Chapter 3642: Perfect Public Relations

The Japanese press conference venue remained silent even after three bows.

Of course, the silence was mainly because, aside from the press conference spokesperson, there was no one else inside.

However, the White House press conference venue was already filled with cheers and exclamations.

The cheers were almost entirely from American domestic media; the impact of this matter was so great and so negative that, as American media, they naturally felt they could not save face.

But the Japanese press conference just now had already taken on the vast majority of the responsibility, which meant that the immense social and international public opinion pressure facing the United States was instantly relieved by ninety percent.

The exclamations came from the foreign media waiting to watch the spectacle.

Everyone wanted to see how the American spokesperson, facing questions like artillery fire, would quibble and distort right and wrong, but they did not expect them to use a move of "secretly moving the warehouse."

At this moment, looking at the spokesperson's expression, they already bore the smile of a victor.

She walked up to the podium amid everyone's astonishment, opened with a professional smile, and said: "The Japanese press conference just now, I believe everyone has already seen it clearly; everyone should also have some understanding of the specific situation. Then we will proceed to the segment of our press conference. Given that the Japanese spokesperson has already explained the matter very clearly, we will skip the announcement segment and directly enter the Q&A session."

The reporters below all raised their hands in succession.

The spokesperson scanned the crowd below, deliberately chose a Russian reporter, and said: "Please, the TASS reporter, ask your question."

The Russian reporter truly did not expect this matter to actually fall to them. Generally speaking, when everyone holds a live broadcast press conference, the Q&A segment will try to avoid media from countries hostile to oneself, lest these reporters not give face and publicly bombard; even if sometimes one has to name one or two reporters to ask questions, they are usually placed in a much later segment, and the time given is also very short, so naturally the attention is not high.

But now, tonight, with such a major event, they actually gave the first slot in the press conference Q&A to a Russian reporter—it was simply somewhat insane.

The Russian reporter, in a state of surprise and delight, immediately adjusted their mindset, picked up the microphone, and asked: "Spokesperson Young Lady, if I recall correctly, the Antarctic Treaty stipulates that no country may, for any reason, dispatch troops to Antarctica. Although the Japanese spokesperson just now explained the specific situation, I feel this is not a reasonable justification for the United States to send troops to Antarctica. If two countries simply collude and stage such a farce, would they not be able to openly dispatch troops to Antarctica? Moreover, this matter could clearly have been reported to the United Nations first, then let the United Nations decide whether to dispatch a joint force from a certain country or the United Nations itself to resolve it. Yet the United States and Japan bypassed the United Nations, unilaterally decided on a secret troop deployment—is the nature not somewhat too恶劣?"

The Russian reporter felt their question was watertight, and the other side had no direct rebuttal, because after all, whatever happened between you is your own business; sending troops to Antarctica is just wrong.

The spokesperson spoke without the slightest panic: "This Russian reporter friend should also have heard the Japanese explanation of the specific situation just now. They discovered large amounts of fuel disappearing from the icebreaker. We have reason to suspect these fuels were used on some exploration equipment, and also reason to suspect that the traitorous Japanese scientific expedition members took the fuel to cause environmental destruction. Moreover, no one knows what exactly they were doing in their exploration—what if it were terrorist activity? Once intervention is delayed, producing extremely恶劣 consequences, then who should be held responsible to Antarctica, to the world's people?"

The Russian reporter did not expect the other side to be so self-aggrandizing, and immediately said dissatisfied: "Your explanation is far too forced. I do not believe a group of scientific expedition members would do anything harmful to Antarctica or harmful to humanity."

The spokesperson coldly snorted: "That's because you fundamentally lack experience and lessons from frontline counterterrorism warfare. Think of 9/11—before the incident, who would have thought a few passengers would actually conspire to commit such a horrifying terrorist act? If we had strengthened security checks on all airline personnel beforehand, would you also accuse us of violating human rights?"

The Russian reporter was momentarily stumped, and could only say stiffly: "You are confusing concepts."

