Believe me, the other nations of the world will bow to our will once they see that we are in control of America.

You are right, of course, Comrade President, but what if the plan is leaked or compromised in some way that we cannot foresee or control? That would put us in a very bad light and might even give the Americans more power.

Jet, I’m not worried about a leak. After all we are only talking about the five of us, and I cannot envision any of the group making a slip or being disloyal. Remember two of them are the Old Guard. They have not forgotten when Mao chased Chiang Kai-shek out of China and they followed. They will be loyal. I feel it in my bones.

Jet How took off his glasses and looked directly into the president’s black eyes and said, Comrade, it certainly is a brilliant zhanlue, and I cannot wait to get started, but I am curious as to how you arrived at the code name ‘rainbow.’ How does a rainbow fit this situation, or is it just a code word you chose at random?

CHAPTER 2

The president of the People’s Republic looked quizzically at his longtime friend and said in an offhand way, What prompted your question, Jet?

The supreme-manager-to-be of the Rainbow Zhanlue replaced his glasses and replied, I just thought some insight into your thinking would be beneficial.

President Hu gave his longtime friend a knowing smile and continued, Jet, I don’t know if I ever told you, but during my years in America, when I studied at Stanford University in California, my major was English literature. That might seem like a strange thing for a Chinese student to study, but nothing gives you insight into a country’s basics like studying its literature. That’s one reason Westerners have trouble figuring us out. They cannot understand our literature, and they just don’t comprehend the subtly that comes from the change of a simple brush stroke. It is beyond their scope of understanding and comprehension. For example, take the word crisis. We form it by using characters from two other words, risk and opportunity. In other words, every crisis, big or small, presents risks and opportunities. It’s really very simple, don’t you agree?

Yes, I do, Jet replied and then added, Comrade President, what years were you studying in America?

Let’s see, it was the Kennedy years, 1963 to 1969. No, that’s not right. Now I remember. I arrived in San Francisco in 1964 because Kennedy had just been assassinated the year before, and Johnson was president, so it was 1964 to 1969. Nixon came into office just as I was returning home, and within a few years, I was one of the party chiefs that greeted the American president and helped make his trip to China such a historical event.

That’s right, Jet How exclaimed, it all started when we were in Warsaw with the Ping-Pong team, remember? You were the English translator, and I was making sure the players were not taken in by the Western licentiousness. Yes, the president added, we were at a fashion show in the Yugoslavian Embassy when the American ambassador came running up to us and said that President Nixon wanted to establish relations with China. It was so very bizarre. I was truly amazed. And when we relayed the details to Beijing, they had trouble believing us. I had to get corroboration from the ambassador before they took our report seriously. Those were certainly exciting days for us, and fun too. Remember those girls in Warsaw? Never could get enough of that blonde hair and those red lips. Makes me crazy just thinking about it, and that was almost thirty years ago. I’ll never forget those days and the times we had, but enough of that, back to the Rainbow.

Jet How looked at the president with a sly smile and said, I don’t remember any of that.

What. You don’t? How’s that possible when you were the one that got the girls? Not waiting for a reply the president continued, And I also remember that night in London when we found those college girls, and we spent all night trying to further Chinese/English relations. Yes, it certainly would be nice to be young again, but we must remain where we are.

Yes, sighed Jet How, that’s the reality all old men face.

Now can we get back to the zhanlue? the president asked.

Of course, but sometime I want you to tell me all the details about Nixon’s visit since you were the first-line interpreter. You never told me about the details, and I’m sure it’s a fascinating story.

It certainly was exciting. I’ll tell you just one quick story about the first meeting between Chairman Mao and Kissinger in 1971.

Jet How leaned forward to concentrate on every word. The president sat back in his chair and closed his eyes.

Kissinger flew in from Pakistan unbeknownst to the world press or anyone in the American government except President Nixon and his closest aides. Neither Vice President Agnew nor the president’s cabinet had a clue. Anyway, the meeting was held in an aircraft hangar at one of our air bases just over the Pakistan border. I recall Kissinger was very nervous, but he managed to assure the chairman that America had no designs on Taiwan, which was one of our main concerns. The chairman wanted to promote relations with America because he was certain that China’s main threat would come from the Soviet Union, not America.

The Americans wanted our help in their Vietnam struggle, but the chairman adamantly stated, several times, that the U.S. troops must go home and that North and South Vietnam should be left alone to work out their differences. It was an interesting time, and I remember it like it was yesterday. Funny how some of your life experiences stick with you in such vivid detail. That’s enough of that. I will tell you about the actual Nixon/Mao meetings some other time.

