China:The Aztlan Protocol

Book excerpt: A very realistic geopolitical thriller, with all the elements of hybrid warfare, that begins with a murder. In Beijing, the delayed 22nd Communist Party Congress offers an opportunity to the PLA. The elite power brokers and party elders are unable to agree the new leadership line-up. The political stand-off starts fueling international tension surrounding Taiwan and the Diaoyu Islands. The PLA, taking advantage of the situation, seeks to bring matters to a head and resolve the Taiwan, South China Sea and Diaoyu island disputes by force. Or is it that simple? The ambition and designs of China create opportunities for others. In Mexico City, a multi-billionaire uses the conflict to further his ambitions for Mexico. In a diplomatic initiative with echoes of the 1917 Zimmermann Telegram, China makes a move to ensure Mexican and wider Latin American support for China. The implications dawn on a shocked America. As China unleashes its accumulated reserves of financial, economic and diplomatic power, will the debt-burdened and divided United States be able to respond? Will China’s massive gold and foreign exchange reserves and its dominance in global trade and world GDP help it prevail? The US finds itself isolated in confronting China. The Pentagon's attempts to gain the upper hand display a hopeless misunderstanding of the nature of the challenge. As World War Three threatens, is conflict with China inevitable? The First Battle of the Philippine Sea was a decisive naval battle of World War II, which eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy and decided the war. Will the Second Battle of the Philippine Sea be the decisive naval battle of World War III? In the tradition of all great naval battles both sides will try to inflict a strategic disaster on the other, while avoiding such a fate themselves. Will victory favor the aggressive leadership and battle plan of the Americans or the conservative battle plan of the Chinese? As the crisis deepens and war looms, both sides field their latest technological secrets, in an unseen war in space and the cyber-sphere, as each seeks the virtual high ground in this prescient technothriller. Will we witness a reordering of the international hierarchy - the yielding of global hegemony - as an old empire attempts to replace the new and reclaim its rightful position? Is this fictional account of a clash between the United States and China - that has the unsettling qualities of a techno thriller deploying real and recognizable technical, financial, and military developments discernible today - what we can expect in 2032?