As he walked away from the meeting, he was feeling optimistic. He prepared talking points for the next day’s discussion, which would focus on how to accomplish the President’s charge to secure the Russian Far East while also keeping the PLA Navy from capturing the Philippines and keeping them away from Guam.
President Hung was both surprised and excited to meet President Gates. She’d had no idea he was traveling to Japan to meet with his Pacific allies, but she was glad he was taking some time out of his busy schedule to meet specifically with her to discuss the future of Taiwan and China. Remembering what her minister of defense had said a few months back about the Americans looking at replacing the People’s Republic of China with Taiwan’s democratically elected government still sent shivers up her spine — a united China, after nearly 70 years of division, would be incredible.
One of her aides poked his head into the room. “President Gates’ security just arrived. He should be here momentarily,” he said. Several of the presidential Secret Service agents advanced toward her office. They walked in and quickly fanned out, looking over the room for any obvious signs of danger. One of the agents lifted his hands toward his mouth and spoke softly into the mic on his sleeve, presumably giving the all clear.
A minute later, President Gates arrived with his Secretary of Defense and two other aides. Gates walked up to President Hung and extended his hand. “It’s so good to see you, Madam President. I wish we’d had the chance to meet prior to this terrible war, and I truly wish there were more my nation could have done to help you,” he said with a deep look of sadness.
He gestured for them to move toward the two couches arranged on the side of her office. They both took seats on the same couch, at opposite ends. Gates paused for a moment before speaking. “I wanted to meet with you in person, Madam President, because I want to discuss the war and postwar plan for Taiwan and China.”
President Hung smiled, hoping what her minister of defense had said in the past was true. “Mr. President, thank you for meeting with me. I know you’re a busy man and your nation has suffered great loss. Please extend my deepest sympathies to the people of California. We were aghast when we heard a nuclear weapon had destroyed such an iconic American city.”
“Is that a tear I see?” she wondered as the President raised a finger to his right eye. She saw him take a deep breath and then slowly let it out, steeling himself.
“Thank you, President Hung, that means a lot,” he responded. “It was a terrible day in American history. Nearly a million people were killed or injured on that fateful day, and many millions more have been displaced from their homes, living in refugee camps. It’s going to take years to clean up the damage, but mark my words, we’ll rebuild. That city will be better than ever.” As he spoke, the conviction in his voice grew stronger and the determination showed in his eyes.
Shifting topics, the American president said, “I want to talk with you about the end state of this war. It has become clear that the current Chinese regime cannot be allowed to stay in place. This new version of techno-communism that is now blanketing social media and the internet isn’t just a threat to America, but to Western civilization. We cannot allow autocratic regimes like this to rule the world using twisted technology against its own citizens and those it hopes to subjugate. This horrible Big Brother lifestyle deprives people of free will and self-determination, monitoring every action through the use of network-connected devices. Their predictive artificial intelligence is used indiscriminately to determine who may pose a danger to the regime, and it is a threat to the very freedoms that are a part of our national identities. We cannot sit idly by and let this take root and spread across the globe. It needs to be nipped in the bud now.”
President Hung nodded in agreement. “The new Russian and Chinese propaganda campaign on social media is troubling, to say the least,” she replied.
The premise that the Chinese form of techno-communism would bring world peace and harmony was appealing to a lot of people, particularly the idealistic youth. The Chinese insisted that using these technological monitoring systems could end world hunger, provide universal education, and end wars by preventing them from even starting. The theory was beginning to take root in many countries around the world. Russian and Chinese propagandists were masterfully portraying the West as not just capitalism run amok, but a warmongering government ideology that preyed on the poor and underdeveloped nations of the world. Their ability to play the social and economic classes of the West against themselves was having the desired effect of splintering many of the Western nations’ populations against their government.
Leaning in, President Hung asked, “May I call you Patrick?”
“Yes, of course,” Gates replied. “So long as I can call you Hui-ju,” he said with a smile.
“I could not agree with you more about the dangers of this new propaganda campaign. It is a great danger that the world must unite and stand against. If the world falls to the Russian-Chinese alliance, it may never recover. People need to be free to choose what they want to believe and think. If a government takes that away from them, then we become nothing more than mindless bots living a life of little value and creativity. So, what is America’s plan to make sure this does not happen?” she asked. She was definitely trying to angle the conversation to bring the topic around to the unification of China.
Pat smiled. He saw what Hui-ju was trying to do. “Right to the point with you. I like that — a leader who knows what they want and moves decisively for it. Our goal in Asia isn’t just to defeat the People’s Republic of China, but to remove the communist regime altogether. We’re going to rebalance Asia and turn it back toward democracy. We want to ensure that communist China doesn’t have the ability to threaten world security again. Our goal is to replace President Xi with you, Madam President. We want to unify China under your leadership.”
She smiled. Now it wasn’t just a rumor.
He continued, “Now, that isn’t going to be an easy or quick goal to attain, and it’s going to cost the lives of many of my countrymen. When the PRC is defeated, we, the Allies, are going to divide China into governing sectors, just as the Allies did with Germany at the end of World War II. Your government will administer Beijing for several years while you get a government in place and prepare to take control of the country. The Allies will keep an occupation force that will work in conjunction with your government to ensure stability and security while your government begins to take root. Our goal is for you to hold elections sometime within the first five years of Chinese unification.”
“Our forces will continue to stay in place following that election to help ensure a peaceful transition and make sure any potential communist agitators aren’t able to interfere with the transition or attempt to seize power. My goal is to return full control of China to the duly elected government by the end of ten years. We’ll keep a much smaller advisory group and peacekeepers for additional ten years as needed to support the government, much like the Allies did in West Germany and Japan. Are these terms acceptable, Hui-ju?” asked Gates.
President Hung sat back on the couch, trying to temper her response so as not to appear overly joyful. While she didn’t like the idea of China being broken down into administrative zones by the Allies, she also recognized the need for it. Getting to the point that her government had the full support and backing of the people would take time.
“I can work with those terms, Patrick,” she responded. “I believe this is going to be the beginning of a great new friendship and relationship between our countries.”