Brown, Dale - Patrick McLanahan 03 (6 page)

           
Since the islands were right on the
sea lanes between the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, the “round-eyes”
eventually found them, and the English named them the Spratlys after the
commander of a British warship who “discovered” them in the eighteenth century.
It was the British who discovered oil in the Spratlys and began tapping it.
Unfortunately, the British had not yet developed the technology to successfully
and economically drill for oil in the weather-beaten islands, so the islands
were abandoned for safer and more lucrative drilling sites in
Indonesia
and
Malaysia
.

           
As time progressed, several nations—
Indonesia
,

           
Malaysia
, and the
Philippines
—all tried to develop the islands as a major
stopover port for sea traffic. But it was following World War II that the
Chinese considered the Spratlys as well as everything else in the
South China Sea
as their territory. *

           
As oil-drilling platforms, fishing
grounds, and mining operations began to proliferate, the Chinese, aided by the
North Vietnamese, who acted as a surrogate army for their Red friends, began
vigorously patrolling the area. During the Vietnam War radar sites and radio
listening posts on
Spratly
Island
allowed the Vietcong and
China
to detect and monitor every vessel and
aircraft heading from the
Philippines
to
Saigon
, including American B-52 bombers on strike
missions into
North Vietnam
.

           
But the most powerful navy in the
postwar world, the United States Navy, exerted the greatest tangible influence
over the
Spratly
Islands
. Through its sponsorship, the government of
the
Philippines
began patrolling the islands, eradicating
the Vietnamese espionage units and using the islands as a base of operations
for controlling access to the western half of the
South China Sea
. The Chinese had been effectively chased
away from the Spratlys, ending five hundred years of dominance there.

           
That
became a very sore point for the Chinese.

           
After the Vietnam War, the American
presence weakened substantially, which allowed first the Vietnamese Navy, and
then the Chinese Navy, to return to the
Spratly
Islands
. But the
Philippines
still maintained their substantial
American- funded military presence there, although they had ceded most of the
southern islands to
China
and
Vietnam
.

           
The lines had been drawn.

           
The
Philippines
claimed the thirty atolls north of the nine
degrees, thirty minutes north latitude, and the territory in between was a sort
of neutral zone. Things were relatively quiet for about ten years following the
Vietnam War. But in the late 1980s conflict erupted again. During the war,
Vietnam
had accepted substantial assistance from
the
Soviet Union
in exchange for Russian use of the massive
Cam Rahn naval base and airbase, which caused a break in relations between
China
and
Vietnam
.
Vietnam
, now trained and heavily armed by the
Soviet Union
, was excluding Chinese vessels from the oil
and mineral mining operations in the Spratlys. Several low-scale battles broke
out. It was discovered that the
Soviet Union
was not interested in starting a war with
China
to help
Vietnam
hold the Spratlys, so
China
moved in and regained the control they had
lost forty years earlier. Faced with utter destruction, the Vietnamese Navy
withdrew, content to send an occasional reconnaissance flight over the region.

           
That was when Admiral Yin Po L’un
had been assigned his
Spratly
Island
flotilla. To his way of thinking, these
were not the Spratlys, or the Quan-Dao Mueng Bang as the Vietnamese called
them—these were the Nansha Dao,
property
of the People's Republic of
China
.
China
had built a hardsurfaced runway on
Spratly
Island
and had reinforced some stronger reefs and
atolls around it enough to create naval support facilities. Their claim was
stronger than any other nation. Several other nations had protested the
militarization of
Spratly
Island
, but no one had done anything more than
talk. To Admiral Yin, it was only a matter of time before all of the Nansha Dao
returned to Chinese control.

           
But the Filipino Navy, such as it
was, still held very tight control over their unofficially designated
territory. Yin’s job was to patrol the region, map out all sea traffic, and
report on any new construction or attempts to move oil-drilling platforms,
fish-processing vessels, or mining operations in the neutral zone or in the
Philippine sector. He was also to report on any movements of the Philippine
Navy’s major vessels in the area and to constantly position his forces to confront
and defeat the Filipino pretenders should hostilities erupt.

           
Not that the Filipino Navy was a
substantial threat to the Chinese Navy—far from it. The strongest of the
Filipino ships patrolling the
Spratly
Islands
were forty-year-old frigates, corvettes,
radar picket ships, and subchasers, held together by coats of paint and
prayers.

           
Still, a threat to Yin’s
territory—no matter whom it was from—was a threat, in his mind, to all of
China
.

