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Today was a day that the PM had been dreading for some time; he would attend a meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister and a virtual meeting with the Chinese Premier Jinping to discuss what would ultimately be the future of his nation. This was the day he would have to decide which path his nation will ultimately take-stand with America in her greatest hour of need, or join the Chinese juggernaut and finish the U.S. off.

PM Hata was shaken from his world of deep turbulent thought as the Chinese Foreign Minister, Fang Yung, walked in to the room. He bowed towards the PM at an appropriate depth to indicate his respect before walking over to him. “Prime Minister Hata, it is good to see you. Thank you for agreeing to meet with me,” said Fang.

The Prime Minister returned the bow before speaking. “I hope your covert travel here was not too inconvenient.” He attempted to muster up all of the genuineness he could in that statement, although he did not mean a word of it. In all reality, he hoped it was a terrible trip in to Japan, having to sneak his way across the border so as to not be seen by the American spies.

“This is an important meeting, so it was no trouble at all. Please, let me set up the secured holographic device so I can connect us with Premier Jinping. He is eager to speak with us.”

Hata tried very hard to conceal the sigh he let out before he responded. “Yes, let’s get him connected. We have much to discuss.”

Within a couple of minutes, the holographic device came to life, and the image of the man who was possibly the most powerful man in the world, the Chinese Premier, appeared.

“Prime Minister Hata, it is good to see you. Thank you for agreeing to meet with us, even if it is in secret for now,” said Premier Jinping. “I will get straight to the point. We are moving forward with the creation of the Pan Asian Alliance. I can tell you that Indonesia, Russia and India will be members; we would like to add Japan to that list. Our collective populations will now exceed four billion people; our combined military forces are in excess of twelve million soldiers, with another eight million more in training.” The Premier let PM Hata in on this bit of military intelligence, hoping that the sheer enormity of those numbers would sink in.

After pausing for dramatic effect, the Premier continued, “As you know, the PAA will be run in a similar manner to how we run the CMC here in China; each primary nation (which, of course, Japan would be one) would have three members on the central committee. The committee would, of course, control and run all of the countries that are part of the PAA. Decisions would be made by majority vote of the committee members, and would be binding to each member country. The smaller countries that join the PAA would only have one member represented on the committee.”

Premier Jinping stopped for a minute to see if PM Hata had any questions. As he did not, the Premier continued, “We are forming this confederation to better coordinate our economies, our currencies and our military organizations. We are also going to be moving to a crypto-currency, similar to Bitcoin, which will help us regulate our currencies a lot better. As you know, we would like Japan to be a part of this greater confederation-you are, after all, an Asian nation. What questions do you have that I may be able to answer?” asked the Premier. He wanted to get down to the meat of the negotiations.

Hata thought for a minute before responding, “I understand the proposal, and I agree in principle that a Pan Asian Alliance would benefit all of Asia. That said, you are asking us to not only turn our backs on our ninety-year alliance with America, but to launch a surprise attack on the West Coast. Even if I wanted to agree to this, I am not confident I could get my military leaders to agree to your proposal. I would have a revolt within the defense force.” PM Hata had a slight tremble of concern in his voice.

“I appreciate your situation, and I understand this would be a hard sell. Can we agree that joining the PAA and Confederation would be in Japan’s best interests at this junction in the war?” the Premier asked, wanting to start establishing some common ground with the Japanese PM.

“America is down, there is no denying that. Between your efforts and the Russians, you have really crippled the Americans. I will say this; if it is one thing the Americans are extremely good at, it’s finding a way to come from behind and win. They have been known to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat on more than one occasion. Why do you believe so strongly right now that America can be fully beaten? They are conducting a massive retooling of their economy and the rumors we have heard of their advanced weapon systems are amazing, if true.”

Jinping was ready with a response. “For a moment, let us put aside the argument of honor; as we know Japan has already betrayed America when you cast aside your initial defense agreement. In that situation, you made the best possible choice, considering the circumstances. I will be as direct and blunt with you as I can-if any of the information I am going to share with you makes its way to America, I can assure you there will be some severe consequences. That said, we have nearly two million soldiers on Alaskan soil, and we have another three million more waiting to be transported to North America. We also have another six million more men and women in military training right now who will be ready for service over the next twelve months. It is true that the Americans are starting to edge ahead of us in some weapon systems, but it comes down to numbers. For every eleven Chinese soldiers an American kills, there is a twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth soldier to take their place. We are also going to open up a second front in North America by launching an invasion of the West Coast. As you can see, the Americans are going to die a death by a thousand cuts.” As he spoke, the Premier shared a video slide of the potential military operations that were planned.

“In addition to the second front we are going to open up in North America, the Indian government will also announce that they are joining the PAA, along with Indonesia. Both countries will be committing a sizeable portion of their military to the invasion as well. As you can see, the sheer volume of our army will be enough to crush the Americans. Japan will, of course, be given several states to federally administer once America has been defeated.”

As PM Hata sat and watched the video unfold, he couldn’t help but think, “If they can do this to America, how much more can they do to Japan? There is no way the Americans are going to be able to stand up to this large of an Army on their own soil, not while they are fighting in Europe too.”

Out loud, he responded, “You make a persuasive argument. I cannot deny the fact that your army has confounded the Americans and done what most armies have never been able to do-win on the battlefield. Putting aside your loss to General Gardner’s Third Army in the Middle East, your invasion of Alaska has been a resounding success. If I can persuade key members of my cabinet and military go along with this, how soon would you want us to attack the Americans? Would I be able to get some military assistance here in Japan should I need help in keeping control of things? Many people in my country will not be happy that we are betraying the U.S. They may be angry about their unprecedented use of nuclear weapons, but do not mistake that anger as them being willing to easily betray an ally.”

“I can authorize as many PLA soldiers as you would like, should you need them. As for the timeline for when you would attack, we have planned for the attack to take place on December 24th, the eve of their national holiday. Once Japan has formally agreed to join the PAA, we will discuss the attack in greater detail (and what Japan’s part would be) at a later meeting. Of course, your decision to join the alliance would stay secret until December 24th, when you would launch your surprise attack.”