Fourth Crisis: The Battle for Taiwan Read Online Free PDF Page B

Arcades jutted from colonial and Chinese style storefronts, and sheltered
pedestrians from the hard rain as they strolled along the red tile sidewalks and
beside endless rows of parked motorbikes.   Taipei, kissed by warm sea breezes and the hot sun, and with, nearly
seven million people crammed in, it comprised the economic, cultural,
industrial, and political heart of the Taiwanese nation.
    Taipei’s metropolitan area sat at the northern tip of the
island, blooming on the Danshui River between the Keelung and Xindian river
valleys.   Land was scarce, so every inch
of the cityscape had been utilized, with neighborhoods that sprawled in a
jumble of lanes and backstreets.   Crisscrossed by high-speed rail and highways, the city was served by an
international airport—Taoyuan/Chiang Kai Shek—as well as one that handled
domestic and trans-Strait traffic: Taipei Songshan.   Southeast of downtown and across the Danshui
River sprawled the Jhongjheng District, the capital’s civic soul.   Surrounding the city, scattered among its
fields and on its hilltops, a ring of air defense sites stood guard.   A road climbed a hill on the eastern side of
Taipei.   It switched back and forth
through a dense and steep stand of trees, and then emerged at the gate and
electrical fencing of Songshan-East Air Defense Site #2.
    This air defense site, known as ‘Hill 112’ for its altitude
in meters, guarded Songshan Airport and the eastern part of the capital from
aerial attack.   Hill 112 comprised a
cruciform reinforced concrete platform and a massive bunker built into the
hill.   Atop the platform stood a rotating
radar antenna, three anti-aircraft guns, and a single surface-to-air missile
battery.   A parking lot doubled as a
helicopter landing pad, and camouflage netting draped over an observation tower
precariously perched on the hill’s slope.   Two airmen occupied a machinegun position guarding the main gate.   In command of Hill 112 was Republic of China
Air Force Senior Master Sergeant Li Rong Kai.
    Senior Master Sergeant Li left the command bunker to get
some fresh air.   He was young, tall, and
thin, but with hard, intelligent eyes.   He took a deep draw of the wet, warm summer air.   It would be a beautiful day if not for the
unfolding events, a day when he and his family might have driven to a mountain
park for a picnic.   Li drew the delicate
fragrance of plum blossoms into his nose and tasted its sweetness on his
tongue.   He brought binoculars up to his
face and focused on the cityscape.
    The usual buzz of the capital—its heartbeat—was clearly subdued.   People had skipped work to hoard supplies and
huddle around televisions.   Li panned
away from the hazy view of skyscrapers and fixed his magnified gaze on the
building where he lived with his wife, young daughter, and mother.   Li hoped his family had left by now for their
farm on the eastern side of the island.   Traffic
had clogged the highways for hours to days, so the journey was sure to be
long.   Li prayed it would end with them
safe.   Although he had left them just
yesterday, it felt like days.   Buses
roamed the city to collect Taiwan’s airmen, marines, sailors, and
soldiers.   They packed into the
sweltering coaches that drove them to marshaling areas and waiting trains.   Li’s bus had met another that then dropped
him at a junior high school parking lot where a Humvee and driver waited.   During the short drive to Hill 112, they
passed one of Li’s favorite restaurants, an Italian eatery where he and the
wife would steal away for a romantic dinner.   Li wondered if he would ever dine there again.   He continued his stroll around Hill 112.
    ◊◊◊◊
    A lone Chinese J-15 Flying Shark banked over the golden
Bohai Sea.   Off the warplane’s right wing
menaced the massive Chinese mainland, and, to its right was the Korean
Peninsula.   A menacing twin-engine heavy
fighter, the Flying Shark sported dark-blue tiger stripes