Chapter 144 Investment Intentions
There is a small lake to the south of the State Guesthouse. The water in the lake has frozen into a thick layer of ice, and many children are playing on the ice.

Yang Minli, who was standing on the windowsill, seemed very excited and wanted to go down and try it. It was a rare good time, so Liu Zhicheng decided to accompany her for a while.

"Come on, I'll take you to the ice to play for a while."

There is heating in the hotel, so if you go out now, you naturally need to change into thick clothes.

When Liu Zhicheng and Yang Minli wrapped themselves up tightly and thought about going out to play, the waiter was shocked.

This was the first time they had encountered a guest who wanted to play on the ice on the lake. The waiters had no idea how to handle the situation and quickly reported it.

Liu Zhicheng quickly explained to the waiter that they were just going out to take a look and it would not affect their attendance at the dinner tonight.

The wind was quite strong by the lake. After standing for a while, they felt themselves shivering all over. Then they returned to the hotel.

It took less than half an hour from going downstairs to going upstairs, and Liu Zhicheng summed it up in one sentence: It's quite boring.

The latitude of Beijing is much higher than that of Hong Kong. Although it is almost 5 o'clock, the sun is still hanging in the southwest sky.

The capital city today is not like it was in the past, with tall buildings everywhere. Looking from the balcony, the orange-red sun shines on this sleeping ancient city.

In the evening, all members of the Hong Kong delegation were invited to the Great Hall of the People, and they all rode in Audi cars.

The joint venture negotiations between the mainland Ministry of Industry and Germany's Volkswagen have begun. In order to gain favor from the mainland, Volkswagen has given away 100 Audi cars for free for use by mainland government departments.

It has to be said that this move was very clever and it secured a large number of orders for Volkswagen cars in the future.

Through the car window, white buses with huge airbags on their tops were winding slowly on the cement roads. There were already slight traffic jams on many roads.

Of course, it is not cars that cause traffic jams, but bicycles! This shows how huge this market is.

Looking at Chang'an Avenue outside the window, in this era, the clothes worn by pedestrians on the street were still very simple.

Occasionally you can see a few fashionable young people, some of whom are wearing bell-bottom pants and sunglasses.

Some of them carried large tape recorders. Some of them held hands and went shopping together, enjoying the winter scenery.

Reform and opening up is not only about economic reform, but also about people's thinking. It is a great change.

In the Great Hall, the Hong Kong delegation was received by the top leader, but in such an occasion, it was impossible to discuss the details.

In front of the camera, even if it is just a business cooperation, it has been negotiated in advance and then announced in front of the media.

After the meeting, everyone was arranged to have dinner in the banquet hall in the back garden, and the scale of the banquet was also extremely grand.

Some leaders from the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Industry attended the welcome banquet.

It is obvious that the Hong Kong consortium has gone north to Beijing, and the mainland has obviously made many preparations and wants to seek more cooperation in the economic field.

At the dinner, a leader gave a speech stating that the funds invested in the mainland are safe, and it also showed the mainland government’s determination to take back Hong Kong!
At the same time, some policies after Hong Kong's return to China were also announced.

At present, many Hong Kong citizens believe that the mainland's recovery of Hong Kong means the recovery of the New Territories, not including Hong Kong Island and Kowloon.

After hearing this, Liu Zhicheng finally understood why so many Chinese companies were able to rise in the mid-80s in his previous life.

This is because these are people who have long stood on the side of the mainland government. They have long known the mainland government's determination to take back Hong Kong and have mastered mainland policies.

During the negotiations with the British Empire, housing prices in Hong Kong plummeted. The Chinese capital that controlled the government seized the opportunity to buy at the bottom.

In addition, as a business savvy, he naturally knows how to operate. With the support from the mainland, it is difficult for him not to succeed.

The seating arrangements at the banquet were very particular. For example, the person sitting next to the charter king was a director of the Ministry of Machinery in charge of the shipbuilding industry.

Many heads of state have warmly received charter kings just for global ship orders.

Obviously, the mainland also wants to get a piece of the pie in ship orders, but the current shipping king is ready to abandon his ship and go ashore.

Next to Liu Zhicheng is Director Chen, who is in charge of electronic products. Obviously, everyone is doing their job well.

"Mr. Liu, this is the very famous Moutai in our country, it tastes excellent." Director Chen raised his glass and said with a smile.

"Then let me try it." Liu Zhicheng also raised his glass in response.

Although Liu Zhicheng doesn't drink much white wine at social events in Hong Kong, he has tried it himself and found that he can drink quite well.

After a few toasts, Director Chen said, "Mr. Liu, I've been to your factory in Shekou Industrial Park. I know your company's electronic products are conquering the world. Can you give me some guidance on how our mainland electronic products can enter the international market?"

Liu Zhicheng didn't dare to boast casually. He thought for a while and said, "As far as I know, many electronic products in the mainland have basically been eliminated in the international market."

