China's Ambassador to Washington, Jiang Hua, made no secret of his displeasure at being summoned so summarily. But he shielded his anger with diplomatic urbanity and then genuine surprise. The Americans had broken with protocol and escorted him straight through to the President of the United States.
Bradlay chose to talk to the Ambassador sitting on the comfortable chairs. The other senior cabinet officials sat flanking the Ambassador. They didn't speak. It was enough that they were all connected with the defence forces. Commerce and trade were not an issue for this meeting. The President waited until the coffee was served. Tea, which he knew the Ambassador preferred, wasn't offered, with the message that coffee in the morning was an entrenched part of American culture. The President later admitted he had toyed with the idea of ordering in doughnuts, but thought that might be taking it too far. He first made small talk about the winter chill which was gripping Washington. The Ambassador mentioned the below-freezing temperatures in Beijing. Then when the President moved on to the South China Sea his tone hardened, but his manner remained amiable. `Ambassador, we've just had some polls done on the broadcast by Jake Walker, the oil worker, which ran on your evening news. You must have seen it on CNN. China was pretty unpopular, what with Vietnam and all that, before the broadcast. Now my voters want me to blow your country to hell.'
`I don't think that is a helpful way of looking at complex international-'
Bradlay interrupted: `We know that. That's why we're looking for your help.'
`You want my help?'
`Your government's help. Yes,' continued the President. `I need to separate the issue of the South China Sea, which as you say is complex, from that of Americans being held hostage…'
`Hostage is not correct.'
`They can't leave. They are being held by Chinese troops. You're broadcasting badly shot videos as if you're a bunch of Middle East terrorists. So listen, please.'
The Ambassador nodded.
`Voters in a democracy do not explore issues with the complexity which we might sometimes hope for, Ambassador. We would like to deal with your claim to the South China Sea, your war with Vietnam, and the security of trade routes to and from the Pacific without American voters breathing down our necks. In order to do that, we need to get those Americans off the Paracel Islands and back home. So I have ordered one of our amphibious assault ships, the USS Peleliu, with support vessels to sail to Discovery Reef and pick them up. They should be there in twenty-six hours. Could you tell President Wang Feng that we are not challenging your claims? We are carrying out a humanitarian mission. Only after that is successfully completed will we talk to you about the more complex issues.'
`I will have to refer back to the President. I can give no guarantees.'
`We're expecting you to guarantee the safety of this humanitarian mission, Ambassador.'
The 36,967 ton Tarawa class amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu, which had been with the Nimitz carrier group off the Cagayan Islands, had already been alerted to the possibility of a marine rescue of American citizens. Her support ships took up positions. The nuclear-powered Los Angeles class attack submarine USS Olympia from Pearl Harbor led the group. The Oliver Hazard Perry class guided-missile frigate USS Ford and the Spruance class destroyers USS Oldendorf, USS O'Brien, and USS Hewitt spread out like a crescent in front of the USS Peleliu with the oiler USS Willamette nestled in the middle. The Ticonderoga class guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill took up the rear. The battle group had five anti-submarine-warfare helicopters. Two flew ahead of the warships.
The USS Peleliu was one of the American navy's most versatile instruments of war, and especially suited for the type of operation in which the United States had found itself embroiled after the end of the Cold War. She was 65 metres high, the equivalent of a twenty-storey building, 250 metres long, equal to three football fields, and her flight deck was 35 metres wide. She could deliver a balanced payload of combat-ready Marines, together with equipment and supplies, and get them ashore either by helicopter or amphibious craft. Aft was a huge wet-dock. The stern of the ship was lowered into the water and the vessels floated out. Today the USS Peleliu carried 15 CH53-E troop transportation helicopters, each with a capacity for 36 Marines, together with 4 AH-1 Sea Cobra helicopters. These sleek and dangerous aircraft were armed with a multiple weapons system of Hell-Fire, Tose, Sidewinder, and Maverick missiles as well as a 25mm nose gun. Tied down aft were 5 AV8-B Harrier air support vertical-take-off jets, based on the British Aerospace Harrier design, with a weapons payload of cluster and free-fall bombs, rockets, cannon, and air-to-air missiles. Her fixed on-board armaments were defensive. On the port-side bow was the Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) system which could fire salvoes of two high-explosive and fragmentation missiles up to 4 kilometres. On the starboard side were two Vulcan Phalanx Close-In Weapons Systems (CIWS) capable of firing 4,000 rounds a minute of depleted-uranium shells at any approaching hostile object. In the holds were hundreds of tonnes of medical supplies and foodstuffs which could be delivered to disaster or war victims. The engineering plant could provide enough electricity and fresh water for a population of 6,000 people. Her hospital was designed to take up to 300 patients. It had four operating rooms where the most complex and difficult surgery caused by war and catastrophe could be performed. All the oil workers rescued from the Paracels would undergo a medical check here as soon as they were brought safely on board. She sailed through the Mindoro Straits, 150 kilometres south of Manila, at 20 knots. Her destination, the Paracel Islands, was twenty-six hours away. The USS Nimitz, with her formidable power projection, held back in the Sulu Sea on the edge of China's zone of control. The Pentagon believed the Chinese would now hand over the oil workers without conflict.
The orders to the captain of the USS Peleliu were to do nothing except take back the hostages and leave the South China Sea. The USS Peleliu and her escorts continued west-north-west towards the Paracels. 300 of the 1,800 Marines on board were made ready. Only twelve were to travel in eight aircraft. Their task was to bring back twenty-four oil workers in each helicopter. The ship's captain was in contact with the Pacific Fleet headquarters in Hawaii. No one expected a fight.