"Wasn't it your Ministry of Foreign Affairs that first came up with various foreign clubs? And you specifically pursued meeting foreign needs!" At the exchange meeting, someone frankly put forward their view.

The comrades of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were very helpless and could only explain that during the Northeast period, in order to reverse the prejudice of foreigners who thought China did not understand modern politics and modern industry, they had worked hard to create a relatively authentic foreign atmosphere. As foreigners truly realized that China was a modern industrial country, the previous practices became meaningless.

After explaining this, the comrades of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized, "Our Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already issued the sunset document. Is everyone clear about this explanation now?"

Any policy, as long as it runs for 50 years, no matter how correct and effective it was at the beginning, will definitely become a thoroughly bad policy after 50 years. Therefore, the Civility Party and the current government stipulated that any policy must have a 'sunset clause'. The sunset clause stipulates that when the policy is formulated, there must be an end time, or at least a re-discussion must be held after a certain time, or when a certain situation arises.

At this time, China was integrating into the world economy, and exchanges with countries around the world had increased compared to old China. The way of reception triggered discussion.

Regions with more exchanges with various places raised questions, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as an external department, was dragged out to solve everyone's problems. And disputes naturally arose.

After reading the report, Foreign Minister Yan Huiqing touched his quite flat lower abdomen, feeling very good. Recently, his wife praised the change in Yan Huiqing's figure, thinking that Yan Huiqing was already close to the non-obese figures of other ministers in the government. In photos, Yan Huiqing was no longer the conspicuous one.

The overall mood of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been very good recently. When discussing this content at the meeting, it was very relaxed. The Party Secretary put forward a view, "Should we go to the Ministry of Construction for this? Or the Architects Association?"

The Secretary-General, who was proficient in the division of rights and responsibilities, answered, "Find the Ministry of Construction and let them be responsible for bidding. If domestic bidding cannot find anyone who truly understands foreign culture, we can also ask the Ministry of Culture to come forward. Inviting foreign architects is also no problem."

After proposing a solution, the Secretary-General added, "No matter who they find, this is not the work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

The Secretary-General's proposal was recognized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The meeting decision recorded by the secretary of this meeting would be drafted into relevant documents by the secretary later.

After discussing relaxing topics, it was time for not-so-relaxing topics. The British side proposed a suggestion to China: due to changes in the world situation, especially the Far East situation, an international naval conference should be convened.

This was not a gesture of goodwill from Britain, but a realistic adjustment based on changes in international power. The Washington Naval Treaty was a treaty signed in Washington by five naval powers: the United States, Britain, France, Italy, and Japan, regarding the limitation of naval armaments. The treaty mainly stipulated that the ratio of the total tonnage of capital ships of the five countries—US, UK, Japan, France, and Italy—was 5:5:3:1.75:1.75. Even Italy received a tonnage allocation for naval capital ships.

China was a weak country at that time and had absolutely no shipbuilding capability. But the situation is different now. As a world power, China is bound to possess a navy, and it will be a very powerful navy. Pulling China into the Washington Naval Treaty is a realistic need.

Foreign Minister Yan Huiqing felt that the comrades were still a bit impatient, so he said, "Who are the targets of the Chinese Navy's offense? Who are the targets of the Chinese Navy's defense? What are the daily tasks of the Chinese Navy? The central government has not yet made a final decision. As for the delegation of the Dutch government, we need to find out their bottom line."

Two days later, Yan Huiqing took a report to see He Rui. Coming to the meeting was Vice Minister of Commerce Li Chenggang. As soon as he saw Yan Huiqing, Vice Minister Li Chenggang, who had a square face, said, "Minister Morrison has fallen ill; I will attend the meeting."

Yan Huiqing was stunned and asked hurriedly, "I wonder which hospital it is; I want to go visit."

"Talk after the meeting," Li Chenggang sighed. Li Chenggang's square face already looked serious; at this time, his tone was low, giving an even more ominous feeling. Morrison was 65 years old this year. Yan Huiqing felt that falling ill at this time was probably not a minor illness. He felt some emotion in his heart.

However, Morrison's illness did not affect the meeting. Yan Huiqing switched to work mode. The Dutch government fully accepted reality, so the first question they raised was that Chinese expatriates in the Dutch Southeast Asian colonies were eroding the management of the Dutch colonial government through gangs and societies. The Dutch government demanded an explanation from the Chinese government on this.

Commerce Vice Minister Li Chenggang frowned. He felt the Dutch government's request was quite nonsense, even a bit ignorant of the immensity of heaven and earth. However, seeing Yan Huiqing's expression was very calm, and He Rui's expression showed no unhappiness either, he could only suppress his unhappiness and said nothing.

Yan Huiqing continued, "The explanation given by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is that given that Chinese overseas Chinese have long suffered unequal treatment and poor communication, when Chinese overseas Chinese in Dutch colonies encounter various problems, they can only resort to self-help. For the situation caused by self-help, the Dutch government has the main responsibility, and the Chinese government also has responsibility. Therefore, the Chinese government will assist the Dutch government in solving this problem together."

