The Spratly Incident

Начало книги

A BLUE CALM SEA STRETCHED out to the west, and a warm, low haze lay placidly over the surface. Captain Daniel Ramos looked through binoculars out to the west. The BRP Rajah Lakandula, a Philippine navy Corvette, rolled gently in the long ocean swell.

It was a day for quiet, peaceful relaxation. It wasn’t a day for violence, but the day had other ideas.

He left the bridge and looked east; he could just make out the shoal. It was a low dark line on the surface around eight miles away. Captain Ramos returned to the bridge. He unhooked the intercom and called the control room.

“Lieutenant Commander Gomez, what’s she up to now?”

The Principal Warfare Officer looked at the radar screen.

Captain Ramos knew that out there to the west was a Chinese Luyang II class Destroyer, of the People’s Liberation Army Navy. She’d been making herself a nuisance all day, supporting China’s claim to the Scarborough Shoal. Ramos knew the shoal was Philippine territory.

Читать дальше →