57: Section 57

Of course, in the end, it was directly ignored by people from other research institutes.

Old Li was so angry that his beard bristled.

“Alright, alright, everyone quiet down!”

Finally, Chief Yun tapped the table, drawing everyone's attention.

He was different from other researchers.

His position was higher, allowing him to focus on more things.

Compared to others who only thought about improving their own research institutes or projects.

Chief Yun needed to consider things more comprehensively.

After all, every advancement in Hua Country meant receiving significant attention from countries around the world.

And after the previous incidents, countries led by Lighthouse Country regarded Hua Country as a thorn in their side.

After all, Hua Country had won the hearts of many asthma patients worldwide through lin's special medicine.

Then, having made significant breakthroughs in rare earth refining technology, it completely banned the export of rare earths.

Rare earth resources are used in a wide range of applications.

Rare earth is known as industrial “gold,” and its most significant function is to greatly improve the quality and performance of other products.

Moreover, rare earth is a lubricant for many high-tech fields such as electronics, lasers, nuclear industry, and superconductivity. Rare earth technology plays an extremely important role in military technology.

And now, more than a month after Hua Country banned the export of rare earths, with no intention of backing down or changing its policy.

Instead, it has greatly impacted various industries in many countries.

It even had a certain impact on national economies and military fields.

In fact, Lighthouse Country itself has rare earths, though not as much as Hua Country, but it is entirely sufficient to meet its own national needs in the short term.

However, the biggest problem now is that ninety percent of countries previously relied entirely on Hua Country for rare earth mining and purchase.

They have no relevant mining technology or rich mining experience domestically.

Furthermore, mining itself is not profitable. For a capitalist country like Lighthouse Country, unless the government provides funds, it's hard to find anyone willing to do such a thankless job.

Lighthouse Country was seething with anger, but helpless, it suffered a huge loss in this resource.

In the end, Lighthouse Country had no choice but to use its old method: pay other countries to mine for them and then acquire it.

However, whether in efficiency, mining volume, or acquisition price, it was far inferior to the quantity previously acquired from Hua Country, and it was also more expensive.

Not to mention, a few days ago, Hua Country directly broke through the chip technology blockade.

They directly created their own lin's lithography machine, which is leading the world!

Lighthouse Country, known as the most advanced in the chip sector, became the biggest victim of this event!

Especially in the electronics field, which requires both rare earth resources and lithography machine technology.

Now, Hua Country firmly controls the latest and most advanced technology in both aspects. In this field, it's only a matter of time before they completely surpass Lighthouse Country!

So Lighthouse Country has been growing increasingly anxious recently. Their White House meetings are becoming more frequent, and the President is appearing on the podium more often.

While constantly reassuring the domestic populace, he is also subtly revealing a message.

Their Lighthouse Country is still the strongest in the world, and a certain technology is about to achieve a major breakthrough!

Chief Yun was also clearly aware of Lighthouse Country’s current predicament.

He also knew that the other side would definitely take further action.

So he decided not to rush into a decision.

“Opportunities are rare, so we should not make decisions lightly!”

“Coincidentally, the products Lin Bai bought this time require pre-order and will be shipped in three days.”

“During these three days, you all continue to negotiate, and I will first observe Lighthouse Country’s movements before making a decision!”

“They seem to be making some other big moves recently. To ensure we are not preempted, let’s reserve this precious opportunity as a means of counterattack!”

Hearing Chief Yun say this, the others stopped arguing.

They all nodded in agreement.

Although their respective projects were beneficial to Hua Country, there was a hierarchy of importance, and prescribing the right medicine was always best!

...Meanwhile, in Lighthouse Country, The White House.

The President had no idea that before he even made a move, Hua Country had already prepared countermeasures.

But this couldn't stop the President's desire to hinder Hua Country's rise.

To sum it up in one sentence, seeing Hua Country rise was more painful than seeing Lighthouse Country decline.

Furthermore, when he campaigned for the presidency, he claimed he would lead Lighthouse Country to maintain its status as the world's leading superpower.

Thus, he could not allow any country to rise and affect their Lighthouse Country, or rather, affect his position as President!

At least, not during these next few years!

