When the US National Security Advisor recounted the Sino-British collusion to the US political bigwigs, he couldn't help but feel a sense of absurdity. It wasn't that the US political bigwigs were absurd, but that when countries maneuvered internationally for their own interests, the content they displayed was often very absurd.

In 1924, He Rui led his army into the pass and annihilated foreign troops in various concessions. Including garrisons in China and concession personnel, tens of thousands of people from Great Powers other than Japan were killed. Among them, the United States lost over a thousand people. For the United States, this should have been a memorable casualty loss. He Rui's reason for doing this, at least the explicit reason, was to recover Chinese sovereignty over concessions.

Because in the previous war between the Northeast Government and Japan, the Japanese army investing one million troops suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties. Britain had a squadron sunk by Chinese suicide attack aircraft, and in the subsequent Sino-British War, the million-strong British army suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties again. There were also tens of thousands of ANZAC troops captured, who were probably about to be executed now. Therefore, the governments of the Great Powers did not mention the deaths in 1924.

However, only half a year after the end of the Sino-British War, China proposed to provide concessions to Britain. Is there anything more absurd than this?

Three years ago, in order to recover concessions, He Rui slaughtered personnel of various Great Powers in China. Three years later, he indicated to Britain that concessions could be provided. This is realist international politics.

Even if Britain obtained concessions in China now, it would first have to pay high concession fees to the He Rui government. At the same time, Britain could neither dump goods in China through concessions nor use armed forces in concessions to influence China's internal affairs. Acquiring concessions would only mean losing money across the board.

If Britain really wanted to use Chinese ports to attack the United States, forming an alliance with China before the war broke out or making a direct request to China could achieve the same effect.

The US National Security Advisor knew very well that Sino-British cooperation at this stage was a gesture, but the mere gesture made by two Great Powers, China and Britain, had already constituted huge pressure on the United States. Using diplomacy to achieve strategic goals is a brilliant diplomatic means. The standard displayed by the He Rui government in diplomacy is undoubtedly top-tier.

The Republican Senate President broke the silence, "Is it possible for China and Britain to reach a military alliance when dealing with our country?"

To President Coolidge, Secretary of State Frank, and the US National Security Advisor, such a question proved that the Republican Senate President was frightened by He Rui's diplomatic means. But none of the three answered immediately; their eyes swept over the faces of the Democratic and Republican bigwigs. The bigwigs were relatively portly, and their skin showed some oiliness under the temperature of mid-June. White people have a lot of body hair; on the exposed skin of their faces and necks, the fine hairs were already slightly sticking to the skin. Because they felt the pressure, the oiliness was also mixed with some sweat.

Since these bigwigs no longer treated it lightly, Secretary of State Frank said, "Such a situation will not occur at this stage. But once the US-China confrontation continues or even escalates, China will have to choose Britain in more aspects."

President Coolidge was the Vice President of the previous President Warren Gamaliel Harding. In 1923, President Warren Gamaliel Harding died suddenly during a speaking tour in California, and Coolidge succeeded as President, easily winning re-election in 1925. At this time, President Coolidge's gaze was fixed on the Democratic chairmen of the Senate and House. He noticed that although these two had vigilance in their expressions, after hearing that a 'Sino-British Alliance' against the US would not appear immediately, they looked somewhat unconcerned. After all, the current President Coolidge was a Republican, and the Democrats had no reason to help the Republicans with all their might.

Seeing such a reaction, Coolidge said, "Gentlemen, whether our main opponent now is China or Britain, I think everyone is very clear. The biggest contradiction between the US and China at present is the Chinese Exclusion Act. After solving the problem of the Chinese Exclusion Act, how to determine a series of new agreements between China and the US in the future will take a considerable amount of time. This administration may not be able to complete these new agreements. Therefore, I think it is necessary to promote the abolition of the Chinese Exclusion Act now."

Hearing Coolidge express his view, the Democratic House Chairman asked, "Is it possible to force China to propose abolishing the Chinese Exclusion Act first through a trade war? China is now the largest importer of medicines to the United States. I think banning Chinese medicines might be a very good choice."

This remark was a bit meaningful. It is well known that shortly after the Republican National Convention in 1924, Coolidge's younger son Calvin developed a blister while playing tennis on the White House tennis court, and subsequently his life was in danger due to wound infection. It was precisely the use of drugs that had not yet passed US approval at that time that barely saved his life. This also led to Chinese sulfonamides and penicillin quickly obtaining approval from the US Food and Drug Administration, becoming hot-selling drugs in the United States ever since. Normal politicians could hear something from these words.

Of course, one cannot accuse this proposal of being targeted. Chinese drugs indeed sold very well in the United States, earning a large amount of dollars, which also allowed China to increase imports of goods from the United States. Cutting off China's drug exports to the US could indeed deal a heavy blow to China's strong trade items with the US.

Secretary of State Frank answered immediately, "China cannot take the initiative to propose abolishing the Chinese Exclusion Act to the United States. He Rui never strives for legitimate interests through begging."

The Democratic House Chairman asked back, "He Rui has already expressed a request to provide concessions to Britain..."

"That was not He Rui's request!" Frank immediately interrupted the Democratic House Chairman.

After such a small contest, the Democratic House Chairman said no more. The Democratic Senate Chairman took over the conversation, "If we take the initiative to abolish the Chinese Exclusion Act, America's dignity will be greatly impacted."

