Fang’s request, China’s Minister of the Interior, Mr. Qiang en Lai, had assembled from around the world the senior executives of those companies that manufactured cars and light trucks in the United States. In attendance were the Chairmen of Toyota, BMW, Mercedes, KIA, Nissan and Ford, and the heads of their American manufacturing operations.
Joining these men were the CEO of the largest steel manufacturer in South Korea, the president of General Electric, the primary manufacturer American railroad locomotives, along with the president of his railroad division, and the president of BNSF, by mileage the largest private-sector railway in the world.
Fang was to meet with Michael Hopkins, the new American president, for a working dinner tomorrow evening. This afternoon he and Qiang were conducting business for his country. Big business.
The men were gathered at the Ronald Reagan International Airport in a conference room in the executive club of a major airline, a convenient and professional environment allowing each to arrive, meet and depart quickly and quietly.
For each of these men, Washington was a regular stop to meet with legislators and senior members of government departments having an impact on their businesses. Because this was a regular destination of the men, rumors were unlikely to arise.
They sat around a large conference table. Before them were coffee, water, paper and pens supplied by the airline.
Fang looked at his watch. It was 5:00 PM. The chance of word leaking-out prior to tomorrow was very small. He nodded to his Interior Minister to begin.
“Gentlemen. Thank you for attending,” Minister Qiang began. “We would like to reach many large business agreements with you today.”
The seated men betrayed no surprises. That much had been in the formal invitations causing them to attend. They were willing to listen.
Busy though these men were running multi-billion-dollar companies, the invitation, which included a hint at the size of the contracts to be let, caused them to attend. Hundreds of millions of dollars was a good number. Billions was even better.
“Before each of you are 3x5 note cards and a pen,” Qiang continued. “I would like to ask those of you in the automobile business please to write on the first card your estimate of your American-based manufacturing two-shift capacity, which I understand is your current production cycle, in annual units, aggregate of cars and light trucks – the vehicles that individuals, construction workers and families would purchase. This is public knowledge, but I would like to be sure we are working with the same – correct – numbers rather than what may be gleaned from your publicity departments, which we already have.”
The president of Ford Motor Company spoke. “Mr. Minister, why would we do this? As you said, you already have this information. Any deviance from published information likely would be confidential.”
“Mr. Jackson, if you would prefer to use published numbers that is your choice. I simply am asking for your agreement that they are correct,” Qiang replied.
Jackson thought about that but seemed unconvinced. He did not join his professional colleagues in writing numbers on note cards.
Fang noticed this and, preferring not to waste time, decided to make his interest evident. He nodded to himself and then turned toward the Korean steel man. “Mr. Park? We would like to order enough steel rail and fittings to double-track, with the normal number of sidings, approximately 10,000 kilometers of heavy, open-country, high-speed freight rail. So, 20,000 kilometers of rail, in all.”
Before Mr. Park Chong Ho could respond, Fang turned to the president of BNSF. “Mr. Board, we would like to hire your company to map, survey, grade and lay that track and necessary infrastructure, beginning immediately, with as many of your own employees as you see fit to bring along, and their families, the remaining to be supplied by China. We anticipate the track-laying project to require five years to complete. Further, we would like your company to maintain that track for the foreseeable future.”
The premier nodded to Minister Qiang, who handed a single sheet of paper to Board and said, “Mr. Board, this is the arrangement we recently made with an American oil company, an offer they have accepted. You will see it covers housing, schools, vacations and advanced education at no cost to your people. We would like to offer you the same for your workers and their families, as many as you need to complete this job on the schedule we are discussing, and to maintain it over time.”
Bob Board took the paper from the outstretched hand and quickly read it. Finishing, he looked up, intrigued. This was serious stuff.
Unable to control his surprise at what seemed a firm order for millions of metric tons of his product, Mr. Park’s jaw dropped open for a moment before he recovered his composure. “How soon?”
“We would like you, Mr. Park,” said Qiang, “to begin delivery within 60 days, and also would like to ensure you do not lose additional business by moving all your capacity to us. Have you enough capacity to deliver this entire order within 60 months? That is our schedule. Or do you need to build additional capacity to ensure against the loss of your current customers? And, if so, can you bring that new capacity online quickly enough to fill our needs and those of your current customers?”
Without waiting for Park’s answer, Qiang turned to the head of BNSF. “Mr. Board? Can you lay that track within five years?”
“Yes,” replied Board. He looked at the Korean, who obviously was running numbers and thinking high-level manufacturing and delivery logistics. Board looked back to Fang, a skeptical look on his face, and then over at Minister Qiang. “If this is real, and if you can indeed get the rail – and the timber, though we would prefer concrete cross-ties. If our engineers can start within thirty days and you have enough workers. Have you?”
“Yes,” replied Qiang. “We are organizing and planning right now the necessary timbering and concrete to provide you all the resources you will need for ties, stations, crossings, etc. Regarding the rail…” He turned to Park.
“Sir?” Qiang queried.
The automakers watched and listened, intrigued.
Park thought a moment and replied, “We can deliver this within your timeframe. We have unused capacity in the current economic climate and can build some additional if needed, but not so much it would be a problem once this order has been completed. Will there be additional orders in the future?”
“Yes,” Qiang replied. “Please give us a good price for this if you would, and the necessary deposit. Please do not have the deposit exceed 15% of the project. That should be enough money to get you going, yes? Should you need to contract for additional raw material, you will get them from us at then-current market prices. Please allow this in your calculations. We are not going to bid this competitively as it takes too much time, but we would like to ensure an honest business arrangement based on this price. Do not bankrupt yourselves, but do not take advantage, either. Thank you.”
Qiang turned back to Board as Park began thinking.
“Mr. Board? We would like you to bring as many of your people – and their families – as you can to do this work. We would not ask your people to come alone. We wish happy, productive workers. You just read the arrangement made with the other company. We are making the same offer to you. We are hiring, of course, many Chinese on this project. But we want as many experienced railroad workers from America as we can find – and as you can bring. We also ask that you subcontract all concrete work – likely all local mineral extraction, mixing, delivery – to an American company
