March 29, 1942. A twin-engine passenger plane landed at the airport in China's capital. Molotov noticed that the accompanying engineer from the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau (MiG), Antonihov, had his gaze fixed on the porthole, showing no intention of looking away.

Bending down, Molotov followed the direction of Antonihov's gaze out the adjacent porthole and saw a massive passenger plane on a distant runway. Unlike the Soviet twin-engine passenger planes, that Chinese aircraft had two engines on each wing.

Although Molotov's specialty was not aviation, he could imagine that a huge aircraft using four engines must possess a very long range. The Soviet Air Force had invested heavily in the development of heavy bombers, but the results had not been satisfactory. Presumably, Engineer Antonihov was filled with emotion upon seeing a large aircraft that China had already put into actual flight operations.

Molotov said nothing and turned to walk towards the gangway. Stepping out of the cabin, he saw several familiar figures standing on the red carpet at the foot of the stairs, the one at the very front being Chinese Foreign Minister Li Shiguang. As he walked down the stairs, Li Shiguang came forward to meet him. After the two shook hands and exchanged brief greetings, Li Shiguang invited Molotov to take a car to the state guesthouse where he would be staying.

Having been to China so many times, Molotov found that China, like the Soviet Union, was changing very quickly. Comparing Moscow with China's capital, Molotov had to admit that China's changes were faster than the Soviet Union's. Unlike Soviet architecture, which was full of Russian style, Chinese architecture clearly lacked a distinct style.

Massive blocks of six or seven-story buildings formed the main content of Chinese cities. Some foreign architectural critics used the term "honeycomb cities" to describe China, because these residential buildings only considered practicality, with basically no consideration given to decoration. However, Molotov found that although foreign architectural critics mocked them somewhat, they also admitted that the new type of architectural brick used by China was quite advanced.

Unlike the red bricks universally adopted abroad, China used a type of large brick that appeared blue-grey, which had good sound insulation and thermal insulation effects, and was very light in weight. Similarly built quickly to accommodate a large population entering the cities, the living experience of Chinese residences was much better than that of Europe and America.

Although Europe and America did not rate China's characterless large-scale residential buildings highly, they evaluated China's urban planning level very well. Perhaps this was because China had invited quite a few foreign urban planning experts to work in China, so these foreign architectural critics were unwilling to deliberately belittle their own compatriots working in China.

After resting for two hours, at 6:00 PM China time, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted a banquet for Molotov and his party. At the dinner, Molotov saw that tall figure he cared about very much; Li Runshi also attended this banquet.

Seeing this former member of the Third International's Chinese Branch, a sense of loss surged in Molotov's chest again. The changes of the times were so drastic. The Soviet Union had always hoped to build a Communist Party in China, but now there was no way to maintain the existence of the Third International.

The banquet did not discuss official business, and the Soviet personnel did not ask about things related to the war. Everyone talked about national construction and economic development as if the war had not happened. Molotov was also very concerned about this matter. Only the slogans and banners related to the war on the streets reminded one that China was currently at war, but one could not feel the atmosphere of domestic war at all from the flow of cars on the streets and the bustling markets.

Li Runshi's attitude during the banquet made Molotov feel that this Chinese leader did not treat the war as a big deal either, as if the war between the world's most powerful industrial nation, the United States, and the former world hegemon, Britain, against China in the Pacific and Indian Oceans did not exist. Molotov could only sigh in his heart that China's geographical location was truly excellent. The Pacific and Indian Ocean battlefields were too far from the Chinese mainland, and neither Britain nor the United States could directly attack the Chinese mainland. Instead, China was beating the British and American armies soundly on oceans and lands far from its own soil.

Although Britain had not made any concessions on the Iran issue, when the British representative mentioned the Iran issue in front of Soviet Foreign Ministry personnel, his inner anxiety was not well concealed. At least when Molotov met with the British special envoy, the envoy displayed the threat mode peculiar to Anglo-Saxons, mentioning several times that the Soviet Union's Baku oil fields were sufficient to supply the oil needed by the Soviet Union, and that the Soviet Union did not need Iranian oil.

These words sounded fine, but mentioning the Soviet Baku oil fields was a threat. The Soviet Union had long obtained the "Operation Thunderstorm" plan formulated by Britain since the time Chamberlain was Prime Minister. In this plan, Britain would send planes from Middle Eastern airports to bomb the Soviet Union's Baku oil fields and destroy Soviet crude oil production.

If it were before, Molotov would definitely have felt a bit of pressure. Now it was different; all British aircraft in the Middle East were fundamentally unable to cope with China's pressure, let alone threaten the Soviet Union's Baku oil fields.

Compared with the British special envoy, Li Runshi's attitude was mild, his wording friendly, and his whole person appeared calm and unhurried. It could be seen that even if China could not talk about having victory within its grasp at this stage, at least it did not feel heavy pressure.

The banquet ended, and both sides amicably agreed to meet again at 10:00 AM the next day. Molotov returned to his residence and began to look at materials. The Soviet economic model was completely different from China's, so the Soviet Union had no way to systematically evaluate China's war expenditures based on the Soviet economic model.

