Technology invades the modern world

Why can't there be a third possibility in Chapter 483?
The lengthy negotiations are a test of both willpower and physical strength for most people.

Especially when dealing with someone like Lin Ran, you can't tell which sentence contains "real information." It might just be a casual remark, but it contains endless potential information.

Even the layers of meaning beneath the surface of a statement containing true information require careful consideration.

When faced with someone who can convey information through heavily modified science fiction novels and slip things directly into your pocket at the Geneva Summit, it's no wonder you're suspicious.

The underlying structure of human society has not changed. Ordinary people in Europe and America have enjoyed the social welfare reforms brought about by the pressure from Soviet Russia, and have enjoyed the benefits of modernization brought about by the caste system built by America.

Compared to the good life enjoyed by the people of these countries for thirty years after the Cold War, the Chinese people have paid too much and gained too little.

Lin Ran hoped for a balanced situation; extremes are boring, while three extremes are just right.

G2 is not good, G3 might be better.

Of course, it could be worse.

Nobody knows what the situation will be like in G3.

"Professor, what did you just say?" the Chinese representative asked.

After a moment's thought, Lin Ran replied, "I have always hoped to meet and have a long talk with a representative from China, like yourself, to discuss our views on the world, politics, and technology. What I had been thinking about has become a reality this year."

I deeply believe that nothing is impossible in this world.

This applies to individuals as well as to groups.

Humans have been able to land on the moon and build a global satellite communication network thanks to technology. Human technology has made rapid progress in the last two decades.

The pace of change will only accelerate in the future.

The Chinese representative's eyes lit up after hearing this, reflecting on their brief month together.

Many of the suggestions that the other party made casually made me realize that there were other ways to do things and that there were so many areas in our work that could be improved.

What do you think China should do?

This phrase has appeared countless times in the past.

What he really wanted to tell us was what we should do.

In this time without a cyber god, Lin Ran is, in the other party's eyes, a kind of all-powerful question-and-answer machine.

"I have made suggestions on technology in the past, and I have also made some ideas about markets, the economy, and the activation of people."

But now, at this point in time, we don't have much time to talk. I want to offer a more specific and practical suggestion, one that, if missed now, may be missed forever.

This is both part of the plan and related to the core objective of our meeting and negotiations: ending the Vietnam War.

What I'm trying to say is that we should strive to do something different in this region.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Currently, many parts of the Indochina Peninsula are engulfed in war.

This is an objective fact, but I still want to say that the current fighting is superficial and the turmoil is temporary.

It is clear from the strategic vision put forward by the new White House that he hopes for strategic retrenchment and no longer wants to continue to expend national resources on the Indochina Peninsula.

The White House's retrenchment is very obvious.

If it weren't for Hoover's unexpected death and the series of unforeseen events that followed, the war might have ended long ago after the last meeting with Annan's representatives.

The Hoover affair will not change the overall trend, and the escalation of the conflict will not change the fact that the war will eventually end.

This region will experience an unprecedented power vacuum after the ceasefire.

History is creating such a vacuum, and this point in time will appear in as little as one year or as long as five years.

The Chinese representative felt his heart pounding in his chest.

Is Southeast Asia important?

Of course it matters.

If it weren't important, Japan wouldn't have considered this place as the most crucial resource supply base in East Asia during World War II.

Now, after reading Lin Ran's report on maritime power, he understands even more clearly why this place is important.

"There are two possibilities for this power vacuum in the future: one is that it will be filled by Soviet Russia, and the other is that it will slowly return to the old sphere of influence of the West under the pull of the past."

Why can't we offer a third possibility?

"You mean...?" The Chinese representative looked grave.

"Do you know about Mercator projection?" Lin Ran asked a new question instead.

The other person shook their head, indicating that they had not heard of it.

"This is a method of drawing maps."

This method makes the actual volume different from the area projected onto the plane, creating an illusion.

Observing the current Cold War situation, I increasingly feel that the world map is extremely deceptive.

Like the Mercator projection, it makes Greenland, which is at a high latitude, appear larger than the whole of Africa.

Looking at the map, Soviet Russia appears so vast that it seems to rival America in strength.

No one in the White House knows Soviet Russia better than me.

When the world sees the bipolar confrontation of the Cold War, what I see is people.

What I see is a strategy woven from needs and fears.

I once walked side by side with Kosygin on the shores of Lake Geneva.

He shed the heavy burden of the Kremlin and the armor of ideology.

He wasn't talking about missiles and corporations, but rather the fragility of the economy, the rigidity of the bureaucracy, and their thirst for Western technology.

What he revealed was the soil eroding beneath the giant's feet.

I once had a long talk with Korolev in the ancient chapel of the University of London.

He was a symbol of Soviet Russia's projection of power.

But from his words, I sensed not only the wisdom of engineering, but also the struggles of talent shortage and resource allocation.

His prized space program was a costly and unsustainable political gamble. Their strength was a distorted manifestation of concentrating resources on a very few cutting-edge fields.

In Washington, D.C., I met countless times with Dobrynin, one of the Kremlin’s most astute diplomats.

