1988: Back to the human world for a few years

Chapter 455: If you want to take something, give it first (1)

As mentioned earlier, the China-Japan ice-breaking trip in 1989 played an extremely positive and important role in helping China get out of the economic freeze in the late s and in its economic development.

In this process, the "Japan-China Friendship League" organization and its chairman Masayoshi Ito played an extremely crucial role and were even reported positively by Chinese official media.

But many people may not know that the full name of the Japan-China Friendship League should be called "Japan-China Friendship Parliamentary League". As the name suggests, this is an organization with a strong official color.

Therefore, even though Wang Yinuo came to the island country under the name of a "meeting with overseas Chinese", in fact, his trip was divided into three parts:

1. Meet with members of the Japan-China Friendship Alliance and some Japanese business representatives;

2. Meet with Chinese representatives in Yokohama;
3. Meet with representatives of patriotic overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia who have industries in the island countries.

Of course, due to the special nature of their identities, if these trips were only attended by Wang Yinuo and the relevant visiting delegation, then it would be nothing more than going through the formalities and completing a friendly meeting of a ceremonial nature.

But if there is Yang Mo, a senior executive who has the final say in the management of Dahua Company, the situation will be completely different.

........................

Not surprisingly, after a welcoming meeting of a standard scale, more than 30 representatives from all walks of life from China and Japan shook hands and took photos in front of the media. After making impassioned speeches in front of the camera, they tacitly went into a conference room with a rather foreign affairs flavor, closed the door, and started talking about business.

Based on the principle of reciprocity, the Japanese team was led by a city councilor from Yokohama named Higashimura Takeshi... Not surprisingly, this Higashimura councilor is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party and a member of the "Takeshita clique".

But the Japanese business representatives attending the meeting were quite interesting.

Yang Mo's old friend Suzuki Jijian did not appear here. Instead, it was Xuntian Gui, who was responsible for receiving him and Miss Mu, and was extremely enthusiastic and positive.
In addition, although large pharmaceutical companies that once sponsored the China-Japan Cultural Festival, such as Tsumura Co., Ltd., Daiichi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Otsuka Pharmaceutical, and Fujisawa Pharmaceutical, all appeared at today's event without exception, the representatives they sent were all executive directors who were specifically responsible for financial/capital operations.

Similar to China, the island nation also pays attention to "implied meaning". Due to restrictions on the scale of activities, the other party can only appoint executive directors, such as M7-level executives, to participate in today's meeting (the island nation's executive directors have a higher status than managing directors, second only to the chairman and president), but the fact that they are all financial/capital operation executive directors undoubtedly indicates too many problems.

However, although for the island country where chaebols control the domestic economy, the dialogue between Dahua and these large pharmaceutical companies is the real main show today, as the main representative of the Chinese side, Wang Yinuo cannot get to the point right away.

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"Mr. Higasura, in the years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, our two sides have carried out sincere and fruitful cooperation in the fields of politics, economy, culture, trade, science and technology, and health... We express our heartfelt concern for your country's experience during this period, and we are also deeply worried about the current difficulties faced by overseas Chinese in Japan."

Wang Yinuo showed a friend's worry and regret on his face, and his tone was full of concern: "As a friendly neighbor separated by a strip of water, for the livelihood of 100,000 overseas Chinese in Yokohama, I would like to express my condolences on behalf of myself, and also discuss with Councillor Higashimura and other representatives... Is it possible for both sides to work together and find a way to ease the inflationary pressure in the Yokohama area on the premise of equality and mutual benefit?"

Looking at Wang Yinuo's compassionate expression, Dongcun Tianyi couldn't help but twitch his mouth.

Although appropriate inflation can stimulate the economic development of the region, you also need to consider the magnitude of the inflation and the type of inflation.

Unfortunately, the island country is now facing not consumer inflation caused by the expansion of domestic demand, but imported inflation caused by currency depreciation and rising costs of imported raw materials. Therefore, Wang Yinuo's words clearly revealed his wolfish ambitions.

How to alleviate imported inflation?

It’s simple, just choose a cheaper raw material supplier!
As a neighbor separated by a strip of water, for an island country, is there a more suitable source of raw materials than China, a country with vast territory, rich resources, and extremely low prices?