Thank you for sharing that history with me, Comrade. It was most interesting, Jet How observed. I shall look forward to hearing further details at a later date.

Before Jet could say more, the president stood up and said, Let’s adjourn to the fireplace and have some tea before we get into the details of the zhanlue. I need to stretch my legs and use the toilet.

Of course, Comrade, that’s a good idea, Jet How willingly agreed.

CHAPTER 3

An extremely attractive and shapely young lady dressed in a smart stewardess uniform, like those one might see on Cathay Pacific flights, served the two men tea from a stunning tea service dating from the Sui Dynasty (581-618).

The leaders had moved from the desk to a group of eight antique side chairs arranged around a low table that was positioned in front of an exceptional marble fireplace. The fireplace’s marble was a dark rust color with delicate finger-streaks of white, and the front hearth piece curved out into the room. Its marble slab must have started out a meter thick but ended up no thicker than your hand. The workmanship and the majesty of the masterpiece were evident to all who were lucky enough to be invited into the president’s private domain. Whenever the president was in residence, the flame in the fireplace flickered continuously, as it did this cold November day.

The chairs were carved from an ebony hardwood that had, over the centuries, had acquired a reddish-black patina highlighted with gold accents. The cushions were deep and comfortable and were covered by a pale-orange patterned textile. They were exquisite examples of Chinese craftsmanship, and these particular chairs had been passed through the ages from the Jin Dynasty (265-420).

The table was a meter square cube of off-white limestone that was honeycombed with sea shells of every size, shape, and color. When the cube was quarried, the thousands of shells trapped in each cubic millimeter were sliced and cut, revealing all manner of cross-sectional forms. It was an intriguing piece that seemed out of context with the polished antiques of ebony, jade, and marble; yet the contrast between man’s artwork and that of nature was a brilliant decoration tactic that the president thoroughly enjoyed.

Even though the office was sixteen stories underground, a stunning outdoor scene awaited all the president’s visitors. One whole side of the room was composed of sliding glass doors that, when activated by a remote control switch, would cycle open and hide themselves within the walls, leaving an uninterrupted view. The patio outside the doors was spacious and furnished with modern lounges and big comfortable side chairs, which overlooked a garden taken straight from the Imperial Palace grounds in Beijing.

The garden featured gnarled weathered pine trees and blooming dogwoods combined with all manner of lush native plants that framed an ancient stone bridge which spanned an idyllic pool of greenish-blue water.

An incredible waterfall splashed and tumbled down from twenty-five meters above the pond, providing a mist that promoted growth of multicolored moss on all the exposed rocks and sometimes even produced a rainbow if the lighting conditions were just right.

The president never tired of the sound of the cascading water and did some of his best thinking sitting beside the pond on a stone bench that dated from the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BC) He sometimes wondered if any of his direct ancestors had used this very bench but always concluded that the chances were remote. After all, his traceable ancestors were dirt-poor farmers from the eastern Anhui province that lived generation after generation in abject poverty. More than likely the seat had been worn to its highly polished luster by the clothes that cover the ample rumps of past imperial persons, maybe the very ones that his ancestors served. The evil landlords and robber barons who extracted tribute from peasants and were responsible for making their lives so very wretched. The Rent Courtyard Collection communicated it all, and he thanked his God and his unknown ancestors for giving him the ability to climb out of the black hole which had so long entrapped his suffering family.

The president and his guests could wander about the garden while a computer-controlled lighting system replicated the sun’s rise and set. In fact when they looked up, fluffy white clouds seemed to cross the sky, and as the day wore on, the shadows got longer and evening saw the moon and stars appear on the planetarium ceiling.

In 1987 the president, then vice president, had spent several days in Las Vegas at Caesar’s Palace and was completely taken with its shopping pavilion system. It made him feel as if he were outside when he was really inside. The president hired the company that had built the desert venue in order to duplicate the fete in his underground home away from home. Caesar’s system only stretched from dawn to dusk, whereas the president’s system went one step further and had the night sky included in the package. He loved nighttime walks in his secure garden, looking up at the constellations, even though in reality they were a mere forty meters above his head.

Jet How and the president settled into the comfortable antique chairs facing the fireplace as they waited for the server to finish pouring their tea and setting out an assortment of hard cookies. Upon the server’s departure, Jet How lamented, If this was my office, I don’t think I would ever get any work done. And then he continued, But that aside, Comrade President, tell me please how you arrived at the name for your zhanlue?

