Sail across the sea

Chapter 373 An Ace

At the appointed time, Xu Ying, along with Gao Fan and Qiao Jiaxi, a section chief from the Chemical Industry Department, arrived at the Geological and Mineral Resources Department.

Following the principle of reciprocity, the Department of Geology and Mineral Resources sent a deputy director named Hao Caibao to receive the delegation from the Department of Chemical Industry and led them to a small conference room for closed-door consultations.

The Department of Geology and Mineral Resources also received a notification from the Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources. Unlike the Department of Chemical Industry, rare earth matters are under the jurisdiction of the geological and mineral resources system, and the instructions from the central leadership were directly issued to the Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources. The Ministry of Chemical Industry was only an assisting unit. Therefore, the notification from the Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources to the Department of Geology and Mineral Resources of Maolin Province was more specific, which was equivalent to directly issuing a task.

"Director Xu, I'm so sorry, this matter originally belonged to our Department of Geology and Mineral Resources, and it's troubled for Director Xu and... these two comrades to come all the way here in person. Logically speaking, we should be the ones going to the comrades in the Department of Chemical Industry to ask for their help."

At the start of the meeting, Hao Caibao spoke in a very low-key manner.

This gentleman lived up to his name; he was quite wealthy-looking and exuded an air of riches. He spoke politely, and laughter preceded his words, making him seem very approachable.

Xu Ying knew Hao Caibao, and immediately replied with a smile, "Director Hao, you're too kind. We also received a notice from the Ministry of Chemical Industry, requiring us to do our best to assist the geological and mineral resources system in carrying out the rectification work of rare earth development. In this work, your Geological and Mineral Resources Department is the commander-in-chief, and we are the support workers. Of course, we should take the initiative to come to the headquarters to accept the task."

"Haha, Director Xu's way of speaking is truly masterful. No wonder the Central Committee has proposed that leading cadres should be younger and more knowledgeable. Director Xu is a leader who is both young and knowledgeable!"

"Director Hao, are you mocking my age? I seem to remember you being a year younger than me. At the last meeting, the provincial leaders called you 'Little Hao'."

"Not at all, Director Xu is forever young at heart..."

After a round of compliments and reciprocated flattery, the atmosphere became increasingly harmonious. Xu Yingxian ended this pointless verbal sparring and asked in a serious tone:

"Director Hao, I brought Director Qiao and Comrade Gao Fan here today to find out what specific arrangements the Department of Geology and Mineral Resources has for the rare earth remediation, and in what ways we can provide assistance."

Hearing Xu Ying bring up serious matters, Hao Caibao's smile faded, and he said, "Director Xu, to be honest, we're still completely baffled about the ins and outs of this matter. The Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources gave us instructions that the central leadership had made important directives on rare earth development, requiring that the development of rare earth be carried out scientifically and orderly."

"Our analysis suggests that the ministry may have discovered some problems with Maolin's rare earth development work, which is why it suddenly raised this rectification requirement. However, we are currently investigating which specific problems they are dissatisfied with, and we do not yet have a clear conclusion."

Xu Ying pointed at Gao Fan and said, "Director Hao, let me introduce you. This is Comrade Gao Fan. He's from our chemical industry and is currently studying at Peking University. He's also the general manager of Canghua Science and Trade Company, which is under our Chemical Industry Department..."

"Oh, so he's Gao Fan, the one who works on vitamins?" Hao Caibao pretended to suddenly realize. "I knew it! When you mentioned Gao Fan, I felt like I recognized the name. So he's that genius college student who works on vitamins."

"Director Hao, you flatter me. Actually, the vitamin project was a joint decision made by the ministry and the department. I was just a figurehead, running errands for them," Gao Fan said modestly. "Haha, not bad, not bad. Young man, capable and so humble. You truly are Director Xu's right-hand man," Hao Caibao offered a few words of praise, then looked at Xu Ying, waiting to hear what she would say next.

Xu Ying continued, "Gao Fan went to the Ministry of Chemical Industry to report on the vitamin project some time ago. At that time, the ministry was discussing the rare earth issue, so our Minister Zheng gave him some instructions and asked him to come back and convey them to us."

"So I simply brought him to the Department of Geology and Mineral Resources, so we can all hear some of the thoughts from our Ministry of Chemical Industry."

These words were spoken very skillfully, revealing Gao Fan's identity while minimizing his potential for hatred. They made it seem as if he were merely a messenger, and that his words represented the department's directives, having nothing to do with him personally.

Hao Caibao largely believed Xu Ying's explanation. Being separated by a system, he was unaware of the relationship between Gao Fan and Zheng Linong. Seeing Gao Fan's young age and supposedly being a university student, he genuinely treated him as a mouthpiece.

Seeing that everyone's attention was focused on him, Gao Fan said, "Distinguished leaders, let me share what I know about the situation."

"As everyone knows, the rare earth resources discovered in Maolin are very unique ion-adsorption type rare earths in the world, which contain many types of heavy rare earths. To date, no other similar heavy rare earth enrichment areas have been found in the world."

"The leaders of the Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources certainly know more about the value of heavy rare earth elements than I do, so I won't go into details. I just want to convey the opinion of the central leadership: heavy rare earth elements, as a mineral unique to China, can be used as a trump card for China in participating in international economic and trade cooperation. All levels of departments should pay close attention to the importance of heavy rare earth elements."

"Is this what the leader meant when he said, 'The Middle East has oil, and China has rare earth elements'?" Hao Caibao commented.

This statement carries significant weight; the Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources specifically emphasized it when issuing the notice, and the leaders of the Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources have been pondering its meaning for the past few days. Now, hearing Gao Fan's explanation, Hao Caibao feels his understanding has deepened further.

“That’s right,” Gao Fan said. “China is now carrying out reform and opening up, and we need to participate more in international economic cooperation. In this cooperation, we need advanced foreign technology and equipment, but we don’t have anything that we can exchange with foreign countries on an equal footing.”

"The equivalence mentioned here refers not only to the value of a commodity, but also to its importance in the industrial chain. To give a simple example, if a conflict arises between China and the West, the West can use advanced technology and equipment to hold us back, while we have no way to hold the West back. How can we fight a war like that?"

"Gao Fan, are you saying that the leadership intends for us to use rare earth elements to strangle the West?"

Xu Ying was also somewhat surprised. She had never really thought about it from this perspective before.

(End of this chapter)