“You are quite wrong about that, Mr. President. The difference between us is that when we sacrifice a few for the many, those few have volunteered themselves. We do not consider our people to be dispensable.”
“Quite foolish of you, relying on people to make their own choices in such matters,” Tian said, almost dismissive. It was one of the few times Dunne had seen true emotion break through the man’s facade. “The people do not know what is best.”
“Only because you refuse to tell them the truth,” Dunne countered.
“The truth is what we say it is,” Tian said.
“That, sir, is foolish.”
“It has served us very well in the past.”
“It didn’t serve you at Tiananmen Square,” Dunne said. “At least not as well as you think it has. I promise, your people haven’t forgotten. And the rest of the world certainly hasn’t. Pretending it didn’t happen doesn’t make it so.”
The rage flashed behind Tian’s eyes a second time. “You judge us for trying to maintain order at home when the United States tries to impose its order on the world?”
“The United States does not turn its military against its own citizens, sir,” Dunne explained. “A military exists to kill the enemy. When it is used to keep order among its own people, the people become the enemy. Just as you claim there is only one China but you see the Taiwanese as the enemy.”
“They are Chinese!” Tian hit the desk with his hand. “There will be no independence for Taiwan! Their citizens have seen what we will do if they continue to press for separation. The next president they elect may not be a fool, but he will support reunification. We will press him and he will be weak because he will have seen the price of defiance!”
Dunne looked at Tian for a long moment, and then he smiled. “Sir, you have not gained nearly as much as you think,” he said. “I doubt very much that the independence movement on Taiwan is dead. Quite the opposite, I’m sure. I suspect that you are correct about Liang. You have humiliated him, and we’re not altogether sorry about that, but you might find that he was right about one fact. His people will support a leader willing to stand up to you. The next Taiwanese president may be more troublesome than Liang was, and the Politburo will have you to blame for it. You won’t understand this, but people who have tasted freedom are loath to give it up to a bully. So, yes, you hold Kinmen, but the world has seen you for the bully you are. This will play like Tiananmen Square. It’s too late to turn off the cameras. You have set back the world’s view of your country by twenty years. There may be sanctions—”
“There will be no sanctions,” Tian said, waving his hand in another dismissive gesture. “Your country cannot afford them. Our economy is almost as large as yours and Americans want our goods too much.”
“President Tian, you are making the same mistake that every tyrant has ever made about the United States,” Dunne said. “You equate our wealth with unwillingness to sacrifice for a just cause. You’ll be surprised at what Americans are willing to support when their sense of justice has been offended.” And you offend us, sir.
“America is weak,” Tian said. The contempt was thick. The Chinese president was dropping all pretense of equanimity, whether intentionally or not Dunne couldn’t tell. “You can’t stand pictures of dead soldiers, expensive gasoline, or anything else that disrupts your easy lives. Americans will not suffer that for Kinmen alone. We will see who is right.”
“I am,” Dunne said without hesitation. “Read history, sir. A great many leaders who believed that Americans are weak because they live well has learned otherwise. And it won’t be ‘for Kinmen alone.’ When the American people hear that you shot down one of our pilots and tried to sink one of our carriers, they will not sit still. There may not be a war, but they will want to see you punished. And you still need our markets more than we need your factories. Your government’s political survival depends on them. Ours doesn’t.”
“The PLA will maintain order, as it always has,” Tian said.
“In the short run, I don’t doubt it. But the more of your citizens you kill, the more the free world will come to despise you. You have started your country on a spiral down, and you, President Tian, aren’t the man to stop it. And if it doesn’t stop, the Chinese century will be over before it’s even begun. You’ve threatened everything your country hopes to do for the next fifty years, and all you have to show for it is Kinmen, a wrecked stealth plane, dead pilots, and a terrible news story that Harry Stuart or the next president will release at the moment of his choosing. Eventually, the PLA and the party will see it.”
“I will be here long after you and your president are gone,” Tian said.
“Both of us retire in a few months, so that’s not saying much,” Dunne said. In saying it, he suddenly felt more free and unconstrained than he had in years. “But you’ve guaranteed that President Stuart’s successor will follow his lead in dealing with you. Our foreign policy toward China will be set in stone as long as you remain in office, and I think you’re going to find that Kinmen will weigh very heavily on you.”
“Your next president will not send your carriers here. We have finally tested our military against yours. We have seen our weaknesses and yours. We will correct ours. The next plane will succeed where this one failed. We have your stealth technology, we have Kinmen, and we are a step closer to Penghu. We will meet on more equal terms next time,” Tian said.
“Mr. President, the United States Navy just destroyed the most advanced plane in your arsenal. Your navy has not proven itself capable of taking on our carrier battle groups, and I have the president’s personal assurance that you will be seeing more of them in the future. As for seeing more of our weapons, I remind you that your air force was just introduced to our second-best fighter plane. Heaven help your pilots when they meet our first.”
“We held many weapons in reserve,” Tian said. “Your carriers would not have survived.”
“Perhaps not,” Dunne admitted. “But if you ever do manage to destroy one, all of China will pay a very heavy price for it.” Tian said nothing and Dunne let the silence hang for a good while. “President Tian,” he finally said, “our countries don’t have to be enemies.”
“Perhaps not,” Tian replied after a long moment. “But never friends as long as you help Taiwan defy us. The island must come home.”
“Make home a place where Taiwan feels welcome, and it will come on its own,” Dunne said. For that, Tian offered no reply, and Dunne let the silence hang in the air for a good long time. Time to go home, he finally told himself. “Do you have a message you would like me to pass to President Stuart?”
Tian looked up. “You may tell him that this is not over.”
“No, sir, it surely is not,” Dunne replied. “Good day, President Tian.” He bowed, turned his back to the Chinese head of state, and walked out of the office for the last time.
CHAPTER 19
The river was far larger than any Pioneer had ever seen. It was very wide and he wondered if it was the Potomac or maybe the James. A careless remark by a laborer at this plantation facility told him that he was in Virginia, but where exactly he didn’t know. He had seen maps of Virginia. So much US history had its start in this state, and much of that came back to those two rivers. From its width he could tell that he surely was near the Atlantic Ocean, but whether he was near Washington or Richmond he didn’t know. The west bank here — he had divined the direction from the sun’s lazy arc through the cloudless sky — was frozen red clay, and the erosion suggested the river was large enough to suffer from visible tides. He had been watching bits of ice flow past him for several hours now and had tried to imagine that it was the Yangtze to comfort himself. That failed him. Reality weighed too much on his thoughts. Pioneer would not be going home again. China was denied territory now.