But the problem is...

Higashimura Tianyi looked calmly at the representatives of the large pharmaceutical companies, then at the representatives of more than a dozen other domestic companies, and sighed softly: "Thank you for your kindness. In fact, as a member of Yokohama, I am also worried about the rising prices in the local area... It would be best if both parties could cooperate sincerely and carry out in-depth cooperation in agricultural products, handicrafts and mineral products to reduce the cost of living and production in the Yokohama area."

The main idea of ​​the Takeshita group towards China was to "follow the trend". Due to some well-known demands, they have always been quite active in the issue of Sino-Japanese economic cooperation. As early as 1988, before the Sino-Japanese ice-breaking trip, they provided the third local currency loan of up to 8100 billion yen.
Therefore, as a member of the Takeshita clique and a member of the Japan-China Friendship Alliance, Higashimura Tsuyoshi is not opposed to strengthening economic cooperation with China... In fact, in order to implement its "archipelago homeland" proposition, the Takeshita clique, which had formulated a policy of liberalizing agricultural product imports as early as the year before, did need a large amount of cheap agricultural products and raw materials at this time to help stabilize regional prices and reduce the cost of living (the island country agricultural cooperatives at this time did not have as much power as they would in later generations).

but……

It is also limited to agricultural products, handicrafts and mineral raw materials.

the reason is simple.

At this time in China, although everything was extremely cheap, the overall industrial level was still there.

In addition to raw materials such as primary agricultural products and mineral resources, a large number of industrial intermediates or finished products are difficult to use directly for various reasons... To be more precise, it is impossible to serve as a stable and qualified parts supplier.

unless……

You build a factory in China, unify production standards, ensure production capacity and control the yield rate.

But this means that investment in China needs to be significantly increased. For companies in the island countries, it means they have to spend money to build a pig farm before they can even eat the meat.

Well, considering the long term, it is not unacceptable to build a pig farm just to have some meat.

But the problem is that China's situation is special. Based on past experience, even if you are willing to invest money to build a factory in China, the actual results are somewhat disappointing due to various reasons... At least it does not achieve the expected comprehensive effect as they wish.

Therefore, from the perspective of the island nation’s enterprises, after going through a series of things, in the non-resource field, they prefer a simple trade relationship… If you can produce and stably provide me with the industrial parts I need, then I will naturally not hesitate to cooperate, but if you ask me to go to your place and spend a huge amount of money to build a factory, I’m sorry, I need to think about it carefully.

This situation did not change significantly until after 1994.

So, this is why, in the face of Wang Yinuo's "good intentions", Dongcun Tianyi limited the scope of this cooperation to primary agricultural products, handicrafts, and mineral raw materials.

Although the Takeshita Group has been seeking a stable and large backyard base to enhance its voice and economic initiative with America, they cannot ignore the actual thoughts of these island companies.

Hearing the other party's intention to attract investment in a tactful way, Wang Yinuo was not disappointed. He just smiled and said, "Although I have only been in your country for one day, I found that your newspapers and television media are all reporting on the Sino-Japanese Cultural Festival, and Dahua's products can be seen on the streets from time to time... I am very pleased about this. This at least shows that our cultural exchange work this time has been very successful!"

After a pause, Wang Yinuo's voice slightly lowered a half tone, and became a little more majestic: "However, does this also mean that as long as there are conscientious and strictly managed companies like Dahua working tirelessly, the consumption and production fields of China and Japan can gradually form very good complementarity?"

Wang Yinuo's words, which sounded a little incoherent and empty at first, suddenly made Dongcun Tianyi fall into deep thought.

At this time, the Takeshita group generally believed in the "archipelago native" proposition. Simply put, they believed that given the actual situation of an island country, if it relied too much on external demand, it would cause huge passivity in the political, economic, and even social aspects; therefore, it was necessary to adhere to the policy of transforming the economy from an external-oriented economy to a domestic-demand-driven economy... In simple terms, it was to gradually transform from an external economic cycle to an internal economic cycle.

