Whose side?

Increasingly, academics are using fictional devices to grab the attention of readers. Thus, in 2005, Ted Galen Carpenter of the Cato Institute wrote America's Coming War with China, whose first chapter was 'How the War Began' in 2013, describing how a pro-independence leader of Taiwan precipitated war with the mainland, leading to hostilities between Washington and Beijing.

There were conflicting accounts of who fired the first shot. But a Chinese missile attack sank the USS Ronald Reagan, with the loss of the carrier, three other ships and 1,832 lives.

Last December, James Kraska, a professor at the US Naval War College, wrote a piece in Orbis magazine called How the United States Lost the Naval War of 2015. Kraska, a commander in the US Navy and an expert in international law, ostensibly recounts a conflict in which the Chinese destroyed the USS George Washington in the East China Sea.

In this fictional account, there was no war over Taiwan. In fact, there was no declaration of hostilities. Without warning, a Chinese anti-ship missile struck the George Washington, causing the carrier to erupt in a cataclysm and sink to the bottom of the East China Sea with the loss of 4,000 men and 80 aircraft.

Beijing denied carrying out the attack and claimed that an explosion on board the carrier had created 'a radioactive incident' in its fishing zone, 'spreading nuclear fallout throughout the air and water in the region'. China sent a flotilla to rescue survivors in the oily waters. 'The Chinese media,' Kraska wrote, 'reported on the bravery of Chinese naval forces, fisheries enforcement police and common fishermen who were able to save numerous lives.'

The political fallout from the war, which was over almost as soon as it started, ended 75 years of American dominance in the Pacific Ocean and cemented China's position as the Asian hegemon.