BBC stands for the British Broadcasting Corporation. The BBC was founded in 1922, funded jointly by several major consortiums. The company's initial purpose at its inception was to establish a broadcast transmission network covering the entire country to facilitate future nationwide broadcasting. In 1927, the BBC received a Royal Charter and became a public corporation funded by the British government.

A British state-owned enterprise guarantees its independence through a Royal Charter, with a Board of Governors responsible for the company's operations. The twelve governors are nominated by the British Prime Minister and appointed by the British Monarch. The members of the Board of Governors are appointed by the government, each serving a four-year term, while the daily work of the company is the responsibility of the Director-General appointed by the Board.

Would such a company be overbearing during an interview?

Actually, no.

Three hours before He Rui accepted the BBC interview, the BBC finally completed the setting of the interview questions. These questions had to present a professional standard while also being acceptable to the other party; this required a high level of skill. At the same time, if the BBC were rude, He Rui could completely end the interview. If ordinary people didn't understand the reasons, so many commentators and media peers would see clearly. The sharpness of a question and whether it is rude are two different things.

By the time He Rui entered the BBC office building, the interview questions had been combed through several more times. At this moment, Prime Minister Baldwin had returned to his country villa, sitting by the fireplace in the living room. While warming himself by the fire, he held a Russian Blue cat in his arms. The cat lay on Prime Minister Baldwin's lap, feeling the warmth of the fireplace, emitting a soft purring sound. It slept quietly. Only its tail twitched occasionally; this slight tactile sensation made Prime Minister Baldwin feel relaxed and comfortable.

After a burst of music, the radio host's fluent London accent came from the speakers, "Dear ladies and gentlemen, today we have invited Mr. He Rui, Chairman of the Republic of China, to the broadcasting studio..."

Baldwin couldn't help but reach out and stroke the smooth, soft fur on the blue cat's back, his emotions fluctuating slightly. Because Prime Minister Baldwin had actually heard some rumors that some extreme conservatives, like Churchill, were said to want to assassinate He Rui.

It wasn't strange that some British people wanted to do this. But Baldwin really couldn't figure out why the extreme conservatives would come up with the idea of assassinating a head of state of the Republic of China who had been invited by the British King. To kill a visiting head of state was actually not difficult.

Now that He Rui had brought very few security personnel, with hundreds of thousands of army troops in Britain, He Rui could be easily killed with a single order from Baldwin. The problem lay in, 'what then'? After killing He Rui, Britain would first be considered a country without credit or bottom line. Before Britain gave a real explanation, no other head of state would ever visit Britain again. Moreover, Britain would be isolated diplomatically, or at least alienated.

Even if Britain was currently the world hegemon, and the assassination was done seamlessly without any flaws, so that China couldn't find the cause. However, according to the principle of reciprocity between great powers, in the future, when a British head of state went to China, they wouldn't need to consider personal safety at all.

To solve this problem, Britain must obtain China's 'understanding'. That is to say, Britain must give China an explanation. At that time, let alone Churchill, all those related to Churchill would be uprooted, and many innocent people would also be implicated. Therefore, Baldwin really couldn't figure out why anyone would threaten assassination.

Baldwin even suspected that this was a method deliberately released by the French or Americans to strike at the prestige of the British Empire.

But since He Rui was accepting the interview, it meant that up to now, no assassination incident had occurred. Baldwin continued to listen to the broadcast.

"...Mr. Chairman, after you took office, China's national strength recovered rapidly. What was the reason for the land reform policy you adopted?"

Baldwin felt that the BBC was indeed the BBC; the trap was already prepared in the question. It depended on whether He Rui would jump in. If He Rui stated that land reform was to destroy the landlord class, it would form a very bad impression among a considerable portion of the British public. Of course, another portion of the British public would support He Rui because of their dislike for aristocratic landlords.

He Rui's voice came from the radio. His English sounded unrelated to the British accent, but rather had an American flavor. "At that time, China's rural areas were already in a stage of actual bankruptcy. Before I took office, 90% of the population in China lived in poverty, and 40% of the population struggled on the line of death. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people died of hunger. As long as a natural disaster occurred, millions of people would die. The reason my government decided to implement land reform was simple: to keep the Chinese people away from the threat of starvation, China's rural areas had to undergo bankruptcy reorganization. Through bankruptcy reorganization, all Chinese citizens could obtain the means of production they relied on for survival."

The BBC reporter heard that He Rui's answer completely avoided the massive suppression and killing during the land reform, and did not ask about this issue. Because asking such a question would be very rude, and He Rui had many ways to avoid it. Most importantly, Britain's current short-term goal was to break up Sino-French cooperation. Openly offending He Rui would completely conflict with Britain's short-term goal.

So the BBC reporter asked the next question, "Then have the Chinese people obtained a happy life now?"

"Far from a happy life. The Chinese government has only completed the land reform policy, and the annual income of the Chinese people is just enough to let them escape the life-and-death line. But the Chinese people are still very poor."

Seeing that He Rui did not boast at all, the BBC reporter could only continue to ask: "We noticed that you are promoting an ambitious industrial plan. Can you introduce this plan?"

"It can't be called ambitious. Our industrial plan is just a plan that fits China's current national strength. Importing industrial technology and equipment from France to improve China's industrial system. Now China's total GDP is 67.9 billion Chinese Yuan, and tax revenue is about 20 billion Yuan. The exchange rate between the Chinese Yuan and the British Pound is about 10:1, and the current exchange rate between the Franc and the Pound is 100:1. The Chinese government borrowed 20 billion Francs, which is equivalent to 2 billion Chinese Yuan, or 200 million Pounds. Think about it, China has a population of nearly 500 million, which averages to 0.4 Pounds per person. This figure is really not large."

