Tipping Point

The Unites States and China vie for supremacy in the international marketplace as China seeks to become the global leader. A pandemic sweeping across the world send the markets spiraling into chaos, increasing the tension between the two superpowers. Armed conflict needs only a spark. Will China’s attempt to expand their territories into the South China Sea be the trigger that plunges the two mighty nations past the rhetoric and into a shooting war?

In an engagement that many had said was inevitable, the United States and China had exchanged opening shots. While conducting a Freedom of Operations mission, a US destroyer had been sunk by Chinese forces placed on a disputed man-made island. Twelve American sailors rescued from the waters were held captive by China, claiming them to be prisoners of war. In response, the United States mounted a rescue effort while also striking at the Chinese military installation. Fearing retaliation and to be in a position of strength, both countries sortied their fast-attack submarine fleets.

In the midst of China’s colossal buildup, the undersea battles for control of the South China, East China, and Philippine Seas continues. China and the United States have put a majority of their submarines to sea, both seeking to effect a winning solution. The dangers of China’s missiles persist, effectively keeping America’s mighty carriers away from the conflict. But time is running out, and an answer to the threat must be found if the United States hopes to retain any hope of keeping the South China Sea out of China’s hands.

Another American carrier was hit by the Chinese, this time from their vaunted hypersonic ship-killer missiles. The United States must respond or jeopardize losing the task forces meant to keep China from the South China Sea and Taiwan. In doing so, they run the risk of escalating the conflict beyond its current regional confinement.

North Korea had planned on waiting until China invaded Taiwan. However, with the American preemptive strikes, as outlined in Operations Plan 5015, provided the impetus for the massed Korean People’s Army to begin moving. Armored columns started out of their laagers, arrows aimed for the DMZ and beyond. The United States and South Korea sought to slow the tide threatening the peninsula.

Artillery duels between the allied forces in South Korea and the seven thousand guns of North Korea ranged across the DMZ. With much of the North Korean aircraft destroyed during the preemptive attacks, South Korean and American attack fighters sortied from bases to strike at the leading North Korean columns. Skirmishes broke out between forward screening units. Nerves were on edge as the major ground units of the north and south were about to collide head-on. Will the southern defenses hold? Or will the masses of the north force their way through?

With war threatening large on the Korean Peninsula, two massive convoys have departed Chinese ports. Dubbed the Northern and Southern invasion fleets, this collection of warships, landing vessels, and merchant ships are aimed straight at the island nation of Taiwan. First though, they must cross the Taiwanese Strait. Past the twelve-mile limit of China’s territorial boundaries, American submarines and bombers are waiting to pounce.