We’re Watching China

“[The U.S. has] had a presence in the Western Pacific and the South China Sea for 50 to 60 years, even going back before World War II,” Rear Adm. Tom Carney, who is leading the naval exchange, told reporters in Danang [Vietnam], according to the Associated Press. “We have no intention of departing from that kind of activity.”

This was the conclusion of Patrick Barta’s July 16th article “U.S., Vietnam in Exercises Amid Tensions With China” in The Wall Street Journal.

The article began by announcing a series of joint naval exchanges between the U.S. and Vietnam. These exchanges have apparently been planned for some time, although they have taken on more meaning due to China’s increasing insistence on its claim to the South China Sea, including the Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands, despite claims in part by several other Asian countries.

In the new eBook-only novel LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS (written by myself and Mitch Miller), LCDR Sanders first works with the Coast Guard in the port of Los Angeles to prevent a terrorist attack.

Then she maneuvers her way onto a submarine sent on a reconnaissance mission to the South China Sea. The sub first stops at the Paracel Islands, and when it reaches the Spratly Islands, LCRD Sanders’ life is in danger.

No, this is NOT an instant novel. The truth is that the South China Sea has been an area of concern for many years for the U.S.

The screenplay “Lt. Commander Mollie Sanders” (dealing with the sub mission) was a 2005 quarterfinalist of the Nicholls Fellowship competition run by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the same people who present the Oscars.)

As China’s military ambitions have grown, so has the threat to the peace in the South China Sea. In January 2007 Mitch and I attended the U.S. Naval Institute conference held in San Diego. Even then the presentations focused on the U.S. Navy’s concerns for the Pacific theater.

The growing tensions between the U.S. and China parallel in some ways the tensions between the U.S. and Japan that grew during the 1930s. And to a large extent these tensions are over the same issue – OIL!

On December 7, 1941, the U.S. was taken by surprise when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor even though the Japanese had already militarily expanded into Asia. This time the U.S. will be ready for China if that country decides to militarily expand into Asia.

China, we’re watching you.

Get an eBook of this timely novel now for only $2.99 in formats for the Kindle, the Nook, Sony’s Reader, the Kobo, your computer, etc. at http://budurl.com/MollieSandersebooks

(And if you do read the book and like it, please write a review on the ebook’s Amazon page.)