Thinking of this, the President once again looked at the others in the meeting, frowning as he asked, “Are we, Lighthouse Country, with all our talent, unable to come up with a better way to sanction Hua Country?”

“Clearly, our Lighthouse Country is the greatest and most powerful nation!”

“Why are we now being suppressed by a mere Hua Country?”

Ever since the technology blockade in the chip industry was broken, more and more people became dissatisfied with him.

The President then vented this dissatisfaction on the senators and officials below him.

Every day, he urged them to come up with a feasible proposal.

“Mr. President, how about blockading them in the medical field? Besides asthma medication, they are not more advanced than us in other areas.”

“Medicine? Hua Country's current medical skills are perfectly fine for ordinary symptoms. This blockade is meaningless!”

“Why not decisively blockade chips! They only have lithography machines, but now their chip technology can't keep up with the lithography machine technology. They still can't produce chip bodies smaller than one nanometer!”

“Don't you know that the lithography machine is the key? With a lithography machine, advancements in chip technology can catch up in a very short time!”

“Exactly, this kind of blockade is useless. In half a year at most, their chips will be even more advanced than ours!”

“What about aerospace technology then?”

“In some areas of aerospace technology, Hua Country is even stronger than us! How can we blockade that?”

The senators also started arguing.

They were all discussing what other areas their Lighthouse Country could achieve an absolute technological blockade against Hua Country, or where they could achieve overwhelming dominance.

Some even proposed nuclear threats.

The President immediately cursed him, pointing his finger.

“Holy crab, nuclear threat? Are you kidding me? Hua Country also possesses nuclear strike capabilities, and they have plenty of defensive measures against nuclear strikes.”

“Nuclear threats only scare small countries. You want to scare Hua Country?”

Although the President didn't want to say this to boost others' morale and diminish his own prestige, he had to admit that resorting to nuclear threats meant being at a dead end, and it would imply that they had lost their status as an absolute superpower... The meeting lasted for a long time, until someone at the meeting secretly checked their phone, saw a news headline, and suddenly showed an excited expression.

“Mr. President, rare earth resources have been counter-sanctioned by them. We should regain ground in the area of resources!”

The speaker stood up, raising his phone.

It showed a report published by the California Institute of Environmental and Resource Research.

Professor Ganif among them, through research on new energy, had broken through certain technologies, allowing them to obtain one type of new energy more easily.

“Mr. President! Combustible ice!”

“In this area, we are still leading the world!”

“And now, we have made a brand new breakthrough, widening the gap between our technology and the rest of the world!”

The President frowned, not quite understanding what combustible ice was.

Soon, the secretary organized the information and presented it to him.

“This is a new type of resource that has only gradually been adopted in recent years.”

“A new energy source with high calorific value, clean and pollution-free, widely distributed, and with huge reserves.”

“Compared to traditional energy sources like natural gas and oil, combustible ice has higher value, provides more energy, and most importantly, it's more environmentally friendly!”

After seeing this information, the President was still somewhat confused.

But with his political mindset, he quickly spotted a key point—

Environmental protection!

“Right!”

“We will use environmental means to curb Hua Country’s development!”

“One cubic meter of combustible ice can release one hundred and sixty-four cubic meters of natural gas. It is concentrated essence, with extremely high utilization value compared to traditional energy. The only drawback is that the mining cost is too high.”

“And now, Professor Ganif of our California Institute of Research has perfected a more convenient and lower-cost mining method for us!”

“As long as we firmly grasp this point, replacing traditional resources with combustible ice is absolutely not a problem!”

At this point, the President had already planned a series of related measures in his mind!

If they could replace traditional energy with combustible ice, then they could severely impact other countries' traditional energy sources!

Accuse them of polluting the Earth's environment, forcing them to reduce or even stop using traditional energy!

And the new energy would only be controlled by their Lighthouse Country. This way, it would be equivalent to monopolizing the entire world's combustible ice market!

Not only could it curb Hua Country's development, but it could also earn a large sum of money!

“Oh my gosh, this Professor Ganif must be a blessed lucky person, to achieve such accomplishments!”

“Immediately invite Professor Ganif to The White House. I want to bestow upon him the highest honors!”

Watching Hua Country's comprehensive rise in the electronics industry and high-tech fields, the President couldn't wait any longer.