The spokesperson shook their head: "The United States has深耕 counterterrorism for many years. Using our President's words, no one understands counterterrorism better than us, and no one understands terrorists better than us. Therefore, we absolutely cannot wait until after the incident occurs to reflect on what we overlooked; we must eliminate all risks as much as possible from the source. The Chinese have an ancient saying: 'Fend off trouble before it arises.' I deeply agree with the philosophy behind this saying. Thus, under such extremely urgent circumstances, we simply did not have enough time to consult the United Nations, then go through a UN vote. Normally, the entire process would take at least forty-eight hours, and moreover, no one guarantees that after forty-eight hours the UN would necessarily pass it—what if, like your country, you exercise a veto during the voting process? Wouldn't the situation then be dragged out even longer?"

The Russian reporter stood up dissatisfied, saying: "I feel your speculation is an insult to us!"

The spokesperson shook their head: "I am not targeting any person or any country; I am merely saying that once this matter is not immediately decided and acted upon, countless possibilities could arise for delay or even cancellation. What if those traitors in Antarctica commit unforgivable acts, causing irreversible losses—losses not to Antarctica, but to all humanity?"

Saying this, she sighed, her expression serious, and said: "Of course, just as you just said, we indeed violated the Antarctic Treaty—this is an indisputable fact, and we are not preparing any quibbling. But everything, as the Japanese spokesperson just said, and as my explanation stands, our goal is not to maliciously send troops to Antarctica or maliciously violate the Antarctic Treaty; we are acting out of a sense of responsibility toward our allies, toward Antarctica, and toward all humanity. Therefore, on this matter, we will also submit a situation report to the United Nations. If the UN has any penalties, we will also willingly accept them. Of course, our soldiers on the front lines have indeed done some improper things—for example, under Japanese demand, they inflicted a certain degree of bodily harm on those scientific expedition members. We will also order the military to handle this seriously, and apologize to the victims and their families. Thank you, TASS reporter, and thank you everyone—next question."

The media reporters on site were all dazed; no one expected that the White House spokesperson, in just this first round, had already resolved almost all the problems.

Speaking to this extent, even if the reporters behind had prepared guns and cannons to attack them, they would find it hard to achieve the effect they originally wanted; indeed, one could say the United States has already achieved fire immunity on this matter.

No matter how hard they attack afterward, it will only be superficial scratches; even if in this situation they still cling on and fight desperately, it would make people feel they are being shameless.

Everyone knows the White House won a public relations battle that was originally extremely difficult—of course, mainly because Japan attracted firepower to support them.

Then, knowing the wind had shifted, the reporters no longer surrounded the previous questions about troop deployment and mistreatment of Japanese scientific expedition members, but instead focused on asking what these Japanese scientific expedition members actually did in Antarctica, what destruction and impact they brought to Antarctica, and when the U. S. military would withdraw from Antarctica.

For the White House, these questions were already no big deal, so the spokesperson also answered everyone's questions truthfully.

For example, regarding what those Japanese scientific expedition members were actually doing in Antarctica, the spokesperson told everyone: "Actually, we also haven't figured this out. Because everything they did was very strange—these people were exploring the Antarctic ice sheet, but what lies beneath the ice sheet, everyone knows, is nothing more than the original rock of the Antarctic continent; it's hard to get any fresh results. We will also continue to investigate deeply together with the Japanese side, and once we have any new discovery, we will immediately hold a press conference and announce it to the world."

As for the damage to Antarctica, the White House spokesperson said: "Regarding this damage, we currently do not have a very specific figure, but we know they have already conducted large-scale secret exploration in Antarctica for over a month, so the exploration range has already been very large. Therefore, if we want to assess damages, we may also need to slowly reconstruct their entire exploration process, and in this process discover problems—just as before, once we have any result, we will also announce it immediately."

Saying this, the White House spokesperson added: "As for the withdrawal issue, I can give everyone a very clear reply: we have already been organizing personnel and equipment, and will definitely complete the relevant preparations for personnel and equipment within twenty-four hours and leave the Antarctic continent. We will not leave a single soldier or bullet in Antarctica—please rest assured!"