After a sip of the hot tea, the president started, Well, Jet, as I was saying, I majored in English literature, and scattered throughout the poems, proverbs, stories, books, and plays, the rainbow seems to play an important role in Western life. In Wordsworth’s poem ‘The Rainbow,’ he says, ‘My heart leaps up when I behold a rainbow in the sky,’ so you can appreciate that the rainbow is an integral part of Western culture. I have a feeling, however, that the popularity may also stem from the West’s preoccupation with wealth and gold because, as you know, there is thought to be a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow, or so the story goes. I did some research on the legend and apparently the pot of gold theory originated in Silesia, an obscure area of Eastern Europe. It quickly spread among the Western world and is explained in all manner of literature throughout the non-Asian parts of the world. He continued, "I, and millions of others, have always thought of America as the land of milk and honey, and that image is consistent with a pot of gold. After all, they could almost feed the world if they wanted. Their land is rich in natural resources, they have an abundance of rain and favorable growing climates, and soon, very soon, the world’s hungry masses will clamor for that production. They also have technology innovation that we can harness and millions upon millions of hectares of undeveloped land for our people to populate.

There is no other country in the world that has the natural resources contained in the North American continent, except China, of course, and we will need those resources in the decades to come if we are to satisfy our populace. He continued in a stern voice, as an older person lecturing to the young, Jet, food is to the future as bullets were to Chairman Mao’s rise to power. Whoever controls the food will control the world, and North America will give us the rice bowl we will need for decades to come.

Jet How had been listening carefully to the president expound and was somewhat taken aback by the candidness with which he laid out the long-range zhanlue.

The president paused, looked into Jet’s green eyes, and said, Do you now understand my choice?

Yes, yes, Comrade President, I do and I also understand that you have placed a great deal of trust in me. I can see that you believe in the zhanlue and that its implementation will require total dedication. I promise you that I will do whatever is necessary to make this a successful endeavor.

Jet, I have no doubts. I did not select you because of our long friendship. I selected you because I knew you could get results. After all, look what you did at Tiananmen Square. You were on the ground calling the shots, and your actions that day endeared you to me forever and made me know that when I needed a difficult job done, you would be the man who I could always count on.

With a lump in his throat, Jet How said, Thank you, Comrade. Your words touch me greatly!

You are welcome, and now if you will excuse me, I think I would like to rest before our meeting tonight. It’s just past 1500, and the meeting with Supreme Council members will commence in less than three hours.

Yes, of course, Comrade President, I will take your leave and see you at 1800. With that said, the new supreme manager of the Rainbow Zhanlue rose from his chair, shook hands with the president, and departed the office.

The president of the People’s Republic of China pondered the last few hours and made a mental note to keep close tabs on his new supreme manager. The job would require extensive travel throughout the West, and as he knew from firsthand experience, the degeneracy of the West could prove infectious. After all, a man is a man, and temptation is always just a red-lipped smile away.

While the president was thinking, he had made his way from his office to his private residence suite. It consisted of a sitting room, a bedroom with a raised hearth so the fire could be seen from bed, and a huge gleaming bath that featured a rare lemon-yellow marble with gold-plated fixtures. The entire suite looked out on the courtyard, just around the corner from the office complex. As he entered the room and started to remove his coat, beautiful white hands appeared behind him to help. With his coat removed, he turned around to a vision that he had always found breathtaking. She was just incredibly beautiful. Long black hair, jet-black eyes, tantalizing red lips, an infectious smile, and a body that would make any Western starlet envious. She was dressed in a form-fitting red silk dress that left very little to the imagination. He pulled her to him, and her ruby-red lips captured him once more, like they always had.

After a long loving kiss, she reached around her back, undid a snap, and the red silk dress fell to the floor, covering her bare feet. She had an impish smile on her face as he stared at her beautiful naked body with her black hair cascading over her breasts. She slowly moistened her lips with her tongue as she proceeded to unbutton his shirt, and he was totally hers, once again.

CHAPTER 4

The special meeting of the five Supreme Council members started promptly at 1800 hours, Tuesday, November 24, 1998, when President Yanlin Hu tapped his pen on the glass conference table ever so lightly.

Each of the members, other than Jet How, was extremely anxious as to why the president had called them to this special secluded meeting, and they were even more curious when they saw that only five members of the council were present.

