The discussion about the construction of Project Redwood and the Penglai City project happened not only in the coffee shop of Jin Ling University but also in every corner of the world. When Pan-Asia announced the news, it immediately caused a huge response internationally.
Even remote Mars colonies spoke about “Penglai City” and “Redwood”.
New London.
In a bar with a trendy decor in cyberpunk style, a man with metallic arms closed the holographic screen in his hand, freed his right hand to grab the glass, and took a sip of the ominous green cocktail.
He muttered after a burp, “Pan-Asian Cooperation intends to build a city in the Pacific Ocean? What are those Asians thinking?”
Sitting next to him, a man who looked equally unpretentious, slowly spoke.
“What are they thinking? Isn’t it obvious? They plan to build the space elevator on the Pacific Ocean and to build a city under the space elevator so that they can turn the Pacific Ocean into their back garden.”
“Isn’t it the same without Penglai? The entire Earth-Moon system is their back garden, not just the Pacific Ocean?”
“True…”
“Anyway, this is a trampling on the international convention!” There was a deafening roar next to him. A drunk man with a red face said rudely, “The Pacific Ocean is the territorial sea that belongs to all mankind, how dare they do this!”
The bartender standing behind the bar finished shaking the cocktail. He then gently pushed it to the front of a guest.
Looking at the red-faced guests who were arguing, he interjected.
“Let them be. Anyway, the Pacific Ocean is separated from London by thousands of miles, and New London is even more than tens of millions of kilometers away. Even if they drain the Pacific Ocean, it won’t affect us.”
This was his real opinion, and it was also the opinion of most people in this bar.
In any case, they were too far away from Earth.
Besides, what could they do even if they were not happy?
The Pan-Asian First Fleet was known as a starship battle group established with extraterrestrial civilization as its hypothetical enemy. So far, even the starships of other regional alliances combined couldn’t match the total combat power of this “invincible fleet.”
Needless to say, the North Sea Alliance, a rising star in the space voyage era, had to rely on the strategy of turning a blind eye to space pirates and smuggling trade to take a share of space trade from the hands of the Pan-Asian Cooperation. They weren’t even in the same weight class as the Pan-Asian Cooperation. Even its own spaceport, the Atlantis space station, was constructed by East Asia Heavy Industries.
Facing such hegemony, what room did they have to resist?
Regardless of whether they were really doing this for the sake of a community with a shared future for mankind or for their own selfish desires, this matter was not something they could control at will…
At the headquarters of the North American Alliance on Earth, they were also worried about the problem that they couldn’t control.
While the Pan-Asian Cooperation took the initiative by disclosing it to the public to create momentum for the space elevator program, its senior officials also sent invitations for diplomatic meetings to other regional alliances and regimes on the planet through diplomatic channels.
As for the content of the meeting…
It was obviously related to the space elevator and the city on the Pacific Ocean.
To be honest, when the Pan-Asian cooperation made such a decision, Chairman Camille’s face was full of surprise. He had been the chairman of the North American Alliance for about six years, so he was fairly accustomed to dealing with the Pan-Asian Cooperation.
Under normal circumstances, the attitude of those Pan-Asian people on diplomatic stances was quite liberal. No matter what it was, they would communicate and negotiate with other regional alliances.
But this time was not the same.
It was not until the chairman announced the plan to build a space elevator at the celebration of the fusion ignition day did they finally hear that the Asians planned to insert a tube in the atmosphere and call it “Project Redwood”.
Carefully recalling all the past events during his tenure, Chairman Camille couldn’t help but fall into contemplation.
When did all this start?
And…
What does Project Redwood mean for us?
“Redwood…” Putting down the invitation letter for the diplomatic meeting in his hand, Chairman Camille looked at his chief of staff, frowned, and asked, “What the h*ll is that?”
The chief of staff hesitated and spoke.
“Apparently, it’s one of the tallest trees on Earth.”
“The name doesn’t matter”. The secretary-general standing next to him coughed heavily, interrupting the irrelevant conversation between the two. He glanced at the chairman sitting behind the desk and said in a serious tone, “Mr. Chairman, what we need to discuss now is how to deal with this diplomatic meeting invitation.”
According to the current international law, the Pan-Asian Cooperation’s plan to build a large-scale project in the Pacific Ocean was not legally tenable. In principle, they did not need to accept a diplomatic invitation to negotiate something that they simply could not accept.
Conversely speaking, once they accepted such an invitation, it was equivalent to sending a signal.
That there was room for negotiation on this matter.
“How to deal with it? My attitude is against it. The Pacific Ocean is part of the international waters. Whether it is a country or a regional alliance, if they are allowed to start construction there today, mark that area in the exclusive economic zone, and declare sovereignty there, then it’s a slippery slope… But the question is, is there a better choice?”
Director Camille’s index finger tapped lightly on the desk as he looked at the silent secretary-general. He then sighed and continued, “Since the beginning, we had no choice.”
The secretary-general looked at him solemnly and continued, “Not necessarily, but only if we can unite the South American Alliance, the North Sea Alliance, and the Iberian-French Alliance…”
“Even all of our spacecrafts combined together is only a fraction of the Pan-Asian First Fleet.” Interrupting the secretary-general, Chairman Camille gave a wry smile and continued, “Do you really think that if we make a stand and reject it, they will abandon this plan?”
The office went silent.
Chairman Camille sighed lightly. He put the invitation letter for the diplomatic meeting on the holographic screen into the memo. He then pressed the close button and leaned back into the office chair.
To be honest, compared to the Pan-Asian Cooperation’s plan, what he was most worried about was not the impact of the space elevator on the international structure, strategic balance, or ecological environment.
After all, the hegemony of the Pan-Asian Cooperation had been established as early as the 2050s and had been operating steadily for more than half a century. A space elevator would not fundamentally change anything.
What really worried him was another thing.
Although the possibility of military conflicts breaking out in the 22nd century was very slim, they were all based on the current “pacifism and non-interference” diplomatic norms of the Can-Asian Cooperation. Even though they had the largest starship battle group, they had never considered investing them in aggressive operations against other regional alliances.
However, ever since Li Guangya became the chairman of the board, something daunting seemed to be released imperceptibly.
Camille couldn’t clearly describe what it was, but he knew one thing.
Once those people chose to cross the border, the whole world would pay for it.
There was no doubt about this…
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