The Bear and the Dragon

The Bear and the Dragon

First edition cover
Author	Tom Clancy
Language	English
Series	Ryanverse
Genre	Thriller novel
Publisher	G.P. Putnam's Sons
Publication date	2000
Publication place	United States
Pages	1028 pp (hardback edition) & 1152 pp (paperback edition)
ISBN	ISBN 0-399-14563-X (hardback edition) & ISBN 0-425-18096-4 (paperback edition)
Preceded by	Rainbow Six
Followed by	The Teeth of the Tiger

The Bear and the Dragon is a political thriller novel by Tom Clancy featuring Jack Ryan. It was published in 2000.

Plot introduction

In the book Jack Ryan is President of the United States. After Russia discovers oil fields the size of the Persian Gulf in Siberia and gold deposits just as big, it looks as if the struggling Russian economy is on the road to recovery. China decides to speed up its plan to attack Siberia which had originally been delayed after the defeat of Japan in the book "Debt of Honor".

Plot summary

A roving CNN news team captures in China the murderer of Renato Cardinal di Milo, the Papal Nuncio to Beijing, and a Chinese Baptist minister, Yu Fa An. They attempted to stop Chinese authorities from performing a forced late-term abortion on a member of Yu's congregation. As a result, the world boycotts trade with the PRC. With its economy struggling due to recent military expansions, China decides to hasten its planned invasion of Siberia to access the abundant newly discovered oil and gold fields, attempting to murder the Russian President and his top-ranking advisor in the process.

In an attempt to dissuade China from invading Russia, Ryan persuades NATO to admit Russia, and personally promises assistance to Russia's President Grushavoy. China invades despite international assistance pledged to Russia. Russia opposes this and eventually wins through help from the United States Army, Air Force and NATO allies, completely annihilating two Chinese Shock-Army formations and severely damaging two others. The U.S. Navy attacks the Chinese mainland coastal defenses, and destroys much of the Chinese navy's aging fleet while it lies in port. Ryan decides to broadcast CNN's coverage of the war, plus direct feeds from U.S. reconnaissance drones, over a CIA web site to counter propaganda that is being spread by the Chinese government about the situation of the war; despite what his advisors say. This decision becomes important later on as events develop.

As the war turns against China, Beijing's increasingly desperate leaders decide to ready their ICBMs for a potential launch. A joint NATO-Russian special operations force (including Rainbow), led by John Clark, is dispatched to destroy the ICBMs. The force destroys all but two missiles, one being shot down by an Apache during launch; the remaining one being targeted at Washington, D.C.. Ryan's family is evacuated, but he decides at the last minute to stay behind on board a Navy ship docked in Washington that has an experimental anti-missile system. Ryan watches as the ship successfully destroys the ICBM just before it was set to explode over Washington.

Meanwhile, CNN's coverage of the near-destruction of Washington has been broadcast on the CIA website and has been seen by several thousand Chinese citizens who have been following the war. Late at night, a group of students, who have become enraged over the Chinese leadership's handling of the war after watching the CIA website, march through Tiananmen Square and successfully invade a Politburo meeting, leading to the fall of the government. A reformist Politburo member, Fang Gan, takes over and arrests the men behind the invasion, Premier Xu Kun Piao, Minister Zhang Han San and Marshal Luo Cong. Fang also orders an immediate withdrawal of Chinese forces from Siberia, and then an open discussion with student leaders that starts China's transition to democracy.

References

• Clancy, Tom (2000). The Bear and the Dragon (1st ed. ed.). G.P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 0-399-14563-X. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)