Chapter 326 - 319: Passing_1

"Red bean paste~ Personal Marseilles!"

Under the blue backdrop of the JAXA press room, Sakai Shinichiro along with a group of R&D staff from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, bowed in unison, making the camera only able to capture the tops of their heads and the linings of their clothes.

Five hours earlier, the launch pad prepared for the H-2B launch suddenly caught fire, the flames simply could not be extinguished, burning for over two hours, and the components of the burning material were complex, with the thick black smoke spreading spectacularly.

At that time, the H-2B rocket had already been fully fueled, and the launch center was all set for the possibility of an explosion at any moment, fortunately, although the fire was intense, due to the wind direction and rocket’s position, apart from smoking up the rocket body a bit, no explosion occurred.

Of course, the launch pad suffered, and right after the fire was out, at great risk, Sakai Shinichiro rushed to the scene and could tell at a glance that this launch pad was likely done for; it wouldn’t be ready to launch any rockets again for at least six months to a year.

JAXA is now organizing how to safely release the fuel that has already been loaded onto the rocket, which isn’t difficult under normal circumstances but now nobody could be sure if the rocket structure hadn’t been compromised and if it could suddenly explode into a cloud of smoke.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation, a hurriedly formed investigation team is on it, but it’s unclear when they will be able to get to the bottom of it, however, this doesn’t affect the public apology from the main members of JAXA.

The launch of the "Stork" cargo spacecraft, naturally, could only be postponed, but luckily there are quite a few contractors able to perform cargo supply, so the impact on the ISS isn’t too troubling.

But Sakai Shinichiro found himself at the center of public opinion. After Xiao Okada left, he became the chief engineer, and evidently the main party to be held accountable.

The latter could only keep bowing and apologizing, bearing the brunt for this undeserved disaster.

...

"Look at this, our ally. Do we still want to involve them in the Artemis Project? How absurd!"

At the Presidential Palace, John ranted about JAXA’s unreliability to his staff and once again dismissed the proposal some congresspeople had made to include the Island Country in the Artemis Project.

The staff hurriedly expressed admiration for John’s wise decision while also mocking the "Star of Asia" project with cooperation, and only then John was satisfied to end this topic.

"Boss, the bill should pass today. Are we really going to...?"

"Pio! You shouldn’t question my decisions!"

John interrupted Pio, who was somewhat uneasy, jabbing his four fingers together heavily on the oak table.

"I’ve said, we need to balance trade. In the past, the whole world has been sucking blood from us, everyone, that’s right! They’ve been taking illegal profits from America at the expense of our companies’ interests and taking over our markets with their unequal advantages.

We must change all that, establish new rules. We are the leaders in trade protection, entitled to punish them!"

The rest of the staff exchanged glances and lowered their heads without saying a word.

But that didn’t mean they couldn’t be silently critical. Generally speaking, it’s normal for a new official to make a forceful start by picking a target, but why sanction allies like Mexico, Germany, and the Island Country as well as harmless neighbors; was he going for indiscriminate attacks?

And restricting trade with the other side of the Pacific... Fine, limit our export of sensitive items, but limiting imports, restricting our number one trading partner??

However, even with their internal objections, they dared not show it, instead vaguely echoing the big boss, and then waiting silently for the subsequent reactions.

Fourteen hours later, on the morning of February 20th, American time, Congress passed a new round of trade and import-export tariff investigations against multiple countries.

...

"America initiates Section 232 investigations on imports and exports, involving amounts over 45 billion US dollars."

"Several companies are included in the list of sensitive types for import and export."

"Commerce Department plans to impose punitive tariffs of 67 billion US dollars on seven foreign enterprises, former official: America’s interests have always been stolen."

"The Pentagon urges the world to address the Meridian satellite network, with evidence suggesting that Xinyuan is attempting to control the world through AI."

"Xin’an Automobiles will face litigation including smuggling, tax evasion, and fraud, its smart driving technology is taking away citizens’ right to life."

"NATO demands a review of the exports of Italian and Spanish machine tools and processing centers."

"Aluminum ingots over 10,000 tons suspected of not meeting the customs declaration requirements have had their entry review procedures halted."

"..."

