Chapter 37: A courageous competition
"It's time for me to show up, too." The old man said to everyone.
Compared to comparing military strength with Americans, it is better to go out and sway around.
Americans have misunderstandings about China. They always believe that people like the old man attach importance to economic development under national defense security and national dignity. Therefore, they do not have to worry that small overseas frictions will cause excessive reactions from the current leaders, and they are even more worried about the emotions of the old man and his generation of leaders will rebound.
To be honest, it is because there is a problem with the intelligence of the Americans and they cannot figure out what China's trump card is.
On June 1st, at the National Children's Day celebration event, the old man took the initiative to have a cordial conversation with them. Media from all over the country flocked to record the old man's various words and deeds.
It is worth noting that the old man did not wear regular clothes, but was wearing a grass-green military uniform without military rank.
Although the old man didn't say anything special, this posture was very scary. The old man hadn't worn a military uniform for many years? Many people can't remember it anymore.
In addition, domestic troops have also begun to mobilize large-scale troops. Nanjing Military Region has added troops to Fujian. Military troops from the Northeast Military Region have been continuously moving into North Korea. Air Force troops have also begun to take off. Many transport aircraft, including Fan Wubing's seven An-124 large strategic transport aircraft, are beginning to transport strategic materials. The domestic atmosphere seems a bit solemn.
The Americans are also very informative, especially for such a big thing, the White House and the Pentagon have become a mess. The Clinton administration has only been in power for five and a half months. Where did it pass such a serious crisis test?
"What's the point in Beijing?" Clinton asked Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff, together with the Department of Army, Navy and Air Force, belongs to the US Department of Defense offices and is the most important agency of the Department of Defense and accepts dual leadership from the President and the Secretary of Defense. Since both the President and the Secretary of Defense are civilian officials, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has become the supreme military chief of the US Armed Forces.
At the beginning of the founding of the United States, the military institutions only had the Department of the Army, and later established the Department of the Navy and the Department of the Air Force. During World War II, Congress passed the National Security Law and established the position of Secretary of Defense. Later, it added the position of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the three branches of the Land, Navy and Air Force were demoted to first-level institutions under the Ministry of Defense. The Department of Defense stipulated that the Joint Chiefs of Staff accept the orders of the Secretary of Defense and issue strategic and combat operations orders.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is appointed by the President from senior generals of the three armies, the navy and the air force. He serves a term of two years and can only be re-elected once except during wartime.
Colin Powell was born in 1937. During his time at school, he participated in reserve officer training. After graduation, he was awarded the rank of second lieutenant. He was sent to Vietnam twice to participate in the war. Later, he served as commander of the US Army in South Korea and national security adviser to President Reagan.
After President Bush came to power, he appointed him as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and was promoted to four-star general. He was the first black president of the Joint Conference in American history and the youngest chairman of the Joint Conference. During his tenure, he participated in commanding major events such as the US invasion of Panama and dispatching troops to the Philippines and Somalia.
Of course, he did not leave his command when he attacked Iraq, and it can be said that he had extremely rich military experience.
However, when Clinton came to power, he obviously didn't catch a cold about the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whom he valued with his former Bush. He wanted to replace Powell, but considering that Powell's popularity is still very high, it is not easy to act rashly.
Clinton naturally has to hold accountable if something happened this time. After all, the CIA in the Middle East cannot block China's freighters without the support of US warships. Although Clinton has some understanding of these guys who have caused big trouble, he cannot help but find a scapegoat.
Clinton could turn a blind eye to the Chinese freighter, and try Beijing's attitude, but now the Chinese are beginning to mobilize troops on a large scale, the situation in the Taiwan Strait is tense, and the Korean Peninsula is in great danger. These directly threaten the national interests of the United States, so he cannot sit there and watch the fun.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is only the chief military adviser to the president and the secretary of defense. The president is still the one who really commands the entire army. When something big happens, Clinton can certainly lead Powell to hold him accountable. Moreover, he is not interested in this black man at all.
Of course, Powell is not a good-for-nothing person. He will be ready to retire in a few months. At that time, he will break up with Clinton and write a memoir or something to earn some pension. How beautiful is that? The little bit of trouble in the Bay alone is enough for him to write millions of words, not to mention that a publisher has been contacting him long ago, and the royalties are excellent.
