industrial overlord

Chapter 649
After Chen Tian completed his investigation in Singapore and obtained a lot of first-hand information, he decided to return to China.Lin Zhenhua originally came to make soy sauce with him, so he naturally returned with Chen Tian.In the past, every time he came to Singapore, he had to develop some business by the way, at least to visit some important enterprises and personnel in government departments, but this time, he was a little disheartened and skipped this link .

The two packed their luggage, and each of them pulled a trolley case to the hotel lobby, ready to check out and leave.While waiting, a guest who was also going through the check-out procedure turned around by chance and saw Lin Zhenhua, immediately beamed with joy, laughed and walked over, stretching his arms, intending to give Lin Zhenhua a bear hug.

"Mr. Lin, what a coincidence, I didn't expect to meet you here." The man shouted to Lin Zhenhua in English.

"Mr. Jirapong?" Lin Zhenhua also recognized the other party, stepped forward quickly, hugged the other party, shook hands warmly, and asked: "Old friend, should I call you the director or the minister now?" Woolen cloth?"

The person in front of him turned out to be Ji Lapon, a government official that Lin Zhenhua met in Thailand. When Lin Zhenhua approached Ji Lapon to sell large fertilizer equipment, he was just a director. Later, he was constantly promoted because of his political achievements. He said that he has become the minister and is attacking the minister's throne.What is not humane is that Jilabong's promotion has something to do with Lin Zhenhua's explicit or covert support, which also makes Jilabong quite close to Lin Zhenhua.

"Soon, soon." Ji Lapeng put on a somewhat mysterious expression, and said in a low voice, "If there is no change, I guess I will become the minister at the beginning of next year, and I am still the deputy now."

"Congratulations, I will definitely go to congratulate Minister Jirapong and give a big gift." Lin Zhenhua said.

"Then I would like to thank you in advance. I know that Mr. Lin has always been very generous in giving gifts." Ji Lapeng said without any concealment.

Lin Zhenhua first cooperated with Ji Lapeng, and he used bribes to clear the way.In the ten years of cooperation since then, Jilabeng has received a lot of kickbacks from Lin Zhenhua and Hanhua's business representatives, and some of the kickbacks were used by him as capital to bribe his superiors, which is why he can continue to be promoted one.

However, as Jirapong's position became higher and higher, his pursuit of political achievements gradually surpassed his pursuit of money. The big gift that Lin Zhenhua told him actually meant helping him to do some projects that could become political achievements. As for How much economic benefit Jirapong can personally get from the project is beyond the scope of their discussion.It is also because of this that Ji Lapeng can openly claim to thank Lin Zhenhua for his gift in public.

After exchanging pleasantries, Lin Zhenhua introduced Chen Tian to Ji Lapeng, but he did not disclose Chen Tian's real identity, but said that Chen Tian was an executive of a large trading company and a good friend of his.Ji Lapon's small eyes looked Chen Tian up and down, and he already knew it in his heart.The temperament exuded by Chen Tian really doesn't look like a businessman.If it is a businessman, he must be more successful than Lin Zhenhua, but it seems that there are not many such people in China, right?
Ji Lapon was very clever and did not express his doubts. He shook hands with Chen Tian, ​​and then asked the two of them:

"Mr. Lin, Mr. Chen, are you here for business in Singapore this time? It turns out that you have been staying in this hotel all the time. I stayed here for three days, but I didn't meet you."

Lin Zhenhua saw that there were no other idlers around, and said in a low voice: "Well, to tell you the truth, Minister Jirapong, we came here this time purely because Singapore is looking for trouble from China. Have you ever heard that there are a group of politicians in Singapore? They are threatening to block the Strait of Malacca and trap China in the South China Sea. Think about it, more than half of Hanhua Heavy Industry’s export products have to go through the Strait of Malacca. Isn’t Singapore’s way of doing this a trap for Hanhua?”

"Is there such a thing?" Ji Lapeng was dumbfounded, "Isn't this too vicious? Also, does this violate international rules?"

"Of course it is a violation of international rules. Of course, they are just talking about it now and have not put it into practice yet." Lin Zhenhua said, what he said just now was a bit exaggerated. Singapore just threatened to block Chinese warships. , and did not involve merchant shipping.

Ji Lapeng nodded and said: "Well, I have heard about the situation you mentioned. By the way, this time I came to Singapore to participate in the meeting of the 10 ASEAN countries' ministers of commerce. At the meeting, Officials from the Ministry of Commerce of Singapore have also expressed such intentions, wanting to unite ASEAN countries to resist China's influence."

"Is it the boycott of ASEAN's ten plus one plan?" Chen Tian interjected lightly from the side.

