Yes, Prime Minister of Japan

Chinese was greatly surprised:

"Over here?"

"Of course, on my end."

It's not the American side, it's my side, Li Xinghe's side.

It doesn't matter if the information is leaked.

It's not necessary for all financial institutions to side with Li Xinghe. On the contrary, it's precisely by having a select few become winners and others become the fat pigs to be divided up that new interest groups can be created.

……

For politicians, the New Year is a time of banquets, collusion of interests, extravagance, and decadence.

Even Shinjiro Koizumi has been drinking at several banquets in a row and is almost out of contact with people who frequent brothels, prompting Japanese YouTubers to post videos titled "Looking for Prime Minister Koizumi".

The prime minister is like this; whether he's a winner or loser in the political struggle, as long as he's a member of parliament, he's already so drunk he can't be found.

Therefore, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, Li Xinghe, as the Minister of Cabinet Affairs, issued an order to all the top officials of the cabinet and the vice ministers of various departments to hold a meeting next to the Public Security Section 9, requiring them to submit reports to the Minister of Cabinet Affairs as vice ministers and to prepare to implement a new economic strategy to support the economy and open up the market.

Before he even got around to it, news had already been circulating quietly in Japan's financial circles that Li Xinghe was going to push for the appreciation of the yen, and unsurprisingly, it leaked to the United States.

Li Xinghe received a call from the State Council. The caller identified himself as the Director of the General Office of the State Council and made the following request:

"Li, you must stop your madness!"

Li Xinghe only asked him:

"Friend, have you seen the Japanese stock market? Have you seen the Japanese bond market? How much money can you contribute to bail out the Japanese market?"

The other person first held their breath, then explained themselves:

"I have no money. The State Department demands that you immediately stop this insane economic strategy. You're practically murdering dollars!"

Li Xinghe scratched his head:

"No money? Why are you calling me if you have no money? Do you even deserve it?"

The other side also wanted to threaten:

"If you insist on going your own way, I will consider mobilizing the US military against you..."

But Li Xinghe didn't care:

"Bullshit, I am the US military."

Li Xinghe abruptly hung up the phone with the State Council.

Offending other places is a problem, but offending the US State Department is no big deal.

The entire US diplomatic system, ever since Obama and Trump repeatedly tinkered with their respective value systems, lost its channels for professional advancement after the 2010 Arab Spring. What emerged were ideological failures like Sullivan, Blinken, and Pompeo.

Moreover, at the start of Trump's second term, a phenomenon emerged where the inner circle usurped power from the outer circle. Trump's children, relatives, and figures like Musk, on the other hand, wielded far more influence in foreign policy than the Secretary of State and the State Department. Consequently, even capable members of Congress like Mio Rubio lost their voice on foreign policy issues and had to be mindful of the president's inner circle.

Even if the Secretary of State wanted to complain about Li Xinghe to Vance, Li Xinghe could just make a phone call to Vance and shut the Secretary of State up.

If they wanted to complain to the retired President Trump, Li Xinghe would still have Kay Trump stationed at Mar-a-Lago to protect him completely.

While arguing with the State Council, the 11 vice ministers who had been temporarily summoned to the Cabinet Affairs Department by Li Xinghe had arrived one after another.

Even if they hated Li Xinghe to the core, they could only reluctantly accept it at this moment.

All 11 people were present. Atsushi Uji, the Vice-Minister of Justice, introduced Li Xinghe as a relative.

"Apart from the Cabinet Office, all 11 vice ministers of the central ministries are here."

Actually, there were 10 people, because the Vice Minister of Defense, Kazuo Masuda, was already reflecting on his life in Li Xinghe's dungeon, and the person from the Ministry of Defense was the Vice Minister's secretary.

"Then let's have a meeting."

Li Xinghe first targeted Shinkawa Hiroshi:

"Shinkawa, the Finance Ministry's official in charge of the Ministry of Finance, has gone so far as to arrest smugglers and even implicate the Price Commission. You're quite bold."

Hiroshi Shinkawa was unaware that he had already been added to Li Xinghe's kill list, and was still trying to discuss Li Xinghe's policy arrangements:

"That was... a huge mistake by the Customs Service, and I've ordered them to reflect on it. Also, I heard you've been privately hinting at a more independent exchange rate control for the yen, which has angered the financial sector. The US will too..."

Li Xinghe criticized him:

"But my policies happen to align with the 'Manufacturing Return to America Strategy.' I will push for a stronger yen, weakening its link to the dollar and damaging the relationship between the Japanese financial sector and the Democratic Party. The Republicans are very grateful to me; I can get thanks from two presidents with just one phone call. What about you?"