Li Chenggang didn't understand diplomatic language. Listening to this roundabout talk, he couldn't understand what exactly the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wanted to do. Fortunately, Yan Huiqing didn't ask Li Chenggang to guess but gave an explanation, "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs believes that we can send a team to the Dutch colonies to establish an organization for Chinese expatriates and immigrants."

Li Chenggang couldn't hold back a bit. The Dutch colonies were located in the tropics, rich in tropical crops, accounting for a large proportion of the world's rubber production currently. Moreover, in the economic planning of the Governor-Generalship of Upper Burma, He Rui proposed several very important tropical crops: rubber, sugarcane, palm oil, and sisal. These crops should also grow well in the Dutch colonies. Furthermore, the Dutch colonies also produced oil. Although China's current oil demand could be met by domestic oil fields and imported Soviet oil, from the perspective of foreign trade, having one more source wasn't a bad thing.

So Li Chenggang couldn't help asking, "How much authority does this organization have?"

Yan Huiqing couldn't help using diplomatic rhetoric to explain, "The Dutch government means they hope Chinese expatriates and immigrants can be like white immigrants. Do not shake the Dutch management of the colonies."

This was too diplomatic, but it was also the limit of what the Dutch government delegation could express.

He Rui already understood the purpose of the Dutch delegation's trip. To put it bluntly, the Dutch government faced reality and accepted it. Since China was no longer a country the Netherlands could afford to provoke, the Dutch government decided to solve the problems faced by the Dutch colonies through cooperation with China.

So He Rui asked, "Is the Dutch government willing to sign cooperation agreements on foreign trade investment, justice, taxation, etc.?"

"Yes. The Dutch government delegation has clearly expressed such a view," Yan Huiqing answered relaxedly. After speaking, Yan Huiqing added, "It seems the Dutch government cares very much about the Lanfang Republic matter."

Hearing this, He Rui chuckled lightly. The Lanfang Republic, fully named Lanfang Grand Tribute Republic (Lanfang Da Tongzhi Gongheguo), usually abbreviated as Lanfang Republic, was the first republic founded by overseas Chinese on Borneo (now Kalimantan) in the Nanyang (Southeast Asia) between the 1770s and 1880s.

In 1776, Luo Fangbo and Chen Lanbo from Meixian, Guangdong, established the "Lanfang Company" in Pontianak, West Borneo (now West Kalimantan), Southeast Asia. It was a politically colored group organization similar to the East India Company. In 1777, the "Company" was changed to "Republic", and the "Lanfang Grand Tribute Republic" with Mandor as the capital was established. This year was set as the first year of Lanfang. Luo Fangbo served as the first head of state "Grand Tang Chief" and was respectfully called "King of Pontianak" by the locals.

By 1888, the Lanfang Republic was destroyed by the Dutch colonial government. Europe attaches great importance to 'claim rights'. In European culture, since the Lanfang Republic had been established for so long, it already possessed claim rights. And as the Lanfang Republic was a Chinese regime, the Chinese government naturally also possessed its claim rights.

So He Rui answered, "Do not discuss this issue with the Dutch government."

As the Vice Minister of Commerce, Li Chenggang naturally knew something about the Lanfang Republic. Hearing He Rui say this, he asked puzzledly, "Why?"

He Rui had to give some explanation, "Not discussing this matter is beneficial to us. If we need it, we can take it out and use it at any time. Discussing it now would become making a clear attitude on the claim rights of the Lanfang Republic. Given the current situation, once we discuss it, we will inevitably have to give it up. So there is no reason to discuss it."

After finishing the Lanfang Republic matter, He Rui continued to say to Li Chenggang, "What is the state of our trade with the Dutch colonies now?"

Li Chenggang thought for a moment and answered, "It is a very large-scale surplus. Especially in tropical medicines, our surplus is very large."

"Very good. The Ministry of Commerce will participate in the subsequent negotiations. The work of the Ministry of Commerce is to negotiate a trade and investment agreement between China and the Netherlands. We need to clear all investment obstacles, so this investment agreement must be fair."

Li Chenggang felt he still hadn't grasped He Rui's idea, so he asked, "Exactly how fair?"

He Rui felt Li Chenggang had developed a bit of PTSD (trauma response) from work. After all, China had been treated unfairly for too long. Although there was confidence when communicating with countries bordering on land now, facing countries across the sea, there was still no confidence. So he laughed, "Very fair. If free trade and investment can be achieved, that would be even better."

Li Chenggang smiled bitterly at such a degree of fairness. Colonies were the forbidden meat (exclusive possession) of each suzerain state. Even if China rushed in for free trade, the suzerain state wouldn't be willing to agree.

But since He Rui said so, Li Chenggang somewhat determined the scope of his work. Confidence appeared on his square face, "Understood."