Each man examined his actions across recent days and wondered, with stomach-churning apprehension, if he was being singled out for disciplinary action. You never knew when a misplaced word or jester could end your career or your life, as well as the lives of each family member. Ever since the Red Purge days, when 50 million of their countrymen had disappeared under Mao’s ominous leadership, no one ever felt safe. One always had to be on guard. After all, each man had clawed and pulled his way through the Communist Party apparatus, and each had secrets locked away in the depths of his memories. Secrets that they did not want to share with anyone, not even their God.

President Hu, from the head of the table, looked at the two supreme council members on his left, making eye contact with both, and then turned to the council member on his right to repeat the process. With an air of extreme confidence and to no one in particular he began the meeting. Welcome, comrades. Thank you all for coming to see me on such short notice. Heads nodded down each side of the table, but no one made a sound. The president continued, I know that you all have important businesses and families that require your attention, so I will tell you now that this brief meeting will last for less than two hours, and then we will adjourn to the dining room for drinks and a meal. After that, you are free to leave or else retire to your accommodations that I am sure you will find enjoyable. Let Jet know if you are staying, and he will make the necessary arrangements. There will be a plane at 0900 hours tomorrow to take you back to Beijing or there will be one tonight at 2200 hours, if required.

With no comments other than nodding heads, he continued, Now comrades, let’s get down to the business at hand. If you will open the folder in front of you, you will find a simple one-page organizational chart for what we are calling the Rainbow Zhanlue. Please take your time to read and study this document, after which I will explain the plan and entertain any questions you might develop. For reasons of national security, the details of the plan have not been committed to writing.

RAINBOW ZHANLUE ORGANIZATION CHART SUPREME

PRESIDENT YANLIN HU

FOUR SUPREME COUNCIL MEMBERS PRIVILEGED

TO DETAILS OF THIS PLAN

CHUNG JET HOW, ZUOPENG LI, HONGKUN WANG, YIDE DU

SUPREME MANAGER CHUNG JET HOW

SUPREME OVERSEAS MANAGER FEI YANG

*CA2 TEN-STATE COMMANDERS

FIVE (5) POSITIONS TO FILL

*CA2 STATE CAPTAINS

50 POSITIONS TO FILL

SUPPORT STAFFS (AS REQUIRED) FOR EACH OF THE ABOVE

POSITIONS

(*CA2 equals CHINESE-AMERICAN CIVIC ASSOCIATION)

After a sufficient interlude, the president continued, "As you can see it is a very simple format, and your colleague Jet How is assigned to the position of supreme manager. Some of his current duties will be parceled out to various members of the Supreme Council. So in the weeks to come, you each may expect to receive some new responsibilities via the normal assignment channels.

Comrades, let me be perfectly frank. This is a highly sensitive project that carries the highest secret rating ever established. Not one, I repeat, not one word of this plan is to ever be discussed outside this room. Not one word to any of your comrades, associates, aides, wives, or girlfriends. You will not communicate with one another, in any form, except face-to-face in this room. If you have questions or suggestions you must not put them in writing, not even in your personal computer or notebook. In other words, you may think about the project, but you will never write or talk about it unless you are in this room. I repeat, in this room only, comrades, and that applies to every hour of every day for the rest of your life. The president uttered the word life with a tone and inflection that each man understood, understood to his very core.

The president looked at each comrade around the table and asked in a very soft voice, Is that fully and completely understood? Comrade Yide?

The oldest member of the council replied, Yes, Comrade President, I fully understand your instructions, and I shall follow them to the letter.

Thank you, Comrade. He then continued, And you, Comrade Wang?

Yes, yes, of course I understand and I, too, shall abide by the rules you have set forth.

Thank you, Comrade. And you, Comrade Li?

Yes, Comrade President, I understand, and I will follow your directions faithfully. Then he continued in a very soft and subservient voice, Will you, or can you, share with us the objective of this Rainbow Zhanlue?

Well, of course, Comrade. There are some clues, especially the bracketed note at the bottom of the page, namely the CA2—Chinese-America Civic Association. Jet is going to set up CA2 political action groups in every state in America. The purpose of this organization will be to infiltrate and to provide support for the various presidential candidates that we deem worthy to be elected to the presidency of the United States of America.

Yide Du, the oldest member of the panel, leaned in toward the center of the table and asked, Comrade President, I can think of various reasons why you might wish to influence the American elections, but do you really think it is possible? He cocked his head and looked down the table at the supreme president and waited for a reply. Yes, Du, I am certain that we can have an impact on the results of America’s presidential elections. The next presidential election will be in November of 2000, and I do not think that our new organization can do anything of substance in such a short time. However, I believe we can make an impact on the 2004 elections, and I know that we can be very influential by 2008. In fact, I am confident that whoever is elected in 2008 will owe a great deal of their victory to the CA2 organization, and that will give us unparalleled political clout.

