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

Chapter 688 A sudden bad feeling

In the living room, two young people huddled together, browsing various news items online.

Xu Qingzhou stroked his chin and said with some regret, "I was wondering why I always felt like something was missing. Turns out I forgot to share my recent updates with everyone on Weibo."

I missed a perfect opportunity to show off; who knows when the next chance will come?

"childish."

Song Yao scoffed, showing her disdain.

"Yes, you're not naive."

Xu Qingzhou pinched the girl's thigh; it was soft and yielding, and he could never get enough of touching it, no matter how many times he did.

"Once the funds arrive, aside from using them for controlled nuclear fusion experiments, could a portion be used for technology investment?"

While browsing the news, Song Yao suddenly thought of investing.

"What are your thoughts?" Xu Qingzhou asked.

"Two. One is the stellarator project at Southwest Jiaotong University. From what I understand, their funding is severely insufficient compared to similar projects."

Domestically, the focus is on tokamaks, and not much effort is put into stellarators.

The Xia Kingdom's stellarators have not made much progress, mainly due to technical reasons and funding issues. It should be noted that researching stellarators is even more expensive than researching tokamak.

"Second, invest in the manufacturing of other high-precision equipment, such as atomic layer deposition (ALD) systems, transmission electron microscopes (TEM), etc., to build upstream industries."

"I agree."

"Nothing to add?"

"You know more about investing than I do."

Xu Qingzhou followed Song Yao and looked at the news for a while. He couldn't keep his mouth shut, so he reached out and picked up a lychee from the table, peeled it, and handed it to Song Yao.

"I want your other hand."

"Different?" Xu Qingzhou put the food in his mouth without realizing it.

Song Yao raised an eyebrow: "Your hand just touched my foot."

"."

Xu Qingzhou froze.

"You're disgusted?"

"Shouldn't I be disgusted?"

As dusk deepened in Xia Country, it was daytime in Europe. In the conference room on the second floor of the EU headquarters in Brussels, a meeting was held to launch an anti-dumping investigation against Xia Country, driven by Belk and Simson.

Simson tapped the table lightly. “The evidence is conclusive! Look at the data you have. Electric vehicles in China are 30% cheaper than in Europe, thanks to their government’s relocation subsidies. If taxes aren’t increased, European car companies will suffer the same fate as the photovoltaic industry—completely destroyed by Chinese products.”

He has consistently supported a tougher policy toward Xia Guo in order to address existing economic and industrial development issues within the EU.

Yes, the EU economy will decline in the short term, but in the long run it will be beneficial, at least it will not have to rely on the Xia people forever.

"I'm sorry, but we still do not support this resolution," the German representative said.

The Hungarian representative also spoke up: "With all due respect, the current investigation process is riddled with loopholes. It has not even been able to prove substantial harm before imposing tariffs, which is a clear violation of WTO rules."

Simsson and Becker were not at all surprised by the Hungarian opposition. After all, the Hungarian prime minister had publicly opposed the trade war.

French representative Berke: "Hey everyone, look at BYD's costs. See what competitive advantage our own industry has. The Germans only care about the profits of their own car companies, but what about us? Renault workers in France are losing their jobs, Stellantis Group factories are closing down, and Chinese cars are taking 40% of our subsidies. This is blatant unfair competition!"

“Mr. Belk, a blind trade war will only invite retaliation. Just think of their brandy counterattack; French wine merchants have already lost 20 billion euros!” The German representative frowned.

"What we know now is that most countries support raising tariffs. Once an anti-dumping investigation is launched, it will inevitably trigger a series of chain reactions. I suggest that we make supplementary clauses and continue negotiations with Xia after raising tariffs."

The Poles prefer mediation.

"The pain is only temporary. I believe you have carefully read our lithium dendrite technology report. On behalf of France, I can assure you that we will share this technology with you unconditionally. In one year, the battery field will be ours."

"Ladies and gentlemen, we must admit that Europe is no longer strong. We need to unite and make the right choice for Europe's future."

"Belker said emphatically. The meeting room fell silent for a moment."

Even the German representative remained silent, knowing that Belk had a point; initiating an anti-dumping investigation would benefit France, but Germany could also gain considerable benefits from it.

Furthermore, Europe has taken the lead in solving the lithium dendrite problem and will be a dominant force in the field of new energy electric vehicles for the next decade.

No country is unmoved by this.

"The fact is that we cannot do without Xia Guo, and the experiments you talk about that can completely solve the problem of lithium dendrites are still just on PowerPoint presentations."

The German representative said helplessly.

“Mr. Ashton, breakthroughs in science and technology take time,” Simson shrugged.

“This is a complete gamble.” The German representative paused for a moment before slowly saying, “We have reservations about the bill to initiate an anti-dumping investigation against Xia.”

At the very least, Germany doesn't want to be enemies with Xia Guo right now, and it still has to oppose the anti-dumping measures. Even if the anti-dumping investigation is eventually launched, they can still give an explanation to the people of Xia Guo.

"We object."

The Hungarian representative speaks.

"We support it."

"We object."

Those present began to express their opinions.

Simson and Belk exchanged a glance, both seeing the smile in each other's eyes.

Compared to before, Germany's attitude is much better; it doesn't support the bill, but it hasn't explicitly opposed it either. If nothing unexpected happens, the bill will pass smoothly.

Simson smiled faintly and said, "Alright everyone, since that's the case, let's vote."

Also at this time.

The office door was suddenly pushed open.

A middle-aged man wearing glasses walked in, and everyone in the conference room stood up.

The person who came was Bosh Burroughs, Deputy Secretary-General of the European Commission.

Burroughs looked at Simson and Belk, "Gentlemen, I regret to inform you that the meeting is now adjourned. The committee has unanimously agreed to cancel the meeting regarding the anti-dumping investigation against Xia."

The meeting room fell silent instantly, and everyone was stunned.

The person in front of me used to be quite supportive.

Simson was equally bewildered. Just last night, Bosh Burroughs had called him over to express his support for the anti-dumping investigation, and now his attitude had changed so drastically overnight.

Belk whispered a reminder: "Mr. Burroughs, most people here agree to launch an anti-dumping investigation against Xia."

"I know."

Burroughs turned to look at Belk and said, "Instead of holding a meeting, I suggest you pay more attention to news from Xia Kingdom right now."

"News from the Xia Kingdom?"

"There's a new development over there."

Belk and the others wore strange expressions. Burroughs suddenly stopped the meeting. Could something have happened on the Xia Kingdom side?
Simson remained silent, feeling a strange sense of familiarity for some reason.

It seems that was the case last time.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the committee has an urgent meeting. Excuse me."

Burroughs seemed very busy. He glanced at the people present and left in a hurry with his assistant, leaving the crowd somewhat bewildered.

Hey~
Simson's phone rang first.

Looking at the message from his assistant, his eyes suddenly widened, and he instinctively exclaimed in surprise.

"Oh my God, this is absolutely impossible!"

(End of this chapter)