Chapter 586 Saturday War
Reston chose to compromise.
To be precise, the White House chose to compromise. As a negotiator, Reston sat down at the negotiating table after the second phone call with the White House.
"Star Ring Trade must withdraw its troops from Mindanao. We can talk about the independence of Moro."
Hearing Reston's words, Dieter jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, his neck and face turned blood red, and cursed at Reston while spitting.
"This is Chi Guoguo's conspiracy! You betrayed your allies, don't you feel ashamed!"
Reston looked at Jiang Chen indifferently, ignoring the furious Di Taite. Eric, who was sitting by the side, couldn't stand it any longer, coughed softly, played the role of a peacemaker, and began to appease Di Tate's emotions.
"It's okay to withdraw troops, but we will keep 100 marines in Cagayan City. We are going to set up a rescue station here to fulfill our obligation of humanitarian rescue." Jiang Chen said righteously.
This sentence almost choked Eric on the side. It was the first time he saw humanitarianism being used as a cover to engage in the garrison.
"Up to 50 people, and fighter planes cannot be deployed." Reston said.
"100 people. Speaking of which, Cagayan City is the territory of the Moro Kingdom. This is an agreement between us and a third country. Do you have the right to interfere?" Jiang Chen said.
Reston looked to Santos.
Santos smiled showing his white teeth and a cunning that didn't match his muscles.
"We have no complaints and welcome Transit Trading to support the reconstruction of Cagayan City and invest in industries in Mindanao."
"Okay." Reston reluctantly nodded.
"Then there will be negotiations on the territory of the Moroccan state, except for the undisputed main island of Mindanao, the Sulu Islands"
"There's nothing to talk about." Du Taite yelled and interrupted Jiang Chen.
However, Jiang Chen didn't seem to notice him, and continued.
"The Sulu Islands are currently under the actual control of the 11th Guerrilla Brigade of the Moro Kingdom."
"Practical control is one aspect.
Sovereignty," UN observer Eric started, but was interrupted by Santos.
"Here is the sovereignty document." Santos put a stack of documents on the table.
"It takes time to test the legitimacy of the sovereignty document." Reston said in a deep voice, "what's more. Don't you think that we should pay more attention to the opinions of the people of the Sulu Islands than sovereignty? After all, in our opinion, human rights are higher than sovereignty. "
"Really? Your standards always seem to be unpredictable. For example, in Ukraine, human rights in the western states are higher than sovereignty, and sovereignty in the eastern states is higher than human rights." Jiang Chen mocked.
Reston looked a little embarrassed and coughed lightly.
"We are now discussing the issue of the Sulu Islands."
"I propose a full-name referendum, which is the most fair," Jiang Chen said.
"No! Unless all Filipinos vote together, the territory of the Philippines should be decided by all Filipinos!" Duterte clamored, patting the table.
Just kidding, the troublemakers in the Sulu Islands have long wanted to separate, how can they allow them to vote by themselves?
"As Duterte said. It's like a house. You can't tear down a person's bedroom just because he wants to divide his family, unless everyone in the house agrees with his choice." This is Reston's first Once at the negotiating table in line with Duterte's opinion.
The Sulu Islands are the gateway for the Celebes Sea to enter the Sulu Sea. In a strategic sense, as long as the Moro Kingdom controls the area, the warships of the Star Ring Trade will be able to enter the hinterland of the Philippines at any time, and even advance into Manila Bay. In an economic sense, the Sulu Islands are located on the island arc belt in the western Pacific Ocean, and there are a large number of rare earth element-containing manganese nodules and other mineral deposits in the nearby sea area. Controlled by the Moro Kingdom is equal to the control of the Star Ring trade. Therefore, regarding the ownership of the Sulu Islands, Jiang Chen will not give in no matter what.
The negotiations on the first day collapsed because of territorial issues.
The two sides only took a step back and reached a ceasefire agreement. Then it was agreed to continue discussing peace negotiations tomorrow.
Territorial differences are not so easy to resolve, especially with the Aquino government unwilling to let go of their mouths anyway. Jiang Chen's approach to this is very "insidious". While negotiating, he instructed Santos to open a "family visit" channel for 40,000 families of Philippine government army prisoners in Zamboanga City in the western part of Mindanao. Relatives are allowed to enter and stay for a maximum of two days to visit detained relatives under the leadership of Moro soldiers.
This is great, when they don't see each other, the family members of these captives can still maintain their sanity. When I saw my son, husband, and boyfriend being imprisoned in a prisoner-of-war camp, I couldn't hold back my tears and sadness. Although these prisoners of war were not treated inhumanely. But after all, there are more or less miserable battle injuries.
Faced with the plea for release, the Moroccan side should be firm and tough.
"We desire peace. But we will never compromise with the enemy. If you want your loved ones, then go to your Aquino, the choice has always been in his hands. As long as he is willing to sign the peace agreement, we I can also lay down my arms, and my family and relatives are reunited!"
We are victims too! We also long for peace! This villain's hat was so logically placed on Aquino's head.
I can imagine what happened next with my toes.
The family members of the soldiers who came to the Philippines held up protest slogans and shouted anti-war slogans, blocking the Philippine Presidential Palace and the mansion where Aquino died. The experience of the soldiers' families was echoed by other anti-war activists in the Philippines and citizens who lost their source of income due to the war. Waves of protests followed one after another, and each wave outstripped the last. The card of warmth has achieved extraordinary results in the Philippines, whose economy has long been overwhelmed.
Only a small number of nationalists chanted the slogan of never compromise, fight to the end, and drag Papa Country into the water, and resolutely opposed Aquino's compromise on the territorial issue. But these calls are already thunderous and rainy. People are always fickle. In peacetime, they might clamor for war because of their pride in their hearts, but in wartime, most of them will change their previous minds as the quality of life declines.
Since the signing of the ceasefire agreement, the Star Ring trade has participated in the war for a total of seven days, but the Philippine currency has depreciated by nearly 20%, and the price has skyrocketed by 50%. Those monkeys who clamored to crush Xinguo and turn the Panu Islands into a Philippine colony suddenly calmed down and began to reflect on their own lives and values.
Forced by domestic pressure, the Aquino government finally came to the negotiating table in humiliation after persisting for half a month.
The Philippines recognizes the independence of the Moro country. The Sulu Islands, Mindanao and part of its territorial waters belong to the Moro country.
On the contrary, the frigates and submarines of the Star Ring trade withdrew from the Sulu Sea. Two Moro guerrilla divisions withdrew from Grand Bucas and Siargao islands in northern Mindanao, returning control of the area to the Philippines. At the same time, both the Moroccan side and the Philippine side unconditionally released their respective prisoners of war.
As a result, Morocco finally completed its decades-long pursuit of independence and became the 195th sovereign state in the world. After losing the second largest island in the country after Luzon, the Philippines has also been devastated.
And the star ring trade that contributed to all this has faintly become their "sovereign country" and the biggest winner in this war.
Because the star ring trade was a war that was involved on Saturday, and the war just ended in a week, so this war was also called the Saturday War by the international community. (To be continued.)