Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 403 The New Door

That silent standoff was not a military defeat for Japan, but it was as bad as one.

It is like a mirror, reflecting the entire country's powerlessness in the face of its powerful neighbor.

This sense of humiliation from defeat without a fight fermented into a powerful storm sweeping across the political arena over the next 48 hours.

The anger and self-deprecation on social media were just the prelude.

When mainstream Japanese media, from the right-leaning Sankei Shimbun to the centrist Yomiuri Shimbun, began to question the Prime Minister's Office's silence in front-page editorials, a real political crisis erupted.

On a televised debate program, commentators from the left and right, who were usually at odds, surprisingly reached a consensus this time.

They stopped arguing about whether the law should be amended and instead asked the same question together: "Where are our heavily invested defense forces and our most trusted allies when danger strikes?"

Where has the ever-increasing budget and the invincible Zeus ship that we've been talking about and emphasizing in the past gone?
The cabinet's approval rating plummeted from 45% to 19% overnight.

He himself was given the humiliating title of "bystander prime minister" by the media.

His rational restraint based on military realities was thoroughly defined as cowardice and dereliction of duty in the face of surging national pride and insecurity.

Yukio Ohno, the leader of the largest faction within the party, summoned all the elders of the factions.

“He can’t stay in that position any longer.” A former prime minister pounded on the table, his voice hoarse. “Public opinion has collapsed. If we dissolve Parliament now, we will lose a hundred seats! This is a scandal that shakes the very foundation of the nation!”

This was a political assassination without any bloodshed or violence.

The next morning, the Japanese cabinet resigned en masse, and the news spread throughout the world via news bulletins.

The Tokyo financial market, already fragile due to the events of the past few days, has reached its final straw.

Inside the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Nikkei 225 index plummeted immediately after opening, dropping more than 1500 points within an hour.

Investors are no longer selling shares of a particular company, but rather the uncertainty surrounding the country of Japan itself.

A leaderless Japan, with its foreign and security policies facing huge questions, is a nightmare for global capital.

The yen's exchange rate against the dollar has plummeted again after its previous plunge, quickly breaking through the psychological threshold of 145.

The Japanese yen, once considered a safe-haven currency, has now become the epicenter of risk.

Even the most stable government bond market experienced an unprecedented sell-off.

Overseas investors are beginning to worry whether an unstable government can still repay its astronomical national debt.

Although the Bank of Japan announced another large-scale market intervention, this time, the trillions of yen they injected were like pouring into a black hole, barely slowing down the decline but unable to reverse the market's despair.

In an effort to prevent a complete market collapse, the ZMD completed the election of a new prime minister at an unprecedented speed.

Naoki Sugawara, former Foreign Minister and leader of the centrist faction within the party, was elected as the new party president amidst the support of faction elders. He will officially become the 102nd Prime Minister after approval by the Diet in the evening.

Choosing Sugawara was the safest option that each faction could make amidst the turbulent times.

He was steady and had good relations with all factions within the party. More importantly, he was a staunch pro-American and the person Washington knew and trusted most.

5 p.m., Prime Minister's Official Residence
Naoki Sugawara, who had just been granted authorization, immediately held his first press conference. His expression was serious, and his speech was brief and forceful.

He emphasized only three things:

The new cabinet's primary task is to stabilize the financial markets and restore public confidence.

He will form a strong cabinet to unite all forces and overcome the national crisis.

He announced that he would visit Washington immediately next week for talks at the White House to reaffirm the rock-solid and unshakable alliance to the world.

This political tsunami, triggered by the humiliation of bystanders, has temporarily come to a temporary end in the fastest and most conservative way.

But the ghost still hovers over Tokyo, and the doubt that "America can really protect us" still cannot be dispelled.

In China, the atmosphere is completely different.

The atmosphere on all major social media platforms was filled with joy and celebration.

Although it was just a routine recycling operation, they considered it to be of great strategic significance.

Official media reports remained restrained and rigorous, repeatedly emphasizing that this was a scientific exploration activity for the peaceful use of space.

