Reality is more persuasive than any imagination. The Korean representatives felt the world was dark and sunless. Compared to the wolf-like Great Powers, even the Manchu Qing's control over Korea could be considered gentle breeze and warm rain.

After the Korean representative cried in public, the French representative raised a request: from now on, unless all six participating countries agreed, the Korean representative could no longer attend the meeting. For the Great Powers, this request was perfectly normal. If the Great Powers were personified, they would say, "Our status was won by swords and guns, what use is crying? Even if we compete in crying, we Great Powers have larger populations, and shed more tears than small countries! Not to mention, which Great Power hasn't had millions die in conflicts of interest, or killed millions of people from other countries? The fact that small countries haven't been wiped out already shows we Great Powers have a conscience!"

Tsarist Russia was a Great Power, and the Soviet representative knew how Great Powers did business. In the private consultation meeting between China and the Soviet Union, the Soviet representative bluntly proposed: "We must make other countries admit the existence of such a war."

Li Runshi knew clearly that whether the world acknowledged a war was of great significance. Once a war was acknowledged by the world, it could be considered as opening a public casino where all parties could enter and place bets. By the current rules of the world, this was equivalent to confirming a local war. The goals and bottom lines of war had rough implicit rules, and the European and American powers still had the spirit of admitting defeat when gambling. Generally speaking, no one would pointlessly expand a war over such a "small pot". This was truly the style of imperialism; everyone was essentially a businessman.

But the "pot" of Korea was special. Once the world recognized this pot, Japan would be in a lose-lose situation. Japan naturally refused to admit it, and Britain wouldn't just watch its thug in Asia suffer such losses.

Li Runshi suggested: "We might as well settle for the next best thing and just let the world know there is such a war."

"No need for such trouble, we can let Korea formally declare war on Japan." The Soviet representative was from an old imperialist country after all, and was very clear about these international ways.

Once China and the Soviet Union agreed, the Korean representatives immediately moved. This meeting caused quite a stir, and many reporters came to interview. The Korean representatives first publicly announced to the reporters that the newly established People's Republic of Korea formally declared war on Japan, and then detailed the thousands of years of relationship between Korea and Japan. Korea's history was much longer than American history, and mentioning a relationship of thousands of years actually attracted the interest of American journalists.

After such a commotion, the Japanese representatives were thoroughly angered. China and the Soviet Union's attitude made it clear they wanted to take Korea. The United States kept biasedly helping the other side, and Britain and France were completely unreliable in this matter. The Japanese representatives could only angrily announce their withdrawal from the meeting and lodged a solemn protest with the US government.

After the Japanese withdrew from the meeting, the Americans were elated, while the British were a bit embarrassed. But everyone was a major power after all. Without the two small countries of Japan and Korea, the five major powers of the US, UK, France, China, and the Soviet Union immediately turned the page on the past and began discussing relations among the five countries.

This belonged to secret talks. Li Runshi, following the Central Committee's instructions, delivered a speech that later became famous: "Fellow representatives, our five countries are all Great Powers. Regardless of how we view each other, regardless of what contradictions exist between us, we are all Great Powers. This is a fact. We must build relations between Great Powers on the basis of acknowledging this fact..."

This speech, later known as the "Great Power Declaration", was full of the People's Party's style of seeking truth from facts, and for the first time proposed a future concept of non-colonial globalization.

Of course, since this speech involved opposing colonialism, the colonial powers Britain and France were naturally extremely dissatisfied deep down. The People's Party's proactive proposal of global trade, however, was approved by the US and Soviet Union, and even Britain and France felt it was somewhat interesting. One of the reasons China wasn't too hostilely treated by European and American powers after its liberation was that China was willing to trade. Although the Renminbi as a fiat currency was incompatible with the world's mainstream Gold Standard at this time, relatively speaking, the People's Party's trade balance policy made countries relatively satisfied. China focused heavily on exports, and many export products sold very well. After trade balance, countries could explain it well to their own governments and consortiums. Since they couldn't open China's borders by force, doing more business was originally a strength of Europe and America. Some industries were indeed impacted by Chinese goods, but similarly, some industries made big money. No country's parliament would hold on to a country with balanced trade and not let go.

During the group talks, the UK, France, and US even discussed currency exchange issues with China. France had the least gold reserves, so France could accept the exchange of Renminbi and Francs.

As soon as France showed this intention, Britain got angry. What did the French mean? Want to tear down the stage? Regardless of how China rose, Britain regarded the Western Pacific as its own backyard. In cooperation between national banking industries, Britain believed itself to be the financial center. Settlement business must be responsible by Britain.

