"Our Ambassador to China and the Japanese Ambassador to China have met. The Japanese Ambassador stated that the government of the Japanese Republic will not recognize the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. The Chinese government expects Britain to recognize the Japanese Republic and thereby fully recognize the status quo in the Far East."

Hearing the Foreign Secretary's summary, Prime Minister Baldwin felt this was no big deal. Just as Britain couldn't deal with China's more than 1 million modernized army, according to the Washington Naval Treaty, Britain's capital ship tonnage was 525,000 tons, and Japan's was 315,000 tons. Britain couldn't do anything to Japan, which was also an island nation.

Britain canceled the economic benefits promised to Japan in the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, but Britain couldn't terminate normal Anglo-Japanese trade. Now that Sino-Japanese trade has begun to recover, Japan can fully withstand this change.

Prime Minister Baldwin asked, "Our attitude towards Japan shifts to recognizing the government of the Japanese Republic. Do you gentlemen have any opinions?"

Even hardliners like Colonial Secretary Churchill didn't express opposition, which made Baldwin feel much more relaxed. Japan was a very suitable pawn for disrupting the Western Pacific. Baldwin originally thought someone would oppose it based on this reason. Since no one opposed, it meant cabinet members had accepted China leading the Far East order...

"Mr. Prime Minister, do you think the He Rui regime can already play a leading role in the Far East?" Churchill spoke up after all.

Cabinet ministers hoped Churchill would keep it short and stop blathering. It wasn't that Churchill, a die-hard imperialist even in the British Empire, really advocated war with China. As a representative of the hardliners, Churchill certainly had to express some tough attitudes; otherwise, he couldn't explain it to his voters.

Prime Minister Baldwin didn't speak, just looked at the Foreign Secretary. The Foreign Secretary immediately explained, "Mr. Churchill, China's current regime is very stable and has a strong influence on Japan's policies and the Soviet Union's Far East policies. Moreover, He Rui, the leader of China's current regime, has a high level of political cognition. While attempting to ease relations with the United States, He Rui is also willing to let East Asia and Northeast Asia reach a rebalance with the Versailles system. Such a Far East situation is conducive to the stability of the Versailles system."

Churchill didn't refute these contents that everyone knew. He asked, "From the current stage, the situation is so. But to deal with future challenges, have we made relevant preparations? For example, making more demands on Japan."

The Foreign Secretary didn't pick up this topic; he thought Churchill was overstepping his authority. Expressing a tough attitude was fine, but Churchill's words were questioning British Prime Minister Baldwin's foreign policy. For a moment, the Foreign Secretary and many cabinet ministers suspected: is Churchill preparing to compete for the Conservative Party candidate in the next election?

Churchill could understand the cabinet members' thoughts. He also knew his question would make him a thorn in the Prime Minister's side, but Churchill instinctively believed that China might be a more dangerous challenger than the United States. Now Churchill couldn't make the cabinet members understand this. Let alone cabinet members, even people close to Churchill couldn't accept Churchill's view.

Finally, amidst a crowd of unhappy and even somewhat hostile gazes, Churchill said, "Gentlemen, China will become a global challenger besides the United States. I think this time will be much shorter than you gentlemen imagine."

The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Second Lord of the Treasury), a staunch supporter of Prime Minister Baldwin, couldn't help asking, "How long does Mr. Churchill think it will be?"

Churchill steeled his heart and answered, "10 years!"

British cabinet members were stunned at first, then someone couldn't help laughing out loud. Even those who didn't laugh showed expressions of ridicule or even sympathy.

Although He Rui was strong, Britain was a country with more than 100 years of industrialization history and a powerful global hegemon. Britain had accumulated rich experience over more than a hundred years and had seen a large number of outstanding challengers, including military geniuses like Napoleon. In any existing experience, if China wanted to possess global projection capabilities, it first needed to build a powerful fleet and the industrial capacity to support this fleet's global projection. This would take at least 30 years.

If one said that in 10 years, China could become a trouble for Britain, no one would object. But saying that in 10 years China would become a challenger like the United States was, in the view of British cabinet members, 'unserious'.

So the cabinet members ignored Churchill's words. And after making such astonishing remarks, Churchill also wisely stopped speaking. The British cabinet quickly reached a consensus on the current situation.

'...Based on the Chinese government's stance of choosing the Versailles system, at a time when China is seeking to establish friendly relations with the United States, the British government will intervene in this matter as an arbitrator and try to facilitate Sino-US reconciliation.

Britain abandons the demand for the government of the Japanese Republic to fully accept the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, and engages with the government of the Japanese Republic on this basis.

If the establishment of cross-Pacific friendly cooperative relations between China and the US is not accepted, Britain will continue to isolate the current biggest challenger, the United States...'

British Prime Minister Baldwin quickly completed the division of labor according to the functions of various ministries of the British cabinet. Of course, British cabinet ministers were all elites and knew exactly what they should do at this time, so the work distribution went very smoothly.

After other cabinet members left, Baldwin said to the remaining Foreign Secretary, "I wonder how those people on Fleet Street will view this matter."

The Foreign Secretary thought for a moment and answered, "I believe those newspapers on Fleet Street will also be very happy to see the government's huge progress in diplomacy and the international situation."

Seeing the Foreign Secretary understood, Baldwin urged, "I think British newspapers should be able to understand the government's actions at this stage. The government is eliminating various previous unstable factors and building a more stable global order. This global order can keep countries in a peaceful environment. For this, the government has made huge efforts."