There are two Americas now. Which one are you loyal to?

Trump's governing strategy, as seen in Vance's administration, was to make the dollar relinquish its status as the world's reserve currency, depreciate the dollar, and appreciate other currencies. This strategy was similar to Reagan's Plaza Accord and could be seen as a second Plaza Accord.

Although Li Xinghe was selling out Japan, his implementation strategy happened to be consistent with Trump's plan.

I can also sever the link between the yen and the dollar, I can push the yen to appreciate, and I can also strike at Japan's pro-Democratic Party financial sector. Isn't that wonderful?

As for Li Xinghe selling off various core assets in Japan and creating the East Asian trade zone, what does that have to do with Trumpism? The US is strategically retreating back to the Americas anyway.

Those who oppose me are all supporters of the Democratic Party; Republican Maga should not believe them.

Faced with Li Xinghe's aggressive questioning, the 11 vice ministers remained silent, unable to utter a word.

It's probably just wishful thinking to say that the US will intervene now.

Li Xinghe reprimanded everyone:

"Don't delude yourself into thinking the Americans will interfere. If they were to actually take action, I wouldn't be here."

Back when the US disrupted the China-Japan-South Korea Free Trade Agreement, the country wasn't as divided as it once was. The financial, diplomatic, and intelligence sectors were still able to work together to push for the disintegration of East Asia.

But today, the United States has been completely torn apart into a democratic America and a republican America. New right-wing capital in Silicon Valley technology and cryptocurrency capital have risen, and large asset management companies have replaced investment banks in manipulating the stock market. Times have changed, and the ability to resist Li Xinghe's betrayal of Japanese interests is naturally far less than it was 17 years ago.

The most significant difference is that the United States itself opposes global trade and refuses to assume the role of the global monetary center.

To paraphrase Biden, you can't only support neoliberalism when it benefits you.

Everyone asked in unison:

"So your proposal is..."

Li Xinghe distributed a piece of paper to each person:

"My strategy for saving the market can be summed up in just 16 words: attract talent, open up immigration, capital infrastructure, and security treaties."

In short, Li Xinghe intends to dismantle all the fragile and impenetrable barriers that the Japanese right wing had built for itself.

Tariffs, immigration, capital—dismantle them all.

The vice-ministers were naturally shocked by his drastic change, but Li Xinghe had already given them a wake-up call:

"Is Japan's current problem due to a lack of jobs? Isn't it because there are a large number of zombie companies and useless employees who are completely unsuitable for the jobs and unable to promote technological innovation that are propping up employment? It is because they occupy the development resources of enterprises and society that Japan's technological development has stagnated."

Introduce Chinese science and engineering talent and open up career paths for Chinese civil servants.

Li Xinghe did just that blatantly.

As for those unworthy old Japanese, Li Xinghe didn't care; let them go wherever they wanted. Whether they became homeless, worked as streetwalkers in Okubo Park, collected subsidies and went to the countryside, married new immigrants, or simply committed suicide to give up their resources, life would find its own way.

Some people are still resisting:

"But the Japanese themselves already..."

Li Xinghe immediately slammed his fist on the table and rebuked him:

"Does Japan have enough STEM talent? The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, come out and talk about why there are so many liberal arts students and fewer and fewer STEM talent? Why are 71% of graduates liberal arts and less than 28% STEM? And they are not even graduates in cutting-edge technology industries. Most of them are repeating research topics from 20 years ago. Tell me, is it because you are not working hard enough?"

The Vice-Minister of Education who was named is practically burying his head in the ground.

Those who follow Japanese scientific research know that Li Xinghe is criticizing two issues here: the mismatch between companies and employees and the cutting edge of science and technology, and the fact that the entire school and academic environment is reinventing the wheel. These are the fatal root causes of Japan's stagnant industrial development.

Specifically, the "happy education" model forces many students to compete for private tutoring, while those without money cannot work hard to advance to higher education. Most students who succeed in higher education cluster in the humanities, pursuing careers as top lawyers, law students, or various psychology doctors, while neglecting the challenging research directions in science and engineering.

If students are not doing well, research will suffer, and businesses will suffer even less. But to maintain appearances, everyone compromises, endlessly repeating the same cutting-edge scientific topics from 20 or 30 years ago. Mentors finish one topic, students finish another, and then students become mentors, only to return to the same topics. Coincidentally, research funding from businesses and universities is pitifully scarce, so Japan's top scientists are flocking to Chinese universities to conduct research, resulting in a stalemate.

Therefore, even if Li Xinghe is right, no one dares to imagine that one day a Chinese person would come and tear all of these down.

"Wouldn't this...wouldn't the public be furious and accuse me of treason..."

