On July 3rd, the two-day United Nations General Assembly came to an end.
Because of Celestial Trade's lack of cooperation, this meeting did not make any progress as most people expected. On the one hand, the United Nations had no right to directly interfere in the internal affairs of member states, and on the other hand, the representatives sent by Xin did not have the power to make decisions at all.
For example, Canada proposed at the meeting that Celestial Trade sell the space elevator to the United Nations at a premium of 20%. Eventually, all countries would jointly fund the purchase, and the United Nations would lead the defense against extraterrestrial civilization.
Even if this proposal received a high number of votes, it was rebuffed by Xin, the country involved.
In contrast, Xin's negotiations with Hua, Germany, and Russia made considerable progress.
With Zhang Yaping's efforts, the leaders of the four countries reached an agreement. On the day the UN General Assembly ended, all countries held press conferences at the same time and announced the establishment of the Earth Defense Alliance to the media in Coro City, Shangjing, Moscow, and Berlin …
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The night shrouded the Revolution Square in Coro City, and the lights lit up the darkness. In front of the cameras of the media reporters inside and outside the venue, Jiang Chen solemnly read the opening remarks of this solemn ceremony.
In this darkest moment, people's eyes passed through the armed soldiers and quietly looked at the center of the square. Thousands of people did not make a single sound.
The protests that swept the world in recent days had made everyone feel tired and confused. From the moment they learned of the existence of extraterrestrial civilization, panic grew from the bottom of everyone's heart and grew uncontrollably.
"There is enough evidence to prove that the tragedies that occurred in City K, Yoto, Somalia, Finland, and other places were the work of extraterrestrial civilization. They use lies to confuse people, use conspiracies to divide our race, and sell genetic weapons to those with evil intentions! "
The sonorous voice echoed in the square and blew away the fear in people's hearts. In this square that was once sprinkled with the blood of revolutionaries, looking up at the majestic monument, the dead blood in everyone's heart began to boil again.
"Their behavior has constituted aggression." Jiang Chen looked around at the dense crowd outside the square, paused for a moment, then slowly said, "Aggression against all of mankind."
"The option of dialogue did not exist from the beginning. All diplomatic means will be meaningless, traditional borders will be meaningless, and all we can do is use blood to defend our home! In this war, no one, no country can stay out of it! "
"So, we choose to stand up."
"At this solemn and sacred moment, on behalf of Xin and the colonies of Celestial Trade, I announce to all the people of Xin, to our allies, and to the world! The Earth Defense Alliance is officially established! "
Thunderous applause and cheers resounded throughout the square. People waved the small flags in their hands, and there was no longer a trace of fear in their high-spirited eyes.
For most people, what really scared them was not the unknown extraterrestrial civilization, but the chaos before the darkness. If the entire world was united, the Earth civilization might have the power to fight. Although it was still young, the establishment of the Earth Defense Alliance gave everyone hope.
In the tide-like cheers, Jiang Chen read the list of members of the Earth Defense Alliance.
Based on the "Coro City Agreement" signed the day before yesterday, the main members of the Earth Defense Alliance were Xin, Hua, Russia, and Frankberg. The secondary members included Pakistan, Country F, Moro, Malaysia, and a total of 21 Asian countries.
According to the consensus reached by multiple parties, major member states would contribute 5-7% of GDP based on their territory and population, and minor member states would contribute 3-4% of GDP for the development of the aerospace industry.
Of course, the opposite of the obligation was the benefit. Although joining the Earth Defense Alliance was for self-protection, Celestial Trade would not let its allies suffer.
In the Coro Nations Agreement, Celestial Trade promised member states that its space resources would be tilted to member states.
In addition, the agreement also stipulated that the Earth Defense Alliance would impose a 50% defense tax on all non-member countries in the field of outer space resource development. This money would be collected by Celestial Trade and used as the Earth Defense Fund for the construction of extraterrestrial fortifications, the formation of the Earth civilization fleet, and so on.
Since it was for the common interest of everyone, they couldn't just let some people take the lead and some people hide in the back.
Now that you don't need to do anything, it's not too much to pay, right?
As soon as this move came out, it immediately caused an uproar in the international community, especially in the financial field. The aerospace related companies that had been hyped up on Nasdaq were suddenly in distress.
Not only were the prospects of aerospace companies affected, but at the moment when light and heavy industrial raw materials were increasingly dependent on outer space resources, pessimism quickly began to spread from aerospace companies to the manufacturing industry.
What was the concept of a 50% defense tax?
Take iron ore as an example. As of July 1, 2019, thanks to the increase in the capacity of the Celestial Trade space elevator, the Platt's 62% iron ore index, which was regarded as the wind vane of iron ore prices, was 58 Xin New Dollars per ton. Before the introduction of the defense tax, the UA could import iron ore from Xin at a price of as low as 45 Xin New Dollars per ton, but after the introduction of the defense tax, their cost would be pulled up to 67.5 Xin New Dollars.
If that was the case, it would be fine, but the 67.5 Xin New Dollars was still lower than the production cost of 76 US Dollar per ton given by the former mining giant, Vale of Brazil. In other words, they couldn't find a substitute for iron ore at the same price!
Don't underestimate the difference of 22.5 Xin New Dollars.
Steel was the foundation of a country's industry, and fluctuations in commodity prices would be reflected in the cost of manufacturing. If it was a global price fluctuation, it might not be noticeable under the balance of the exchange rate. But if this price fluctuation was limited to a certain number of countries, then the impact could not be underestimated.
The same unit of industrial manufactured goods required the consumption of a ton of 62% iron ore. Production in Hua was 22.5 Xin New Dollars cheaper than production in the UA, so Hua's products had an additional market competitiveness of 22.5 Xin New Dollars.
Not just iron ore, from iron ore to all metal minerals, the UA and other non-Earth Defense Alliance members would passively accept this "unequal treaty." Unless they packed up and left, didn't use the space elevator, and didn't use the port of Xin, they could only accept the 50% tax.
It was foreseeable that with the gradual development of space resources, this 50% defense tax would become an unavoidable burden on non-member countries. In the long run, the market competitiveness of the Earth Defense Alliance members would only grow stronger, and one day in the future, they would completely leave non-member countries behind.
As a result, the weakening of the US dollar and the strengthening of the Xin New Dollars were almost foreseeable.
For Wall Street, this is absolutely the worst news that can't be any worse.
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