Chapter 3758
Chapter 3758
Chapter 3758
For those countries that are far away from Hai Han’s mainland, have average navigation capabilities, and find it difficult to reach Hai Han’s capital, having the opportunity to meet with senior officials of the Hai Han Executive Committee is extremely rare.
When dealing with the Special Operations Division and the Xingdao Region, those issues that were often evaded by the Executive Committee on the grounds of needing a decision now had hope of getting definite answers from Shi Diwen.
In addition to the arms trade, which is of great concern to some countries, another hot topic is economic and trade activities.
Hai Han purchases all kinds of raw materials from these countries, and at the same time exports various commodities, mainly industrial products, as well as a financial system represented by Hai Han paper currency, and obtains considerable scissors-spread profits from it.
Although these countries did not have a master like Schneider to manipulate the market, they could also feel that Hai Han had robbed them of a lot of wealth without leaving any trace. They hoped that this situation could be improved, either by Hai Han giving up some of its profits or helping them upgrade their industries. In short, the current unbalanced trade situation could not continue.
Shi Diwen's answer was also very clear: concessions can be negotiated, but as for helping these countries upgrade their industries, the appropriate conditions are currently lacking.
Although Hai Han has already stepped into the industrial age, its domestic industrial development is far from saturated, and it is not suitable to transfer production capacity to other countries. Even if some areas need to be upgraded, they must be industries under Hai Han's control.
For example, if Hai Han has mines or plantations invested and operated locally, it could consider establishing smelting, brewing and other industries downstream of the industrial chain. By increasing employment opportunities, it could bring more economic income to the locals, while also training some technical personnel for the host country - this could actually be considered a kind of technological upgrade.
As for the part about concessions, it is very easy to do. The import and export trade of these countries is mostly indirectly controlled by dignitaries and even royal families, who are the direct beneficiaries of trade activities. As long as Shi Diwen makes a concession statement on behalf of the Hai Han Executive Committee, the other party will generally be happy to cooperate.
Of course, if Hai Han wants to make concessions, these countries must also offer some equal exchange conditions. And the conditions proposed by Shi Diwen took into account the current needs of the Special Warfare Division, that is, requiring these countries to provide more laborers to Phuket and other Hai Han jurisdictions.
Shi Diwen proposed a method in which the government would organize the laborers, and the wages these workers received would be used to pay a certain percentage of taxes to their country, which could be paid directly by Hai Han to the corresponding department of that country.
In essence, it is to pay neighboring countries to organize labor on their behalf in the name of taxation. This method of operation has been implemented in North Korea, Annan and other countries for many years and is very mature. However, because Qian Tiandun had previously strictly controlled population input and even hired laborers had to be mainly Han Chinese, the Special Warfare Division had never implemented this method.
These countries were also happy to see the approach proposed by Shi Diwen. For example, Aceh already had a long-term cooperation with Sing Tao in exporting hired workers and had made a lot of profits from it. They were not opposed to this at all. The Aceh envoy agreed immediately and expressed his willingness to send workers to Phuket.
If the countries surrounding Phuket are willing to cooperate with the Special Operations Division in sending workers, according to the Executive Committee's estimates, it should be possible to recruit at least tens of thousands of workers for Phuket within a year, which is enough to alleviate the current labor demand in the local area.
Although this figure is still a long way from Qian Tiandun’s standard of “30,000 to 50,000 per year”, it is at least an achievable goal.
Moreover, the employment cost of using foreign hired labor is much lower than that of sending immigrants from all over the country, which is good for the employer, the special warfare division, and the national finances that also bear part of the cost. Although Qian Tiandun has some personal ideas, this time it is Shi Diwen who represents the Executive Committee to handle diplomatic affairs. All resolutions are equivalent to those made by the Executive Committee, and Qian Tiandun can no longer flatly refuse to implement them.
After a series of meetings, Shi Diwen reached a number of new cooperation agreements with envoys from various countries who came to Phuket.
Although the scope of these agreements is mainly focused on trade and employment, and there are not many projects involving military cooperation, the executors on the Hai Han side are the Special Operations Division, which inevitably makes these cooperation agreements have a strong military color.
As for the specific persons in charge of each project, they are basically all senior officers from the special operations division. Although some officials have been sent from China, most of them are technical bureaucrats who organize business and production activities and can only obey the command and dispatch of the special operations division.
Shi Diwen did not interfere in this matter. After all, during his tenure as the head of the East China Sea region, the situation was similar most of the time. The military controlled all local affairs, and the officials sent by the Executive Committee could only do odd jobs in middle and lower-level positions.
In order to allow Qian Tiandun and the Special Operations Division to work wholeheartedly on the Western Front, the Executive Committee should not interfere too deeply in the appointment and removal of officials in its jurisdiction. At least in the current stage of conquering the world, it must make certain concessions to the Special Operations Division.
Before seeing off the envoys from various countries, Shi Diwen did not forget to invite all parties to board the Zhoushan and visit the advanced achievements of Hai Han's shipbuilding industry.
There are only two large ships like this with a displacement of more than 4,000 tons in the world. In addition to the Zhoushan, the other ship is the New World roll-on/roll-off ship that has been docked in Sanya Victory Port for more than 30 years.
Although the New World has been carefully maintained, it has long lost its ability to sail due to being sealed for too long, and now only exists as a landmark in Victory Harbor. Even those who have seen the New World with their own eyes find it hard to believe that such a huge steel ship can sail on the sea.
Although the tonnage of Zhoushan is far less than that of New World, for other countries of that era, it is a veritable sea giant.
Shi Diwen didn't need to say much, the guests on board were all certain that Hai Han was the only one in the world capable of building such a large ship.
Moreover, this giant ship is not just an empty shell. The giant rotating turrets on the front and rear decks have several huge cannons that are much larger than any coastal defense guns the guests have ever seen. The power of its bombardment is simply unimaginable.
This most direct visual impact was better than any false threats. Anyone with a sound mind would quickly realize the gap in strength between their country and Hai Han.
No one wanted to be the target of this warship. Even though Shi Diwen claimed that Hai Han built the Zhoushan only to maintain peace and tranquility on sea routes, it was difficult to relieve the tension of envoys from various countries when facing this sea monster.