Perhaps it was the Dream Chaser incident that left John simmering with anger, and it also soured the mood of many Senators. When a series of bills were passed and meant to be taken seriously, the whole world was stunned.

This was especially true for the business and foreign affairs departments that were actively planning to expand trade with the new American government, and now they were in a state of shock.

These bills had not appeared out of nowhere, but it was well known that the American Congress always had a variety of absurd bills and preposterous ideas. This time’s weren’t particularly novel, after all, the top elites were rational and certainly would not do something so self-defeating... right?

But they were passed!

If these were to be complied with, a large number of exporters would suffer heavy losses. Just the fines, which were stricter than the next, could bankrupt a company, and some laws were even more outrageous, specifically naming individuals for legal detention and prosecution?

Whether John’s series of proposals could achieve their intended goals was uncertain, but they indeed caused chaos around the world.

Because these laws were completely against the tide of globalization that had been established since the WTO was formed. It seemed John wanted to halt goods imports and rebuild his own manufacturing industry for export?

That’s not how international trade works!

"What? You’ve also been sanctioned? World citizens aren’t even allowed to scroll through short videos?"

At B-level Base, Lin Ju had just gotten off the plane when he received a call from Zhang Yingming and learned that the American Commerce Department had updated its software restriction list, which naturally included TikTok, the international version of Douyin.

In this timeline, thanks to Lin Ju’s involvement and the thrust to promote satellite internet worldwide, TikTok had an early birth and started trending globally before January.

The appeal of short videos proved irresistible, but due to the novelty of its infrastructure, its momentum was still limited. Yet within just a little over a month, it faced sanctions.

Zhang Yingming: "Mr. Lin, although their officials told me it’s about user privacy and data issues, I think their target might not be TikTok. They might be more inclined to sever TikTok’s ties with Meridian’s satellite network."

Lin Ju: "..."

Alright, while the traffic was still worth its weight in gold, the Meridian satellite network had been working hard on promotion and had deeply integrated Douyin and TikTok. With the satellite network being sanctioned, the related TikTok naturally couldn’t escape unscathed.

Of course, as a world leader in technology and aerospace, Xinyuan was definitely a focus of attention, and what it faced was far more than this.

Firstly, all sections of Xinyuan involved in foreign business had been warned, even though Xinyuan didn’t have any direct operations in America.

The biggest impact in Europe was on the Veneto rocket project with the European Space Agency. According to some unspoken agreements, Italy and Spain opened up some processing technologies and material technologies for licensing and product importation, and Xinyuan had also gained some benefits from this.

Now NATO suddenly claimed that these materials might have potential military uses and demanded an investigation, adding further uncertainty.

However, Lin Ju wasn’t too concerned about this; even though they already had the engines for the Veneto rockets, without the control technology, they were nothing but single-use rockets. The European Space Agency would surely find ways to land the deal successfully, otherwise no one would benefit.

The real trouble, beyond trade restrictions, was the semiconductor embargo.

After blowing hot air for about a month, the US Commerce Department began to take action.

Intel’s various server chips were all banned for sale to the mainland, Nvidia’s several professional cards had orders to stop sales, and TSMC would limit chip foundry services to "unwelcome enterprises."

Clearly, all mainland enterprises involved in ternary technology research were "unwelcome," which was expected.

There was also the issue of several communications manufacturers being asked to stop exporting 4G baseband chips and technology licensing. Though not yet enforced, combined with John’s sweeping actions, it might well become a reality.

Obviously, this included the silent push by foreign manufacturers who felt the determination of the mainland’s development in ternary technology. Otherwise, it wasn’t possible for John’s first round of actions to come on so strong.

While Xinyuan’s business scope was hardly affected, the impact on the domestic front was significant. Ternary technology was not omnipotent, and most things, such as basic communication protocols, GSM technology, and ARM ecosystems couldn’t be completely changed.

These patent embargoes were effective; as long as the mainland kept in touch with the outside world and wished to do business, it had to acknowledge their power.

From this moment on, the threat behind the decade-long rapid development finally emerged. As the once deliberately nurtured cheap labor market began to climb to higher levels, it was destined to encounter comprehensive encirclement and suppression.