Coolidge answered immediately, "Do you gentlemen think China is America's biggest opponent now?"

When the topic of discussion was brought back to the core issue by the President, the group of political bigwigs fell silent again. But silence did not mean these people were persuaded. The US political bigwigs began to seriously consider how to operate in Congress. The Republican bigwigs, whose core base was in the North, had already decided to support the abolition of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Besides President Coolidge being a Republican, the Republican northern states quite supported expanding foreign trade. China's revival meant the Chinese market became larger, and US advantageous industrial products had a broader sales market.

After the Democratic bigwigs fell silent, the Republican Whip spoke first, "I will talk to the congressmen."

The Democratic Whip exchanged glances with the chairmen of the Senate and House, and also followed, "I will also contact the congressmen."

The Sino-US conflict is a diplomatic issue, and military and diplomacy are the powers of the US President. Moreover, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed in 1882. After 45 years, the congressmen who voted back then were all dead. The current Republican and Democratic parties had no direct relationship with the Chinese Exclusion Act of that year. Now the number of Chinese with US citizenship was only 60,000; the Democratic Party had absolutely no intention of inciting public opinion against this small number of Chinese.

Seeing the bigwigs express their stance, President Coolidge confirmed that the bigwigs of both parties understood the relationship between abolishing the Chinese Exclusion Act and US national interests, so he ended the meeting.

On June 20, the US Textile Association held a press conference. Chairman Michael personally issued a statement on US textile trade. However, as soon as the press conference began, someone among the opposing reporters shouted, "Chairman Michael, which consortium do you represent this time? Is it the Morgan Consortium, the Rockefeller Consortium, or the DuPont family?"

This was obviously a reporter here to tear down the stage. Michael acted as if he heard nothing, just continuing to read from the prepared manuscript. Purely from the content, the level of this statement was very high. US cotton production was huge, and cotton farmers were trapped by the fluctuations in international cotton prices. China is a huge market. If China openly purchases US cotton, it can allow US cotton farmers to increase production greatly while ensuring the stability of US cotton prices. Therefore, the US Textile Association supports good trade relations between China and the US.

As for the Chinese Exclusion Act, that is a matter for US politics. Michael actually looked down on the American public because although the phrase 'evil capitalists manipulate politics' is not wrong, the American public's understanding of this phrase is incorrect. Capitalists care about profits; very few capitalists are truly interested in politics itself. So capitalists are not interfering in politics but trying to promote policies beneficial to capitalists. These policies may not necessarily run counter to national interests most of the time.

For example, expanding Sino-US trade itself aligns with US national interests. If one must say Michael manipulated US politics in this matter, Michael actually hoped he had such ability. However, in fact, it was not the case at all!

As Michael expected, after the press conference ended, a large number of US newspapers began to fiercely criticize Michael's view that 'establishing good Sino-US trade relations is beneficial to the United States'. Among the opposing opinions, those grandstanding stated 'Evil capitalists start controlling US politics again'. Those with ulterior motives shouted 'China grossly interferes in US domestic politics'. When Michael looked through the newspapers, he really wasn't sure if the people writing such news were 'stupid or bad'. If they were fools who didn't even know what the Chinese Exclusion Act was, there was nothing to discuss. Among the news Michael saw, except for *USA Today* and the *Foreign Affairs* magazine founded in 1922, which had a few articles introducing the Chinese Exclusion Act, other media were just publishing inflammatory articles.

The term 'Chinese Exclusion Act' was not used domestically in the United States; instead, the official name of the 'Chinese Exclusion Act' context, the "Burlingame Treaty", was used for description (Note: Historically, the Burlingame Treaty was 1868 and pro-immigration; the Exclusion Act 1882 suspended it. The text implies the public is confused by technical terms or the media uses obscure treaty names to hide the reality of exclusion. I will follow the text's implication that the public doesn't understand the legal term used). Just looking at such a name, how could ordinary Americans know what this act meant? Americans who really knew the specific content of the "Burlingame Treaty" act belonged to at least a certain political group in the United States, and a few were experts interested in this.

But Michael felt that by heating up the emotions of the American public through events like workers' marches, he had completed his task. As for what would happen later, that was the stage for the small group of upper-class people with more power in the United States.

Just as Michael expected, the Democratic Whip soon discovered that Democratic congressmen generally opposed abolishing the Chinese Exclusion Act. Except for a few grandstanding Democratic congressmen who tried to gain some votes by showing a tough attitude on this matter, most opposing Democratic congressmen really had their own political demands.

After completing the background check, the Democratic Whip invited Representative McDonald, who was relatively representative, to his office and asked straight to the point, "What is your reason for opposing the abolition of the Chinese Exclusion Act?"

Representative McDonald had a face red from the sun. The southern states of the United States were basically agricultural states with high temperatures and fierce sun. So white skin was easily sunburned, showing a red color. Therefore, American southerners were also called 'rednecks'. Representative McDonald's skin was not sunburned from working in the fields, but from campaigning everywhere in the state. Hearing the Whip's question, McDonald said with a southern state accent, "I have only one reason for opposing. After abolishing the Chinese Exclusion Act, what will be the next act targeting non-whites to be abolished? This is not what I care about, but what my voters care about."