What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 225 Series Connection
The reason why Arita Uchimura joined the Tokyo Maritime Police Department instead of using his brother's connections to join the Maritime Self-Defense Force was because he was afraid of dying.

What era was he living in when he was young? The whole world was dancing on nuclear warheads, and you never knew when you'd wake up to a mushroom cloud.

The Metropolitan Police Department is different; it's a purely civil service position, with shifts only every few months. You can be quite happy just drinking tea from nine to five.

They still couldn't escape even after arriving here. Where did these dive bombers come from?
He only has two flimsy patrol boats, which might not even be able to withstand a 150-pound bomb. If a 500-pound or 1000-pound bomb were to fall, he probably wouldn't even be able to leave a whole body.

The first sailor to warn him had already cleverly jumped off the ship's side, and he quickly followed suit, landing in the sea with a splash, and then swimming forward desperately.

The sailors still on board looked up and saw two SBDs, one in front and one behind, dropping something from their bellies and climbing at the last moment.

As he swam desperately, Uchimura Arita felt a wave of heat behind him and his chest was impacted, so he quickly dived down. Once underwater, he could hear the sound of an explosion on the surface of the water.

One sound, two sounds.

But he dared not stop, because there was still fuel on the boat that could explode, so he just rowed with all his might.

……

Manhattan.

Cars of representatives from all parties parked in an orderly fashion outside the United Nations building.

It was another routine meeting, and they probably already knew what was going to happen.

Kenya Niijima followed closely beside Hastings, maintaining a small distance as they conversed.

“Mr. Hastings, we have already taken countermeasures and successfully contained them in the East China Sea.”

Hastings nodded slightly. In the past, the Japanese would have tried to negotiate and negotiate something in such matters, but perhaps because of Zhang Siyuan's provocation, their actions this time were unusually swift and decisive.

Hastings didn't care about the specific outcome, or rather, it was already destined that neither side would escalate the matter; it was merely a back-and-forth exchange of retaliatory blows.

Furthermore, the location where the 8101 fishing vessel was detained is a sensitive one.

However, he didn't intend to cause any trouble here for the time being, and simply said:

"Rest assured, Okinotorishima is Japanese territory, and we have the full right to dispose of it. Land reclamation is absolutely reasonable, and we absolutely support the legality of land reclamation."

Kenya Niijima realized something was wrong. Why was it just such a lukewarm statement? What I wanted was an exclusive economic zone!

However, Hastings timed it perfectly; they had already reached a fork in the road, leaving him no time to ask any more questions.

Moreover, he realized that Hastings wanted to be a referee, and who knows, he might have some secret dealings with Zhang Siyuan.

However, this kind of verbal negotiation takes time to wear down, and he believes that Zhang Siyuan will accept reality after recognizing the difference in strength.

Even a mosquito's leg is still meat; at least it can shut some people up.

Once all the representatives were seated, Boutros announced that they would continue to discuss Zhang Siyuan's proposal.

Three days had passed since he made the proposal, and all stakeholders had made private arrangements, with some results achieved:

The first issue is whether artificially reclaimed reefs to form islands qualify for exclusive economic zones. Regions with strength and access to the sea are naturally willing to support this, while regions in a weaker position will naturally oppose it.

As for landlocked countries? They are mostly poor and weak small countries, so they have no objection to this. They will support whoever is willing to give them a little something.

This has led to a stalemate, as different factions and even their own internal divisions cannot reach a consensus.

Then, opinions on the issue of land reclamation and island building on domestic islands and reefs became much more unified:

Most delegates didn't see anything wrong with it, especially the Hercules of the lowlands. If this became illegal, the Hercules would become the next Atlantis in a few decades.

Zhang Siyuan's proposal gave them an opportunity to bring it into the open and formally legalize it.

So when Kenjiro Niijima refuted Zhang Siyuan's proposal again, he also drafted a supplementary bill to the International Law of the Sea, recognizing the legality of land reclamation in sovereign areas.

The locals immediately voiced their support, and soon a large group of European friends, though they couldn't see any connection to it, also offered their support.

And a large number of small countries followed suit and supported them, creating an overwhelming situation that was clearly visible to the naked eye.

The sudden scene seemed to have been planned in advance, with all eyes focused on Zhang Siyuan.

The latter had no expression, but that was enough to show that he looked very unwell.

The only countries still on his side are Annam and Luzon, because like China, they lack the capacity to reclaim land and build islands, and they don't want to see others doing so.

However, the opposing forces were too weak and had no ability to oppose them at all.

Kenya Niijima: "Since its implementation in 1994, the convention has revealed some undefined areas and loopholes, which should be corrected."

I propose that a supplementary meeting to the third session of the Convention on the Law of the Sea be convened in Geneva to incorporate this supplementary clause into the Treaty immediately and put it into force.

"We oppose the idea that arbitrarily altering regional territories is unwise and will lead to very serious international problems."

Zhang Siyuan immediately expressed his opposition, but then Hastings, who was theoretically completely unrelated to the matter, also expressed his opinion:

"I believe a supplementary meeting is necessary."

With the elder brother's opinion, there were even more supporters.

Almost instantly, a consensus was reached to hold a supplementary meeting on the law of the sea the week after next.

Seeing that he couldn't stop it, Zhang Siyuan made what others saw as a final struggle:

“I suggest this should be discussed in conjunction with whether artificial islands have exclusive economic zone rights.”

"be opposed to!"

Kenya Niijima certainly knew what he was thinking. Zhang Siyuan wanted to forcibly link the two things together. However, the economic benefits of artificial islands were lower than those of land reclamation. If they were linked together, it might not be approved even in three years.

The day's meeting ended with Representative Zhang storming out, and although Kenya Niijima seemed to have won, he did not achieve his goal.

Domestically, the importance of the Okinotorishima Reef reclamation project stems from its impact on the Navy's eastward expansion. However, Japan prioritizes economic benefits, given that its current Eight-Eight Fleet can easily suppress the three major fleets, making an artificial island unnecessary.

Transforming Okinotorishima into a large island capable of supplying warships and housing an airport would require an exorbitant amount of time and money.

In the end, there's a 99% chance it will just benefit the Seventh Fleet. Kenya Niijima isn't stupid.

For them, legalizing land reclamation and island building is better than nothing; the economic zone is far more important.

The latter is much more complicated, and it's difficult to deal with Hastings. The fence might support it, but it's not very useful.

But compared to them, Kenya Niijima was more worried about the Russians' attitude; the saying "even a broken ship has three thousand nails" is not an exaggeration.

However, they are currently in dire economic straits and have no time to spare for the Pacific Ocean, so they might be easy to bribe.

Kenjiro Niijima thought for a moment and sent someone to deliver a message to Kochlev, the departing representative, to find a place to talk.

If Kochlev can be won over and Hastings also supports it, there is a 70% chance that the artificial island economic zone will be approved, and he will surely go down in history.
(End of this chapter)