Of course, due to differences in market size and resources, this "internal circulation" is different from the internal circulation proposed by China in later generations... To be precise, it is relying on external resource support and the strong economic strength of the island country to deeply cultivate and concentrate the most important economic and consumption behaviors on the four islands of Japan, in order to consolidate the country's voice to the greatest extent.

With the short-selling crackdown on the yen and the stock market by Europe and the United States over the past year, the view of the island nation that it cannot but be slaughtered because it does not have complete sovereignty has become increasingly prevalent... You have to know that the official island nation is not unwilling to save the world from the continued depreciation of the yen. However, when they just started to think about the 770 billion US dollars in foreign exchange reserves, especially the American treasury bonds, the famous "Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office Special Search Team" was dispatched. Therefore, many islanders who found that they were actually just little lambs with no resistance, in addition to being in a negative mood, increasingly recognized this tortoise-like economic defense strategy.

Wang Yinuo's implication was obvious. Since China and Japan were now friendly, and since the island nation had begun to suffer from imported inflation, then developing active and close economic cooperation with China was undoubtedly the best option at the moment.

Although China's industrial products have some shortcomings, judging from the recent popularity of Dahua Company's product series in the island country, you don't have to be timid and limit the scope of cooperation to the fields of primary agricultural products and raw materials... The introduction of distinctive Chinese products into the island country will not only help you stabilize the domestic people's livelihood economy, but also effectively help you expand domestic demand on the island.

At a time when we are facing imported inflation and the whole country is pessimistic about export and economic expectations, what could be more valuable than effectively stimulating domestic demand?
Besides, doesn't stimulating domestic demand and gradually shifting the main economic base to the domestic market just fit in with the proposition of your native islands?

Thinking of this, Dongcun Tianyi involuntarily moved his eyes slightly to Yang Mo, who was sitting next to Wang Yinuo with a smile.

It's not that the island country does not want to strengthen economic cooperation with China in other areas. In fact, as early as the early and mid-1980s, the island country had the intention to gradually transfer some industrial manufacturing to China, but this process was far from smooth.

However, if we have to settle for the next best thing, using Dahua Company as the main carrier or intermediary and gradually trying to expand cooperation in some light industry and pharmaceutical fields is not something that cannot be considered... After all, Dahua Company is different from other Chinese companies. Not only is their attitude more open-minded, but they also do a very good job in product quality control. Even as a supplier in the conventional sense, it is a very good choice.

Seeing Dongcun Tianyi looking at him with a hint of excitement and hesitation in his eyes, Yang Mo smiled lightly: "Mr. Dongcun, we Chinese have always been sincere to our friends;"

"As the saying goes, it is impolite not to reciprocate. Since your country has generously allowed our Dahua brand to enter your market, and all sectors of society have given active support, then Dahua naturally cannot remain silent."

At this point, Yang Mo pondered for a moment, "Well, of the 124 products that Dahua Company is exchanging with the China-Japan Cultural Festival this time, except for 14 products such as Lotus Fragrance Cream (an improved version of Lotus Fragrance Powder), Deer Horn Facial Cream, and Lotus Imperial Chinese Medicine Mask, which cannot be picked out separately because we have reached an exclusive agency agreement with Sankyo Co., Ltd. and Tsumura Co., Ltd. early on... For the rest of the products, as long as you are interested, we can take them out as pilot cooperation projects, and even directly build a joint venture factory in your country!"

After these words were spoken, Tomura Tsuyoshi did not react at all, but the eyes of the other dozen or so company representatives attending the meeting began to light up.

The island nation is a market that emphasizes production but places even greater emphasis on sales.

Influenced by the Sino-Japanese Cultural Festival that almost caused an earthquake effect in the island country more than a week ago, the products that Dahua Company "exchanged" this time, which were obviously carefully polished, were all crazily sought after without exception.

However, unlike those honest Chinese companies in the past, Dahua Company not only attaches great importance to the packaging effect of products, but is also very good at packaging. Therefore, under a series of hype and hunger marketing methods, all Chinese products with the word "Mohua" on them have become rare goods with a price but no market.

The bad qualities of the islanders are undoubtedly exposed under such circumstances.

The more unavailable something is, the more crazily they praise it, even to the point of praising Mohua's products to the sky, as if they would never regret buying one in their lifetime.

