Breaking Up Is Better Than Divorce

one-on-one

“It seems that there is no investment in Myanmar’s development industry at all.”

Yujin asks Jiang Shiwei implicitly.

The Myanmar construction project, which is part of a mega-project called the Belt and Road Initiative, which China is vigorously carrying out, is not a small amount of money.

Instead of providing Myanmar with large loans, China built a port in the Indian Ocean and leased it permanently, while trying to enter the Indian Ocean by rail from the Chinese border to the southwestern coast of Myanmar.

When the project is complete, products produced in western China will not have to go as far as Guangzhou or Shenzhen, but will be shipped directly over Myanmar to the Indian Ocean and moved to Europe and other places much faster.

However, this is only an apparent goal.

In fact, it can be said that the purpose of using Myanmar’s ports as a military port for the Chinese Navy and making it easy to move goods to the ports by rail is greater.

In addition, the aim was to bring Myanmar into permanent Chinese control with the weapons of aid and debt.

In addition to the railway and port construction, China is making huge investments, totaling US$100 billion, in about 40 Myanmar construction projects.

If all goes according to plan, China will be able to wield significant influence in the Indian Ocean beyond the complex South China Sea.

For Myanmar, it is highly likely that it will become a de facto economic colony of China, but it is also true that it is difficult to escape from being one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia without such support.

Of course, the Myanmar government does not want to be economically subordinate to China, but it is also difficult to expect large-scale support from countries other than China.

From this point on, Myanmar is at a crossroads as to whether or not it can move toward the future.

But there’s something else that’s really important about these investments.

A whopping $100 billion is invested in Myanmar alone. No one but those directly involved in the project would have guessed how big the junk will fall from here.

And Eugene had some connection with the project in her last life.

At that time, leaving behind bad memories in Korea, Eugene came to the United States and took on the second project that was part of this construction plan.

The implementation of this construction project was, of course, entrusted to Chinese construction companies. Because it was such a large-scale construction, a famous American construction company had to be involved in the design and supervision of important parts and was involved in a certain part. He had established various relationships with Chinese construction companies and local officials in Myanmar, where he invested capital in his work.

There, Eugene found out that the Myanmar development plan was going to cost a lot of money, and that an unimaginable amount of money was lost in the middle.

It was a huge construction project involving dozens of Chinese construction companies, numerous fake construction companies in Myanmar, and countless people involved.

A lot of black money came and went while the work was going on, and poor materials were used, which was surprising not only to the Americans but also to the Korean builders.

Even in their own country, they used poor materials to cause problems such as an apartment falling over or a bridge collapsing. For a construction company in Myanmar, which only looks ridiculous, using the lowest quality materials that can barely maintain its shape. There was no hesitation in anything.

Of course, the situation was much better because the main part of Eugene’s port was to be used as a military port in the future, but other projects were so reluctant to stand on the part even the workers had made.

There is no need to ask where those savings went.

“It would have made at least 30 billion dollars. haha! Not from our side, but from the top.”

The president of a Chinese construction company I met at that time was a person who liked to drink and enjoyed having fun.

He often boasted of how much money he had made with this construction when he had a lot of alcohol, but he would sometimes say without hesitation that he was paying a huge amount of money above him.

I don’t know how accurate he is, but if it’s true, at least 30% of the $100 billion in money comes from the top tier.

In addition, after the construction company stole part of it and the Myanmar officials were also taken out, he said that in reality only 20 to 30% of the planned amount is being used for the project.

So, if you can be involved in this project and invest, it was an opportunity to take full advantage of it.

“It’s being taken care of by another agency. We are focusing on the Pakistani business instead.”

It goes without saying that there cannot be only one person or institution that manages the funds of the leaders of great powers.

Especially when it comes to China’s leader, it would be right to view Jiang Xiwei as one of his many custodians.

“I’m sorry.”

“Well, the Pakistani business is also large, so it’s okay.”

China’s Belt and Road Initiative is not limited to Myanmar.

Almost the entire world is included, not only from countries around China such as Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan, but also from across the Indian Ocean to Sri Lanka and as far away as Africa.

This was to show off China’s now overflowing capital, and on the one hand, it was aimed to raise China’s status around the world through the project and to revitalize the Chinese economy by revitalizing the construction industry.

Naturally, a huge amount of capital will be used in those many countries, and the corresponding terrifying black money will be overflowing.

Of course, the destination of such black money was predictable, but it cannot necessarily be seen that it flows into one person.

