Is This Considered Surrender?

"Exactly. Thinking about it carefully, it feels like the Chou Nation really has no special trump cards left! All three of their aircraft carriers were sunk. If they want to counterattack now, it would likely have to be a nuclear war, and it seems the upper class of the Chou Nation is truly not prepared for that."
"Indeed, if it's just a conventional war, then the Chou Nation's current situation is truly desperate. On the surface, although the Chou Nation still possesses stronger military might, in reality, in terms of industrial capacity, they are far from being the Dragon Nation's match! If this situation drags on, the Chou Nation simply won't be able to hold out for long. In just a few years, the Dragon Nation might even surpass the Chou Nation in terms of surface warships!"
"That's right. The Chou Nation's choice to negotiate at this time is likely an attempt to preserve their slight advantage at the negotiating table. If they wait another year, the situation will probably be completely different!"
"I don't quite understand why the Dragon Nation agreed to negotiate with the Chou Nation at this point."
"It's quite easy to understand! Both sides are nuclear powers. If they don't negotiate, can they really destroy each other? If pushed to the brink, it would definitely lead to nuclear war! Both sides must be somewhat wary of breaking the porcelain."
"In any case, for the common people of the world, this is more or less a good thing. If a nuclear war truly broke out, it would be a massive catastrophe for us!"
"Indeed!"

While the global internet was in a chaotic bustle, the comments from the citizens on the Dragon Nation's internet were quite different.

"Wait, we sank three of the Chou Nation's aircraft carriers, and now we're actually negotiating? What are they thinking?"
"If we don't negotiate, what else can we do? Fight them to the bitter end? Don't forget, the Chou Nation also has nuclear weapons. If pushed to the brink, no one will survive! I don't want to perish together with the Chou Nation!"
"Exactly! That makes sense, but I'm also really curious about who proposed these negotiations in the first place."
"Hard to say! Negotiation is indeed a tactic, but we are currently in an absolute advantage. Theoretically, we shouldn't have been the ones to actively seek negotiations with the Chou Nation!"
"Exactly, we really shouldn't have initiated talks with the Chou Nation. Maybe it was the Chou Nation that actively requested it!"
"In any case, let's keep a close eye on the negotiation results. I feel like this negotiation might give us a surprise!"

Most people on the Dragon Nation's internet maintained their rationality, merely curious about the negotiation results. After all, the Dragon Nation currently held the upper hand. The Chou Nation was the one who needed to be anxious; the Dragon Nation had nothing to worry about.

Guo Hao already knew about the news of the negotiations between the Dragon Nation and the Chou Nation, but he didn't care in the slightest. Ultimately, this world would surely head toward peace; a nuclear war was absolutely impossible! This was something Guo Hao was certain of. It was simply that the Chou Nation wanted to make some compromises; there were many things they could no longer afford to do!

The situation unfolded just as Guo Hao had thought. Not long after the negotiations between the Chou Nation and the Dragon Nation began, a joint communique was released. The statement emphasized that to safeguard world peace, the previous conflict between the Dragon Nation and the Chou Nation had ended, and both sides would carry out various long-term and effective collaborations. They would conduct technical cooperation in fields including semiconductors and other high technologies.

Furthermore, the technical cooperation regarding controlled nuclear fusion previously signed between the Chou Nation and the Dragon Nation remained in effect. The Dragon Nation would help the Chou Nation build more than ten controlled nuclear fusion reactors within the Chou Nation's territory. Of course, the technology was not allowed to be exported, and the controlled nuclear fusion reactors would still be protected and managed by the Dragon Nation.

The cooperation projects were incredibly numerous, far exceeding many people's imaginations. These technical and economic cooperation projects were vast in scale! The Chou Nation's tariffs on the Dragon Nation had even been reduced to an extremely low level! Although they were nominally called equal tariffs, everyone knew very well that the Chou Nation exported very little to the Dragon Nation, whereas the Dragon Nation exported immensely to the Chou Nation. Under these circumstances, equal tariffs would only widen the trade deficit further!

And on this announcement, although the Chou Nation maintained its face on the surface, anyone with a slight understanding of the international economic landscape and the positions of the Chou Nation and the Dragon Nation could see that this announcement was essentially akin to an unequal treaty! Because in the announcement, it was clearly stated that the Dragon Nation had the right to import high-end semiconductor technology!

One must know that the high-end semiconductor industry had always been the hardest bone to chew in the Dragon Nation's industrial structure! They had always relied on imports; let alone technology, even lithography equipment was strictly banned from export by the Chou Nation. But now, all of these bans had been lifted! This represented the Dragon Nation truly taking control of the entire industrial system, including the high-end industrial system!

The entire world understood. An era had ended! The Chou Nation had now begun to hand over its position as the global hegemon piece by piece, barely maintaining its outward face, and nothing more.

Guo Hao only glanced at this news briefly and did not care much. The Chou Nation admitting defeat was more or less a good thing. After all, if those people truly went mad and launched a nuclear war, it would be troublesome for Guo Hao as well. In the Dragon Nation, defensive weapons were still somewhat lacking.

The world finally wanted to restore the previous landscape... Or rather, the global economy wanted to enter a state of recovery! The two largest global powers directly transferred the first and second positions in such a stable and clear manner. This exceeded many unexpected capital expectations. Therefore, investments also gradually began to ease up.

Learning of this good news from General Wang, Guo Hao pondered slightly: "General Wang, the people of the Chou Nation do not keep their word. Therefore, we must still guard against certain things."
Guo Hao spoke somewhat seriously to General Wang. Based on what Guo Hao knew, that Mr. Reliable was notoriously unreliable, and his track record regarding the spirit of treaties left much to be desired!

"Rest assured!" General Wang laughed. "We have sufficient strategic foresight regarding the Chou Nation's upper class. Furthermore, our new types of defense systems and weapon systems are constantly being researched! Thanks to you, your previous flight control system combined with our new anti-missile system turned out to be an unexpectedly perfect fit, and our current radar system is sharp enough! Just give us a little more time! Even if the Chou Nation wants to turn their backs on us, so what? Even if their nuclear missiles are launched toward us, so what?"
General Wang was extremely heroic. "Are we not also buying time? As long as we have enough time, the Chou Nation's nuclear weapons won't be able to harm us!"

"That's good then!"
Hearing General Wang's words, Guo Hao felt at ease. He was only afraid that the Dragon Nation's upper class would let their guard down against the Chou Nation because of this joint communique, which would be disastrous without sufficient strategic foresight!