Chimera

The PM was shocked to hear all of this from his two senior ministers.

“How dare you?!” he said finally. “You created your own operations outside the realm of what this government’s policies were and precipitated this war! If your men hadn’t entered Tibet then we would not be in this situation right now!” the PM pounded the table.

“How dare I?” Chakri shouted back. “May I remind you of Beijing’s genocidal activities in Tibet in the last year? Or the reasons why the revolts began in Tibet in the first place? Is this nation and government not to stand for anything anymore for the sake of maintaining status quo in Tibet? The Dalai Lama is dying. And he may very well die in the next few months. If that were to happen, are we to sit idly by while Beijing replaces him with a puppet of their liking? Are the Tibetans to have no say in the fate of their culture at all? And more to the point, have you forgotten what Beijing did to our nation in 1962? How dare I? How dare you? How dare you forget what Beijing is and has been towards our nation and the Tibetans?”

“Gentlemen! Please!” Ravoof shouted at the top of his voice and brought the room to a tense silence. The PM was still fuming. So was his Defense-Minister…

“Everybody please calm down and take a deep breath here,” Ravoof continued. “We need to be united if we are going to lead this country out of this war in one piece. Regardless of what the Tibetans did from our soil to support their revolt and whatever it is that we did to support them is now no longer relevant. That was months ago. This war is now and no longer about that, as much as Beijing tries to raise it. For now, the Chinese military aggression is what must be controlled. Now where are we on that?”

Ravoof looked to Chakri who stopped fuming and sighed:

“We are finally taking control of the skies above the battlefield across the board. The air-force has secured airspace over southern Tibet. The Chinese are still launching stand-off cruise-missiles at us, but that is the limit of their aerial offensive capabilities at this point. They have taken enormous losses against us. They may decide to bring in units from the mainland as reinforcements, however.”

“And what are the chances of that happening?” Ravoof asked.

“Very much possible,” Chakri responded. “By all accounts we have reports that three mainland-based Fighter Divisions are showing increased deployment activities. These could be pegged for movement to the TAR. These units are based off the Taiwan and Korean coastal areas. The fact that China is thinning these forces out is surprising to say the least.”

“Indeed,” the NSA added. “They are definitely keeping very strict tabs on the news about the war for their own populace. The average Chinese out in the paddy field is still under the impression that the war is going well and that they are on the verge of defeating our forces. I suppose if we make some dramatic strides from the military standpoint, we might be able to bring Beijing to the negotiating table. In which case they might consider keeping their intact forces from getting mauled to use them as a negotiating buffer.”

“I doubt that will happen,” Chakri added.

“What if we declare that we are willing to negotiate an end to this war?” the PM said finally. “I know that is not a topic you want to discuss but it’s certainly a topic that I want to discuss! If we requested negotiations, would they be willing to talk?”

The PM turned to the UN Ambassador. The latter shook his head:

“Unlikely until they are in a position of advantage on the battlefields. And based on what I have heard just now, that is not the case. They might talk, but they will start with a long list of conditions designed to give them an advantage in the near future on the military side of things.”

“I agree with that.” Ravoof intervened and continued: “With the kind of mess the C-M-C has created for itself on the ground, they are probably very annoyed with us right now and will not allow this war to end until they have reclaimed at least some sense of victory. Right now, they are fully aware that we control most of Chumbi valley and their only ground gains have been inside a third country, Bhutan…”

“Which they invaded preemptively and without provocation!” the UN Ambassador interjected. Ravoof nodded at that addition:

“Right. Which they did without provocation. So even the idea of an end to hostilities is not something Chairman Peng can take to the senior military commanders as a workable option. Bear in mind that the civilian control in China during wartime is purely a façade. By all accounts it is clear to us that the Defense-Minister and Colonel-General Liu are calling the shots over there. And they are not happy.”

“Liu,” Chakri tried to remember that name. “Isn’t he the guy commanding the 2ND Artillery Corps?”

“Yes he is,” the NSA added quietly.

“2ND Artillery Corps?” the PM asked.

“Their nuclear forces,” the NSA explained and the PM grew even more worried…