Chapter 735 - 709 Enterprise

On the early morning of July 4th, John concluded his visit and boarded a plane.

His trip wasn’t limited to just one destination; the visit was set to last a month and include multiple regions, which to the outside world seemed like normal diplomatic behavior.

According to the information available to the public, the primary purpose of John’s journey was to discuss space cooperation. The heads of both space agencies had appeared together multiple times in succession, clearly planning something.

The media speculated that the most likely event was the second explosion operation taking place a week later. This would be the first large-scale space mission involving direct cooperation between Huamei and America, with Artemis VI’s astronauts currently enjoying Chinese food on the Moon!

Such public opinion had drawn great concern from the other member nations of the Huayin Treaty Organization. Immediately after John’s departure, they proposed a new round of working meetings and began preparing their delegations without even waiting for a response from the host.

However, Lin Ju knew that the major breakthrough achieved during this visit was in trade.

"What do you think the reaction would be if we leaked this treaty? Would people think America has gone crazy?"

Standing before the hangar doors of his home base, Lin Ju and Ye Changsi discussed the news they had just received.

As the senior executives of the base were informed about alien civilizations, it was only natural for them to be granted the right to know about the negotiations, allowing them to learn about the secrets of the past few days through the Space Strategy Research Society.

According to Yang Zhongkai, America had made significant concessions this time. The number of brand-new Virginia-class attack nuclear submarines to be commissioned was slashed from the planned 66 to just 16.

This year’s newly launched SSN789 Indiana was the 19th ship of this class, which meant the American Navy would have to retire or mothball the first three submarines that entered service starting in 2004, which were practically brand new, cutting the construction plan in half.

As for the developing fifth-generation Columbia-class strategic nuclear submarines, whose construction was only approved last year, the plan to commission 12 vessels was put on hold. The current 18 Ohio-class strategic nuclear submarines must be reduced by six, a direct cut of one-third.

Beyond these two measures, the parties were also fiercely debating over limiting the number of aircraft carrier groups, trying to impose constraints on capital ships’ numbers too.

But the most astonishing development was America reversing its trade protection policy. The Federal Government was set to relax control over more than 900 categories of imports and allow mutual free investment, forbidding any non-commercial restraints on commercial competition.

John had set the timing for this adjustment to six months later, meaning that from January 1, 2019, the economic exchange between the two sides would be liberalized to an astounding degree.

America needed half a year to prepare for the impending product assault. Afterwards, companies that were already at peak competition within the country would rush into the Pacific Ocean’s opposite shore with capital flowing freely, products circulating without impediments, and business personnel entering without needing visas.

These conditions applied to both parties; there was no question of unilateral openness. Of course, the domestic front might also face an onslaught from America, but from a macro perspective, the discrepancy in industrial scale still largely favored our side.

After absorbing this information, Ye Changsi almost blurted out:

"A Huamei Friendly Trade and Navigation Treaty? It’s not that open, but it’s not far off."

Lin Ju, "Tariffs still exist, full visa circulation hasn’t been completely opened, and it’s a timed agreement; whenever America’s laser satellites are in the sky, the treaty naturally terminates... Hmm, we still don’t know what they’ll name it."

Ye Changsi, "That’s enough, more than enough. Three to five years is sufficient to change the economic structure. Besides, opening up is easy, blocking off is difficult."

Lin Ju, "Does it feel like we’re about to enter into a partnership with America?"

Ye Changsi, "We still enjoy most-favored-nation trade status now."

"..."

"..."

Right now, both were purely speculating. Only the draft had been decided upon, and the rest of the world would probably become aware by the end of 2018, which was when America would truly be ready to fulfill the treaty’s obligations and reveal what exactly the situation was.

Domestically, the vigilance had not been lessened. Although they agreed to limit the number of laser satellites, who could detect if a dozen or twenty were made in advance and stored in the warehouses, ready to be launched within months if needed?

The base was still working at full capacity to produce Thousand-Jin Stick Three (a modified version of Solar Flare), ensuring the pace of technological progression would not slow down.

If things went as expected, the next 5 to 10 years should see quite a pleasant honeymoon period. But that would be all.

Most people did not believe in fairy tales; rather, they placed their trust in the swords in their hands.

"Mr. Lin, Vice President Ye, we’re ready!"

An engineer wearing a safety helmet came over in an electric cart from inside the factory, moving the two men who had been chatting at the hangar door to a place further away.

Lin Ju stood outside the yellow caution line on the ground in front of the hangar, his eyes fixed on the hangar door which was slightly ajar.

The safety officer cleared the area in front of the hangar door of people, debris, and vehicles, then swung his signal batons toward the door.

Seconds later, the ground began to vibrate repeatedly and the massive hangar doors began to slide open, pulled by electric motors.

The brightness of the exterior sunlight made the inside of the brightly lit hangar appear quite dark, but the flashing yellow warning lights of the tow vehicle were still noticeable in the shadows.

As the hangar doors fully opened to reveal the vast space inside, the tow vehicle finally slowly emerged from the hangar, revealing the imposing object it trailed behind.

Resting on a low, split body trailer was a vessel of sharp angles that looked like a brutally collaged product of several geometric shapes, pulled out by the tow vehicle at a steady pace.

Though not as large on the ground as a big aircraft, its tall appearance and heavy design still inspired a profound sense of sturdiness, as if it were a giant statue carved from rock.

Who would think that such a seemingly heavy object had an empty weight of just over 50 tons?

The unveiling of the XN90 spacecraft wasn’t particularly lively, but its presence alone provided enough intimidation to the onlookers.

Engraved by laser next to the small side hatch below its cockpit were two flowing Chinese characters:

"Enterprise"

This was the official name for the first XN90 nuclear-powered Space Shuttle. In recognition of this era’s groundbreaking product, the space agency had specifically placed it into the category of space shuttles, aside from rockets, aero-space planes, and spacecraft.

Capable of freely traveling between a planet’s surface and space multiple times and possessing a certain level of self-sufficiency, able to land and take off from unpaved surfaces, liquid environments, and other varied scenarios, and adaptable to different planetary landing environments — this is the definition of a space shuttle.

Its name abandoned the convention of using personal names. Considering its main future role of docking at the Forward Space Station and undertaking landing missions on multiple extraterrestrial planets, it was named "Enterprise."

Advancing into space, vigorously forging ahead, never retreating.