500: Chapter 500 The US Dollar is Kicked Out of Oil Settlements

China did not send a formal representative.

Zhao Gang sat in the back row wearing an economic observer badge, with an enamel teacup placed in front of him. The red painted characters "Serve the People" on the cup body had worn away until they were blurry.

Beside the teacup was an encrypted tablet, its screen scrolling through itemized comments from China's high-level leadership on the draft of the Phnom Penh Framework—the total word count of the comments was 1.7 times that of the draft text itself.

Li Lanzhi walked over to Zhao Gang and placed a Myanmar-Chinese bilingual copy of the Kra Canal-Strait of Malacca Joint Management Mechanism Annex beside his hand.

"The Chief has read the annex. He hopes that China can confirm the force ratio for the joint patrol within twenty-four hours."

Zhao Gang opened the annex.

Chapter 2, Section 3: Myanmar and China shall establish a joint sea and air patrol mechanism in the waters from the eastern entrance of the Strait of Malacca to the southern entrance of the Kra Canal, with a frequency of no less than three times per week, and no limit on vessel tonnage.

Article 4: The joint patrol fleet has the right to board and inspect nuclear-powered vessels and ships carrying sensitive military supplies passing through the strait.

He read these four articles again.

Confirming that the force ratio was not exchanging sovereignty for security—it was exchanging security for security.

Three o'clock in the afternoon.

A blue-white beam of light filtered through the gilded wood carvings of the dome, and twelve sets of laser arrays activated simultaneously.

Zhang Cheng's holographic projection appeared right in the center of the signing table—in a dark green service uniform, wearing a baobab leaf badge, and carrying that newly minted silver commemorative medal.

The outline of Mount Kinabalu on the commemorative medal was etched onto a recycled artillery shell steel billet, and the snowline on the summit was filled with silver-gray powder ground from volcanic rock by Kadazan artisans.

"Everyone." The voice of the holographic projection echoed under the dome, "The Regional Cooperation Framework for Southern Asia signed in Phnom Penh today is not a military alliance. We have no imaginary enemy—if there is one, that imaginary enemy has already lost."

He turned sideways, and the "gaze" of the holographic image swept across the long table.

"This framework covers four areas. First, defense mutual assistance—if any party encounters external armed invasion, the other contracting parties are obligated to provide military assistance. The form of assistance shall be decided by the recipient party, and the scale of assistance shall be independently determined by the assisting party. This is not like the 1954 Manila Treaty which handed front-line command to foreign officers—this is a common security mechanism where every party has a veto."

"Second, economic integration. Within the next five years, the four countries will gradually abolish tariffs on industrial manufactured goods, and agricultural product tariffs will be reduced to zero. Personnel, capital, and data will flow freely. The Kra Canal, the Strait of Malacca, and Sihanoukville Port will serve as jointly managed international shipping channels, and civil vessels of any country shall enjoy the right of innocent passage—however, the passage of military vessels must be declared seventy-two hours in advance and approved by the four-country joint management committee."

"Third, digital currency settlement."

Srettha gripped his fountain pen tightly when Zhang Cheng read out this clause.

This clause meant that Bangkok's oil imports would henceforth decouple from the US dollar.

Someone in the Thailand delegation behind him gasped sharply.

Zhang Cheng continued: "From the date of signing of this agreement, the central banks of the four countries shall use the Asian digital currency as the preferred payment tool for cross-border bulk trade settlement. Trade settlement for oil, natural gas, rare earths, chips, and palm oil shall mandatorily use the Asian digital currency among the contracting parties. The exchange rate is pegged to a basket of regional currencies and key bulk commodities, and is no longer anchored to any single sovereign currency."

An Al Jazeera reporter in the press row at the back frantically tapped her keyboard—she recognized that this was precisely the monetary framework Zhang Cheng had mentioned at the ASEAN Economic Forum half a year ago.

At that time, the editorial title of The Wall Street Journal was "Delusion".

Now the author of that editorial was in The Hague attending Barrett's extradition hearing.

"Fourth." Zhang Cheng paused, the light field of the holographic projection catching the slight upward curve of his lips, "Shuguang Cloud quantum communication network coverage. Within six months after the signing of the agreement, Shuguang Cloud will provide the four countries with completely independent quantum encrypted communication infrastructure. All government communications, military orders, and financial Liquidation data are transmitted through a quantum key distribution network, which cannot be eavesdropped on or deciphered. Property rights belong to each country, and technical standards are authorized free of charge by Shuguang Network Technology Company—waiving patent fees."

Someone in the ASEAN observer seats below whispered the phrase "The locksmith delivers the key."

The press section erupted with a dense flurry of shutter clicks.

A reporter from the British Financial Times typed the lead paragraph on the keyboard: "A new Asian order without key : Myanmar-led bloc dumps dollar for digital currency , US excluded from strategic waterway oversight."——The new Asian order without a key: The Myanmar-led bloc replaces the dollar with digital currency, and the United States is excluded from strategic waterway oversight.

Srettha was the first to sign.

That fountain pen engraved with dual imprints slid across the paper, and his handwriting did not tremble in the slightest.

He understood the value of this treaty—the Kra Canal was no longer a waterway unilaterally controlled by Myanmar, but an international shipping asset jointly managed by the four countries, with Thailand enjoying permanent dividends.

Bangkok's days of walking a tightrope between the West and Myanmar were over.

It wasn't forced upon him—it was chosen out of necessity after the previous military hardliners lost the war.

But as Prime Minister of the civilian government, he could tell the difference between a defeat treaty and a cooperation agreement.

This framework was not a defeat treaty.

When Anwar signed, his pen paused for two seconds at the signature line for the "Federation of Malaysia".

He thought of the underground bunker in Putrajaya three months ago—Night Owl's special operations team blew open the explosion-proof door with directional demolition, and he was curled up in a corner, with tear gas shell casings left behind by Rashid's coup forces at his feet.

Then he remembered Lin Meihua standing behind him during the signing in Kuching, her left hand in a cast, pressing that research textbook against her chest with her right hand.

He remembered her saying, "Forty-one years is not too long."

The pen came down.

The ink seeped into the paper, separated from Srettha's signature by a gold-stamped dividing line.

Somsak signed the slowest.

Khmer script was written stroke by stroke, with every arc respectfully and meticulously completed.

He was the first Prime Minister to succeed Hun Sen after his exile, and Cambodia's political reconstruction was still an uphill battle—the development lease of Sihanoukville Port had been handed over to Myanmar, and the excavation of the Kra Canal made Gulf of Thailand shipping completely bypass the Cambodian coastline. The only strategic asset left for this country was the signing table at the Peace Palace.

But Somsak knew that sitting at the table was better than being kicked off the table.

Zhang Cheng's holographic projection watched the three pens fall in succession.

He folded his hands in front of him and nodded.

"The Phnom Penh Framework officially takes effect."

That night, at the western entrance of the Strait of Malacca.

The "Desert Dawn"—a 300,000-ton VLCC ultra-large crude carrier—traversed the narrow Yituotan Channel at a speed of fifteen knots.

The waves split by the bow were illuminated by moonlight into fragments of white.

The cargo hold carried 1.8 million barrels of Saudi light crude oil, and the discharge port was Zhanjiang Port, China.

The contract amount for this transaction was 470 million US dollars—but the settlement method was not US dollars, not Euros, and not Renminbi.