Liu Zhicheng looked at Director Chen and continued, "So the only way is to introduce new production technologies and develop products that are in line with the international market, so that we can restore our former glory." In fact, before integrated circuits, the domestic electronics industry was also ranked among the top in Asia, such as the famous Beijing Electron Tube Factory.

"We all know this truth, but due to the lack of foreign exchange funds, it is very difficult to introduce technical equipment. I wonder if Mr. Liu has come to Beijing to invest?" Director Chen said.

"To invest in Beijing, you need a joint venture in the mainland, right?" Liu Zhicheng asked.

Joint ventures are not actually a problem, but the only place in the mainland where real investment can be made is Pengcheng. Joint ventures in other places are not a good thing.

Especially in places like the capital, if it is done well, it will be a banner, but if it is not done well, it will be trouble.

"Yes, this is stipulated by domestic laws, but we can provide enough workers and built factories. In this case, your investment costs can be greatly reduced. There are many large and small electronics factories in Beijing, and you can completely choose a suitable joint venture partner." Director Chen said.

"If it is a joint venture, can the products be sold in the mainland?" Liu Zhicheng asked.

"I heard from President Qin that the labor costs at Mr. Liu's factory in Hong Kong are high. Can we transfer some of the orders?" Director Chen asked in return.

As one of the senior officials in charge of economic work, he must have some understanding of the Hong Kong side in charge today.

Especially in Hong Kong, I have been there for inspection and research many times and must have had some contact with Chigo fans. I did not expect that the ex-factory price of fans in Hong Kong is lower than that of domestic counterparts.

If this kind of high-quality and low-priced fan enters the domestic market, domestic competitors will be doomed.

Before this, he had purchased a batch of fans in Hong Kong and brought them back to China, asking related companies to copy them.

But the quality of the original fans is simply not up to par. Take the fan blades for example. Domestic ones are mainly made of iron, while Chigo's are made of plastic.

Fans made by imitation are behind others in many aspects, especially in terms of motors, which cannot achieve the high speed and good quiet effect like Chigo.

Liu Zhicheng shook his head and said, "If we build a joint venture factory in Beijing and if all the products are for export, why should I go so far away? Wouldn't it be better to produce in Shekou?"

"What does Liu Sheng mean?"

"Since it is a joint venture, I can let the joint venture factory get a lot of overseas orders, but there will always be demand in the domestic market, and I will let the joint venture factory maintain a balance of foreign exchange, how about that?"

The original purpose of reform and opening up was to attract foreign-funded enterprises in the hope that they would bring in technology and jobs.

The hope is that these companies can produce domestically, sell abroad, and bring in a large amount of foreign exchange funds.

But although the idea is good, foreign investors will not do this. They only want to make money domestically, and then they need to exchange it into US dollars before leaving.

The mainland government will naturally not agree to general enterprises, unless they are some products needed domestically, then it can be negotiated.

However, such goods must be purchased with foreign exchange coupons. However, if such goods are produced domestically, they can effectively serve the economic development.

So the joint venture policy was introduced, but there was a clear prerequisite, which was foreign exchange balance.

The so-called foreign exchange balance means that for every dollar you earn in the country, you need to export goods of equal value.

Only in this way, when you need to exchange money into foreign currency in the future, you will not consume the country's already scarce foreign exchange reserves.

This is a matter of principle and no one can be exempted.

"If the foreign exchange balance problem can be solved, then everything can be discussed." Director Chen nodded.

As long as there is no loss of foreign exchange, there will be no big problem. Even if Chigo fans dominate the mainland market in the future, the export earnings will be more.

Although it is possible that no foreign exchange may be earned, at least employment opportunities have been created, which is also one of the purposes of reform and opening up.

After the factory is built, we will do more work and try to export more, so that we can have foreign exchange surplus. Of course, we still need to export as much as possible now.

However, it is precisely because of the existence of this clause that great difficulties have arisen in the past work of attracting investment.

Many large-scale collaborations have run into difficulties. In order to solve such problems, the country has begun to relax and proposed a foreign exchange balance policy.

Foreign capital is here to make money, not to do charity. If they can’t make money here, who will invest?

We do not expect all foreign-invested enterprises to be used for export. We can only exchange markets for technology and maintain foreign exchange balance.

Even so, there are still many companies that are difficult to negotiate with. Liu Zhicheng's conditions are relatively easy, which is already rare.

"Besides fans, can we invest in other industries?" Liu Zhicheng asked again.

"What else does Mr. Liu want to invest in?" Director Chen asked happily. He didn't expect Liu Zhicheng to take the initiative to ask about investment.

"Actually, before coming to Beijing this time, in addition to the highway and port businesses I proposed in Guangdong Province, I have prepared investments in several large projects here." Liu Zhicheng said with a smile.

Director Chen asked: "What kind of project?"!
(End of this chapter)