Chapter 796 - 752 Replacement

Victoria Province.

Lu Jianfei arrived at the manor on time and noticed that the other party was a bit later than usual.

However, more importantly, the main person in charge had been replaced.

"Hello, I’m the new leader of the negotiation team, Andrew Beckett."

He was a bald white man in his forties with a very strong military presence, actively greeting Lu Jianfei.

After a courteous handshake, they took their seats, and Andrew continued,

"Kevin has returned to his country for a normal staff rotation, and I will continue his work. I am well aware of the situation, so please don’t worry."

A few forced smiles crossed Andrew’s face, while the person sitting with him still had a stern expression, showing no emotion.

Conversely, on Lu Jianfei’s side, everyone wore genuine smiles.

The space arms negotiation was an extremely complicated process, requiring not only military personnel and strategic experts but also a large number of scientists and cosmologists to offer advice and strategies. After all, the topic was too significant, and any decisions made with traditional thinking would be foolish and one-sided.

Both sides of the tense negotiations in Victoria the previous night were well aware of the situation, but they quietly waited for news at their accommodations during the recess.

Early this morning, General Kevin, who was in charge of the Air Force, flew back to take control of the situation, and Andrew from the Navy came to take his place.

For such an unfavorable outcome, it was clear that many people had to take responsibility. Andrew and his team were well aware of this, so the American team was somewhat distracted, even though the opposing side had also noticed this.

However, just as the negotiations proceeded as scheduled, the overarching threat from an alien civilization had not changed. Therefore, the general trend of cooperation would not change either. As long as the parties had not completely fallen out, the necessary process had to continue.

David Ussnor stood up, presenting the first agenda item of the day,

"Regarding the development of weapons to counter the alien civilization, we currently favor two classifications, namely kinetic weapons and energy weapons.

Energy weapons include lasers, plasma cluster emitters, and high-yield hydrogen bombs that cause damage without obvious physical media; kinetic weapons primarily use gunpowder, electromagnetism, and other means of propulsion, aiming to destroy alien spacecraft materials with kinetic energy."

"All weapons used in space in the future should ideally be categorized accordingly, and regulated to varying degrees depending on their class. Above a certain level, they must periodically report their location and status to each other, and both sides will send supervision teams for random inspections."

After he handed over a written document with more specific details for careful review, our representative nodded,

"We generally agree, but we need further discussion about the functions and selection of the supervisory team."

Andrew said, "That opinion can be recorded. We have no objections. Let me add a point, based on some supplementary clauses proposed by the Federation in light of the recent sudden world situation."

Lu Jianfei perked up, sitting up a bit straighter, knowing that the crux of the matter was coming.

Andrew continued, "Our side suggests building a comprehensive bilateral strategic trust mechanism, especially for real-time situation reporting within near-Earth orbit to prevent misjudgments due to accidental factors.

This mechanism can ensure that no matter what unforeseen circumstances arise, both parties can eliminate misunderstandings within 3 to 5 minutes, to prevent any excess actions that might violate limits or disrupt balance!"

This was a veiled criticism, and Lu Jianfei kept a poker face.

Opposite him, some showed signs of indignation, and then his own side began to whisper to each other, discussing this last-minute proposal.

After a few minutes, Lu Jianfei raised an eyebrow and responded,

"We agree with the idea of establishing a mutual trust mechanism, but we are more in favor of expanding this system globally to better ensure the common security of Earth."

After hearing the translation of "global," Andrew’s expression softened considerably, and he was quite pleased, smoothly suggesting,

"Based on our experts’ proposal, a monitoring network can be established, based on low, medium, and high Earth orbit satellites, geostationary satellites, manned space stations, and manned spaceplanes, staffed around the clock by teams on the ground and in space, capable of linking with the highest command center for early warning.

Both sides have equal rights to be fully informed about the status of the monitoring network at all times to prevent emergencies.

Of course, if we are expanding it globally, we might need a corresponding global monitoring network, and possibly even ground and maritime observation centers for verification."

After Andrew finished, Lu Jianfei inwardly scoffed, thinking typical of America, really skilled at exploiting situations to their advantage.

They wanted to monitor the world under the guise of peace and, under the pretext of "for your own good," build observation centers on other countries’ territories or territorial waters.

Of course, if expanded globally, the parties involved would not be limited to just two, but as with any joint fleet or friendly trade treaties, the rules were fair, but the outcome might not necessarily be the same.

"Our side fully agrees with your suggestion,"

Lu Jianfei replied without hesitation,

"Strengthening the construction of a global mutual trust mechanism is an important guarantee for maintaining world peace!"

...

"ASML announces that due to Taiji Electric’s current abnormal operations, it will temporarily halt the provision of subsequent spare parts and warranty services."

"Shin-Etsu Chemical states that due to production capacity reasons, it will postpone the supply of consumables to Taiji Electric for the coming months."

"The supply of high-purity silicon has been affected, and previous suppliers have suspended their delivery contracts."

"..."

Zhang Siren stood in his office stuffing important documents into his briefcase, while listening to the latest news brought by his secretary.

Good news: Taiji Electric is in hand! Wafer capacity has multiplied, chip capacity has multiplied, and the process technology has greatly improved!

Bad news: Chip production is highly dependent on suppliers, and due to current regulations and American support, many essential suppliers are threatening to drop out. Without these high-purity chemical raw materials and mechanical parts, Taiji Electric won’t be able to operate normally.

However, Zhang Siren was not the least bit flustered; he seemed to not care at all.

Because there was another piece of good news:

All the discontinued supplies had domestic alternatives. Yellow River Semiconductor still held a significant amount of key chip production technology like photolithography machines. Even if Taiji Electric was cut off, they could quickly restore supply with some time.

Even better news: Taiji Electric had a large backlog of undelivered orders. If it breached contracts, it would have to pay huge damages according to the agreements.

It seemed like bad news, yet with the support of national finances, the breach of contract fines compared to the value gained were insignificant, and it was also an opportunity to rightfully transform production lines and provide room for development in the domestic semiconductor industry.

With one loss here and another gain there, the era of ternary computing is coming!