Chapter 94: The situation reverses before the war
The idea here in Hengdian is naturally very good, but Fan Wubing is not at all losing money.
Although we cannot obtain the independent legal person status of a film and television base, there is a saying that only cooperation with interests is the most successful.
Of course, there is no problem if you build a film and television base that you own sole proprietorship, but you have to find a manager, right? You have to find a worker, right? Don’t expect to get all the profits yourself. This is unrealistic. The most important thing is to learn how to use all kinds of skills to maximize your industry profits. Tie a strong person like Xu Wenrong to your own chariot. It is obviously the best choice.
At least, all the forces around Hengdian will definitely do their best to the construction and operation of the film and television base. What else can make Fan Wubing happy more than this?
Fan Wubing, Davis and others stayed in Hengdian for about three days, mainly investigating the terrain and working with Hengdian to determine the location of the film and television base. Xu Wenrong was very active in this matter. He personally took Fan Wubing and others to climb the mountain and explore the waterway, and finally determined the approximate scope of the entire film and television base.
It was not until the end that Fan Wubing revealed his identity as the boss behind the scenes.
"Sure!" Xu Wenrong looked at Fan Wubing and nodded, "I just said that you look a little unusual, it turns out that way! It seems that my old eyes are not yet blurred!"
Fan Wubing couldn't help but smile. Xu Wenrong was only fifty-six years old at this time, and he was in his prime. How could he be so confused? Even ten years later, this person was able to propose a 20 billion investment plan to build the Yuanming New Garden. How could he be compared to an ordinary old man?
"When I'll invest some basic building materials such as cement and steel bars. Don't be afraid of hoarding too much. In short, it's best to spend all the funds that have been deposited before the end of the year and turn them into building materials." Fan Wubing said another sentence.
"Don't worry, I can still do it for spending money." Xu Wenrong felt a little bit of the smell of the general environment from Fan Wubing's words, so he nodded, indicating that he understood what he meant.
After everyone turned to Shanghai, they received quite bad news. The U.S. House of Representatives, the Republican Party's Kashu, submitted a special proposal to Congress, strongly demanding that Congress pass an authorization to carry out a punitive blow to the Chinese official condonation of intellectual property piracy. The proposal has received verbal support from more than two-thirds of the House of Representatives. It looks fierce and feels like a black cloud is pressing down on the city.
Affected by this, the stock prices of many listed companies represented by US high-tech stocks plummeted, and there were many companies that fell by about 40% within a day. Most analysts believe that a trade war between China and the United States is inevitable.
In response to this, Wu Zhi Xiaoji and his subordinates who were performing stock and futures operations in the United States complained to Fan Wubing, saying that the direction of speculation seemed to be wrong this time.
Although even if a trade war broke out between China and the United States and the stock market lost all its money, it would not hurt Fan Wubing's tendons or move Fan Wubing's bones, but seeing billions of dollars in investment instantly disappear, no one would feel good.
No matter how big the family business is, it cannot withstand such nonsense! Many people have doubts about the boss’s decision.
"Continue to increase the position of stocks that have plummeted, and it is time to throw short positions." Fan Wubing's decision made everyone feel a little unacceptable.
As the saying goes, a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall. Seeing that the trade war between China and the United States will break out at any time, why does the boss still continue to bet on American high-tech stocks like a stubborn person?
"Fan Sang, it seems a bit too risky for you to do this." Wu Zhi reminded him.
"Only high risks can there be high returns, otherwise how do you think I earn my money?" Fan Wubing replied with a smile.
However, the waiting time this time was quite long, and it lasted for nearly two months. Even Fan Wubing himself was a little suspicious of his decision. Could it be that his judgment and memory were wrong?
In fact, the Sino-US trade dispute is mainly focused on the issue of intellectual property protection.
In April 1989, the U.S. Trade Representative Office published the Foreign Trade Barriers Report, accusing China of failing to provide sufficient effective protection for US knowledge products, especially in the patent system and copyright system, and therefore included China on the list of "key observation countries".
In May of the same year, the delegations of the Chinese and American governments drafted a "Memorandum" on intellectual property protection, but for some unknown reasons, they were not actually signed. The memorandum mainly shows that the Chinese government will formulate copyright laws as soon as possible and protect works including computer software, modify the patent law, and the government should strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights. The US government stated that it would not list China as a key country that year, and the two sides clarified the importance of scientific and technological cooperation and promoted the further development of economic and trade relations.
