by Dale Brown
formation and could easily be expanded and fortified-it would be an even
larger island than Spratly Island itself. If Yin was tasked to pick an
island to occupy and fortify, he would pick Phu Qui. So might someone
else. . "Send Wenshan and Xingyi to investigate the contact, " Yin
ordered. "Rotate Manning north to take Wenshan '5 position." Manning
was the other Hainan-class patrol boat acting as "rover" in Yin's patrol
group. Captain Lubu acknowledged the order and relayed the instructions
to his officer of the deck for transmission to the Wenshan. Yin, who had
been in the People's Liberation Army Navy practically all of his life,
was proud of the instincts he'd honed during his loyal career. He
trusted them. And now, somewhere deep down in his gut, those instincts
told him this was going to be trouble. Granted, Phu Qui Island, and
even the Spratlys themselves, seemed the most unlikely place to expect
trouble. The Spratlys-called Nansha Dao, the Lonely Islands, in
Chinese-were a collection of reefs, atolls, and semisubmerged islands in
the middle of the South China Sea, halfway between Vietnam and the
Philippines and several hundred kilometers south of China. The
fifty-five major surface formations of the Spratlys were dotted with
shipwrecks, attesting to the high degree of danger involved when
navigating in the area. Normally, such a deathtrap as the Spratlys
would be given a wide berth. Centuries ago Chinese explorers had
discovered that the Nansha Dao was a treasure trove of minerals-gold,
iron, copper, plus traces or indications of dozens of other metals-as
well as gems and other rarities. 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
weatherbeaten 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 1 980s 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
PeopIes Republic of China. China had built a hard-surfaced 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 se
veral 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... Admiral Yin cut him off. "These
people aren't worth the aggravation of an explanation. Have you
forgotten that I'm in charge of this area? It is my responsibility to
protect our territory." Yin shook his head angrily. "The brazenness of
this is what's so astounding to me. Don't they remember history? Hasn't
there been enough of their blood shed over these islands? Have they
gone senile? Well, let's remind them of the full power of this force."
Yin turned to Lubu. "Captain, relay to Captain Han on Wenshan: 'You are
ordered to move within one thousand meters of the platform so as to
provide sufficient lighting and covering fire from your deck guns, then
dispatch a boarding crew to take the captain, officers, and other
personnel on board the derrick into custody. After the crew is removed
from the barge, you will destroy the entire facility with heavy gunfire.
'To Xingyi: have them move closer and be ready to assist. To the rest
of this task group: 'go to general quarters." Relay the messages and
execute."
"Number-one launch is manned and ready, sir, " the officer 0f( the deck
reported. "The chief reports davits for launch number three are fouled;
he recommends switching to launch four."
"So ordered. I want that launch freed up as soon as possible. Have
other launches checked and report status to me immediately." Han wasn't
going to say why-he was afraid they might need the damned launches for
themselves. A few minutes later, with the ~nshan barely maintaining a
close and comfortable position away from Phu Qui Island, the motor
launches were lowered overboard. Each wooden launch, forty feet long
and eight feet wide, carried a crew of three and eight sailors armed
with AK-47 look-alike Type 56 rifles and sidearms. The launches were
only a few dozen meters away from the Wenshan when the world seemed to
explode for Admiral Yin, Captain Han, Captain Lubu, and the rest of the
task force. The engines on the Wenshan had been racing back and forth in
response to the helmsman's attempts to hold the ship's position steady.
Han had been watching the number-four motor launch moving away from the
ship and did not hear his crewman's warning: "Shoal water! Depth three
meters . . depth two meters... depth under the keel decreasing." From
the barges on Phu Qui Island, bullets began pelting the starboard side
of the Wenshan as the crewman aboard the oil-derrick barges fired on the
approaching launches and at the Wenshan itself. Captain Han had not
heard the shoal-water warning. He ran back into the bridge. "Radio to
Hong Lung, we are under fire from
the oil barges. "Captain, depth under
the keel...!" Suddenly the Wenshan was pushed laterally toward the
island and struck a coral outcropping surrounding Phu Qui Island. The
patrol boat heeled sharply to starboard, the sudden, crunching stop
flinging every crewman on the bridge off his feet. The gusting winds
only served to push the Wenshan harder against the coral, and although
the brittle calcium formations gave way immediately under the
four-hundred-ton ship, the sound of straining steel combined with the
howling winds and the cries of the surprised crewmen made it seem like
the end of the world was at hand. The officer of the deck had raised his
headset microphone to his lips and shouted, "Comm, bridge, relay to Hong
Lung, we are under fire, we are under fire.. ." Then amid the tearing
and crunching sounds: "We have hit the reef, we have hit the reef." But
the message transmitted to the rest of the task force group by the
startled and terrified radioman was, Wenshan to Hong Lung, we are under
fire. . . we have been hit." ABOARD THE FLAGSHIP HONG LUNG When the
warning from the Wenshan pierced the air in the bridge of the Hong Lung,
Admiral Yin spun on his heels to Captain Lubu and shouted, "Order
Wenshan and Xingyi to open fire, full missile and gun salvo." Lubu
wasn't going to question this order-he had been fearing just such an
occurrence. He quickly relayed the command to his officer of the deck.
Seconds later the stormy night sky erupted with flashes of light and
streaks of fire off in the distance. Using their sophisticated Round
Ball fire-control radar, the fast attack craft Kingyi had maintained a
continuous attack solution on the barges with their Fei Lung-7
surface-to-surface missiles. As soon as the warning cry had been issued
by Captain Han on Wenshan, Captain Miliyan on Xingyi had ordered all
missiles and guns made ready for action. When he received the message
from Admiral Yin, the Fei Lung guided missiles were in the air. The
Flying Dragon missiles received initial course guidance from the Round
Ball targeting radar, and a small booster engine ignited that punched
the twenty.two-hundred-pound missile out of its storage canister. After
flying a hundred yards away from the ship, the big second-stage
