Raymond Johnston's concern about Simon's highly publicized trip to China was not surprising.
In fact, many people close to Simon shared similar sentiments.
The reasons were complex.
If one were to dive deep into the topic, it would take tens of thousands of words to untangle it all.
From Raymond Johnston's perspective, it was impossible to overlook China's rapid development in recent years. However, as someone who had always prioritized his business in Asia, he was also acutely aware of the significant uncertainty surrounding China's economy since its opening in 1978.
This uncertainty was the biggest concern for Western capital.
Over the past few decades, similar situations had occurred numerous times in Eastern Europe, Latin America, Asia, and even Africa. Governments would open up to foreign investment only to reverse course due to political shifts. Assets were seized, debts were defaulted on, and foreign investors were left with massive losses.
This was the main issue.
Additionally, there was the matter of political and cultural differences.
At its core, Western and Eastern societies, no matter how amicable they might appear on the surface, were fundamentally different. The adage "Not of our race, their hearts are different" applied deeply here. While it originated on the other side of the ocean, it was even more ingrained in the minds of Westerners. Resisting the rise of "others" was almost instinctive for the Western elite. Thus, Simon's closeness to China was bound to stir discontent among Western nationalists.
After all, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, China had become the most prominent non-Western power.
Standing by the glass wall of the Shell Villa, Simon listened intently to Anthony relay his father's thoughts. He replied seriously, "The coming decades will undoubtedly be an era of globalization. Economically, if China were to close itself off again despite its rapid development, it's true we might suffer some losses, but they would be far more severely affected. That's why I'm not too worried about it. In my view, the deeper China is integrated into the global economic system, the less likely certain variables will occur. As for politics, Tony, what we need to focus on now isn't the 'politics' of the U.S. or Australia, but the 'politics' of the Westeros System. I think a lot of people still haven't shaken off old ways of thinking."
Anthony Johnston was taken aback for a moment before nodding slightly.
Internally, he couldn't help but feel the same regret his father did. If only this had been about the "politics" of the Johnston family... If things had turned out differently, there wouldn't be a Westeros System today, and Simon might have been Simon Johnston.
What a pity.
After discovering Simon's identity years ago, the old man had seriously considered making the relationship public, even within a small circle. However, out of respect for Simon's wishes, he decided to let things take their natural course.
Since Simon had made up his mind, Anthony didn't press the issue further. They discussed a few more of Simon's upcoming projects until Janet returned to remind them that lunch was ready.
Anthony Johnston's primary purpose for visiting North America was to personally deliver the invaluable cache of technical documents.
The Westeros System had spent over $6 million on the 2,000-plus documents in that briefcase. And that didn't even include the cost of discreetly facilitating the immigration of certain high-level technical experts.
But it was still a bargain.
The briefcase contained the fruits of the former Soviet Union's decades of national effort, a treasure trove that was essentially priceless.
With that task completed, Anthony didn't linger long. After lunch, he departed for Latin America. Johnston Holdings, which had also been expanding rapidly in recent years, was in the midst of negotiations with Brazil to participate in the privatization of Vale, the country's largest state-owned iron ore company.
Simon spent the rest of the afternoon and evening personally sorting through the vast amount of information Anthony had brought. His focus was on categorizing the data to determine which teams should receive it and whether it was appropriate to use certain technologies at this time.
For SpaceX, SolarCity, and FusionTimes, Simon had no intention of starting from scratch.
It would be foolish not to take advantage of the enormous resources and knowledge developed by previous generations. That was why the Westeros System had aggressively poached key personnel from Ukraine's Yuzhnoye Design Bureau. Furthermore, Simon planned to acquire valuable technological assets from NASA and other institutions.
These were treasure troves of knowledge.
Simon felt no moral conflict about it. On the contrary, he believed it was a greater waste of human resources when countries developed their own technologies in isolation, only to let them gather dust and become obsolete.
Our planet, Simon mused, is far less wealthy than most people think.
He lost track of time, working on the documents, until Janet appeared in the basement workspace of the Shell Villa. She stood behind him, watching the monitor for a moment before moving around the chair and sitting on Simon's lap. Leaning back into him as he instinctively wrapped an arm around her, she asked, "How much have you sorted through?"
Resting his chin on her shoulder and breathing in her familiar scent, Simon continued to scroll through the files with his free hand. "Only about 200 so far. There's still a lot left. And honestly, I can't make sense of most of it; I'm just categorizing things."
The documents were mostly in Russian, and while Simon's grasp of the language was decent, the specialized content and the fact that Russian was a phonetic language—not as visually intuitive as Chinese—made the task particularly challenging. It was a job too sensitive to entrust to anyone else, and neither of the two Janets nor his assistants knew Russian well enough to help.
Janet leaned against him, watching him work for a while longer. When Simon added some notes to a file and moved it into a folder, she said, "It's already past seven. Why don't we have dinner first?"
Simon nodded but opened another document, saying, "Give me a minute. This disc only has two more files left."
Janet hummed in agreement and stayed by his side. After a moment, she asked, "Are we really not going to get into trouble for getting these documents?"
Despite her usual fearless attitude, Janet understood the gravity of what they had done. Smuggling this cache of information out of Ukraine was more serious than stealing a nuclear weapon.
Simon shook his head. "If it were Russia, I wouldn't have done this. But Ukraine? No one cares. After they voluntarily gave up their nuclear weapons, the country has become a nonentity. And to be honest, many people are doing the same thing. Look at these—everything is in digital form. The originals might have already been sold to someone else."
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ukraine chose to go independent and voluntarily gave up its nuclear arsenal. With its economy in tatters, the country was seen by many as a sheep ready for slaughter, with everyone taking as much as they could.