However, in the public sphere, all sorts of strange and monstrous figures take turns appearing, and various interpretations emerge one after another.

Weibo's trending topics are filled with various terms that would make Chinese people laugh but Japanese people shudder:
The term "#BystanderPrimeMinister," coined by Japanese media, was quickly adopted by Chinese netizens and taken to Weibo, where it was given a new, sarcastic meaning.

Countless netizens flooded Japan's Weibo account with comments that were strikingly similar in format: "Friendly reminder: The waves are quite high today, please do not approach dangerous waters."

#Suggest renaming Pilipinas Sea#, a highly upvoted comment reads: "Since our packages can be accurately delivered from the moon to there, it means that the area has good feng shui and a good signal. I suggest renaming Pilipinas Sea as the First Post Office on the Eastern Side of the South China Sea, to facilitate the receipt and delivery of packages in the future."

#The top Versailles at 485 meters#, countless tech bloggers and military experts are using various methods to educate ordinary netizens about the incredible technological capability of sending an object from 38 kilometers away at hypersonic speed to Earth with an error of less than 500 meters.

#Is the water temperature in Tokyo Bay a bit cold?# When news of the Japanese stock market crash came, this hashtag quickly became a trending topic.

The comments below are all like, "The weather is getting cooler, a reminder to wear more clothes," and "A clear mind remains calm even when the sky falls, lol."

On Zhihu, the most upvoted answer to this question wasn't an analysis of factional politics, but rather a simple image comparison:

Above: In 1894, after the Battle of the Yalu River, the Japanese fleet swaggered around, while the Beiyang Fleet's "Dingyuan" battleship struggled amidst the smoke of battle.

Right now, it's just us and America, the eldest brother. The rest are all little brothers who are starving for food. They're all waiting for their eldest brother to cut off their own flesh to feed the tiger, waiting for their eldest brother to come and feed them.

Little did they know, this wasn't a cold war at all; it was a confrontation with completely different rules. The big brothers didn't want to share any of the spoils with the little brothers. We wanted fair trade, win-win cooperation, and for everyone to work together to make the pie bigger before discussing how to distribute it.

America went far too far; they wanted to cut off the flesh of their allies to feed themselves, and to suck the marrow from their bones.

This left the younger guys completely bewildered. Wait, isn't this a cold war? Why aren't you trying to appease me, but instead forcing me to hand over my bargaining chips?

What frustrated them even more was that they discovered that despite America's treatment of them, China was unwilling to offer any benefits when they sought help from it.

If it were during the Cold War sixty years ago, and Europe had gone to the Soviet Union to discuss cooperation, the Soviet Union would have already offered substantial benefits, wouldn't it?
So what I want to say is that Japanese politicians are among the few in the world who have truly understood the rules of the game in this new era, far superior to those politicians in Europe.

To understand this, you must discard all emotional language based on courage, spirit, and morality, and look at it from only three cold perspectives: Japan's loss-cutting measures, America's medical examination, and the new Asia-Pacific tacit understanding that arose from this.

1. Neon Retreat: A stop-loss strategy disguised as observation.

Many people, especially those on the Japanese right, are vehemently criticizing Chiyoda for being cowardly and lacking in samurai spirit. This view is extremely superficial.

On the contrary, Japan's decision that day was an extremely professional and rational judgment made by its bureaucratic system in a very short period of time.

The core of this judgment is not whether we dare to fight, but what the cost of fighting will be.
Before the conflict, like America, Japan's understanding of our anti-access/area denial capabilities remained at the stage of theoretical deterrence and model simulation.

But on that day, they saw two pieces of real-world data that could not be extrapolated using models:

The fire control radar's decisive lock: This is not a warning, it is a death sentence.

Our ships, hundreds of kilometers away, illuminated the P-3C with their most powerful fire control radar, clearly telling them in internationally accepted military language: "I can see you, I can hit you, and I dare to hit you."

A terminal accuracy of 485 meters: This was the last straw that broke the camel's back.

