438: Chapter 438 Holographic Slap in the Face to the Security Council

At the United Nations headquarters in New York, in the UN Security Council chamber.

The massive tapestry on the wall—the phoenix rising from the ashes of war—had been hanging there for decades. Beneath the tapestry, representatives from the fifteen member states sat in a semicircle, each with a document spread out on the table in front of them. The cover of the document bore the eagle seal of the US Department of State, with the title printed in both English and French: "Draft Resolution on Sanctioning the Federation of Myanmar and Its Affiliated Entities to Uphold the United Nations Charter." The draft resolution contained forty-two articles, the first six of which explicitly demanded: that all member states immediately terminate direct and indirect trade with the Federation of Myanmar and its allies; freeze all overseas assets of the Federation of Myanmar government and its officials; prohibit the transfer of any military technology and dual-use technology to the Federation of Myanmar; prohibit vessels registered in the Federation of Myanmar from entering the ports of any member state; prohibit any financial transactions with the Federation of Myanmar and its affiliated banks; and immediately expel the Federation of Myanmar from all specialized agencies of the United Nations.

Once the first of these six articles took effect, it would mean a total economic blockade. Once the second took effect, the 430 billion Singapore dollars held by Temasek—including its holdings of US Treasury bonds and securities assets distributed across New York and London—would be permanently frozen. Once the third took effect, even the inverter production line imported from Siemens in Germany for the new energy component factory arranged by Li Lanzhi could be cut off. Once the fifth took effect, the global Liquidation nodes of the Shuguang Cloud would be physically isolated from all US dollar clearing banks. This draft was not merely a "sanction"; it was a comprehensive plan for economic warfare. Its drafters were not senatorial aides working on Capitol Hill; it had been drafted by the legal department of Council of Elders under the instruction of Barrett—working continuously for forty-eight hours from the moment of the "fall of Singapore."

Greenfield, the US Permanent Representative to the United Nations, picked up her water glass, took a sip, and before setting it down, deliberately glanced at the American eagle seal on the bottom of the glass.

"Colleagues. Ten days ago, the military of the Federation of Myanmar crossed internationally recognized borders and invaded a sovereign state—the Republic of Singapore. Without authorization from the United Nations, they utilized prohibited weapons, including hypersonic missiles and electronic warfare weapons, destroyed the armed forces of Singapore, captured and kidnapped the legitimate government of Singapore, dissolved the parliament of Singapore, and yesterday passed a so-called 'Basic Law' to colonize Singapore. This is not self-defense, this is not counter-terrorism, this is not a legitimate military operation under any legal framework—this is the number one war of aggression of the twenty-first century."

She flipped the draft in front of her to the second page.

"Therefore, the United States demands that the UN Security Council immediately pass this resolution. We are not discussing whether to impose sanctions—we are discussing whether the United Nations Charter still has any meaning. If this UN Security Council cannot prevent a military power from annexing a sovereign state, then Article 1 of the United Nations Charter—'to maintain international peace and security'—should be taken down from the wall, sent to the historical archives, and never be cited again."

The British representative raised their hand in support. The French representative raised their hand in support. The Japanese representative raised their hand in support. The Albanian representative raised their hand in support.

The representative of the rotating presidency looked toward the delegation seat of the Dragon Country.

"The delegation of the Dragon Country?"

Zhang Jun, the Permanent Representative of the Dragon Country to the United Nations, did not turn on the microphone in front of him. He screwed the cap of his fountain pen on, screwed it back onto the end of the pen, and then unscrewed it—this action took a full twelve seconds, and the whole room went silent. Then, he pressed the button to turn on his microphone.

"The Dragon Country casts a negative vote."

The British representative immediately interjected: "This is a veto from a permanent member—but according to Article 27, Paragraph 3 of the 'United Nations Charter,' as a party to the dispute, the Dragon Country should abstain from voting."

Zhang Jun did not put down his pen. "The Dragon Country is not a party to the dispute. The Dragon Country has not participated in any military operations against Singapore, has not declared war on Singapore, has not sent a single soldier to Singapore, and has not launched a single missile within the territory of Singapore. The regime change in Singapore is an extension of the internal affairs of the Federation of Myanmar; it is a bilateral issue between the Federation of Myanmar and the former government of Singapore. The Dragon Country maintains neutrality on this issue. The abstention clause does not apply to neutral countries. If the British representative believes it applies, please clearly note in the meeting minutes: that you consider the Dragon Country and the former government of Singapore to be the same party. I would be very happy to put this record on the table at the next round of China-UK economic and trade negotiations."

The British representative's pen dropped from their hand, the nib stabbing into the tabletop and bouncing twice. There was no third bounce. Their hand hovered in mid-air, not touching the pen again.

Greenfield stood up. "The United States demands that the UN Security Council vote immediately. The representative of the Dragon Country has cast a negative vote, but this does not prevent us from submitting the draft resolution for a vote—let history remember those countries that chose to stand on the side of the aggressor."

The vote began. Votes in favor: US, UK, France, Japan, Albania—five votes. Votes against: Dragon Country, Russia—two votes. Abstentions: Gabon, Ghana, Mozambique, United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Switzerland, Ecuador, Malta—eight votes. The resolution was rejected. The microphone in front of Greenfield had not yet been turned off, and her voice leaked out from the loudspeaker system, kept very low, but it was picked up by the microphone— "Fuck."

Just as this word was still dissipating under the dome of the UN Security Council, the holographic projection unit directly above the dome of the conference hall suddenly lit up.

It was not a projection from the ceiling—it was the entire hemispherical dome. The hemispherical space with a diameter of eighteen meters was illuminated simultaneously, each holographic panel emitting light in synchronization with microsecond precision, forming a life-sized image suspended in mid-air. Zhang Cheng stood in the very center of the UN Security Council hall—of course, it was fibers of light, but the virtual ground beneath his feet was clearly imprinted with the non-slip tread of the pier at the Longcheng Naval Base in Singapore.

All mobile phones in the UN Security Council chamber simultaneously lost signal, with only one line of text remaining on the screens: "Accessing the Vega secure broadcasting system." Only the public Shuguang Cloud terminal on the representative's desk remained lit—the IP address displayed on the screen belonged to the external secure communication network of the Presidential Palace of the Federation of Myanmar.

Among the fifteen representatives, eight reached out simultaneously to grab their encrypted terminals. The terminal screens were completely black. No signal, no network, no numbers that could be dialed, only a text box, and inside the text box was a line of pre-set, automatically popped-up information: "President Zhang Cheng is delivering a statement to the United Nations UN Security Council. You may ask questions after the meeting concludes."

Greenfield stood up. "This is a cybersecurity intrusion—"

Zhang Cheng spoke. His voice did not come from the loudspeakers; it was precisely projected from the holographic projection's directional array to the ears of every representative, the volume exactly equal to the normal conversation volume of a person sitting in the chair opposite you. His first sentence was: "Ambassador Greenfield, if you intend to continue calling Singapore a sovereign state, then I should let you know in advance: the teleprompter behind you is synchronously displaying every word I am saying at this moment. The content is provided by our side, and as for what caliber your Department of State has approved—I do not care."