Chapter 180: The Beginning of the Great Rift Valley_1

Zhao Yun and Lu Qingfeng had both aged to varying degrees over the past eight years, yet both men maintained a spirited appearance.

Zhao Yun explained to Jiang Yu, "Brexit was finalized three years ago, considered by Western society as a blunder of the democratic system, hastening the shift towards authoritarianism.

"The entire event originated from the UK's capital power striking back against domestic and European Union centralization.

"In order to face the invasion of the Trisolarans, EU member states strengthened cooperation amongst themselves and trended towards unification.

"Simultaneously, all EU member states also intensified the crackdown on domestic capital forces.

"With deeply entrenched capital forces, the UK, to avoid losing power during the EU's further centralization process, mobilized the media to facilitate the country's complete withdrawal from the EU.

"And most of the British citizens who supported Brexit actually didn't know the heavy price they would have to pay for it."

Lu Qingfeng continued, "Another incident that disillusioned countries with the democratic system was Japan discharging nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean.

"Just a short while after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident over a decade ago, Japan began releasing simply treated wastewater into the Pacific, and evidence suggests that this has led to mutations in some marine life!

"Only then did people start recalling the Chernobyl incident from the last century. Although that incident was condemned for decades and the Soviet bureaucracy did engage in cover-ups initially,

"when the central Soviet government realized the severity of the issue, they immediately focused the nation's efforts on addressing it.

"During the evacuation, it was the state that provided transportation, without leaving the public to fend for themselves, and hundreds of thousands of people were involved in the disaster relief.

"Their approach to resolving it was scientific, and everyone took it seriously."

"In contrast, Japan's response has been disappointing. The government has constantly urged the power company to resolve the situation.

"And their solution to the problem was just injecting seawater to cool the core, yet even now, they don't really know the status of the reactor's core."

Jiang Yu was also surprised, "After so many years, even the issue with the reactor core hasn't been resolved?"

Zhao Yun sighed, "There's a problem with Japan's resolution mechanism. If you let the power company handle it, they will definitely opt for the most cost-saving solutions.

"Those solutions were to cool the core with seawater and then store the nuclear wastewater.

"Later, they weren't even willing to spend money on storing it. After simple treatment, or even without any, they just dumped it into the sea.

"It wasn't until marine life started showing significant mutations that Japan agreed to let PDC countries intervene for an investigation."

Jiang Yu asked, "What specific plans does the Japanese government have?"

Lu Qingfeng laughed, "Does going around bowing count as a plan?

"Ah, the current Japanese authorities are basically the descendants of war criminals.

"Expecting them to consider the world's ecological welfare?

"They are going to make the Japanese public bear a historical infamy once again."

Zhao Yun leaned back in his chair, frowning, "So this incident is also deemed a flaw of the democratic system, with even suggestions that democratic countries shouldn't operate nuclear power plants.

"Because they simply lack the capacity to resolve the issues arising from nuclear power plants."

Lu Qingfeng spoke earnestly, "If there were no threat from the Trisolarans, if authoritarianism weren't becoming increasingly prevalent, countries would not be so critical of the UK's Brexit and Japan's approach.

"Generally speaking, Western countries are using these two events as a pretext for further centralization."

Jiang Yu sighed, "One can imagine the massive downsides of such centralization!"

Lu Qingfeng said, "We have come to similar conclusions. The West lacks experience in managing such systems.

"They send people to China to learn, only to find out that our government is not the dictatorship they had been propagating but is more sophisticated in its operative functions.

"Out of desperation, they have even started sending people to North Korea to study."

This Jiang Yu actually had a surprise, "I didn't expect these Westerners to be so eager to learn!"

He shook his head right after, "Social progress should be gradual, they're so anxious that they're likely to go too far and cause problems!"

"It's hard to imagine what it would be like for the whole world to be under dictatorship."

Jiang Yu was slightly startled before realizing that the answer had actually been in front of him all along, "The Great Rift Valley!"

Lu Qingfeng and Zhao Yun didn't understand, "What?"

"Nothing," Jiang Yu said, "The appearance of the Trisolarans completely interrupted the progress of the East and West.

"Especially since it might make the East abandon the prior 'centralized democracy' concept, becoming trapped in the same logical fallacies as the West.

"No democracy means dictatorship, no dictatorship means democracy, completely losing the pragmatism and diversity of thought in governance."

Zhao Yun and Lu Qingfeng exchanged glances, they hadn't thought about it that deeply.

After contemplating for half a minute, Jiang Yu said, "I have a new assignment for your team, from now on, collect and bind into volumes the modern Chinese concepts and methods of governance, to have ready for an emergency.

"Don't compile something textbook-style, make sure to include plenty of case studies, find the essence and points of contention in each major initiative.

"Let me give you an example, the Strategy of the Vietnam counterattack, it was all about creating a stable situation for China to undergo reform and opening up.

"Don't just emphasize Vietnam's betrayal and border incursions like the textbooks do.

"Express Deng's global political wisdom, don't make it sound like a regional conflict."

Lu Qingfeng and Zhao Yun said together, "We understand."

Jiang Yu sighed, "This report, let's call it 'Eastern Political Heritage!' This is the precious wealth that we in the East leave for the future world!"

Lu Qingfeng and Zhao Yun looked at each other, they could feel that Wallfacer Jiang Yu was also preparing to sever ties with the domestic.

Jiang Yu then asked, "What else has happened in these eight years?"

Lu Qingfeng replied, "The PDC countries have all been isolating our Moon City.

"However, Mayor Burton seems to understand the 'interdependence' strategy very well, maintaining a certain level of cooperation with the PDC.

"There's been no opposition, no conflicts, but we've kept Moon City's interests intact.

"But the current situation is actually very unfavorable for Moon City because we don't have strong enough military power.

"It's like a piece of fat on the Moon, waiting to be divided up by various forces when the time is right."

Jiang Yu nodded, "Everyone doesn't need to worry about that, Di Fengyi and Burton already have a contingency plan, and in a couple of days when I go to Moon City, we will make a final decision."

Zhao Yun breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good to hear."

Jiang Yu continued, "Besides the task I just gave you, in the future we need to assign people to go to Moon City, to deeply understand the demands of the people there and the various conflicts."

He couldn't help smiling as he said, "That's a whole new world, we need to treat it well.

"As for the thought problems of the Earthlings, it's enough for you to just be aware; as centralization grows more severe, you'll have less and less room to maneuver, don't get into friction with the PDC countries."

Zhao Yun and Lu Qingfeng acknowledged one by one.

During the conversation, the motorcade was now not far from the Greenery Group's test field.

The desolate desert abruptly ended ahead, replaced by a swath of green that stretched as far as the eye could see.

Qi Guanglu, dressed in comfortable cotton clothing with a straw hat on, stood on the grass like an old farmer, smiling and waiting.

As soon as Jiang Yu stepped out of the car, Qi Guanglu came forward and said with a smile, "We've opened a new chapter in the world's environmental development."