In China, the collective leadership system is still maintained.

The seven members of the Standing Committee of the Central Politburo of the Communist Party of China, the highest authority and decision-making body in China, are at the top level.

Naturally, it can be predicted that this great business that is taking place all over the world is also being shared according to the status of the leaders.

Zhang Shiwei seems to belong to the Ye Clerk faction of the Discipline Inspection Committee, one of the seven standing members. For example, the secretary is a close aide to the supreme leader.

Eugene was ignorant of the fact that the construction of Myanmar belonged to another faction that Ye did not belong to.

“The Myanmar project belongs to the faction of Prime Minister Wang.”

Zhang Shi-wei, who thinks he and Yu-jin are already in a boat, can tell you about that level of confidentiality.

“okay. Actually, I was thinking that it is. But it’s a little surprising. Isn’t the Myanmar project the biggest?”

Prime Minister Wang of the State Council is effectively the person appointed as the next leader after the current leader.

In reality, it is not wrong to see him as the second person, but it is only decided to the last, and it does not mean that he will inherit the position unconditionally.

Internally, the long-standing collective leadership system was creaking, and Prime Minister Wang is no longer in power.

Therefore, it is true that Prime Minister Wang monopolizes the biggest chunk of the world, which is difficult to understand from the outside.

“Well, even so, you have to take care of the minimum share.”

While saying that, Zhang Xiwei frowned slightly. He also seemed to have some regrets about the Myanmar project.

Needless to say, the bigger the scale, the more things fall.

Of course, most of it goes back to the original owner, but the butlers who actually roll the money will also have a lot of salty fun.

“You are well aware that I recently created and run a charitable foundation to fight global poverty. That’s why we’ve sent scholars around the world to structurally study poverty, mainly in Africa and Southeast Asia. In Southeast Asia, poverty is also severe in places like Myanmar and Pakistan. So I asked if I could get humanitarian assistance to work in that area.”

“We can do whatever it takes to support humanitarian work. Whether it’s Myanmar or Pakistan, just say the word. The Chinese government will also step out when it comes to supporting the world’s hungry people.”

“This is a word of thanks. There is nothing as embarrassing as scholars on humanitarian work are faced with a dangerous situation in the field.”

“Yes. They probably have a lot of trouble because their standard of living is low.”

“Oh yeah! But while talking with the scholars who have been to Myanmar this time, I heard a very interesting story.”

Bringing up the Myanmar construction story had a different purpose.

“The construction company that participated in the Myanmar port development is providing services to several local companies in Myanmar, and he said that some of them were built by people from Shenyang. It is said that while maintaining great acquaintance with local officials, they are taking the money from Chinese construction companies.”

At Eugene’s words, Jiang Shiwei’s face hardened slightly.

Interestingly, political factions within China still tend to be divided by region.

This is because the person who has made a successful career in each region moves on to the central political world, and maintains the network they have built up in that region.

“You mean Shenyang?”

“Yes. Of course, I know that there are many good construction companies in Shenyang, but… … Isn’t it interesting that people in those cold regions are making and running local construction companies in Myanmar under a car name?”

“Yes. haha. Basically, we Chinese people run to wherever money is available, regardless of the climate.”

Although he was saying it was nothing, sweat was dripping down on Jiang Shiwei’s forehead.

In fact, as he said to Eugene, it is quite natural that Chinese builders are scattered here and there to obtain Congo products from the Belt and Road Initiative.

However, there is a problem that Shenyang’s builders are doing business under a borrowed name in Myanmar.

No, it was quite possible that there was a problem.

Shenyang is traditionally the area of the father of the Ministry of State Security, Lim.

Of course, since many local builders inevitably belong to local factions, it is inevitably thought that builders from Shenyang are also highly related to Lim.

By the way, are the builders from there sharing the business in Prime Minister Wang’s area?

Depending on how you look at it, it can become a big problem.

If we go back a little further, it can be interpreted as saying that Lim is receiving money from Prime Minister Wang.

Secretary Ye of the Discipline Inspection Committee and Director Lim of the Ministry of National Security are arguing over the favor of the current leader.

It is a known fact that both of them are central figures of the leader faction.

However, it would be a very big problem for Director Lim and furthermore, the Ministry of National Security that the Ministry of National Security was secretly eating a big cake from Prime Minister Wang.

Of course, it could be just a coincidence. However, depending on how they were woven, there was a sufficient possibility that the ripple would grow into a ripple.