The Foreign Secretary immediately nodded, "You are right, Mr. Prime Minister."

Soon, the Foreign Secretary left Baldwin's office. With relaxed steps, the Foreign Secretary returned to his office. As soon as he entered, the Foreign Secretary's face changed. He exhaled a long breath, as if to exhale the toxic gas in his chest. Sitting on the sofa in the office, the Foreign Secretary wanted to ridicule Prime Minister Baldwin in his heart, but he felt Baldwin didn't actually propose any excessive ideas.

Even if Baldwin complained that as Prime Minister he suffered many completely unreasonable attacks, and even expressed his expectation for a quiet life, this didn't mean Prime Minister Baldwin didn't want to be re-elected. The Prime Minister is inherently an object constantly attacked by challenges and media. What made the Foreign Secretary unhappy now was that Prime Minister Baldwin had indicated he wanted the Foreign Secretary to influence the British media to trumpet a series of subsequent actions of the Baldwin government.

Of course, this wasn't a bad thing for the Foreign Secretary either. If the subsequent diplomatic actions could succeed, the Foreign Secretary himself could also get a very high evaluation. For example, once China gave Britain 'face', the Foreign Secretary could at least curse people in Parliament; the objects of abuse would naturally be that group from the Labour Party.

(British cabinet members are MPs. Regardless of whether the Foreign Secretary's diplomatic ability is strong or not, the Foreign Secretary himself must first be a member of the House of Commons. As long as one is an MP, there will always be various criticisms and cursing in the British Parliament.)

Compared with the British Cabinet, the level of the upper echelons of the Japanese Republic was much worse. However, the current President of the Japanese Republic, Taira Toyomori, was a recognized academic master in Japan, so the Japanese Republic upper echelons who accepted the 'lecture' accepted Taira Toyomori's view: 'He Rui is trying to promote Sino-US relations'.

Although most of the Japanese upper class actually realized that He Rui didn't start trouble to ruin Sino-US relations, some upper-class personnel couldn't understand this immediately due to their background. When they began to accept President Taira Toyomori's view, their thinking also opened up.

Taira Toyomori spent most of his life as a scholar and was not used to being President. So he unconsciously communicated with the Japanese Republic upper echelons with a lecturing attitude, "The Chinese Exclusion Act is the most fundamental obstacle to Sino-US friendship. The US side very likely hopes to muddle through, but He-kun will never tolerate such an attitude from the US.

If there is only unilateral pressure from China, the US government cannot act in a short time. Introducing Britain as an arbitrator is actually giving the US upper class a way out (step down). Only by bearing huge diplomatic pressure can the US government abolish the Chinese Exclusion Act at a smaller cost."

The government of the Japanese Republic temporarily followed the organizational structure of the Japanese Imperial government, but comprehensive reforms were carried out in the military. Since a large number of Army and Navy upper echelons considered 'Satsuma and Choshu domain cliques' were purged, the Navy Ministry and Army Ministry were abolished and merged into the Ministry of National Defense.

After listening to this part, Deputy Chief of Naval Staff Yamamoto Isoroku couldn't help whispering to Deputy Navy Commander Yamaguchi Tamon beside him, "It seems the joint military exercise you thought of is impossible to appear."

Yamaguchi Tamon frowned slightly. When he discussed the Sino-US conflict with Yamamoto Isoroku before, He Rui hadn't yet made the move to pull Britain into the game. So Yamaguchi Tamon thought China's weak coastal fleet couldn't threaten the United States at all. To give the United States greater pressure, the most direct way was to conduct joint maritime military exercises with the Japanese fleet.

Now He Rui actually pulled Britain in to pressure the United States. Yamaguchi Tamon hadn't dabbled in international diplomacy and didn't know how to evaluate it for a moment. But Yamaguchi Tamon always admired He Rui's ability. Since He Rui did this, it was very likely to achieve the goal. So Yamaguchi Tamon felt somewhat lost. As the firmest aircraft carrier advocate in Japan now, Yamaguchi Tamon personally wanted to conduct military exercises with the Chinese Navy and Air Force very much.

At this time, Taira Toyomori had already moved on to the next issue, "From a geopolitical perspective, Britain wants to isolate the United States as much as possible. Comprehensive cooperation in the Pacific region means the Pacific region has broken away from British influence, just like South America. To build a system isolating the United States, Japan's diplomatic situation will improve rapidly. I think within two years, Japan's foreign trade can recover to the 1919 level. Plus the construction of Japan's domestic market, in 1929, the Japanese economy can reach a completely new level."

The upper echelons of the Japanese Republic were all supporters of the revolution. After the Tokyo Blood Night, including the Emperor's family, those opposing the revolution were killed. The upper echelons considered not supporting the revolution were either in prison or completely excluded from the government.

The high-level officials of the Japanese Republic government who came to power by such bloody means knew very well that the reason they could come to power was that the Japanese economy had reached a dead end, and the old upper class was helpless. If the Japanese Republic government couldn't solve economic problems quickly, they would be solved.

In more than three months, the Japanese economy was indeed recovering rapidly. But under huge pressure, members of the Japanese Republic government were under great stress. Hearing Taira Toyomori analyze the situation development at this time and guarantee that the Japanese economy would not only recover but also reach a new height within 2 years, the unease in the hearts of the upper echelons decreased a lot.

Saying within two years, in fact, there was only one and a half years left. Now the Japanese economy was only about half of 1919. If the Japanese economy could double within one and a half years, the government of the Japanese Republic would really stand firm!