350: Chapter 350 The Bear and Europe

Moscow, the Kremlin.

10:17 AM Beijing time, 5:17 AM Moscow time.

The lights in the presidential office were on.

The Russian President was woken up by a phone call. When he answered, he was still in his pajamas, his hair uncombed.

He listened while walking behind his desk to sit down.

The call was from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Minister read Lin Zhenguo's statement word for word over the phone.

The Russian President listened, then fell silent for three seconds.

Then he began to laugh.

A rough, deep laugh that rumbled from his chest.

There was a bottle of vodka on his desk—there was always a bottle of vodka on his desk.

He reached out, unscrewed the cap, and took a direct swig.

After he finished, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

Then he said into the phone:

"Good."

"A fine Great Xia."

"This—is what a great power should look like."

He hung up the phone.

He dialed another.

"Wake everyone up at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

"I want a public statement by 5:30."

"The content—"

He thought for a moment.

"Publicly support Great Xia's stance."

"The wording must be tough. Don't do that sappy stuff about 'calling for dialogue' or 'calling for restraint.'"

"Just write directly—'Any extraterritorial law enforcement action against citizens of another country is a blatant provocation to the international order.'"

"'The Russian Federation will stand with Great Xia.'"

"Just write it like that."

He hung up the second call.

Then he picked up the third phone—it was red, smaller than the others, had no dial pad, and only one button.

Only one person in the entire Russian Federation could press this button.

Beep, beep, beep—

The call connected quickly.

On the other side was the voice of Elder Qin.

Elder Qin hadn't slept either. He had gotten up two hours later than the Russian President—because Great Xia was already dealing with the post-meeting execution details.

The two didn't need an interpreter. Elder Qin's Russian was built on his studies in Leningrad fifty years ago, and the Russian President's Great Xia language was learned when he was an intelligence officer on the Northeast border in the eighties. Both were fluent in their second languages.

The Russian President said only one sentence.

"Old friend."

"Need any help?"

Elder Qin laughed on the other end.

"Thanks. Not for now."

"That's fine too," the Russian President said, "Pass on my message."

"The Arctic route—is open to you at any time."

"Just say the word, and we'll start trade immediately."

"All of Russia's liquefied natural gas, uranium mines, rare earths, and fish from the Arctic Ocean—can all be settled in Great Xia currency."

"No SWIFT."

"No eagle dollar."

Elder Qin was silent for a few seconds on the other end.

He understood the weight of these words.

Once the Arctic route opened, the logistics time between Russia and Great Xia would be cut by two-thirds. More importantly—Russia was willing to settle all energy trades in Great Xia currency.

This was a card heavier than any military aid. Once this card was played, the foundation of the eagle dollar hegemony would crack.

"—I have noted it," Elder Qin said.

"Thanks, old friend."

"I will have my people coordinate with yours on this."

"Take your time."

The Russian President laughed.

"Take your time."

He hung up.

After hanging up, he sat at his desk for a while and took another drink of vodka.

He glanced at the map on the wall.

On the map, the Eagle, Russia, and Great Xia were marked in three colors.

The Eagle was blue, Russia was red, and Great Xia was yellow.

For the past seventy years, blue had been suppressing red and yellow.

But what he had heard on the phone just now made him feel—the era of blue, perhaps, was truly coming to an end.

He raised the bottle to the map.

"Cheers," he said to himself.

He finished the last drop.

Brussels. European headquarters.

At the same time, an emergency consultative meeting of the European Commission was being held.

The meeting was incredibly ugly.

The French Foreign Minister spoke first. He demanded that Europe maintain "strategic autonomy," which meant—siding with neither the Eagle nor Great Xia. His exact words were:

"This is a bilateral event between Great Xia and the Eagle. Europe has no obligation to take bullets for the Eagle."

The German Foreign Minister immediately objected.

Germany's manufacturing industry was highly dependent on exports to Great Xia, with a trade surplus of 27 billion euros last year.

The German Foreign Minister's demand was—the wording should be "neutral," preferably saying nothing at all, letting the matter "pass naturally."

His exact words were:

"Any statement we make now that leans toward the Eagle will trigger catastrophic consequences for our own industry."

The British Foreign Minister sat opposite the German. He was the only one in the room who explicitly supported the Eagle. But his tone was much more subdued than usual.

He didn't say "Europe should firmly stand with the Eagle."

He only said—

"Europe should call on all parties to exercise restraint."

This sentence contained a very subtle word—all parties.

"All parties" meant—the Eagle was also a party that needed to be "called on to exercise restraint."

This would have been impossible five years ago. Five years ago, the standard phrase Britain would have used was "Europe should firmly stand with our transatlantic allies."

Today—

"All parties exercise restraint."

As soon as this was said, the German Foreign Minister immediately echoed it. The French Foreign Minister also nodded.

Representatives of the five Nordic countries spoke in turn. Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland—the foreign ministers of these five countries unanimously opposed the Eagle's "extraterritorial law enforcement." The Icelandic Foreign Minister even called it out directly:

"The overseas arrest operation targeting a citizen of a sovereign state is a complete destruction of the Westphalian system. We condemn this unilateral behavior."

When she said "unilateral behavior," no one in the room dared to meet her eyes.

Because everyone knew—the four characters "unilateralism," in the European dictionary of the past forty years, was a word used specifically to curse the Eagle.

Today, the five Nordic countries threw this word out publicly.

The meeting lasted four hours.

In the end, the official statement finalized by Europe was only 87 characters long:

"Europe has noted the recent related international situation and calls on all parties to exercise maximum restraint, resolve differences through dialogue and consultation, and jointly maintain the international order based on the United Nations Charter. Europe will continue to closely monitor the development of the situation."

This statement contained no "the Eagle," no "Great Xia," and no "Su Mingyuan."

This statement didn't help anyone.

This statement—also didn't help the Eagle.

That was enough.

After the meeting, the French President returned to the Élysée Palace.

He had a cup of coffee with his diplomatic advisor in his private office.

The diplomatic advisor asked: "Mr. President, what do you think of today's events?"

The French President didn't answer directly.

He picked up his coffee cup and blew on it.

Then he said:

"The Eagle has—met a tough opponent this time."

"There is no need for us to take the knife for them."

The diplomatic advisor nodded.

The French President added:

"Have the people from the Federal Security Service start researching—"

"the technical feasibility of direct settlement in Great Xia currency under the Euro system."

The diplomatic advisor was stunned.

"Mr. President—this..."

"I didn't say we are going to do it."

The French President waved his hand.

"I said—research it first."

"In case we need it one day."