As the saying goes, there is no impermeable wall in the world.

Zhang Xiaogang, Luo Jinyong, and Chu Tianjiang left Diego Garcia on a transport plane, and also took a doomsday warrior system with them, which made Takeuchi aware of the danger. A few hours later, Tomosuke Yamashita sent a message that the chiefs of staff of the five nuclear powers had met secretly at the invitation of Yang Fanglie. After the meeting, Yang Fanglie ordered Zhang Xiaogang and the other three to leave Diego Garcia.

Takeuchi was shocked, but what worried him the most was that Stark didn't talk to him after the meeting.

In the Planetary Defense Council, the ten member states are not completely equal. In order to maintain its hegemonic position, the United States will certainly not talk about equality with other countries. China, Russia, Britain, and France are recognized nuclear powers, and if the United States is unwilling to engage in equality, it will naturally not talk about equality with non-nuclear countries. While voting rights determine power and entitlements, which is difficult for other countries to accept, the five non-nuclear states have no choice.

At the beginning of the establishment of the Planetary Defense Council, the five nuclear powers made it clear that they had given Germany, Japan, Canada, and Australia a lot of face without inviting nuclear states such as India and Pakistan to participate. At that time, if these countries objected, the United States would have no choice but to unite the other four nuclear powers to form a planetary defense council by redrawing the sphere of power.

If we really come to this point, the situation of non-nuclear countries such as Japan will be even more deplorable.

This unequal mechanism also determines that in the Planetary Defense Council, the five nuclear powers have a higher status and greater power.

Taking the voting mechanism of the Joint Chiefs of General Staff as an example, the United States has one veto, China and Russia also have veto power, and the other seven countries must take the same position to have veto power. Because Britain, Canada, and Australia are staunch allies of the United States, and Israel is more inclined to the United States, the only one that can exercise its veto power is the United States' alliance with China and Russia.

For more than two years, the United States has never jointly exercised its veto power with seven countries other than China and Russia.

The chiefs of the general staff of the five nuclear powers held a closed-door meeting, and then a vicious incident occurred that amounted to China's withdrawal from the alliance, and something very serious must have happened.

Takeuchi was uneasy, and he already had a vague sense that this incident was related to Japan.

In the Planetary Defense Council, Japan's number one adversary is China, and China has always regarded Japan as a major potential threat. Although Stark has been a matchmaker, Yang Fanglie has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the alliance and demanded sanctions and containment against Japan. The most recent Sino-Japanese conflict occurred not long ago, when Takeuchi used Nakamura's death to argue that Japan should be granted the right to participate in Operation Courage, only to be met by Yang Fanglie and the General Staff Council passed a resolution to take over Japan's nuclear capabilities.

This time, it must have something to do with Japan.

Not to mention anything else, except for dealing with Japan, Yang Fanglie has never proposed to withdraw from the Planetary Defense Council because of contradictions with the other eight member states.

Although the contradictions between China and the United States are also very acute, China and the United States are the most important members of the Planetary Defense Council, with 15 percent and 60 percent of the voting rights respectively, and China is still the second largest beneficiary after the United States. Even when there are conflicts and frictions, China and the United States rarely fall out to the point of turning the other cheek.

As for other countries, they basically maintain friendly relations with China, at least on the face.

Let Yang Fanglie decide to withdraw from the Planetary Defense Council, it must be related to Japan, and it is very serious, even Stark can't resolve it.

What is the matter, does Yang Fanglie know everything?

The following day, Takeuchi was in a state of apprehension. He wanted to call Stark, but put down the microphone several times before dialing.

Takeuchi said that he could not take the initiative to contact Stark at this time, let alone ask about what happened.

In the Planetary Defense Council, America's number one adversary is not Russia, which is causing trouble at every turn, but China, which is secretly supporting Russia. Interestingly, Stark did not go against Yang Fanglie, nor did he get angry with Yang Fanglie because Yang Fanglie secretly supported Sergeyev. The reason for this is that China has an undeniable importance in the Planetary Defense Council, and Sino-US cooperation is the cornerstone of the Planetary Defense Council.

Takeuchi remembers very well that before the establishment of the Planetary Defense Council, the first thing the United States tried to woo was China.

China's importance is mainly reflected in its strong national strength, efficient military operation mechanism, and the world's largest high-quality working population. Many of the Council's major projects have been successfully advanced, and China has contributed far more than any other country.

In the case of the Courage Initiative, China's contribution is far greater than that of other countries.

