Chapter 768 - 735: Double Act

United Nations.

Two days after the Enterprise had completed its landing, during the routine assembly, Germaine Ferrante requested to speak.

The other representatives didn’t find this surprising. Last month, China and Russia held a large-scale military exercise called "Peace Guardian-2018" at their border.

Perhaps because the Huayin Organization Treaty had brought them closer, the lineup for the exercise was beyond imagination. The total number of participating soldiers from both sides exceeded 30,000, they utilized over 1,700 armored vehicles of all kinds, and more than 500 helicopters, with both deploying their main air forces.

Of course, such an exercise had an abundance of aspects to analyze and unsurprisingly sparked at least a month-long media frenzy.

Everyone was wondering how America would respond, all eyes were on Germaine, watching her as she leaned toward the microphone:

"In view of the current volatile world situation and the numerous challenges humanity is facing, America believes that friction and confrontation are widespread in the world. We have always considered world peace to be the ultimate mission of any nation and hope to reduce and one day stop this confrontation."

The other representatives chewed over these lengthy words, which weren’t really that hard to understand. Who the friction and confrontation referred to was obvious. As for the pursuit of world peace, everyone unanimously ignored this term.

Russia’s representative Dimitri kept a poker face but had already anticipated what Germaine would say next. It was nothing more than pinpointing him or the Chinese representative as unstable elements. Internally, he was already planning a sharp counterattack.

He turned his head to look at Xu Rang, who had just returned from reporting back to his country. There was nothing revealing on his face.

The representative from the Island Country, Takamushi Koyo, was also keenly observing the entire time, his attention wandering among the three parties. As expected, he saw Germaine’s eyes meet Xu Rang’s, clearly a battle of wills.

Let the fight begin, let the fight begin...

Takamushi Koyo kept thinking this to himself, and most of the representatives in the room thought similarly. Such incidents had become rather common, although they typically ended with verbal spats.

In the midst of everyone’s anticipation, Xu Rang slowly began to speak:

"World peace does not exist in mere words. We note that relations between America and China are the cornerstone of world stability. One-sided peace does not exist; only through cooperative winning can we find the only way out."

Takamushi Koyo continued to speculate that Xu Rang was probably referring to trade barriers. That China’s exports had significantly decreased over the past six months was no secret—perhaps this was a form of pressure.

His gaze shifted back to Germaine, who seemed to have run out of patience for beating around the bush:

"America is always committed to promoting international cooperation. In the new era, space is the place where all of humanity is most likely to unite. However, the current forces of human space exploration are extremely scattered, with numerous redundant construction projects... America suggests that we negotiate the process of space development scientifically and efficiently under a unified framework."

Uh-huh...!

Both Takamushi Koyo and Dimitri’s appetite for drama momentarily stalled as they realized that Germaine wasn’t talking about the exercise after all.

How did the topic change to space?

Dimitri had a nagging feeling that something was amiss and instinctively looked towards Xu Rang and the UK representative. Both seemed just as puzzled, but Xu Rang still remained composed.

A bad premonition grew stronger, and then Xu Rang responded to Germaine as if they were performing a double act:

"China agrees with the proposal to resolve issues under a framework of peace and hopes for substantive changes internationally."

Germaine: "America hopes to establish a timely and comprehensive dialogue mechanism for space-related issues, allowing for more flexible and matching international space cooperation."

Xu Rang: "China agrees with this resolution and supports the development of solutions through regular dialogue."

The nearly full venue had almost become a stage for the dialogue between the two, while the other representatives watched flabbergasted, trying to comprehend its implications.

But those with a bit more mental agility had already realized a fact: the conversation between Xu Rang and Germaine was premeditated.

In the volley of responses, it seemed a new "order" was slowly taking shape, attempting to box in all forces trying to enter space.

Once Dimitri realized this, he finally broke his silence, hastily trying to join the discussion, but his attempts failed repeatedly.

Apart from him, the other representatives couldn’t get a word in and after several attempts, Xu Rang and Germaine "exchanged views amicably," stood up in agreement and left the room, leaving the rest to look at each other in bewilderment.

The French representative kept signaling Dimitri, trying to glean something from him.

The UK representative was pensive, seeking possible breakthroughs but also came up empty-handed and decided not to waste any more time, leaving the meeting.

What was left were just small groups who were astonished at what seemed to have been another momentous event. As the rotating chairman, the Brazilian representative, declared the meeting adjourned, they quickly left to spread the news to the media.

...

"What are the Chinese up to!"

The Kremlin received Dimitri’s transmitted information and immediately recognized the seriousness of the issue. After pondering, they inquired indirectly through the Huayin Organization.

This approach was simple since space issues discussed at the assembly would naturally affect the Huayin Organization’s cooperation. Asking as a member country didn’t seem abrupt and could also receive the unanimous support of other member countries.

Following Russia’s lead, representatives from other member countries chimed in with evaluations through tabloids and personal statements, probing China’s elusive attitude.

...

"This is a normal international interaction that doesn’t affect any agreements or purposes previously reached under the Huayin Organization. It is purely a rational trend to further expand human space efforts," He Tang told the gathered representatives from America, France, Italy, and Russia’s Beijing offices, without any evasion.

Previously, Lin Ju had mentioned to Zhong Cheng the possibility of cooperating with NACA. At the time, the higher-ups decided to wait for an opportunity to probe.

The spaceport construction industry meeting was the sign of such an opportunity’s arrival. Although it was a non-public meeting, there wasn’t actually a real intention to keep it top-secret; the news was bound to spread.

However, the developments were out of expectations. Following the successful landing of the Enterprise, America took the lead by making a transoceanic call on the pretext of extraterrestrial civilization and then hinted that the two countries should engage in official space cooperation to some extent.

The higher-ups, who already knew about the spaceport’s reliable construction challenges and the enormous financial and technical pressures, smoothly sailed with the current and almost unobstructedly consented to this proposal, leading to the scene at the United Nations that flouted common sense.

But America’s ambitions were even greater, even attempting to prepare in advance to restrain the overall human space efforts, planning to expand its scope by establishing some form of organization or mechanism.