Sail across the sea

Chapter 494 is one of the required subjects.
The Chinese are probably the only people on Earth who always keep the phrase "be prepared for danger in times of peace" in mind.

This may be because China is the only ancient civilization on the planet that has continued for five thousand years without going extinct, and its national memory is filled with too many stories of rise and fall, glory and disgrace.

Other countries, when things go smoothly for a little while, immediately become arrogant and domineering, proclaiming "the end of history."

Only China, even though its manufacturing value added has reached the sum of all Western powers, and it can single-handedly challenge the entire planet, still has experts and scholars who keep saying things like "Don't forget how the Han Dynasty perished," "Think about the end of the Tang Dynasty," and "The Ming Dynasty was once just as awesome." They seem to want to grab the ears of 14 billion people and shout that they must remain low-key for a hundred years without wavering.

Perhaps this is why China has survived as one of the few civilizations on Earth.

When it comes to agricultural issues, successive governments since the founding of the People's Republic of China have always held the view that no amount of caution is too much, for fear of making the slightest mistake.

In the early days of the People's Republic of China, the chemical industry was extremely underdeveloped, with everything else needing to be built. Under these extremely difficult conditions, fertilizer was one of the first chemical sectors to be developed. In the late 50s, China creatively developed small-scale nitrogen fertilizer technology, and subsequently established more than 1400 small nitrogen fertilizer plants across the country. Even in many small, remote counties with no other industries, there would almost always be a fertilizer plant.

In the mid-70s, taking advantage of the improved relations with the West, China introduced 26 large-scale industrial projects from the West, half of which were 13 large-scale ammonia synthesis plants.

This demonstrates China's unwavering commitment to food security.

With such a strong conviction, how could the country tolerate foreign capital infiltration into the fertilizer industry?

Jiang Rongcai understood these things, and also knew that this was a question he couldn't explain to Skelly. After a moment's hesitation, he smiled and said to Skelly:

“Mr. Skelly, this issue involves central government policy and is not something that our provincial planning department can decide. Therefore, I am sorry, I cannot answer your question.”

Skelly shrugged and said, “I’m very sorry, this is the fifth ‘no comment’ response I’ve heard. Mr. Jiang, may I understand it this way: as local officials, you don’t mind foreign companies building fertilizer plants directly, but you are powerless to influence the will of your superiors?”

"I think the higher authorities should be considering this issue from a holistic perspective. As a provincial-level unit, we should firmly implement the policies and directives of the higher authorities," Jiang Rongcai said, playing it safe.

Skelly had no other choice.

Perhaps Tai Chi is one of the compulsory subjects in the civil service examination in China. Among the Chinese officials he has met, there are simply too many who know how to practice Tai Chi.

One of the most important missions of Skelly's trip to China was to lobby the Chinese government to open up the fertilizer market and allow foreign direct investment in the construction of fertilizer plants and the distribution of fertilizers.

China is a major agricultural country. With economic development, the use of chemical fertilizers in agricultural production has been increasing, and it has now become the world's largest chemical fertilizer market.

Fair Chemicals is a large chemical company whose business scope includes both the manufacture of fertilizer equipment and the production of fertilizers. It is one of the largest urea producers in the United States.

From the company's long-term perspective, Fair Chemical's greatest desire is to secure a place in China's fertilizer market, as this would mean the company can continuously profit from the Chinese market. Exporting ammonia synthesis plants to China is a one-off deal; once China builds its ammonia synthesis plants, it can produce urea domestically to replace imports, meaning Fair Chemical will lose the substantial profits from urea exports.

Fair Chemical's marketing department has also analyzed the Chinese government's considerations. It's no secret that China has consistently emphasized "self-reliance."

However, in recent years, Fair Chemicals has also noticed a difference in objectives between local and central governments in China. The central government is more concerned with the overall economic security of the country, while local governments have a strong development drive, even at the expense of national interests.

This difference in objectives implies the existence of gaps within the Chinese government. If they can skillfully exploit this contradiction, they can undermine China's fertilizer management system, thereby opening a convenient door for them to enter the Chinese market.

There are quite a few foreign chemical companies that share the same idea as Fair Chemicals. Although they have not yet joined forces, they are already working on it in various ways.

Many countries’ commerce departments have been commissioned by their domestic fertilizer companies to include clauses on opening up fertilizer markets when negotiating with China to rejoin the GATT.

Some academic authorities began criticizing China's fertilizer control policy on various occasions, arguing that such a policy was neither in line with the requirements of trade globalization nor conducive to China's agricultural development. This viewpoint, initially proposed by foreign scholars, quickly spread to China. A group of newly minted liberal economists in China wrote articles directly targeting the agricultural input monopoly system.

There are also lobbyists targeting Chinese government officials. Besides those like Skelly who brainwash local officials, there are others who specifically lobby central ministries. In recent years, various ministries have hired a large number of young people, mostly undergraduates and postgraduates from prestigious universities, whose thinking has been influenced to some extent by "Westernization," making them easily persuaded by foreign fertilizer manufacturers.

Skelly certainly didn't think he could persuade a local official like Jiang Rongcai with just a few words. What he needed to do was simply plant some seeds and wait for them to sprout.

Seeing that Jiang Rongcai was not swayed by his words, Skelly changed the subject and said, "If your superiors do not loosen the control over fertilizers in the short term, then there is another way, which is to apply for a World Bank loan."

“We are already doing that,” Jiang Rongcai said. “However, the Ministry of Finance told us that because many provinces and regions are applying for the same World Bank loan, our application may have to wait more than five years to be approved.”

“In this regard, Fair Chemicals can provide you with some assistance,” Skelly said readily.

"Really?" Jiang Rongcai's eyes lit up. "If that's the case, then that's wonderful. I'd like to know, what are your conditions for providing us with assistance?"

"The condition is simple: this loan can only be used to purchase equipment from our Fair Chemicals and cannot be used to switch to other suppliers."

"That's for sure, we won't treat our friends unfairly."

"If that's the case, then I think we can raise a glass first to wish each other a pleasant collaboration?"

"Happy cooperation!"

(End of this chapter)