This figure declares to Japanese military experts that their Aegis missile defense system, which they have acquired at great expense, has a near-zero probability of intercepting such a package with terminal hypersonic glide and autonomous navigation capabilities.

In this situation, what would be the result of sending the Haguro? Not a heroic standoff, but rather turning one's most expensive warship into a sitting duck for the enemy's navigation system, a public execution witnessed by the entire world.

Therefore, non-intervention is a way to mitigate military losses, avoiding a battle that is doomed to defeat and would completely destroy their confidence.

Secondly, there's the calculation of the economic costs. If a firefight actually breaks out, even just a skirmish, what will happen to the Tokyo stock market the next day? It won't just plummet by 1500 points; it will simply close the market.

The yen will collapse instantly.

Japan's national credibility will be completely destroyed overnight by this military adventure.

Non-intervention is a way to mitigate economic losses.

Therefore, Japan's decision to remain on the sidelines was not an emotional retreat, but a painful yet rational decision they had to accept after pressing the numbers on a calculator. They sacrificed their dignity to preserve their fleet and economy.

II. America's wait-and-see attitude

Many people, especially many 4V fans, feel that this is America's betrayal. I've noticed that there are far fewer madmen on Zhihu calling for me to be attacked these past few days.

This view also fails to grasp the essence of America's behavior.

America didn't betray Japan; America was simply true to herself, just as they had chosen countless times before.

The P-8A and the RC-135S reconnaissance aircraft at higher altitudes were not bodyguards, but rather wound examiners.

Their sole mission there is to answer one of the Pentagon's most pressing questions: How powerful is the A2/AD system in the real world?
In a sense, the Japanese coast guard vessels and reconnaissance aircraft became bait for America to test this net.

Every radar illumination, every frequency and intensity of every electronic signal, and every reaction speed of the Chinese fleet was greedily and completely recorded by American aircraft.

Through this observation, America obtained the data they most wanted to know, and also least wanted to see:
China's anti-ship ballistic missile system and naval fleet have been fully integrated through data links.

China's navigation technology has broken free from dependence on external satellites and possesses the capability to decapitate targets even under strong electromagnetic interference.

The Chinese army possesses the determination and will to pull the trigger without hesitation in this region.

Therefore, America's wait-and-see approach was a cold-blooded strategic trial of her wounds, willing to sacrifice the humiliation of her allies.

They are examining just how badly damaged their Western Pacific strategy, which they have relied on for the past thirty years and is centered on carrier battle groups.

The medical examination results showed that the patient was critically injured and on the verge of death.

III. Asia-Pacific Tacit Understanding in the New Era

So, when Japan cut its losses and America got her medical check-up, a brand new, unspoken understanding between the Asia-Pacific region was born:

The red line has been drawn, and this sea area has been proven by facts to be within the scope of our effective jurisdiction.

Here, our interests are our core interests and cannot be challenged.

The traditional deterrent power of the America carrier strike group has been greatly diminished in this sea area.

America's future interventions will have to rely on more costly and riskier submarines and long-range bombers from Guam and Australia.

Pawns must protect themselves: Neon and 4V have both realized their true status through this incident. They are no longer protected allies, but assets on the verge of danger.

In short, this recovery operation, though not a single shot fired, was as significant as one.

It restructured the order along the Pacific coast in a nearly peaceful manner.

That precisely landing return capsule is like a key, unlocking the door to a new era of power dynamics for us.

The words on the door were clearly written: "Welcome to a world where strength determines everything."

On Bilibili, a well-known military content creator produced a video overnight titled "Subduing the enemy without fighting: A textbook example of great power rivalry."

In the video, he weaves together a series of events, including China issuing a navigation notice, the fleet's advance deployment, the recovery of the return capsule, Japan's restraint, America's observation, and the Tokyo Incident, into a complete story.

At the end of the video, he used rousing background music to display the following subtitles:
"We did not fire a single shot, yet we forced a world power to admit the incompetence of its military power on its own doorstep."

We didn't say a single harsh word, yet we enabled a country that had been wavering for over seventy years to complete a change of supreme power overnight.

