"Hearing that your country's Minister of Commerce, Mr. Morrison, has passed away, I would like to express my condolences on behalf of my government." As soon as the meeting began, the deputy head of the Dutch delegation said to the deputy head of the Chinese negotiation team.

The Chinese deputy head answered calmly, "The death of Minister Morrison is a loss for our country. Mr. Morrison was always committed to friendly exchanges between China and European countries. Although Minister Morrison has passed away, such a friendly policy will not be affected. China will deepen the friendship between China and European countries as always. This meeting will also definitely deepen the friendship between China and the Kingdom of the Netherlands."

Since China used such an opening remark, the deputy head of the Dutch delegation felt much more relaxed. He suggested sincerely, "Then, let us observe a three-minute silence for Minister Morrison."

Negotiators from both China and the Netherlands stood up. The deputy head of the Chinese delegation said, "Silence." Everyone lowered their heads. Some Dutch representatives began to cross themselves on their chests, silently reciting prayers.

When the silence ended, these personnel responsible for specific affairs sat opposite each other at their seats by the long table and opened the thick stack of documents in front of them. "We will now discuss Chapter 3, Article 13, Investment Types."

The Ministry of Commerce did not pause at all because of Minister Morrison's death. On the second day after Morrison's death, after discussion at the meeting, Li Chenggang was appointed as Acting Minister of Commerce. Commerce Minister Li Chenggang, Foreign Minister Yan Huiqing, Culture Minister Zhou Shuren, and Health Minister Pang Congcong were all responsible for discussing the general direction.

Following the three Sino-British Joint Communiques, the Netherlands followed up immediately. The Dutch government decided to establish relations with the Chinese government in economic, cultural, and other fields. The ministers under the State Council finalized the scope of the agreement to be signed. At this time, several ministers gathered here again to finalize the direction of the future agreement content once more.

Health Minister Pang Congcong was 27 years old this year, the only female minister on Earth at this time. She was not tall, with a round face that looked very cute. Although not the first female minister in the 20th century—Alexandra Mikhailovna Kollontai in the Lenin government entered the diplomatic circle in 1923, serving as Minister to Norway and trade representative—Pang Congcong became the new Health Minister after Zhao Tianlin, who was in charge of science, education, culture, and health, resigned from the position of Vice Premier in 1927.

If one only looked at Pang Congcong's cute appearance, it would be hard to imagine that such a woman had worked for three years in positions fighting against malaria, smallpox, cholera, plague, and schistosomiasis. working in epidemic areas for a long time. Her research direction in medical school was the prevention and treatment of leprosy, and she achieved success.

Pang Congcong had a somewhat raspy voice and had been considered a tomboy since childhood. She asked in this voice, "Minister Yan, in the agreement, we demand to open schools and hospitals. I think those people in the Dutch colony might think we are buying people's hearts, right? Won't they be vigilant?"

Such a sharp question made Culture Minister Zhou Shuren frown slightly. Zhou Shuren didn't object, but felt great sympathy.

Yan Huiqing looked composed. "Let me ask a question first. How do comrades define the so-called fair trade and investment in this era?"

The three ministers felt there was too much to say about this question. Yan Huiqing's statement clearly proved he had his own explanation. Pang Congcong spoke first, "Please tell us, Minister Yan."

Seeing Commerce Minister Li Chenggang and Culture Minister Zhou Shuren both nodding, Yan Huiqing answered, "The so-called fair trade investment means enjoying the same treatment as white power countries. Do you think if Britain opens schools and hospitals in the Dutch colony, mainly serving British expatriates and immigrants while also recruiting some locals, it would be viewed with vigilance by the Dutch colonial government?"

Pang Congcong felt what Yan Huiqing said was very reasonable, but she didn't agree immediately. In her work, Pang Congcong had contacted some personnel with intelligence backgrounds. These intelligence personnel engaged in medical work also performed intelligence work. And Pang Congcong knew a little about the central government's judgment on the future grand strategy. The central government believed that the current international order was unreasonable and it was necessary to replace it with a brand-new international order. At least, colonies needed to be liberated.

Under such thinking, building schools and hospitals in Dutch colonies, Pang Congcong believed, would have some other meanings. Of course, Pang Congcong only considered it in her heart and didn't say anything.

Culture Minister Zhou Shuren asked, "How many overseas Chinese are there in Southeast Asia?"

"Specific data hasn't been tallied yet, but there must be millions," Yan Huiqing answered.

"Should we provide opportunities for university education to these people?" Zhou Shuren continued to ask.

Foreign Minister Yan Huiqing was very clear about the Civility Party's plan to liberate colonies in Asia and Africa. He knew Zhou Shuren was an outstanding scholar, but Zhou Shuren was not yet a Civility Party member and certainly didn't participate in upper-level meetings. As for whether Zhou Shuren guessed the future strategy, Yan Huiqing didn't know. So Yan Huiqing answered, "If the Ministry of Culture has problems with teaching staff, the Ministry of Culture can propose a budget directly."

Zhou Shuren smiled and didn't answer. But Yan Huiqing could see that Zhou Shuren was definitely not unfamiliar with how to propose a budget.

Li Chenggang, who had been silent, believed that hospitals and schools were investments and had nothing to do with the Ministry of Commerce. What really related to trade was pharmacies. Commercial investigation reports on Dutch colonies showed that bulk commodities in Dutch colonies were very profitable. However, the Dutch development level in tropical medicine was lackluster; at this stage, even Quinine (Cinchona) was beaten badly by China's Artemisinin. As long as one entered a pharmacy, all one could see were Chinese medicines.