Simon couldn't help but feel some regret on behalf of China.
In recent years, China had clearly missed out on the feast that was the looting of Ukraine, only arriving decades later to pick up the scraps. Meanwhile, Europe, America, and Russia had already claimed the best pieces.
Unfortunately, much of the acquired technology wasn't being fully utilized.
The underlying reason was profit—or rather, the lack thereof.
Take the space industry, for instance.
One of the most notable technologies from the next two decades would be the RD-180 rocket engine, which the U.S. continued to purchase from Russia. It wasn't that the U.S. couldn't produce its own engines; they had all the technical knowledge they needed. In fact, they even modified the Russian engines after receiving them to suit their own rockets.
So why didn't they make them domestically?
Because it cost too much.
Building rocket engines, especially cutting-edge ones, requires a comprehensive network of talent and manufacturing capabilities, all of which are expensive to maintain. The American space industry, accustomed to operating on a massive budget, simply couldn't match Russia's lower costs.
When U.S.-Russia relations soured and the U.S. threatened to replace the RD-180, they quickly realized that, despite having the necessary technology, they couldn't ramp up production quickly enough. That's why they turned to SpaceX. The issue was that the industrial base had been dismantled, and rebuilding it would require burning through vast sums of money.
SpaceX, however, had spent over a decade developing its own complete aerospace supply chain.
It was similar to the situation with masks during the pandemic. Even though masks are relatively simple to make, Western countries still had to rely on China because their industrial base had eroded. In a capitalistic society like the West, no company wanted to invest in rebuilding an industry only to risk losing money once the crisis passed.
That's why, even after the pandemic, the issue of industrial decline in the West remained unsolved.
Because it would cost too much.
Of course, wartime conditions would be different.
In a war, nations could issue emergency orders to restart industries. But without such circumstances, profit would always be the driving factor.
During World War II, Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor had only been half a success.
If they had gone further and struck the U.S. mainland, preventing the country from mobilizing its industry to churn out ships like an assembly line, the outcome could have been different. However, Japan lacked the resources and ability to launch such an assault. The Pearl Harbor attack was merely a stopgap, temporarily crippling the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
Now, with Western industries in even worse shape, if another crisis were to hit, even with emergency measures, the West's industrial base might never fully recover.
And if someone took advantage of this vulnerability, who knows what could happen?
Having sorted through a few more files, Simon and Janet left the basement workspace together.
After dinner, Simon didn't return to his work downstairs.
Earlier in the afternoon, Chen Qing had sent over the results of another round of selections for the National Style Arts Troupe. The original list of 1,000 had been whittled down to just under 300, and Simon was now tasked with selecting the final 100 members.
Janet, well aware of the situation, was eager to get involved.
But rather than arranging further interviews, Simon opted for a much simpler, more direct approach.
He based his decisions on height.
The original recruitment announcement had set the height requirement at 168cm to 172cm, meaning the remaining candidates were already close to the ideal range.
So, as Simon, Janet, and Janet Leigh watched TV together, he casually went through the list, selecting the 100 candidates whose heights were closest to 170cm.
This was a task Simon could have delegated to Chen Qing.
However, he knew the woman's nature too well. Left to her own devices, she would almost certainly create some kind of drama.
After having her around for so long, Simon realized that Chen Qing had a personality that was in some ways similar to both his and Janet's. She was extremely capable and obedient, at least on the surface. But underneath, she harbored a rebellious streak that, if not carefully managed, could lead to trouble.
As the days passed in this busy routine, March moved toward its middle.
The biggest news during this period was that General Electric's acquisition of Time Warner had finally been approved by U.S. authorities.
From the time GE and Time Warner reached an agreement in late October, to the approval of the merger by the Department of Justice and the FCC on March 15, more than four months had passed, filled with numerous challenges.
The sheer size of GE and Time Warner, along with the industries they were involved in, naturally sparked concerns among competitors.
When Danelys merged with Metropolis-ABC, it had faced similar issues. But through careful negotiation and compromise, Simon had managed to clear all the hurdles relatively quickly.
GE's merger with Time Warner wasn't so fortunate.
Whether it was GE's rival, Westinghouse, or the numerous competitors in the entertainment and telecommunications sectors, everyone had come out of the woodwork to raise objections during the federal review process.
What followed was a lengthy process of trying to derail the merger.
For example, Comcast, which was already growing but not yet a top player, voiced concerns about the potential for unfair competition once the merger was complete. If GE and Time Warner joined forces, GE would not only own NBC and HBO but also Warner Communications, a major cable provider that competed directly with Comcast.
In such a scenario, there was a risk that GE might deny its competitors access to its broadcast content, or offer different rates to different providers, creating an uneven playing field.
To get the merger approved, GE had to address these concerns.
And the best way to do that? Not merging at all.
Even without the merger, Time Warner's ownership of HBO and Warner Communications gave it the same potential for anticompetitive behavior. But since Time Warner had been in that position for years, it was more or less accepted by the industry.
But if GE acquired Time Warner, things would change.
Given the pace of the tech revolution and the recent telecommunications deregulation that encouraged convergence across different industries, it was obvious that GE would pour resources into expanding Warner Communications, pushing it toward becoming a full-fledged telecommunications company.
This posed a threat to Comcast and other companies.
Even after months of concessions, GE continued to face pushback from its competitors. But it was unwilling to give up either the merger or Warner Communications, so the back-and-forth negotiations continued.
After four months of struggle, GE finally emerged victorious, securing approval for the merger.
Of course, the victory came with strings attached.
For one, GE had to make several public commitments regarding its telecommunications business, promising to avoid any unfair competition. Whether those promises would be upheld was another matter entirely, and everyone knew it. The real game would be played behind closed doors, just like always.
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