This is not the highest level of subduing the enemy without fighting.

When your technology, military, and national will are so strong that your adversary feels that confrontation is pointless, you have won the final victory.

Welcome to the new era.

“Mr. Kimura,” Wang Hao began, speaking fluent Japanese, “today’s data is perfect. Your expertise in high-K metal gate technology is truly admirable.”

However, I have a question regarding the gate profile control of FinFETs. Why did you choose to use a more complex multi-sidewall deposition method instead of optimizing the etching process?

Even before this recycling, China and Japan had already begun the transfer of semiconductor technology at 28nm and below.

Wang Hao was one of many Chinese engineers sent to Japan to learn new technologies; he had previously worked at NEC.

He asked a very specific question.

Toshiro Kimura, an elderly man who has worked here for nearly forty years, showed his first genuine smile of the day.

It was the kind of gratified smile that only a master craftsman would have when he saw a bright apprentice.

“Wang Jun, you have a keen eye.” He took a sip of iced barley tea. “Because ten years ago, the best plasma etching machine we could get our hands on couldn’t meet our requirements for leakage rate in terms of uniformity control.”

We were forced into this situation.

Using more complex processes to compensate for equipment deficiencies. This is the fate of our generation of Japanese semiconductor engineers: to achieve ultimate perfection within constrained frameworks.

Wang Hao nodded; he understood the history behind those words.

After a moment of silence, he asked a more personal question: "Mr. Kimura, you have dedicated your entire life to this production line. Now, what does it feel like to personally pack it all up and hand it over to us?"

"Feeling?" he murmured to himself, "No anger, no resentment. Just a kind of fatalistic calm."

He turned his head and looked at Wang Hao with the same look he had when he was looking at a younger version of himself.

“Wang Jun, do you know? Thirty years ago, when I first joined the company, this was the center of the world. Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel from America wanted to send people to learn our memory chip manufacturing technology. We defeated the American masters. At that time, we believed that the world was ours.”

"Later, we lost to the Koreans."

They didn't lose because of a lack of skill, but because of their gambling mentality.

During market downturns, they dared to use government funds to expand production frantically against the cycle, dragging us down with price wars.

We lost to their high-stakes gamble.

"Then, we lost to 4V." Kimura's tone was bitter for the first time. "We still lost because of money. Morris Chang of TSMC invented a completely new way of playing the game."

He doesn't produce his own chips; he only manufactures them for the whole world.

He turned all the world's capital into his own ammunition.

Meanwhile, we, these large, comprehensive motor manufacturers, are still arguing endlessly about our internal product lines. We lost to his model.

He picked up his teacup and drank the barley tea, which was now devoid of ice, in one gulp.

“Now, we’re selling it to you.” He looked at Wang Hao, his eyes becoming unusually frank. “Because we know that we’re completely out of the game.”

The chip war, in the end, is not about technology or business models, but a total war of capital, markets, and national will.

We no longer have an advantage in any of these three areas.

"So, for me personally," Kimura concluded, his tone one of relief, "it's better to watch this production line slowly and painfully be eliminated by the market in the next few years, eventually turning into a pile of useless scrap metal."

I would rather personally hand over all its processes and all its data to you completely.

At least I know that the fruits of my life's work can continue to shine and contribute in a new place. Perhaps this is the best ending an engineer can achieve.

Kimura then voiced his inner doubts: "But Mr. Wang, I don't quite understand how you could achieve such efficient integration, with the final landing deviation being only 485 meters."

Electromagnetic launch, lunar nuclear energy, new Hall thrusters, autonomous navigation, and hypersonic reentry.
Each of these technologies is a challenge that a country would need to dedicate ten or even twenty years of effort to overcome.

And you not only conquered them all, but you also assembled them perfectly, like the gears in a Swiss watch, seamlessly, and succeeded on the first try.

You have already achieved such great success, so why are you still clinging to 28nm technology, which is more than a decade old?

Forgive my frankness, but I'm getting old, and I don't quite understand. Do Chinese people really have to do everything themselves?

(End of this chapter)