While thinking, he heard Zhou Shuren ask, "Minister Li, does the Ministry of Commerce have investment plans in Dutch colonies at this stage? If so, what categories of technical personnel are needed?"

Li Chenggang answered immediately, "At this stage, we mainly focus on planting industries such as mining, petroleum, palm oil, and rubber."

Zhou Shuren wanted to ask, would the Dutch colonial government agree? Because of his experience studying in Japan, Zhou Shuren had some contact with Japan's overseas trade. Japan was limited by the scarcity of domestic resources and was very stretched in terms of imports. In the fields Li Chenggang mentioned now, Japan was shut out by European colonizers. Zhou Shuren always felt that European colonizers might not really open their doors to China.

Much like Zhou Shuren thought, on September 5, in Balikpapan, Borneo, the place where Dutch Shell Oil rose. Four oil tankers flying the Chinese flag entered the pier under the guidance of pilot boats and began to load oil. For Shell Oil engineers, it was common to see oil tankers coming to transport oil. What made them feel fresh at this time was that it was the first time Chinese-made oil tankers came.

With the human nature of enjoying watching the fun and not fearing trouble, a group of unserious engineers had already begun to discuss whether Chinese oil tankers would have accidents. But the result disappointed them. Within two days, the Chinese oil tankers safely finished loading oil and slowly sailed out of the port like oil tankers from other European countries, disappearing on the northern sea surface.

The buyer of this batch of oil was a Japanese enterprise, not a Chinese enterprise, so the fleet's destination was Tokyo. Now China and Japan had reached the initial stage of trade integration, and China and Japan could borrow each other's trade channels. Just like this time, the oil trade volume between China and the Netherlands was large, and the purchase price was lower than the price imported by Japan. So Japan could share the order. For example, if China purchased 100,000 tons of crude oil at a time, and Japan only needed 12,000 tons, China would place an order for 112,000 tons of crude oil. Both China and Japan could benefit from such a cooperation model.

For this purpose, the Chinese government also established a futures platform to provide resources through futures operations. At this stage, the Soviet Union and Japan only dabbled in the Shanghai Oil Futures Platform. The Japanese business community didn't quite dare to believe there was such a good thing, while the Soviet Union was wary of this 'capitalist operation' mode.

He Rui, who ordered the construction of this futures platform, was full of confidence. In the 21st century, futures platforms have completely become places for capital speculation. In 1927, the power of capital was not as fierce as in the 21st century, and the current futures platform still maintained its original purpose of serving entity production. The reason why the oil futures platform has not been promoted to more countries now is largely because China has not yet completed the monetary reform of removing the gold and silver standard. Once the monetary reform is completed and Chinese currency completely becomes fiat currency relying on national credit, oil and other bulk commodities must be used as one of the many anchors for fiat currency.

With the petrodollar as a precedent, He Rui felt he had absolutely no reason to reject the wisdom of others.

Li Chenggang and Yan Huiqing had just finished the meeting with the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Health and immediately attended the meeting with Japan. The government of the Japanese Republic had been established for half an year. Just judging from the expressions of the dispatched officials, the Japanese Republic had gained a firm foothold.

At this time, Ambassador to China Saionji Kinkazu was young, but in his speech, he was already a very experienced diplomat. Without nonsense, Saionji Kinkazu asked, "According to the route security agreement between China and Britain, Britain provides security guarantees for Chinese ships and routes. Will the oil tanker fleet from the Netherlands to Japan have the escort of the British fleet?"

Yan Huiqing answered immediately, "According to the discussion results, although Britain has obligations in this regard, in the South China Sea region, the British fleet goes at most to the coastal areas of the Philippines."

For diplomats, saying to this extent was about enough; there was no need for further explanation. Unless the participants in the discussion were rookies who knew nothing. Of course, rookies couldn't be qualified to participate in such a meeting.

Fleet sailing requires equipment maintenance, fuel addition, and attendance subsidies; these all cost money. The British escort fleet regularly wandering to the coast of the Philippines for escort was actually a deterrence to the Philippines, this American colony.

Besides this function, the British fleet running north of the Philippines for continuous escort was completely a waste of public funds. Of course, the British fleet couldn't be non-existent in reality; sailing regularly in the Pacific was another matter. But it would be very impolite for the escort fleet to run to the Philippines without notifying China. Britain was an old hand at acting according to the status of the person they dealt with and would absolutely not make such a low-level mistake.

After receiving the response, Saionji Kinkazu continued to ask, "The Sino-Japanese Go Challenge is about to be held in Tokyo. I wonder if Minister Yan is interested in going to participate in the opening?"

Yan Huiqing answered immediately, "Although I know nothing about Go, I heard there are many national players in the Japanese Go circle, so of course I am willing to go."

The current situation in both China and Japan had just stabilized. Holding a Go challenge was indeed a bit romantic. But precisely because the situation between the two countries was like this, it was necessary to break the hatred accumulated before more quickly and ease relations as soon as possible. Therefore, the Chinese side chose Go exchange as one of the channels for exchange.

Besides agreeing to go to Japan to open the Sino-Japanese Go Challenge, Yan Huiqing also said to Saionji Kinkazu, "The first Shanghai Expo will be held in November. We also look forward to the Japanese Foreign Minister coming to participate."

"I will definitely convey your invitation to our Foreign Minister," Saionji Kinkazu answered readily.