At 06.00 on February 18, 2001, the roar of the engines from twelve Russian-built SU-27s ripped through Vietnamese airspace. Within minutes burning phosphorus, shrapnel, and delayed reaction mines were falling on Vietnam's main naval base. Operation Dragonstrike had begun. The Far East was at war. The world was in crisis. Four days later American satellites detected Chinese nuclear missiles being prepared for launch.
This is an authentically and authoritatively constructed account in which the United States, Asia and Europe become dramatically and unavoidably enmeshed in the war. It has the page-turning quality of best-selling fiction, yet the events here make up a real- life scenario which horrifies Western defence planners.
Not since The Third World War by General Sir John Hackett (also published by Sidgwick and Jackson) sold 3,000,000 copies worldwide, has the timing been so right nor the need so great for this chilling future history.
Humphrey Hawksley is the BBC's Bureau Chief in China. Simon Holberton is the former Hong Kong Bureau Chief for the Financial Times, and Tokyo correspondent for the Melbourne Age. Few outsiders know China, Asia and their leaders better than they do. They have drawn much of the information about China's long-term intentions from published material in China. They have spoken at length to military experts for the vivid and authoritative descriptions of warfare and weapons technology.
Dragonstrike provides an insider's view of what the coming world crisis may be like. The Dragon will strike. Where, when, and how we don't know, exactly. But it will, and Hawksley and Holberton are convincing and compulsively readable in their predictions.