The contradictions and struggles between major powers were just like this; as long as there was strength, there was no worry about lack of business. Even the US settled several big deals including coal mines with the Soviet Union. Finally, the five major powers felt unsatisfied, and the US side simply suggested that the five major powers sit together and talk once every year in the future, with the location in Washington.

Britain objected right then. The British side believed that if there was to be a fixed location, it had to be London. France naturally thought it should be Paris. The Soviet Union came out to smooth things over, suggesting that after each meeting, the location of the next meeting would be determined at the end. Countries would take turns hosting.

The Chinese side naturally upheld the attitude of keeping a low profile. Seeing that all countries agreed with this opinion, Li Runshi supported the next meeting being held in the Soviet Union. The Americans didn't want to give face to the British, so they agreed with the Chinese suggestion. It was finally determined that the level of this annual meeting of the five countries didn't need to be too high, minister level would do.

The Soviet Union was very satisfied after the meeting adjourned. This new Soviet state lacked diplomatic channels, and this regular meeting between major powers was at least a breakthrough in Soviet diplomacy. The US showed its face and gained a lot of tangible benefits, incidentally striking a blow at Britain and Japan, so they were naturally satisfied too.

The Chinese side was also very satisfied. Before domestic oil field development, they barely secured oil supplies for the next two or three years. So at the end of the meeting, Li Runshi specifically explained to the countries that China absolutely had no intention of annexing Korea. Nor did it plan to treat Korea as a colony. If Korea gained independence, then all countries could freely conduct normal diplomatic and commercial exchanges with Korea.

This guarantee dispelled some of Britain's worries. France had no relationship with Korea at all, so they could naturally accept China's attitude. Britain knew it couldn't solve China by force or trade pressure. Without Britain's trade, China could still trade with the US and the Soviet Union, and even the French didn't support Britain behind its back, so Japan was sold out.

The Japanese representatives returned to their country like aggrieved little wives, and the news they brought back shook the Japanese upper echelons. After the war in Korea was accepted by the world, the nature of the problem was vastly different. The biggest problem was that the belligerents were no longer China and Japan, but Korea and Japan. China had really shed its involvement. Most importantly, this was a result recognized by Britain. This also meant a major change in Britain's stance. Britain had acknowledged China's status in the Far East.

Also being an island nation, Japan could easily understand the British way of thinking. Facing an opponent they couldn't resist, an island nation would choose to ignore it temporarily. They would contract their power on the continent and wait for changes in the continental power itself. Britain's approach was to acknowledge China's voice in Korean affairs. If China's actions in Korea didn't meet strong resistance, or if China itself had major problems giving Britain an opportunity, Britain would "acknowledge" any "status quo" currently happening in Korea.

By this time, everything that could be done diplomatically was done. The Revolutionary Army of Workers and Peasants had sent another 200,000 troops to Korea, sweeping south with the force of crushing dry weeds and smashing rotten wood. Tanaka Giichi was very shrewd; he immediately ordered the troops stationed in Korea to "fully contract". The Japanese army ran faster than rabbits, "fully contracting" to the Busan area to organize resistance.

By January 1925, the Japanese army withdrew from the Busan area, and the entirety of Korea was liberated. The situation in the Far East underwent tremendous changes. The newly established People's Republic of Korea and China signed the Sino-Korean Friendship Treaty based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. Korea proactively requested China to sign a five-year "Sino-Korean Mutual Defense Treaty".

The Mutual Defense Treaty stipulated that this treaty did not involve any offensive content. Purely with voluntary and defensive as core points, if a signatory country was invaded by other countries, the other country had the obligation to participate in military support for the invaded country.

In addition, Korea proactively applied to China, requesting China to establish land, sea, and air military bases in seven areas including Busan, Korea, to help Korea build its own national defense forces. The base usage period was twenty years, with China bearing the base construction and operation costs.

Since then, the offensive and defensive momentum in the Far East completely reversed, with Japan changing from the offensive side to the defensive side. The whole of Japan fell into further chaos.

This was only chaos within Japan; the entire Far East situation did not become chaotic because of it. The Soviet Union had no intention of participating in Pacific affairs at this time, and the US, UK, and China had no plans to expand the chaos. The three countries even reached a new trade agreement. Britain agreed to establish a Western Pacific Financial Settlement Center in Guangdong. The Renminbi, this non-gold standard fiat currency, formally became the settlement currency of the settlement center.