Read Chapter 7191 of the novel Charismatic Charlie Wade free online.
Chapter 7191
The reporters in the audience raised their hands.
The spokesperson scanned the room,
Deliberately selecting a Russian reporter, and said,
“Please, the reporter from RIA Novosti, ask your question.”
The Russian journalist truly never expected this to happen to him.
Generally, when holding live press conferences,
The Q&A session avoids targeting media from countries with whom they have a hostile relationship.
To prevent these journalists from publicly attacking them.
Even when they have to call on one or two journalists to ask questions,
It’s usually done much later in the session,
With very little time allotted, it resulted in low viewership.
But tonight, with such a major event,
They actually gave the first question-and-answer slot to a Russian journalist—it’s simply outrageous.
Amidst surprise and delight, the Russian journalist quickly composed herself and, microphone in hand, asked,
“Ms. Spokesperson, if I remember correctly, the Antarctic Treaty stipulates that no country may send troops to Antarctica for any reason.”
“Although the Japanese spokesperson just explained the specific situation,”
“I don’t think this is a reasonable excuse for the United States to send troops to Antarctica.”
“Couldn’t two countries collude and stage such a farce to openly send troops to Antarctica?”
“Moreover, this matter could have been reported to the United Nations first.”
“And then the UN could have decided whether a particular country or the UN should send a joint force to resolve it.”
“But the United States and Japan bypassed the UN and unilaterally decided to secretly send troops.”
“Isn’t that a rather egregious act?”
The Russian journalist felt that her question was watertight,
And the other side had no direct rebuttal,
Because whatever happened between them was their own business.
The US’s deployment of troops to Antarctica was wrong.
The spokesperson, unperturbed, began,
“You should have just heard the Japanese explanation of the situation.”
“They discovered a large amount of fuel missing from the icebreaker.”
“We have reason to suspect that this fuel was used on some exploration equipment.”
“And we also have reason to suspect that the traitorous Japanese research team used the fuel for environmental destruction.”
“Moreover, no one knows what kind of exploration they were conducting.”
“What if it was an act of terrorism?”
“If intervention is not timely and extremely serious consequences occur,”
“Who will be responsible for Antarctica and for the people of the world?”
The Russian journalist, not expecting such self-aggrandizement, immediately retorted with dissatisfaction,
“Your explanation is far-fetched.”
“I don’t believe a group of research team members would do anything to harm Antarctica or humanity.”
The spokesperson scoffed, “That’s because you simply lack the experience and lessons learned from frontline counter-terrorism operations.”
“Think about 9/11. Before it happened, who would have imagined that a few passengers would conspire to commit such a horrific terrorist attack?”
“If we had strengthened security checks on all passengers before that,”
“Would you have sued us for human rights violations?”
The Russian journalist was stumped and could only awkwardly reply,
“You’re confusing the issue.”
The spokesperson shook his head,
“The United States has been deeply involved in counter-terrorism for many years.”
“To borrow our President’s words, no one understands counter-terrorism better than us,”
“And no one understands terrorists better than us.”
“Therefore, we absolutely cannot wait until something happens to reflect on what we’ve overlooked.”
“We must eliminate all risks as much as possible from the source.”
“There’s an old Chinese saying, ‘Prevention is better than cure.’
“I believe this saying reveals…”
“I completely agree with the philosophy.”
“In such a rushed situation, we simply didn’t have enough time to consult the United Nations and then have it voted on.”
“Under normal circumstances, the whole process would take at least 48 hours.”
“And no one can guarantee that the United Nations will approve it after 48 hours.”
“What if your country exercises its veto power during the voting process?”
“Wouldn’t the situation be delayed even further?”
The Russian journalist stood up in dissatisfaction and said,
“I think your speculation is offensive to us!”