"Mr. President, you should ask Cia's director James Woolsey for this. He should be very clear about what his subordinates are doing." Powell replied in a humble and arrogant manner.
Cia's new director James Woolsey was appointed by Clinton. Powell's answer to Clinton's question is naturally a bit slander. To understand why the Chinese mobilize military forces on a large scale, we naturally have to see what the Americans have done recently?
"Okay, then call James Wolsey here, see what explanation he has?" Clinton said with some annoyance. He really has no deterrent power to Powell. Although the president is the supreme leader of the army, he is as young as a boy in front of these senior generals, especially those who are accepted by the people and have extremely high prestige in the army.
Soon, James Woolsey arrived at the presidential office. He was a bald man wearing a pair of wide gold-edged glasses. His eyes were gloomy and worried at all times. He looked like a scheming guy, and he was indeed a very suitable person as the director of Cia.
"His Excellency President, the Chinese are bluffing." James Woolsey said to Clinton as soon as he came in.
Cia's director generally has no good ending, which is recognized by everyone. For example, William Colby, who was appointed by Nixon as Cia's director, was an excellent agent and was known as the remaining spy king. In 1973, during Colby's tenure, the CIA was deeply trapped in the vortex of the Watergate incident, and he naturally became the target of pursuit and attack from all walks of life. Especially before the end of his term, President Ford specially established an investigation committee to review the CIA's illegal espionage activities. Colby realized that the president wanted to pass the responsibility on the CIA, so he either pretended to be confused or intentionally denied during the investigation.
But Colby knew too much and he eventually failed to escape the bad luck. Ford made a series of high-ranking officials' removal decisions later called the Halloween Massacre. Colby was the first victim, and Bush, who replaced him.
The disheartened Colby revealed many of the CIA's privacy to Congress, including suspected drug smuggling cases and attempted to assassinate Cuban leader Castro. He also revealed that the task of the NSA is to monitor communications from the United States or abroad, and that American citizens are inevitably under their surveillance.
This kind of action is naturally not in line with the interests of the United States, so Colby was immediately marginalized.
But James Wolsey is an alternative. It is better to say that his business is done well than how good his intelligence work is. Wolsey is very economically wise and strongly advocates that Cia should spare no effort to help the government understand and master the development trends of economic and technological countries around the world, and collect business secrets of foreign companies in international economic activities and serve American companies.
Clinton knew his character. The first thing he thought of from this Chinese freighter incident was whether James Wolsey made profits from it? Did any American company gain benefits from this matter?
Powell was a little dissatisfied with James Woolsey's words, "Someone has already put on military uniforms. Do you think he doesn't have the courage to start a war? At least one local war can the Chinese still afford it!"
"The Chinese people's key task now is to develop the economy, which can be verified from their conversations in public and private occasions. Therefore, I don't think Chinese people will make a big fuss because of a freighter." James Woolsey held the glasses on the bridge of his nose and said tit-for-tat.
Powell immediately pointed out, "You should never try to guess what the Chinese are planning to do! Otherwise you will feel regretful! Haven't we suffered enough before?!"
Powell's words naturally mean something. From the history of the United States' support for the National Government to the later Korean War and Vietnam War, these are all actions that Americans feel very embarrassed. If the Chinese had not had the weak sea and air power, it would be certain that the situation in the Taiwan Strait would not be the same as today.
"I don't have the heart to mention history now-" Clinton said to the two, "I just want to know, what should we do now?"
"I am a soldier and completely obey the president's decision." Powell replied without hesitation.
"What I want is advice, not completely obeying this slogan." Clinton said with some dissatisfaction.
James Woolsey glanced at Powell and said to Clinton, "I believe in our Cia agents' capabilities. Since they say there are sensitive materials on the freighter, it's not wrong. We should be responsible for safety issues in the Middle East."
"We should also be responsible for the security of the Taiwan Strait and the security of the Korean Peninsula." Powell said sarcastically.
After hearing the two people's words, Clinton felt that it would be better not to ask them and ask these two guys for questioning. It was a slight disturbance to himself. Finally, he said helplessly, "I cannot face the threat of being forced to go to war because of a small problem, especially with a permanent member of the Security Council with nuclear weapons."
Chapter completed!