War of 2020

The War of 2020 is a fictional conflict depicted in Battlefield 4 and its expansion packs between the United States of America, the People's Republic of China, and the Russian Federation.

Background
Admiral Chang Wei was a high ranking official in the People's Republic of China and an extreme conservative. He resented the American influence over China, and was outraged by Jin Jié's progressivism and idealistic ways. To prevent the progressive idealist from allowing even more Western influence over China, Chang set out to orchestrate a coup d'etat to assassinate Jié, which would then be blamed on the United States, in order to assume power. Knowing that the Chinese people would not believe his accusation should he make it, Chang planned to increase tensions between the people and the United States by causing an international incident at the Sino-Korean border.

Chang had Edward Cutler, who was an agent working as an official of the CIA, order US troops be sent to the border in order to extract a supposed defector from North Korea, code named Highbeam. During the extraction however, it was discovered that Highbeam had a bomb strapped to his chest. Before the Americans could react, the bomb detonated and they were then attacked by KPA forces. Chang then had Tsu Yuntao and his men plant the corpse of Chinese citizens at the site and had the bodies photographed along with those of the Americans to vindicate them in the incident and to spark outcry within China.

The lone survivor of the incident, CIA agent Laszlo Kovic, however, made it a point to investigate who and what was behind what had occurred at the border and discovered Chang's coup d'etat against Jin Jié as well as Cutler's betrayal in the process.

Course of Events
After having been declared the future leader of China, Jié's bodyguard, Chinese Secret Service agent Huang "Hannah" Shuyi took him to her village to meet her family and help spread his word of hope. Later that night, Chang sent Chinese special operatives to the village to assassinate Jié and all possible witnesses. Miraculously, Jié and Hannah made it out alive, but at the cost of Hannah's entire village and Jié had been severely wounded.

With Jié believed to have been killed, Chang announced that Jié's death was at the hands of the United States, using planted evidence at the Sino-Korean border incident and the Americans' botched operation in Baku to back his claims. He then declared martial law and sought the support of the Russian Federation, which was more than willing to comply, due to the events of the War of 2014.

Chang promptly ordered the assault on all nearby warships within the South China Sea. The USS Titan was one such ship that had been attacked and severely damaged by PLAN forces.

Briefly after Jié's assassination attempt, Kovic escorted him and Hannah to the Zhi Yu Tower in Shanghai, as foreign refugees were being gathered there on the order of Admiral Chang. Tombstone was ordered on a covert mission to safely extract the three to safety aboard the USS Valkyrie. While successful, Tombstone were left unaware of the true identities of Jié and Hannah. Before returning to the Valkyrie themselves, Tombstone herded a large group of refugees that had been stranded in the Shanghai bay due to an EMP blast toward the Valkyrie. Captain Garrison then set course for the nearby USS Titan which would have been able to accommodate the refugees.

Upon arriving at the Titan, the result of Chang's attacks is soon apparent. After neutralizing all enemy forces, the Valkyrie then sets a course for Singapore, where Tombstone infiltrated an enemy airfield, and fired a flare which would mark missiles striking the airfield. However, one missile hit the jeep, and prevented them from escaping. Taking advantage of the fact that she was not American, Hannah aided the Chinese forces who captured Tombstone, much to Irish's anger.

Recker and Irish are taken to a high-security Chinese prison in the Kunlun Mountains, where they are tortured and questioned by Bohai and Admiral Chang personally, but they refuse to leak information. Recker, after waking up in his cell, meets Dimitri Mayakovsky, who convinces him to join him in breaking out of the prison. Together they are able to overwhelm the Chinese guards and set all the prisoners free, including Irish. The three escapees are attacked by Bohai, Hannah, and the other guards, but Hannah shoots Bohai and the guards and reveals her true loyalty. They fight their way to a cable-car, but it is shot down by a Chinese helicopter, leading to Dima's death.

Hannah, Irish and Recker eventually reach Tashgar (on the way, Hannah earned Irish's trust after telling them the story of Jin Jié's attempted assassination), where they meet a USMC reconnaissance unit. After a brief conversation, Tombstone squad leaves and pave their way to a US FOB, where they strike a deal with Major Greenland. The deal was that if Tombstone was able to eliminate the Russian anti-aircraft batteries by collapsing the town's dam, they would be transported to the Suez Canal in order to reach the USS Valkyrie.

They succeed in their mission and are air-lifted to the Suez Canal where they parachute onto the Valkyrie. They engage PLA forces that had previously boarded the ship and rescue crew members, including Garrison, Pac, and Jin Jié. When PLA forces breach the room, Jin Jié convinces them to lay down their arms after revealing to them that he had not been assassinated, proving Admiral Chang's deceit. Chang, having found out that Jin Jié was still alive, started to fire upon the Valkyrie with his warship. Hannah, Irish and Recker head to Chang's ship via RHIB and plant C4 charges on the boat, but the detonator fails due to a faulty charge. Based on the player's decision, Hannah or Irish will sacrifice his/herself in order to save the Valkyrie. The player may also let the Chang's warship destroy the Valkyrie, resulting in the death of Pac, Garrison, Jin Jié, and the onboard crew.

Multiplayer
In  Battlefield 4' s multiplayer, the US, China, and Russia continue the fight in several regions across the world, including many parts of China and other Southeast Asian nations like North Korea and Thailand, along with  France, Russia, and Iran.