Teguina started talking, a long, completely unintelligible diatribe. The interpreter tried to tell Yin what the man was saying but was stopped by a sudden outburst of anger as Teguina angrily spit out his words. “He said he wants an explanation of why the Chinese government has made an alliance with Vietnam for the Spratly Islands,” the interpreter finally said. “He is angry that his country has lost all rights to the Spratly Islands to the Vietnamese.”
“What is he talking about?” Yin asked angrily. “We did not make a deal with Vietnam for anything!”
“Mr. Teguina says that Vietnam abstained in a recent vote of the Association of South East Asian Nations,” the interpreter said, “and the rumor that was passed to the Agui- naldo government was that the Chinese government made a deal with Vietnam to give them rights to the Spratly Islands in exchange for blocking a key vote.”
Yin was about to rebuff the accusation, but the words died in his throat. That
“I assure you,” Yin calmly told Teguina, “that our alliance is firm and there is no duplicity involved. The vote to censure us was defeated in ASEAN because the members believe in what we’re doing, not because of any back-room deals, especially with the reprehensible Vietnamese government…”
But Teguina didn’t seem to be waiting for the interpreter to finish; he began lashing out more accusations. “He is saying that his alliance is ruined, that the Chinese are out to get him, that he can trust no one…”
“Calm yourself, Mr. President,” Yin said via the interpreter. “We will brief you on our preparations for assisting your forces to retake Davao, and we will give you a tour of our flagship. You may even speak to our officers. They will all tell you that they fully support your government in this struggle.” That seemed to mollify Teguina a little, and he allowed himself to be escorted out of Yin’s office to the Battle staff briefing area.
But as they were leaving, with Teguina well out of earshot, Yin grabbed Captain Sun and hissed, “Get headquarters’ political section on the line immediately. I want to find out about the ASEAN vote and the status of Nansha Dao. Do it immediately.”
The President of the United States had extended his hand to greet United Nations ambassador Deborah O’Day as she walked into the Oval Office, but by some sort of sudden urge he found himself giving her a cordial hug. “Welcome back home, Deborah,” the President said, guiding her to a chair. Secretary of State Danahall, Secretary of Defense Preston, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Curtis, and several members of the House and Senate armed services committees stayed on their feet until O’Day was seated, then took their place around her. “You’ve had a hell of an ordeal, haven’t you?” “Dealing with the ASEAN representatives and the Chinese delegation has been tougher than getting kidnapped by Samar’s rebels,” O’Day admitted. She extended a hand, and her aide placed a leather-jacketed folder into it. “Mr. President, I’ve been given a communique by the Chinese government, a reply to your last message requesting withdrawal from the Philippines.”
“I take it by your tone that it’s not good news.”
“I haven’t read the letter itself, sir, but the Chinese ambassador was not cordial. I think it’s bad news.” The President took the folder, broke the seal, initialed the original Chinese- language version of the letter and placed it aside, then read the United Nations and State Department translations.
“Just as we thought,” Taylor said wearily. “China rejects our demands for an immediate withdrawal. They say they are in the Philippines with the permission and full sanction of the Philippine government, and the American involvement there is illegal meddling in the internal affairs of another government. They say they do not know the whereabouts of Arturo Mikaso and said we should make inquiries with the Filipino government as to his status, but as far as they are concerned Daniel Teguina is in charge and Jose Trujillo Samar has no authority in the government.
“They regret the attacks on our aircraft and warships, but in the current unstable world climate such interference should have been anticipated and therefore we should carry as much of the blame for the loss as they…”
“Bullshit,” Curtis murmured.
