Faced with Andrew Forte's accusations, John Suss was on the verge of tears.
"President, I didn't want this either, but I truly have no way around this."
"Their cars have sufficient horsepower and energy, naturally allowing them to pile on materials. If we were to do the same, thickening our car bodies, the increased weight would significantly impact both range and speed…"
As John Suss continued his explanation, Andrew Forte's expression grew increasingly grim. He roared, cutting John Suss off.
"John, I didn't call you here to listen to your excuses. I'm asking you one question: can we comprehensively crush them in terms of quality?"
John Suss shook his head vigorously. "President, let alone comprehensively crushing them, it's not easy for us to catch up to them in any single aspect. Longjing Electric Vehicles are too terrifying. How can such a thing exist in the world!"
It wasn't just at Fute Motors headquarters; similar conversations were erupting simultaneously across car groups, both large and small, nationwide.
Faced with the all-around dominance of Longguo's Longjing Electric Vehicles, everyone felt a bone-chilling sense of crisis!
Not long ago, other Western car manufacturers were locked in fierce competition with the four major American automotive groups. Now, they had cast aside their past grievances and reconciled.
Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan, as well as other so-called allies of the United States, had even sent representatives to the secret underground laboratory at the White House to discuss how to deal with Longguo's Longjing cars.
Honda Bunmu, the Japanese representative, spoke first. "No matter how good Longguo cars are, they're useless if no one buys them. In my opinion, we should directly control public opinion, fabricate a few accidents, and make it so ordinary people dare not buy them."
"It's not that easy," Andrew Forte shook his head. "When Longguo invented the medical pod years ago, pharmaceutical groups like Huirui used similar tactics, but they failed miserably. Instead, they ended up promoting Longguo's medical pods."
"Moreover, Longguo has a top-tier hacker team. Our previous success in exaggerating the dangers of electric vehicles was merely Longguo wanting to leverage the situation. If we want to use public opinion to bring down Longjing Electric Vehicles, the possibility is almost zero!"
Honda Bunmu, unwilling to give up, stepped forward again. "If we can't stop them from selling, we can stop them from producing."
"Although Longguo is currently the world's largest industrial nation with a complete industrial system, they still lack the capability to produce certain automotive parts, such as high-end bearings and engines."
"We can completely prohibit the export of these parts, thereby choking Longguo's lifeline."
Upon hearing this, a glimmer of joy appeared on everyone's faces, only to be immediately doused by a bucket of cold water from Andrew Forte.
"Don't dream. According to our investigation, Longjing Electric Vehicles are produced independently by Longguo, and not a single component is imported. We've used this 'choking' tactic several times. Longguo isn't foolish; how could they possibly give us this opportunity again?"
With two consecutive proposals rejected by Andrew Forte, Honda Bunmu's expression became extremely awkward, but he dared not openly retaliate. He could only, with a forced smile, speak sarcastically.
"It seems Mr. Forte has thoroughly investigated Longjing Electric Vehicles. I'm out of ideas now, so do you have any brilliant insights?"
"I wouldn't call them brilliant insights. Longguo is currently dedicating all its national resources to protecting Longjing Electric Vehicles, and I truly have no immediate solution for it. However…"
Andrew Forte paused here, a very strange smile suddenly appearing on his face. "We may have no way to deal with Longjing Electric Vehicles, but that doesn't mean we have no way to deal with other Longguo enterprises."
"Longguo has a large supply of cheap labor, and its assembly lines are indeed highly developed, but in terms of industrial software, they currently have no ability to compete with us."
"As long as we withdraw Longguo's access to industrial software, we can force many industries to protest against Longguo on our behalf. At that time, Longguo will be like a lump of dough, at our mercy!"
Unlike civilian software, which flourishes with diverse options catering to different user habits, allowing multiple software programs for the same function, industrial software has a singular target audience and operates on a winner-take-all principle where only the first matters.
Everyone exchanged whispers and seriously discussed Andrew Forte's proposal. They found the idea feasible, but there was a minor issue.
Leon Dulute, the German representative, stood up. "Mr. Forte, your idea is excellent, but there's a small problem. We can't just arbitrarily terminate our cooperation with Longguo without reason; it would negatively impact our group's reputation!"
"That's easily handled," Andrew Forte waved his hand and pulled out a document from his pocket, casually tossing it to Leon Dulute.
"According to our investigation, Longguo is stealing core data from industrial software, severely infringing upon our intellectual property rights. We are uniting only to seek justice!"
Leon Dulute took the document and quickly flipped through it. Seeing the few lines of investigation results, his brow furrowed deeply.
"Mr. Forte, to accuse them of stealing core data based on such flimsy evidence, isn't that too far-fetched?"
"Heh heh," Andrew Forte sneered, took back the document, and inserted a large stack of blank A4 paper into it in front of everyone. "Mr. Leon, is the evidence sufficient now!"
Leon Dulute blinked, recalling the United States' glorious feat of accusing Afghanistan of possessing weapons of mass destruction and then presenting a tube of laundry detergent. Cold sweat suddenly broke out on his forehead.
"Enough, enough! With so much evidence presented, Longguo isn't just stealing; they're outright robbing! We must resolutely resist such behavior and fight to the death!"
Honda Bunmu chimed in, "Exactly, Longguo has gone too far! We must unite and resolutely resist such despicable acts."
…
Soon, the Western powers reached a consensus and, almost simultaneously, issued public statements.
"I, on behalf of the United States, officially lodge a protest with Longguo, demanding they immediately cease their infringing activities and provide our country with adequate compensation, failing which we will ban all German industrial software in Longguo."
"I, on behalf of Japan, officially protest to Longguo, demanding they immediately cease their infringing activities…"
"I, on behalf of Germany…"
In the blink of an eye, Longguo, already in the spotlight, completely became the target of public criticism.
"No wonder Longguo has developed so rapidly over the years; it turns out they've been stealing!"
"A place that started with knock-offs and plagiarism, what good things do you expect them to produce?"
"Hey, speaking of which, Longguo has released a lot of high-tech recently. These aren't copied too, are they?"
As soon as the statements were released, the long-waiting online trolls immediately posted, aggressively trying to tarnish Longguo's reputation, aiming to destroy it completely.
Meanwhile, the intellectuals and moderates who had been lurking in Longguo also became active. They quickly logged into their accounts and published their pre-prepared articles…