by by David "Hunter" Proeber

Republican Congressional leaders barked for a full scale declaration of war against China. Clinton argued that Taiwan was in no immediate danger of falling and that time was needed to determine if the Chinese could maintain such an air effort.

China wasn't about to risk a nuclear exchange and it had few accurate long range missiles. In fact, after the first 32 hours, Chinese missile forces were launching missile sorties that amounted to little more than psychological warfare. The real threat were the hundreds of old MiG-23s and MiG-21s that were dropping old iron bombs on automobile plants and shipping facilities.

Our military analysts argued China could keep the air pressure on for about one month. What was needed was a stopgap measure to attrite China's air defense without involving the U.S. in the next world war.

The Response

Clinton reacted by ordering the Seventh Fleet into action off the shores of Taiwan. The problem was that the Seventh Fleet was nowhere near Taiwan. It would take three days to arrive. The air force responded by drawing F-15Cs from Japan and Korea. Taiwan's self defense air force was gone. Putting Eagles on CAP over Taiwan was the only way to prevent Chinese MiG-23s from turning Taiwan's Wall Street into a slag heap.

Back in Korea, F-16 drivers were suddenly in the position of playing the part of A2A gurus. The F-16 had never been trusted to maintain long term air superiority for an entire region. The plane's radar wasn't a match for the F-15. But now there were no F-15s in Korea. Luckily, there was one E-3 AWAC on station.

North Korean military leaders had been watching the fracas with delight. They could sense the Americans' predicament. South Korea was outraged that the F-15s had been withdrawn. Their F-5s were good but were no match for the best MiG-29s flown out of the north.

North Korean leaders sensed an opportunity. With the world watching China slicing up Taiwan, there existed a possibility that a lightning-like raid into Seoul could be used to negotiate a reunification of the two countries under terms quite positive to the north.

North Korean leaders knew that Communism was dead and that the North was probably only another year away from anarchy. Only last year, the current government had bought off three military generals who had threatened a coup if certain political reforms weren't put into effect.

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Military leaders inside the North had been calling for negotiations for reunification of the two Koreas. The government felt there was little to negotiate as it knew businessmen in the south weren't really interested in feeding the starving masses to the north.

The north, after all, was a fine buffer between the South and China and the status quo guaranteed continued profits for the rich capitalists in the south. Despite outward appearances, powerful businessmen in the South were quite happy with the current situation.

The Y2K problem hadn't been a big problem for the North. They couldn't afford advanced technology in the first place so their military was about in as a good a shape as ever. The issue was more severe in the south.

Despite warnings from U.S. advisors, the south's defensive listening posts relied on an antiquated computer system that interfaced with positions along the DMZ. While local commanders knew what was going on in their sector, they couldn't coordinate three powerful U.S. M1A1 battalions south of the DMZ with their own forces after January 1.

The strike from the north began at 2:00 a.m. Within four hours DPRK armor units had quietly slipped through the DMZ, bypassing the south's crashed computer defense system. Not one shot had been fired. For Abrams units operating between the DMZ and Seoul, the first word of trouble came when Mi-24 Hip helicopters came slashing out of the northwest. Rocket attacks had also been carefully coordinated.

It looked like the beginnings of World War III.

Go to Part III: Intel