In the smoke, we exchanged not official declarations, but tacit understandings of each other's weaknesses in Soviet Russia.

We know that maintaining this level of cost would bankrupt Soviet Russia.

In my view, the Cold War between Soviet Russia and America was less a fact and more a strategic construct driven by necessity.

Soviet Russia was far from being a true pole of power.

Its economic structure is fragile, technological innovation is sluggish, and it is riddled with internal contradictions.

Its power stems from the aura emanating from its massive nuclear arsenal and vast military.

It is precisely this halo that has been consciously exploited by the West.

Churchill needed an enemy to solidify the crumbling Commonwealth and to maintain his special relationship with America.

When I spoke with Douglas Holm at 10 Downing Street, and at Charles de Gaulle’s residence in Paris, I got the final piece of the puzzle from them—the shaped world order.

Europe was weary of war; they needed the threat of Soviet Russia to secure America's protection, and America needed Soviet Russia to drive NATO's will.

Everyone needs it to justify the massive military budget and to justify the citizens' subservience to the enormous power machine.

Furthermore, within America, Wall Street and the military-industrial complex also needed an enemy to sustain the massive military spending of the Cold War and to unite the domestic and Western camps.

I have a good relationship with the Morgan family on this point. China has done business with Morgan in the past, so you should be very clear about their way of doing things.

Based on all these factors, I am even more certain of this point.

This is not my conjecture; it is the reality that is happening.

Thus, they collectively portrayed Soviet Russia as a malevolent super-enemy capable of competing with America.

This kind of statement was commonplace on Zhihu in 2020, but now, nobody mentions it, and nobody even realizes it.

Lin Ran's mention of famous Soviet Russian figures during his explanation added an extra layer of persuasiveness.

At this point in time, Lin Ran's statement that "I've never met any Western politician or statesman" is not an understatement.

"You mean, this is a carefully crafted scheme?" The Chinese representative felt like his head was about to explode. That's the downside of getting old; his energy couldn't compare to that of younger people.

“Yes, similarly, if Soviet Russia could play the role it was meant to be, why can’t China?” Lin Ran said quietly, looking out at Loch Ness, his eyes seemingly able to pierce through time and space.

"I believe that now is the only window to reverse the passive situation of China in Southeast Asia."

"This window of opportunity will never open again," Lin Ran continued. "China can transcend ideological disputes and expand its influence from a geoeconomic perspective."

The Chinese representative had already started puffing on a cigarette; he couldn't keep up without one.

"Professor, we can certainly sense the vacuum you mentioned."

However, the situation in Southeast Asia is complex and multifaceted, making it difficult for us to find a suitable foothold.

Lin Ran said, "The focus has already emerged, and that is ASEAN."

ASEAN, established in 1967, is the best entry point.

ASEAN is indeed America's tool.

But it cannot have only this one attribute.

As we have said before, any organization or group is made up of people.

They are not robots, not robots that America can control directly from Washington.

When America needs it to oppose Soviet Russia, the ASEAN robot will move.

Keep still when not in use.

This is not reality, not fiction.

In fact, it is a potential regional cooperation platform that can be guided by China.

While ASEAN opposes the bloc to which the Soviet Union belonged, it can also have its own unique propositions.

Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality.

You can ask in Malaysia, Singapore, or other countries; their claims regarding ZOPFAN are already under discussion.

In 1971, ASEAN signed the Kuala Lumpur Declaration, aiming to transform itself from a pawn into a neutral zone.

"My suggestion is that China should take the lead in promoting economic integration throughout Southeast Asia."

China should also join ASEAN as an observer country.

This is more penetrating and vital than traditional military or political alliances.

China could propose an economic cooperation framework with equality and mutual benefit as its core, prioritizing the development of infrastructure, trade, and industrial cooperation within the region.

China has natural advantages. On the one hand, China fully demonstrated its strength in the Vietnam War, and it could do what the Soviet Union could not. On the other hand, the Chinese community throughout Southeast Asia would be a natural asset to China. Finally, China needs such a role model, and America needs it too.

America needed a region to demonstrate to the world that economic cooperation between non-Soviet bloc countries and liberal bloc countries was feasible. While it was true that America withdrew from the power vacuum in the region, it also failed to allow Soviet Russia to fill the void.

Instead, it was filled with a new form.

They had no reason to refuse.

From the perspective of Third World countries, this is a new Cold War model that China is showing the world – a truly independent economic cooperation model led by Third World countries and not dependent on any one pole.

This will not only stabilize the environment in the South, but also transform the strategy of uniting the Third World from a slogan into tangible economic benefits.

The Western camp projected the Soviet Union and Russia as an enemy, both militarily and ideologically.

China can certainly shape such a projection itself, projecting its influence as a neighbor that can bring real benefits.

Once this window of opportunity is missed, it's uncertain when it will appear again.

Smoke filled the room.

The Chinese representatives had countless ideas in their minds, but their only doubt was whether they could really do it.

But when he thought about projection and combined it with the operating model of Area 51, he vaguely caught some inspiration.

(End of this chapter)