ASEAN Ten Plus One refers to a plan to establish a free trade area between the ten ASEAN countries and China. ASEAN has a total of 10 countries, and China is added, which is the concept of "Ten Plus One".This plan was proposed by China to strengthen economic and trade exchanges between China and ASEAN. It is a win-win plan.At this time, this plan has just been proposed, and ASEAN countries are also discussing it. What Jirapong said should refer to Singapore's objection to this plan.

The ASEAN is not monolithic, of course, Chen Tian can learn about news like this in the first place.

"It's really crazy." Lin Zhenhua muttered, "ASEAN plus one is not only beneficial to China, but also to the benefits of ASEAN countries. China is a huge market. Europe and the United States are trying to squeeze into this market. If ASEAN It would be a real fool to refuse to establish a free trade area with China."

"Who says it's not?" Ji Lapon felt the same way.In recent years, Thailand has purchased a lot of machinery and equipment from China, exported a large amount of agricultural products and electronic products to China, and attracted a large number of Chinese to travel to Thailand, creating a lot of so-called "green income". It was recorded in Jirapong's list of achievements.He is someone who is positive about establishing a free trade relationship with China.

"In ASEAN, except for Singapore, other countries are very interested in ten plus one. The industries of ASEAN and China are complementary. Like the Philippines, selling bananas to mainland China can feed several 10 people. You said How could they object to ten plus one?" Ji Lapeng showed an aggrieved look, and the emotions in it were mixed, and the fake part was naturally to please Lin Zhenhua.

"We came here this time to do work in Singapore's political and business circles, so that they can give up this kind of policy orientation that harms others and does not benefit themselves. Unfortunately, we have searched a lot, but we have not found anyone who is willing to cooperate with us. See Come on, this country is determined from top to bottom to fight against China." Lin Zhenhua said.

Ji Lapeng showed a sympathetic look on his face, but he secretly said he was happy in his heart.The ten ASEAN countries are not only partners but also competitors. Singapore has a developed economy and often puts on the airs of rich people in ASEAN. Ji Lapon has long been unhappy with them. Now that Lin Zhenhua also has opinions on Singapore, how can he Don't you want to have fun?

"Mr. Lin, didn't you gain nothing this trip?" Ji Lapeng asked adding fuel to the fire.

"Isn't it?" Lin Zhenhua said, "However, it was a surprise to meet Minister Jirapong before leaving. I know that Minister Jirapong has always been a good friend of our Chinese people, and the Thai people are also ours. A good friend of the Chinese people."

Ji Lapon smiled brightly like a dog's tail flower. He said: "Mr. Lin, you said that very well. Regardless of Singapore's attitude towards China, we, Thailand and China are definitely friendly neighbors. Any time , we will all stand on China’s side.”

Lin Zhenhua smiled and said: "It's a pity, if the Strait of Malacca is in Thailand, we don't have to worry about it. Minister Jirapong, can you go back and ask historians to verify that the Malay Peninsula has been in the Malacca since ancient times. It belongs entirely to Thailand, so why don’t you just send troops to recover Singapore.”

"It's a joke, it's a joke." Ji Lapeng waved his hands quickly. Lin Zhenhua can talk nonsense, but as a government official, he dare not say that, otherwise it will cause international disputes.However, Lin Zhenhua's previous sentence touched Ji Lapon's heart. He smiled sinisterly and said in a low voice: "Mr. Lin, in fact, the Strait of Malacca is not as important as imagined. I think that if Singapore is really close to you If China falls out, your ships can avoid going through the Strait of Malacca."

"Don't go through the Strait of Malacca? Should we make a detour through the Sunda Strait?" Lin Zhenhua asked.His geographical knowledge is not very good, but as the boss of a group company with a large amount of overseas business, he still has some understanding of the distribution of international routes.From the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean, if you don’t go to Malacca, you can also bypass the Sunda Strait or the Lombok Strait, both of which are between several large islands in Indonesia.Taking these two routes is thousands of kilometers longer than taking the Strait of Malacca, which will lead to an increase in freight charges.

In fact, due to the lack of water depth in the Strait of Malacca, large oil tankers over 25 tons do detour in this way, but it is more economical for oil tankers and cargo ships below this tonnage to go through the Strait of Malacca.

Ji Lapon shook his head: "Taking the Sunda Strait is a detour, and it is not cost-effective in terms of time and freight. I mean, China is now a big shipping country. There are so many ships going to the Indian Ocean every year. Is it possible to consider Investing in the construction of the Kra Isthmus Canal?"

"Kara Isthmus? What do you mean?" Lin Zhenhua was at a loss.

Standing beside Lin Zhenhua, Chen Tian grinned and grinned. What Ji Lapeng said made Chen Tian look at him with admiration: This old fox really has the ability to take advantage of the fire.

　Hehe, some book friends in the book review area guessed that it is a conspiracy to build the Isthmus Canal to restrict Singapore.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)