The two men exchanged pleasantries and then got right down to business. They all knew that Zhang only had four hours before he needed to head to the airport if he wanted to stay on time. “Chairman Zhang, thank you for meeting with me before you return to China. We have much to discuss,” Ivan said as he took a sip of tea from the decorative cup.
Zhang had been working with Ivan for nearly six years; he was comfortable with him and knew him to be a straight shooter. He liked to get down to business and wasted little time on small talk. “I am glad we were able to meet. I wanted to ask you about the American election.” He leaned forward. “Is it true that you have a copy of the former Secretary of State’s government emails?” Zhang asked, hoping the rumors being told in the press were actually true.
Ivan’s lip curled up mischievously. “Let us just say if she wins, controlling her will not be a problem,” he replied.
“And what if that flamboyant real estate billionaire wins? Can you control him as well?” Zhang shot back, probing to see if they had any leverage over him as well.
“Zhang, it really does not matter who wins the American election. We have people in place to plant rumors and enough misinformation to call into question the legitimacy of the election results, whoever wins.” He snickered before continuing, “The Americans love scandal, and they eat conspiracy theories up. We just need to drop a few breadcrumbs here, a few there, and their media will have the public so consumed with election tampering and collusion, they will not know what hit them, let alone be able to respond,” Ivan said as he pulled out a cigarette from the beautiful jade carrying case Zhang had given him when they first met many years ago.
Seeing the flash of jade, Zhang smiled, and his eyebrow raised in surprise. “You still carry that case Ivan?” Zhang asked.
Ivan chuckled before responding, “Only when I’m going to meet with you.”
The two men laughed for a moment, then returned to business. “So, how soon will you move on Ukraine?” asked Zhang.
Ivan sat forward in his chair with his cigarette hanging out of his mouth, “Soon. We have stepped up our training of separatist fighters and moved heavier weapons into the disputed territories. We are going to push for a referendum vote towards the end of next summer. This will give us the time needed to get the 1st Tank Army fully outfitted with the new equipment, and allow many more months of hard training.”
Ivan took a long pull from his cigarette, then tapped the ashes into the tray on his desk. “How are the plans moving along on your end?” he inquired.
“As discussed previously, we are engineering unrest in Mongolia. We now have more Chinese guest workers living in Mongolia than there are native Mongolians. As the violence against our peaceful workers continues to escalate, we will look to intervene. We will, however, wait until Russia initiates the referendum vote in Ukraine. We want all eyes to be on Europe when our tanks roll across the Mongolian border,” Zhang said smugly.
Ivan snorted. “You really think anyone in the West (or the rest of the world) even knows where Mongolia is? They aren’t going to care about a landlocked country with a small population that looks Chinese. What I want to know is how you are going to pull off the acquisition of Myanmar and the rest of Southeast Asia, not to mention Taiwan,” Ivan retorted, a bit skeptical.
“Laos will be easy. We are communist brothers and we are already responsible for nearly 70 % of their exports, as well as providing them with enormous amounts of financial aid. We are already working to integrate them as a Chinese province as we speak. Right now, we provide them with security guarantees against Vietnam. Given the history between the two neighbors, they will welcome us.”
“Will Myanmar be as easy though?” inquired Ivan, probing to gain some additional information like a good spy master would.
Zhang smiled for a second, knowing exactly what Ivan was doing. “We are allies. Let me tell you about Myanmar. They are a terribly impoverished country; even now, we are providing additional aid to the people in the major cities and small villages to build up our support. Their military leaders are being recruited and paid off to not interfere when the time comes. As a matter of fact, with Myanmar and Laos, we plan on integrating their military into our own as an additional selling point to get them to comply. The plan has been well thought through, and we are confident it will work,” Zhang replied smugly.
His smile fell slightly as he continued, “The trickier part is going to be Vietnam. For the last several years, we have been slowly creating a food shortage problem in southeast China. This has caused food prices to rise sharply and placed a heavy burden on those living in the big cities. We have also ensured the media slowly mentions the enormous food production in Vietnam, and the rest of Southeast Asia while we struggle to produce food for our people. The stories usually also explain that Vietnam will not sell their abundant rice supplies or other food stocks to China, and when they do, they sell it to us at huge price markups. Public opinion over the last several years towards Vietnam has eroded and become hostile. Next spring, the food shortage will become even worse for those living in the cities,” Zhang said as he explained the strategy.
“Be careful my friend,” cautioned Ivan. “I do not want you to create a monster you cannot control.”
Zhang brushed aside Ivan’s concerns and continued, “We are even going so far as to organize demonstrations and food riots in the southern provinces. Of course, everything will be monitored and controlled, my friend, but it will drive people to action. Then, we will instigate violence in Vietnam against Chinese tourists and workers, which will be the catalyst used to drive our intervention. We will, however, wait until NATO has either withdrawn from Ukraine, or Russia invades. With the West’s eyes focused on Russia, there will be little they can do about us.”
Zhang handed over a tablet to Ivan, who extended his hand and took the device from him. He began to swipe through various pages on the screen, each showing a timeline of their objectives, digesting the information quickly. “This is impressive,” said Ivan, after just a few moments. “I must commend you Zhang; you have really thought through this intervention. How are you going to ensure India will not cause you problems? Your two nations are not exactly friends.”
Drinking some of his tea before it got cold, Zhang replied. “This is trickier. But we have a plan for that as well. Pakistan has been one of our military trading partners for many decades, mainly to just annoy the Indians. However, Pakistan has been harboring Islamic militant groups that are now starting to cause problems for us in China. We have asked them to handle this for the past decade, but they have been either unable, or unwilling to do so. Because of this, we are going to cut off our relationship with Pakistan. Of course, Pakistan does not know this is about to happen, and it will be used as a bargaining chip for our renewed efforts at improved relations with India.”
Taking the tablet back from Ivan briefly, Zhang opened up another folder before handing it back. “Our plan is simple,” he explained. “We declare to India that our state of hostilities between our two countries has gone on long enough. We agree to withdraw our military forces from the region and sever our ties with Pakistan, and in exchange, they agree to leave Southeast Asia alone as a part of China’s sphere of influence.”