Molotov could only rely on the judgments made by the Soviet Foreign Ministry's intelligence analysis department based on the data stated in the Chinese government's reports. The Chinese government stated that at the current stage, China's tax revenue reached 30% of the gross value of industrial and agricultural output. If the Soviet Union were to do this, since Soviet industries belonged to the state, it would just order 30% of industrial capacity to produce military supplies and directly order the requisition of 30% of agricultural products.

China, like Europe and America, adopted currency as a means. The collected tax money purchased products in the Chinese domestic market, and China's state-owned enterprises and private enterprises obtained orders through bidding. Moreover, the Chinese government also required that after the profits of these enterprises that won the bids reached a certain level during the war, the excess profits would be directly levied into the national treasury.

Viewing the He Rui administration's methods through the lens of the Soviet economic model, there was a strong feeling of "taking off one's pants to fart—completely unnecessary." This was also one of the reasons why the Soviet Union consistently did not consider the He Rui administration to be a Communist government. The gap between the economic models of China and the Soviet Union was immense, and it was a huge difference at the fundamental level. If the Soviet Union admitted that the He Rui administration was a Communist government, then the Soviet Union could also completely admit that European and American countries were also Communist governments.

Molotov was not in charge of Soviet ideological work; his focus in reading the report at this time was China's wartime economic situation. The report published by the Chinese government not only contained tax revenue but also employment data, and industrial and agricultural data. What concerned Molotov most here was that China's urban population had actually reached 400 million. The population participating in industrial enterprise production was as high as 210 million.

What was the concept of 210 million people in industrial enterprise production? Even if the entire Europe and America were added together, the industrial enterprise employment population was not 210 million. If the Soviet Union were also counted on the Allied side, the Allied powers would only have 210 million people employed in industrial enterprises.

No matter how Molotov looked at it, he felt there was a problem with this number. China had a population of 680 million. Without total mobilization in the country, labor employment was 55% for males and 55.3% for females, which was already an extremely high ratio globally. If this number were true, excluding the elderly who did not participate in labor, students in school, and children, China basically had full employment.

The Soviet Union had been a top-tier Great Power since the Tsarist era, and its industrial level was not poor. The Soviet Union had also engaged in socialism for twenty years and had done some research on employment. The Soviet Union's land area was double that of China, its population was 25% of China's, yet its employment rate might not be as high as China's. This super-high employment rate in China seemed problematic no matter how one looked at it.

Studying this was not Molotov's own hobby, but rather because these contents could be used as little tactics during negotiations. For example, the Soviet Union could friendly remind China that Sino-Soviet trade was of great help to China's employment rate.

The next day, March 30, at 10:00 AM, the talks between China and the Soviet Union began at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Molotov formally raised General Secretary Stalin's concern, "...The Central Committee of the CPSU and the Soviet government believe that the Communist Party should have legal status in all countries, and Communist Party members should possess complete citizenship and political rights..."

After Molotov finished speaking, Li Runshi replied, "The Central Committee of the Civilization Party and the Chinese government agree that the Communist Party and Communist Party members should obtain all due rights. However, the Central Committee of the Civilization Party and the Chinese government believe that the rights of citizens of various countries lie in the freedom of their political choices. For example, should the Malayan Communist Party be a political party formed by citizens within Malaya who believe in Communism based on their own choice, or a political party influenced and controlled by extraterritorial forces? The difference between the two is very large!"

Hearing Li Runshi use "citizen" instead of "people" in his speech, Molotov's gaze unconsciously became sharp.

In Western politics, citizens possess political rights and participate in discussions of national political affairs. Molotov believed that Li Runshi knew very well that the Soviet Union identified itself as a European country, so he used the term "citizen."

Citizens possess complete political rights in the legal sense; city residents only possess personal freedom and lack political rights. And the term "people" is a general reference. According to the differentiation between "shi (scholars/officials), guo ren (people of the state), and ye ren (people of the wilds)" in the Zhou Dynasty of Chinese culture that Molotov had learned, citizens correspond to "shi," city residents correspond to "guo ren," and people correspond to "ye ren." Although the term "people" had been used more and more in the past few decades, in traditional understanding, the political rights possessed by the people were actually not high.

Since Li Runshi was discussing whether "citizens" should have the right and freedom to believe in Communism and form a domestic Communist Party, then what Li Runshi was talking about was the legal status of the Communist Party in the host of colonies liberated by China. And Li Runshi's mention of whether the Communist Party belonged to the manipulation of extraterritorial forces naturally referred to the Third International.

Sure enough, Li Runshi explicitly stated in his subsequent speech, "Every country should have the power to choose its own domestic political system and economic development model. The Chinese Civilization Party believes that Communism is the future of mankind, and Marxist economics is the most scientific and effective economic research model to date. In the future, as various countries develop economically and society progresses, they will all choose this direction that can truly bring a beautiful future to the country.

"However, whether to choose this direction, and when to choose this direction, is the power of each country itself. It cannot be manipulated because of the interests of other countries."

Listening to Li Runshi's words, Molotov could not help but slander inwardly, *Isn't this just wrapping nationalism in a socialist skin? There are too many such political parties and even governments in Europe!*

Thinking of this, Molotov asked, "May I ask, is the Chinese government willing to support the CPSU's view on the legality of Communist Parties in various countries?"

"The prerequisite for the legalization of Communist Parties in various countries is that the Third International must terminate all activities!" Li Runshi replied decisively.