Although China's nuclear arsenal is not large, and the number of nuclear warheads it provides is only one-fifth of that of the United States, one-third of that of Russia, and slightly higher than that of Britain and France, after the project was launched, the Chinese military built five nuclear material enrichment plants as quickly as possible, and its ability to refine nuclear materials ranked first in the world. Over the past two years, China has produced one-third of the Courageous project's weapons-grade nuclear materials. Without China's nuclear enrichment plant, Operation Courage would not have been able to make such much progress. The key is that the Chinese military can mobilize more than 100,000 soldiers and workers to engage in the processing and production of nuclear materials without attracting the attention of the outside world, which no other country, including the United States, is second only to China in terms of population among its member states.

It can be said that without China's tremendous contribution, the Courage Action Project would not have been able to proceed smoothly.

It's just that the United States needs China and is more wary of China.

In the Planetary Defense Council, China is the world's great power most likely to surpass the United States and replace it after Judgment Day.

The United States must find a way to contain China.

In order to avoid a direct conflict with China and an irreconcilable contradiction, Stark did not go against Yang Fanglie, but used Takeuchi Hajmon.

This is also understandable, as Yang Fanglie is also using Sergeyev against Stark.

If that's all there is to it, there's nothing to worry about. In the Council for Planetary Defense, it is very common for France and Germany to be in a group, Britain is secretly courting Canada and Australia, and Israel is using its special status to play left and right.

The point is, it's not that simple.

Although Takeuchi does not know how much dirty China and Russia have in private, he knows very well that there are too many shady secrets between the United States and Japan.

If Yang Fanglie knew these secrets and used them to attack Stark, what would Stark do?

Takeuchi didn't dare to think about it, because he knew that if he had to choose between China and Japan, Stark would not hesitate to make a decision.

Japan is only a tool in the hands of the United States, while China is both an adversary and a partner of the United States.

Without China, the United States will not be able to play the Planetary Defense Council, and China's withdrawal is likely to lead to Russia's withdrawal, and the consequences will be difficult to imagine. Among other things, in the Operation Courage project, China and Russia have mastered 25 percent of the super-nuclear warheads. Even in the best case, 75 percent of the nuclear warheads in the hands of the United States, Britain, and France will not be able to intercept all the large objects ejected by the asteroid.

Relatively speaking, Japan is only a dispensable member state.

Without Japan, the Operation Courage project would not have been affected, and other major projects, such as the Doomsday Force project, would have been minimally affected.

Perhaps, Stark will not let Yang Fanglie go, but he will definitely sacrifice Japan first.

Obviously, Stark is thinking about how to solve this problem, that is, how to invite Yang Fanglie back, and the key is how to deal with Japan.

Calling Stark at this time is tantamount to reminding Stark that he can sacrifice Japan.

Takeuchi was both very worried and at a loss for what to do. Remaining silent is tantamount to sitting back and waiting for death, and it is tantamount to letting the five nuclear powers, including the United States, China, Russia, Britain, and France, decide Japan's fate.

This happened 70 years ago, after Japan's defeat in the Second World War.

Takeuchi was in despair, remembering what Prime Minister Aso had said two years earlier when he conferred on him the rank of general and appointed him Japan's plenipotentiary at the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This is a war that concerns Japan's national fortunes, and the enemy is not just extraterrestrial civilizations.

What has happened in the past two years has fully proved the correctness of this statement.

A day has passed, and Stark is still silent, which means that Japan's situation is not optimistic.

After smoking a cigar, Takeuchi made a phone call. Not to Stark, but to the heads of the Japanese side in various defense projects.

This is a war, but also a competition for survival.

Even if Japan is not the strongest beast, it will need to have fangs and claws that can kill other beasts to be a survivor of this competition for survival.

Takeuchi knew very well that at the moment of the showdown, he had to have at least one trump card in his hand.

After doing this, Takeuchi took out a cigar from the delicate red sandalwood box.

The best Cuban Havana cigar was given by Stark.

Soon after the establishment of the Planetary Defense Council, the United States lifted the decades-long economic embargo against Cuba under a memorandum of understanding signed with China and Russia. Although the United States did not restore normal diplomatic relations with Cuba, import and export controls were relaxed, and the United States quickly became the number one consumer of Cuban cigars.

In the past, Takeuchi did not smoke or drink, and was very clean. For two years, he still did not drink, but he became addicted to smoking.

Someone has made a statistic that the main personnel of the Planetary Defense Council consume an average of two packs of cigarettes a day.

It's no surprise that after two years of hard work, the nerves were tense at all times, sometimes days on end. Although scientists have proven that tobacco is not very helpful for refreshing people, when you smoke, at least you will not doze off.