Sail across the sea

Chapter 419 I'm sorry to have troubled President Tanihara.

"So, according to Mr. Fujiki, what is the correct course of action?"

As if persuaded by Fujiki, Yun Zhongming adopted a sincere attitude and asked.

“The proposal that Moriya Company previously put forward to your company was tailor-made for you,” Fujiki said. “I originally did not want to tell you both this, but since you have some misunderstandings about our intentions, I have no choice but to tell you the truth.”

“Please speak, Mr. Fujiki.” Yun Zhongming gestured to Fujiki, indicating that he could speak freely.

“Our president, Tanihara, is a person who is very enthusiastic about Sino-Japanese friendship. He has always paid close attention to China’s development and has instructed the company to establish connections with several universities in China. To date, he has sponsored 25 Chinese students to study in Japan,” said Fujiki.

"Is there such a thing?"

Yun Zhongming and Bi Liansheng exchanged a glance, both finding it somewhat unbelievable.

They had heard about foreign companies sponsoring Chinese students to study abroad, but they never expected that things would turn out so coincidentally that the president of Moriya Company would be such a philanthropist.

What Fujiki said couldn't possibly be false, because such a thing could be easily found out by asking. There was no point in Fujiki lying about this.

But there's one more thing Fujiki didn't mention: the so-called sponsorship for studying abroad was actually just a tactic used by Moriya to poach talent from China.

Many Japanese companies operate this way: they first establish one or two projects to build connections with top Chinese universities, and then use these connections to reach out to outstanding students at these universities.

Once these Japanese companies identify promising talents, they proactively offer scholarships to help them study in Japan. After these students arrive in Japan, the companies continue to monitor their performance and offer high salaries to attract outstanding students to work for them.

Japanese companies rarely fail in their talent recruitment efforts. This is because, at that time, the standard of living in Japan was vastly different from that in China, and few Chinese students could resist the salaries offered by Japanese companies, which were dozens of times higher than those in China.

For these Japanese companies, spending such a sum of money to poach top Chinese talent is absolutely worthwhile. It's worth noting that the commissions they pay to headhunters in Japan or globally for recruiting top talent far exceed the meager scholarships they receive.

Yun Zhongming and Bi Liansheng had no idea about the intricacies of the situation. Upon hearing Fujiki's words, an image of a Japanese Norman Bethune immediately came to mind, and they began to believe Fujiki's words more readily.

"This time, President Tanihara asked the two of us to come to China, mainly to give the Fenglin Research Institute an opportunity. The technical department of Moriya Company has conducted an evaluation and believes that the i-line photoresist developed by the Fenglin Research Institute is indeed commendable, which shows that China has already achieved a certain level of strength in the field of semiconductor chemicals."

"President Gu Yuan was very pleased with this. He believes that an excellent institution like the Maple Forest Research Institute deserves more support. He sent the two of us to China to engage in deeper cooperation with the Maple Forest Research Institute so as to provide some assistance for its development."

Fujiki said, his face radiating sincerity, which Yun and Bi understood even in his incomplete Japanese slang. "So, what are your considerations in requesting exclusive licensing of the technology?" Yun Zhongming asked.

Fujiki said, "Of course, it's so that we can better help you. President Tanihara said that if we obtain an exclusive license from the Maple Forest Research Institute, we can declare that we were inspired by the Maple Forest Research Institute in China during the development of our next-generation photoresist when we sell it on the international market..."

"Wait, you mean... you only got some inspiration?" Bi Liansheng sensed something was off.

What the hell? I developed a new product and licensed it to you, and you're saying this is just inspiration?

Bi Liansheng isn't very emotionally intelligent; he wouldn't easily see through Fujiki's deception in other matters. But intellectual property is the lifeblood of intellectuals, and Bi Liansheng wouldn't be confused about such things.

Fujiki nodded firmly and said, "Yes, I believe this is merely an inspiration. As Mr. Iwai discussed with Mr. Bi a few days ago, our Moriya Company has already achieved many results in the research of i-line photoresist, and the solution you proposed is one that we have tried before."

“Your achievements may inspire us in some ways, but that’s all. We are willing to pay 1 million yen for these inspirations simply because we want to help our Chinese friends.”

Yun Zhongming and Bi Liansheng exchanged glances again, this time with different emotions on their faces:

Wait a minute, this 1 million yen is clearly the result of our negotiations, okay? Your initial offer was only 1000 million yen. If you really wanted to help us, would you be haggling with us like this?

Fujiki sensed the change in their emotions and realized he had gone too far with his words, but the words were already out and couldn't be taken back, so he could only bite the bullet and say:

"Of course, business matters still have to follow some business rules. After all, Moriya Company has other shareholders. President Tanihara has personal feelings for China, but he can't make decisions on behalf of the other shareholders. So, he needs to find some suitable pretext, or as you Chinese would say, a legitimate reason."

"I understand, I understand. I'm sorry to have troubled President Gu Yuan," Yun Zhongming said with a laugh.

Without Gao Fan's earlier reminder, Yun Zhongming might have already been misled by Fujiki. However, after discussing with Gao Fan, Yun Zhongming, Bi Liansheng, and the others became somewhat wary of the Japanese, and were more cautious when listening to them.

Just now, Fujikisuke raised the bar too high in his attempt to persuade Yun Zhongming and the others, which backfired. Given the intelligence of Yun Zhongming and Bi Liansheng, once they start to think about this matter, it won't be too difficult for them to discover the flaws.

Of course, out of consideration for the foreign guest's status, Yun Zhongming wouldn't directly accuse Fujiki of lying, but rather try to be tactful. At that moment, he stopped wasting time arguing with Fujiki and stated directly:
“Mr. Fujiki, thank you very much for the kindness of Moriya Company and President Tanihara. However, the requirements from our superiors are very clear, and we cannot disobey them. We have decided to establish an applied chemistry company, and the first step is to produce photoresist. It would be best if we could enter the international market. If we still cannot enter the international market after our efforts, at least we can consider it as paying our tuition.”

(End of this chapter)