None of the corporate representatives who have been appointed to attend today's meeting are fools. They know very well what "Mohua" and its series of brands will mean once this value is hyped up and solidified.

Therefore, when Dahua Company offered these products for cooperation, and it was a joint venture to build a factory, it was undoubtedly giving them more than a hundred gold ingots!

No, gold ingots are not enough to describe this gift.

In an island country with the characteristics of a small country and a small population, it is extremely difficult to form a value brand that is generally recognized by the people. But once it is formed, unless you are lazy or seeking death, this kind of mental occupation will not be easily replaced for a considerable period of time.

Of course, the current Mohua series is still a long way from being a national brand, but with the recent wave of cultural impact, it can definitely be regarded as one of the foreign brands with the greatest potential to become a national brand of the island country.

and so……

The Chinese are really honest!

Just based on this 60% possibility, even if you invest tens of billions or even hundreds of billions of yen, it will be all worth it!

Seeing these business representatives with shining eyes and Tomura Tianyi's expression gradually becoming delighted, Yang Mo smiled humbly.

The so-called joint venture to build a factory in the island country is just talk.

With the current wage standards in the island country, unless you meet a fake capitalist, they will never set up factories in the island country while abandoning China where the land and labor are extremely cheap.

Compared with production, the most critical and troubling follow-up work for Dahua Company is actually the expansion, maintenance, and marketing of channels. These links not only require huge investments, but are also extremely unfriendly to outsiders. Therefore, when Dahua Company is unable to cope with the challenges, it is really a very cost-effective deal to pull these domestic companies into the game and use their strength.

As the saying goes, those who do not plan for the whole life are not worthy of planning for the moment. What Yang Mo is planning for is not just the direct benefits generated by these 124 products... He is well aware of the impact and uncertainty that China is about to face. Instead of holding all the ownership of these brands tightly in the hands of Dahua Company, it is better to let them play the role of "blooming inside the wall and smelling fragrant outside the wall", let them become the precursors and stators overseas, and feed back the value of domestic local brands when needed.

At the very least, ten years from now, when foreigners mention Chinese brands, they won't all shake their heads and sigh, right?
As for the actual value of cooperating with these light industry brands...

Just take your time with everything. As long as you have a good start, everything will be easier to talk about later, right?

………………

He told everyone present very modestly that after Tokyo completed a one-month market trial, Minister Mu would screen out the first batch of products with relatively good performance and release them as the first batch of pilot cooperation projects between China and Japan. Then Wang Yinuo responded tacitly and brought the topic to business.

"The joint research between China and Japan on transition metal chiral catalysts is being rapidly promoted. We are very pleased to see that in addition to Sankyo Co., Ltd. and Daiichi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Otsuka Pharmaceutical and Fujisawa Pharmaceutical have also joined in and actively exchanged research experiences with our researchers."

As if he had forgotten that he had a big fight with Yang Mo during the Asian Games, Wang Yinuo looked relieved. He smiled and looked around at the representatives of various pharmaceutical companies, but his tone was appropriately filled with a hint of worry: "According to the agreement, in order to promote the joint scientific research of both parties, the major pharmaceutical companies in your country will transfer the technical patents of 42 kinds of drugs to Dahua Company after assisting in the construction of two high-standard medical research laboratories and four -level GMP production plants, and entrust it to assume part of the production capacity of these drugs to experiment with the large-scale production effect of chiral drugs;"

"But given the current situation in your country, it is said that several European and American counterparts have inquired about prices for Otsuka Pharmaceutical and Fujisawa Pharmaceutical, and have begun to buy large-scale stocks of Otsuka Pharmaceutical and Fujisawa Pharmaceutical in the secondary market;"

"Ordinarily, I shouldn't be involved in this kind of thing, but in the spirit of China-Japan friendship, I don't want to see any setbacks in this joint scientific research plan, so I would like to ask the representatives...Does your country have a mature idea for dealing with this?"

As soon as these words came out, the atmosphere in the entire conference room suddenly became a little strange. However, unlike the representatives of other industries who had different expressions, the executive directors of several pharmaceutical companies had a gleam in their eyes...

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PS: Ami Tofu, I hope we can get off the highway before 12 o'clock tonight.

(End of this chapter)