Li Xinghe still had something to say:

"Otherwise what? Do you think other countries are like rich kids rescuing prostitutes? How can you get China's security commitments, capital injections, and immigration without paying a price? Do you think you can get that with your old face?"

Believe it or not, whether they are Japanese bureaucrats or ordinary Japanese citizens, they really have this naive one-sided expectation that no matter how down on their luck they are, they should still be a beautiful streetwalker, and no matter how miserable they are, there should be a rich and stupid second-generation heir to stage a classic story of rescuing a prostitute, right?

This idea might have worked in 2012, but forget about it in 2029. Old daisies shouldn't pretend to be young beauties.

"Halftime break."

At this point, Li Xinghe ended the meeting and left.

As soon as he left, these people started making phone calls frantically, searching everywhere for help.

Li Xinghe stood in the next room, watching their performance.

They will definitely leak the information, and the bureaucratic system will only selectively implement what benefits them. For example, the policy of recruiting Chinese people as civil servants is actually a long-standing fact; not doing so would affect the stability of the bureaucratic system.

Most of them will also betray Li Xinghe, and the vast majority will not live past the end of his term in 2029.

But that doesn't matter. Doing politics is like farming; you have to do both sowing and weeding.

The best way to weed is to vigorously remove the weeds from people's heads.

After his rest period, Li Xinghe returned and immediately issued orders to the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

"The first administrative order of the new year: The Japanese government deeply reflects on the profound suffering that World War II brought to East Asia, and therefore recognizes that Koreans and Chinese who survived the war are one of the ethnic groups or communities existing in Japan, granting them ethnic recognition, and further simplifies and eliminates restrictions on different ethnic groups participating in the workforce. This is a prelude to the dialogue among the five Northeast Asian countries of Japan, China, South Korea, North Korea and Russia."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice were immediately struck dumb.

Brother, what are you saying?

Is this even possible?

Putting others aside, Atsushi was nearly scared to death by his brother-in-law's antics.

Li Xinghe made a strong statement:

"As long as we acknowledge the postwar orphans as Chinese and trace it back to the Chinese who immigrated to Japan more than a thousand years ago, we will have sufficient historical and legal basis. Our goal is to recognize the current situation of Chinese people living and working in Japan, to ensure that more capable people participate in the production and construction of society, without actually making you study history!"

The core of recognizing postwar orphans as Chinese lies in acknowledging that Japan is a multi-ethnic country, encompassing not only indigenous peoples like the Ainu and Ryukyu, but also residents of neighboring countries such as the Korean and Chinese ethnic groups.

There are over a million Chinese people in Japan. So many Chinese people with Japanese names are actually Chinese. Li Xinghe is just helping the Japanese recognize and acknowledge this fact.

End of the meeting.

The administrative vice-ministers, as if they had been gang-raped, covered their clothes and fled out the door.

Li Xinghe knew they would leak it.

This message will surely spread throughout Japan immediately. Acknowledging the mistakes made in World War II, and recognizing that the Chinese and war orphans left behind in Japan after the war and later returned to Japan are part of the Chinese ethnic group in Japan, once these groundworks are laid, right-wing elements throughout Japan will go crazy.

Various groups in Japan will immediately begin to coordinate.

The Keidanren Association is feigning dissatisfaction, the Shinto Renkai is furious, the Nongkyokai will surely be eager to join the anti-Lee wave, and the Nippon Kaigi will probably soon put pressure on right-wing parties in the political arena.

All of Japan is expressing its dissatisfaction with Li Xinghe.

Therefore, by evening, Shui Jing Tianping, who had learned of the situation in advance, called Li Xinghe and asked curiously:

How do you plan to deal with the public's overwhelming anger?

Li Xinghe revealed the second set of 16-character mantras:

"Mobilize the army and prepare for riot control. Tanks on the streets, rifles loaded!"

Is it the Japanese right wing that's stubborn, or the tanks and bullets?

Li Xinghe really wanted to test it out.

Who doesn't kill someone during the New Year?

The author says:

Author's note: Thank you all for your support. 4500 words. Killing is still more satisfying.

Chapter 669: The Tower of Heaven in Tokyo, the Anger of 30 Million Citizens (5500 words)

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, the Japanese received a New Year's gift from Li Xinghe.

A prominent political commentator with 50 subscribers on YouTube quickly released the New Year's policy arrangements:

"According to the Vice-Ministerial Meeting, the Cabinet Secretariat has arranged its first task for 2029. It is said that because Japanese stocks and bonds have suffered a black collapse, they are preparing to acknowledge and apologize for war crimes committed during World War II, and to recognize the ethnic identity of Chinese and Koreans in Japan!"