I am devoted to scientific research, but you want to trick me into having a love relationship?

Chapter 640 The United States: We Have an Absolute Advantage

While Xu Qingzhou was meeting with Klinger, in a private room at a hotel in Kyoto's HD district, Omar Halikenny, a scientist from the United States, was having a meeting with representatives from Japan and South Korea.

"Just now, I saw Klinger go out alone."

In the left corner, the man with the Mediterranean hairstyle is Han Byung-hoon, a plasma physicist from South Korea.

"Don't worry about him."

Harry Kenny waved his hand.

This was expected. Before they arrived, they had already contacted the EU to ask for its opinion, but unfortunately, the EU did not agree to the pressure strategy.

"To be honest, before coming here, I was still skeptical about the performance of GDirect's superconducting films. Until today, when I saw their test data."

Japanese physicist Jun'ichirō Hotta said with some surprise.

They also wanted to bypass the United States and negotiate directly with Xia Guo, but they were in an even worse situation than the European Union. They couldn't struggle at all and were forced to board the US's pirate ship.

The problem is that things are different now than before. The United States may not have an absolute advantage that would force China to submit.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today not to discuss how good China's superconducting thin film technology is, but to prepare for future competition. If we fail this time, China will seize 30% of the world's superconducting thin film market within the next two years."

“Well, Mr. Harry Kenley, what are your thoughts?” Han Byung-hoon asked.

Harry Kenley looked at Han Byung-hoon, "Do you remember the LK-99 room-temperature superconductivity falsification incident in your country?"

In July 2018, a team from the Korea Quantum Energy Research Center published two papers on the preprint platform arXiv, claiming to have discovered the world's first room-temperature superconductor under normal pressure, "LK-99".

The whole country was celebrating at the time.

Reproduction experiments conducted in laboratories in multiple countries around the world, including China, the United States, Europe, and India, show that the resistivity of LK-99 does not return to zero, but instead exhibits semiconductor-like characteristics.

The University of Maryland in the United States also confirmed that LK-99 is actually a high-resistivity, low-quality material.

Ultimately, even other laboratories in South Korea were unable to reproduce it.

Han Byung-hoon's expression was somewhat unpleasant. This was indeed a disgrace to the Republic of Korea, which was one thing, but for Harry Kenley to bring it up openly was another matter entirely.

The other party had absolutely no scruples and showed no respect whatsoever.

Ashley!
“A superconducting thin film with a performance of 5.0×10A/cm is not so easy to achieve. We can ask them to disclose the parameters for independent reproduction by third parties under the pretext of ‘verifying the authenticity of the technology’.”

"Harry Kenley said."

"Yes, that's a good idea. After all, academic fraud is not uncommon."

Junichiro Horita of Japan nodded.

Upon hearing this, Han Byung-hoon fell silent again, as if he had been offended.

"In addition, we can invoke the Paris Agreement and the International Energy Agency agreement to emphasize the contribution of superconducting technology to global grid transformation and carbon emission reduction, and use the grounds of 'promoting the inclusiveness of clean energy technologies' to pressure for the disclosure of parameters."

Harry Ken paused, then smiled and continued, "In Xia Country, there are still quite a few people who support us regarding carbon emissions."

"This time, the Xia Kingdom may not submit so easily."

Japanese physicist Jun'ichirō Horita frowned as he spoke.

“Mr. Horita, don’t forget, we have a crucial advantage.” Harry Kenley said confidently, “Equipment. A significant portion of Xia Country’s high-precision and cutting-edge equipment needs to be purchased from us.”

Junichiro Hotta reminded him: "Mr. Harry Kenley, if I remember correctly, we have already banned all the sanctions that should be banned and can be banned in the semiconductor industry."

"As far as I know, Zero Tech is procuring large quantities of controlled nuclear fusion equipment through offshore companies in the Cayman Islands, and that's where we can start," said Harry Kenley.

Although they are allies, it's well known that they only appear to be on the same page, but behind the scenes, they frequently engage in backstabbing and mutual recrimination. The EU wants to break free from US control and gain a stronger voice.

Therefore, Xia Kingdom currently has only two options: use its own equipment, but that won't meet the experimental requirements; or find another way and adopt European equipment.

However, they also have means in this area, such as demanding that allies implement secondary sanctions. For example, if the ion source equipment of Germany's DREEBIT contains more than 25% American technology, it will be forced to stop supplying it.

The final result was that Xia Kingdom could only choose a handful of devices as replacements, and those always had performance defects.

This will be a long negotiation.

Xu Qingzhou's superconducting thin film may indeed be the key to a breakthrough in controlled nuclear fusion. Compared to the research cycle of ten or twenty years, the struggles of the past year or two are nothing.

Of course, as a last resort, they can subsequently file charges of technological monopoly through the WTO and demand the disclosure of parameters to balance market competition.

1 month 21 day.

At 6:30 p.m., it was completely dark, but the research institute building was brightly lit.

The office on the sixth floor.

Xu Qingzhou brewed tea for Ji Yunshi.

He spent the whole day in the lab working with Zheng Xu on data and researching Su's side, while Ji Yunshi was in charge of the negotiations.

Ji Yunshi said, "The United States is shameless."

"About what we predicted?"

Xu Qingzhou wasn't surprised and asked while pouring tea for Ji Yunshi.

"Yes, during the afternoon's negotiations, the US representative proposed that we disclose the technical data of the superconducting thin film to ITER, as they need to reproduce it to verify the technology's authenticity."

Ji Yunshi took a sip of tea to moisten his throat and continued, "In addition, they mean that since the superconducting thin film was completed at MIT and used advanced equipment from the United States and the European Union, they need to disclose the parameters to determine whether it infringes on their intellectual property rights."

"Our side?"

"Of course, we cannot retreat an inch!"

Ji Yunshi said resentfully, his gaze darkening, and said, "However, according to them, if we do not agree, they will take rather severe measures."

"These are unoriginal methods, they're boring. What's our official stance?"

"We will support us in fighting for our legitimate interests. No matter what happens in the future, the government will always be our strong backing."

Progress on the EU side is going relatively smoothly.

China has agreed to provide materials for ITER. The only point of contention now is the price and the scope of authorization, which will require further negotiation.

Over the years, the US and Europe have not been of one mind. The US pursues technological hegemony, while the EU advocates multilateral governance. Ultimately, both sides are pursuing EU independence and breaking free from US influence.

In fact, the United States has launched the "International Nuclear Fusion Cooperation Program" in recent years, hoping to attract the participation of various countries and create a competitive relationship with ITER.

This greatly displeased the EU, which felt betrayed.

Of course, the most frustrating thing is that the actual funding from the United States in ITER is less than 50%.

They didn't pay enough, and they still have too many demands.

In short, today's negotiations were very interesting. The EU played a neutral role, while South Korea, Japan, and the United States formed a united front, demanding the disclosure of core parameters.

The attitude of the Xia Kingdom is one of utter disbelief: they're dreaming.

(End of this chapter)