The Bear and the Dragon

The Bear and the Dragon
First edition cover
Author(s)	Tom Clancy
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Jack Ryan universe
Genre(s)	Thriller novel
Publisher	G.P. Putnam's Sons
Publication date	2000
Pages	1028 pp (hardback edition) & 1152 pp (paperback edition)
ISBN	ISBN 0-399-14563-X (hardback edition) & ISBN 0-425-18096-4 (paperback edition)
OCLC Number	44502350
Dewey Decimal	813/.54 21
LC Classification	PS3553.L245 B42 2000b
Preceded by	Rainbow Six
Followed by	Red Rabbit

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 rivaling those 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. But China decides to speed up its plan to invade Siberia, which had been delayed after the defeat of Japan in the book Debt of Honor.

Plot summary

Sergey Nickolaievech Golovko, the chairman of the SVR and friend of President Ryan, is being chauffeured to Moscow Center in an armoured white Mercedes S-600 when somebody shoots at an identical car with an RPG7, killing the occupants. Due to the quick actions of his driver, a former Spetsnaz soldier, Golovko survives the incident, left to ponder whether the RPG was meant for him or not.

Meanwhile, a CNN news crew in the People's Republic of China witnesses the murders of the Papal Nuncio to Beijing, Cardinal Benato de Milo, and a Chinese Baptist minister, Yu Fa An, when the two attempt to stop Chinese authorities from performing a forced abortion on one of Yu's followers. In reaction, an international boycott is imposed on China. With its economy already struggling due to recent military expansions, China decides to hasten its planned invasion of Siberia in order to access newly discovered oil and gold fields. The operation includes an attempt to assassinate the Russian president, Grushavoy, and his top-ranking advisor.

President Ryan persuades NATO to admit Russia, and promises assistance against China to President Grushavoy. When the Chinese enter Siberia, the Russians repel their invasion force with help from the United States and its NATO allies, causing heavy casualties on the Chinese side. 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. Against his advisors' opinions, President Ryan decides to broadcast CNN's coverage of the war, plus direct feeds from U.S. reconnaissance drones, over a CIA website to counter the Chinese government's propaganda about the war's status and purpose.

Beijing's increasingly desperate leaders decide to ready their ICBMs for a potential launch. A joint NATO-Russian special operations team led by Rainbow operative John Clark is dispatched to destroy them. The team destroys all but two of the Chinese missiles. Of two that launch, one is shot down by an AH-64 Apache while the second heads toward Washington, D.C.. Ryan's family is evacuated, but Ryan himself decides at the last minute to stay behind on board a docked naval ship, the USS Gettysburg, which has an experimental anti-missile system. Ryan watches as the ship destroys the ICBM at the last possible moment.

Late at night, a group of students, spurred on by what they have witnessed through the CIA website, march through Tiananmen Square and invade a Politburo meeting, setting the stage for an overthrow of the government. A reformist Politburo member, Fang Gan, takes over and arrests the rest of the Communist leadership, ordering an immediate withdrawal of Chinese forces from Siberia. Fang then holds an open discussion with student leaders that starts China's transition to democracy.

References

• Clancy, Tom (2000). The Bear and the Dragon (1st ed.). G.P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 0-399-14563-X.