           
Thirty minutes later, Yin’s task
force had closed to within nine miles of the contact while
Wenshan
and
Xingyi
had
closed to within one mile; Yin positioned his ships so that he could maintain
direct, scrambled communications with his two patrol boats but stay out of
sight of the contact.

           
“Dragon, this is Seven,” the skipper
aboard
Wenshan,
Captain Han, radioed
back to Admiral Yin. “I have visual contact. The target is an oil derrick. It
appears to be mounted or anchored atop
Phu
Qui
Island
. It is surrounded by several supply barges
with pipes on board, and two tugboats are nearby. There may be armed crewmen on
deck. They are flying no national flags, but there does appear to be a company
flag flying. We are moving closer to investigate. Request permission to raise
the derrick on radio.”

           
So his instincts had been right. . .
. “An oil derrick in the neutral zone? How dare they place an oil derrick on
Chinese property.” Yin turned to Lubu. “I want the transmissions relayed to us.
Permission granted to hail the derrick. Tell Captain Han to warn the crew that
they will be attacked if they do not remove that derrick from the neutral zone
immediately. ”

           
A few moments later, Yin heard Han’s
warning: “Attention, attention the oil derrick on
Phu
Qui
Island
. This is the People’s Republic of
China
frigate
Wenshan
on international hailing channel nine. Respond immediately. Over.” Captain Han
on
Wenshan
was speaking in excellent
English, the universal sailors’ language even in this part of the world, and
Yin had to struggle to keep up with the conversation. He made a mental note to
congratulate Han on his resourcefulness—the
Wenshan
was not a frigate, but if the crew of the oil derrick believed that it was,
they might be less inclined to resist and more inclined to follow orders.

           
“Frigate
Wenshan,
this is the National Oil Company

           
Barge Nineteen on channel nine. We
read you loud and clear. Over.”

           
Admiral Yin seethed. The National
Oil Company. That was a Philippine company run by a relative of the new
Philippine president, Arturo Mikaso, and headquartered in
Manila
. Worse, it was financed by and operated
mostly by rich
Texas
oil drillers. American capitalists who obviously thought they could, in
their typically imperialistic way, just set up an oil derrick anywhere they
pleased.

           
The audacity.

           
To even attempt to build a derrick
in a neutral zone . . .

           
And Yin knew it wasn’t really
neutral at all. It was Chinese territory. And the Americans and the Filipinos
were trying to rape it.

           
“National Oil Barge Nineteen,” Han
continued, “you are violating international agreements that prohibit any
private or commercial mineral exploration or facilities in this area. You are
ordered to remove all equipment immediately and vacate the area. You will
receive no further warnings. Comply immediately. Over.”

           
“Vessel
Wenshan,
we are involved in search and salvage operations at this
time,” a new voice on the radio, young and at ease, replied. “Salvage
operations are permitted in international waters. We are not aware of any
international agreements involving these waters. You may contact the Philippine
or American governments for clarification.”

           
“National Oil Barge Nineteen,
commercial operations in these waters are a direct threat to the national
security and business interests of the People’s Republic of
China
,” Captain Han replied. He knew that Admiral
Yin would not approve of his debating like this over the radio—he was a
soldier, Yin would tell him, not a scum-sucking politician— but he wasn’t going
to move a meter closer to the Philippine oil derrick unless everyone on board
understood why. “You are ordered to discontinue all operations immediately or I
will take action.”

           
There was no further reply from the
barge crew.

           
“HF radio traffic from the barge,
sir,” Lubu said, relaying a report from his Radio section. “They may be
contacting headquarters.”

           
Contacting headquarters? There was
no reason for the people on the drilling platform to do anything other than
dismantle.
And to do it immediately. Yin
shook his head in disbelief. And anger. China had been forced to cede an island
chain that was rightly theirs, forced to set up a neutral zone and allow free
navigation in the area, only to have it thrown back in their faces. The
arrogance!

           
“This is unacceptable!” Yin spat.
“Any idiot knows this is Chinese territory, whether this is called neutral
territory or not. How dare they . . . !”

           
“We can relay a message to
Headquarters and report the violation, sir . . .”

           
Yin bristled. “This is not a mere
violation, Lubu. This is an act of aggression! They know full well that the
neutral zone is off-limits to all commercial activity, and that
includes
salvage operations—if indeed
that is what they are
really
doing.
This task force will not sit idly by while these bastards ignore international
law and challenge my authority.”

           
Lubu had not seen his Admiral this
angry in a very long time. “Sir, if we are seriously considering an armed
response, perhaps Headquarters ...”