The British domestic media had reported extensively on Sino-French economic cooperation. Most listeners did not have the ability to analyze it and only felt that China seemed to have worked out a huge cooperation with France. Hearing that a Chinese person only averaged 0.4 Pounds, most listeners felt that this cooperation plan was very ordinary.

In the UK miners' strike of 1926, the average quarterly wage of miners was 34 Pounds, 6 Shillings, and 4 Pence. Compared with 0.4 Pounds, the wages of British miners were much higher.

Unlike ordinary British listeners, Baldwin heard that He Rui was actually stealing the concept. This interest-free loan was not issued to the Chinese public for consumption at all, but was used for industrial construction. Industrial construction would bring benefits every year. Being lightly described by He Rui, large-scale industrial construction actually became a loan of 0.4 Pounds per capita.

The BBC reporter obviously understood as well. He immediately followed up: "But industrial construction will enhance China's strength. Do you think this change in strength is not worth mentioning?"

"In the Chinese government's economic philosophy, what needs to be increased is the consumption power of the Chinese people. When consumption power increases, the economy becomes active. Can industrial investment increase consumption? It can probably increase orders for some enterprises in cities, and enterprises that get government orders will increase their income. But ordinary people cannot get government orders, so their consumption power cannot be improved. Since more than 80% of China's population is currently rural, investment must first increase the yield of agricultural products in China's rural areas, such as increasing yield per mu through synthetic ammonia fertilizers. If the grain produced by farmers increases every year, they can sell more grain, thereby increasing consumption power. Increasing the yield per mu of agricultural products, any agronomist can tell everyone, is not a very fast thing."

Hearing this, not only Baldwin, but also those knowledgeable scholars, business managers, and merchants in Britain in front of the radio were somewhat shaken by He Rui's plan. He Rui could speak lightly, but if this plan to universally increase China's yield per mu was completed, even if it was an increase of 5%, the income of the Chinese state, where more than 80% of the population was rural, would increase by 4%. An annual increase of 4% in a country's overall income was by no means a slow growth rate for the current world.

British people of insight who had an overall concept of the national economy also calculated the volume of China's industrial development. Promoting a 5% increase in agricultural output, industrial output value would likely increase by 10%. The increase in total industrial and agricultural output value might reach 8%. This would be a considerably high growth.

The BBC reporter did not continue to discuss this issue, because if they continued, most listeners would not understand. Moreover, He Rui might not necessarily want to talk so deeply.

"Mr. Chairman, why did you choose France instead of Britain?"

"The Chinese government initially considered three countries: Britain, France, and the United States. According to our judgment, France was the least likely to propose additional conditions to us. Moreover, in the short term, there are still many practical obstacles affecting comprehensive economic cooperation between our country and Britain and the United States. Therefore, we first proposed cooperation suggestions to France. And France immediately fully accepted our suggestions, so we did not continue to contact Britain and the United States." He Rui answered very straightforwardly. There was actually not much to hide in politics between great powers. Everyone was a thousand-year-old fox, so there was no need to play *Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio*.

The BBC reporter didn't feel there was anything wrong with He Rui's answer, but he smiled and said: "French newspapers call you 'Honest Man He'. I now have to admit that this title from the French newspapers fits reality very well."

Baldwin couldn't help but smile bitterly when he heard this. He picked up the Russian Blue cat from his lap, put it on the floor, stood up himself, and walked to the window with his hands behind his back. It was already dark, and the fine rain of late winter in Britain seemed endless. Raindrops fell on the ground and tapped against the window. These slight sounds added a bit of coldness to the silence of the suburban manor.

In the radio behind him, the BBC interview was continuing. He Rui's choice of words and sentences in his answers was very humble and polite in English. But the content He Rui spoke of was confident and proud. This Chairman of the Republic of China not only described China's bright future to those listeners who could understand, but was also calling on British companies to invest in China, participate in China's construction together, and share China's 'growth dividend'.

...

"Mr. Chairman, according to what you said, British companies investing in China can enjoy the same treatment as French companies?"

"That is not the case." He Rui decisively expressed opposition, "All enterprises investing in China will be treated equally. China is a country governed by the rule of law and has legal regulations for investment. These legal regulations will not change because the investor is a French enterprise or a British enterprise."

"For British companies, French companies have already seized the first opportunity. Mr. Chairman must surely understand the concerns of British companies, right?"

"I can understand the feelings of British companies. So I want to emphasize that French companies seized the first opportunity because China and France have already signed the Sino-French Economic Cooperation Agreement, and cooperation has already begun. But China is a country with a population of nearly 500 million, and the space for foreign companies to invest is very large. As long as British companies conduct serious investigations in China, they will definitely find a large number of investment opportunities. China is a country governed by the rule of law. For all foreign companies investing in China, we regulate them with the same legal regulations and the same law enforcement standards. So British companies don't need to have any worries; they will not receive discriminatory treatment."

Baldwin sat back in the recliner and continued to listen to the interview. But at this moment, Baldwin didn't care much about this interview anymore, because in the interview content up to now, He Rui was using the Sino-French cooperation that had already begun to indicate China's attitude to the British side.

One move short, and Baldwin had no more options.