Levels of Power

The Diplomat

Levels of Power: The Diplomat The demand for oil and natural gas is never ending, and the South China Sea possesses the largest underwater stockpile in Southeast Asia. Nearly every country in the ASEAN organization (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) cross-claims portions of the islands and riffs dotted throughout the sea. However, all must beware of their largest neighbor, China, who also claims nearly all of the same body of water for its own use. When war breaks out between China and Vietnam, the United States and India prepare to honor their mutual defense treaties with Vietnam and to keep the shipping lanes open to their merchant fleets. United States Senator Randy Fisher is in Southeast Asia to attend the ASEAN annual conference and is the only American in the theater who can prevent a full-scale war. His strained relationship with the current American president is nearing its own breaking point over their domestic policy differences. With little support from the White House, he risks his career and perhaps his life to prevent naval forces with nuclear weapons from confronting each other in one of the busiest bodies of water across the globe. From the Philippines to Brunei, Vietnam, and into the heart of the Chinese Communist government, the American senator will travel to unravel the well-made plans of the architects for Chinas military expansion into the South China Sea.