The president continued, After Clinton’s visit earlier this year, I have come to the conclusion that the Americans elect their president on the basis of looks and charisma rather than ability. I don’t know about you, but I was amused at his tough talk about Tiananmen Square and human rights and his subsequent groveling when he asked us to buy more of America’s debt. Of course we will buy more of their debt, and we will keep buying until we own them. That beats a war, don’t you think?

Everyone around the table laughed, and Jet How injected, With the trouble Clinton has keeping his zipper up and his cigars moisturized, I doubt that he spends much time worrying about us.

Another round of laughter went up around the table. When it subsided, the president continued in an excited and confident voice, If the Republicans win in 2000 and if they win again in 2004, our best chance will be the Democratic candidate in 2008. I have studied the American system, and I feel certain that, after eight years of Clinton, the Americans will be ready for a change. I am inclined to think a Republican will win in 2000, however we will be doing everything possible to help the Democratic candidate. If, however, a Republican does win in 2000 he will most likely hold onto his job in 2004. That being the case 2008 will be ripe for the Republicans to be thrown out and a Democrat elected. Our best chance to influence the future Democratic president will be the 2008 elections. Comrades, we have almost ten years to grow the CA2 organization and to infiltrate each of the major party organizations. Ten years to put thousands of Chinese Americans to work and hundreds of millions of dollars to spend. I have set the initial budget, available to Jet How and his people, at one billion U.S. dollars.

Eye-popping looks came down the table from everyone except Jet, but none of the assembled members voiced their thoughts. The supreme president of the People’s Republic of China sat back in his chair and, with an absolute aura of confidence said, to no one specifically, Now I would like to hear from each one of you. Give me your gut reaction. Do not tell me what you think I might want to hear, but rather let me have your honest thoughts. Nothing said in this room, on this subject, will affect any of our future dialogue or relationships. Jet and I invited you three to be part of this zhanlue because we respect your intellect and your experience, and we know that if we have your approval we shall be on a path to success. Remember one thing please. If we can gain notable influence with an American president, we can further our long-range goals of ruling this planet. With an American president beholden to us, we can negotiate all manner of favorable trade programs. We can make further inroads by taking over facilities like we did, in 1997, with the naval base at Long Beach, California, and now with the Panama Canal. The president noticed the obvious interest displayed by his reference to the canal and continued, If you are not aware, when the American flag is lowered on December 31, 1999, China shall become the gatekeeper of the Panama Canal. Negotiations are almost complete, and I can see nothing on the horizon that will interrupt our control of the world’s most vital waterway. And then with a calculating look toward his comrades, he continued, Sometimes I truly wonder how America became so powerful when leaders like Clinton can give away America’s national security in the name of political correctness. It is truly amazing, don’t you agree?

Heads bobbed around the table as Jet How broached his opinion by saying, It’s like the big flap that occurred just before Clinton’s visit last June. The press in America was up in arms about the exporting of satellite technology to us. The Republican Gingrich even went so far as to say it would be an embarrassment to both countries to have the meetings, yet Clinton and that weak-minded national security adviser charged ahead, paying no attention to the public outcry. I agree with you, Comrade President. It is perplexing, but it certainly works in our favor, don’t you think?

Yes, it does, and we shall continue to acquire their debt, with the sweat of our workers, and at some point we can play a huge role in the direction of their monetary system. Each small investment we make will further enhance our ability to fashion their system into a progressive Socialist republic. Once that happens, we are just steps away from controlling America and, ultimately, the world.

The president paused briefly and then said, Before we take your questions I would like to give you some interesting facts that our economists just released to me. With that said he took a purple folder from the pile in front of him, opened the cover, and scrutinized the top document. Comrades, in 1985 our trade balance with America was a positive six billion U.S. dollars. In other words we exported to America six billion dollars more than we imported. In 1997, just twelve years later, the Americans purchased almost fifty billion dollars more than they exported to us. President Hu looked at his comrades with a sparkle in his eye and continued, "Now the interesting part. If we meet our ten-year Economic Advancement Plan, and we are on track to do that, then the economists are projecting the figures will jump to over one hundred billion dollars in 2002 and will skyrocket to a staggering three hundred billion dollars by 2008. As you can all appreciate, this means that the Americans will have an awesome debt, and