In April of the following year, the U.S. Trade Representative once again accused China of prohibiting and quantity restrictions on imports of certain products and certain aspects, restricting the issuance of import licenses, handling standards for plant sanitation and livestock products, undisclosed laws and regulations for restricting imports and sales in China, market access and other issues, and citing the provisions of the "Special Article 301" of the Trade Law to include China in the "key observation country".
At the same time, the United States also accused China of insufficient protection of patent law, copyright law not fully formulated, and computer software not protected according to literary works. The United States launched an investigation into Chinese laws, policies, etc. During this period, China and the United States held consultations, but did not reach a consensus.
This problem is probably the difference caused by different systems.
For Americans, they believe that private property is sacred and inviolable, and intellectual property rights are private property that should be strictly protected. Therefore, they must be authorized by the original author in use, and the profits generated should naturally be paid corresponding remuneration to the original author.
But Chinese people don’t think so. One reason is that for a long time, China has not had a special patent bill and has not improved protection for copyright owners.
In the eyes of most people, writers or inventors basically have government offices, so the inventions or works they produce should be official inventions or official creations. In other words, the state has paid for this, so how can we pay for it again?
In particular, most Chinese people's hostility towards the United States has never been eliminated. Naturally, no one will be interested in protecting the so-called intellectual property rights of Americans. Even law enforcement officers are ashamed to exercise power for this and help the evildoer. Isn't this the traitor doing?
The most important thing is the discriminatory price strategy of the United States in the software industry to Chinese users, which allows Chinese people to use piracy or even produce piracy with confidence.
A set of software that costs a few cents will cost, and it costs thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan. Are you a fool of Chinese? Even if Americans create various anti-pirated barriers on software disks, in front of smart Chinese, it is equivalent to a beauty wearing an extra coat, and it is still a sexy style. Many Chinese people are very enthusiastic about cracking software locks.
During the long waiting process, Fan Wubing was not doing anything.
In fact, he is very busy. On the one hand, he has to come up with the scripts of "Myth" and "Return of the Condor Heroes", on the other hand, he has to guide Chen Bisong to complete a few songs. In addition, Liushi has almost completed the business and will open before the New Year. As a major shareholder, he also has to go around.
Construction has already started here in Hengdian. Although the weather gradually became colder, the people of Hengdian started to carry out construction work enthusiastically after Fan Wubing injected 200 million yuan. The entire mountain was filled with workers, and cement steel bars and other building materials were continuously brought in.
With Fan Wubing's special reminder, Xu Wenrong began to purchase basic building materials from all over the country. At the same time, he was surprised to find that those who had the same idea as him were actually colleagues from Huaxi Village. The people in Huaxi Village were even more cruel. Not only did they search for building materials, but they also hoarded resource raw materials such as aluminum ingots and copper materials.
Xu Wenrong believed that if they were given enough funds, they would probably be confident that they would bring all the aluminum ingots and copper materials produced nationwide to Huaxi Village.
It seems that many people with keen eyes have judged that China is on the eve of an outbreak.
But time finally quietly entered 1992, a year that Fan Wubing had high hopes.
Although he has made arrangements at home and abroad for the sake of this day, he is still a little worried when things come. If the facts are different from what he imagines, what will happen?
On New Year's Day 1992, as everyone celebrated the arrival of the New Year, the United States listed a list of retaliation for imposing a high tariff of US$1.5 billion on Chinese goods imported, and China immediately announced a counterretaliation list of US$1.2 billion the next day.
For a moment, the economic and trade cooperation between China and the United States immediately shrouded in lingering clouds, and the market's reaction was even more chaotic, and no one had any direction.
Americans were also very surprised by the strong reaction of China. Generally speaking, within a week after receiving the retaliatory tariff list, the speed of being able to propose a counter-retaliation list is very fast. This time the Chinese government's reaction was too fast, which is a bit abnormal!
In the meantime of the trade retaliation war, consultations between China and the United States are also continuing.
Fan Wubing watched coldly and thought carefully, thinking that something abnormal was obvious, which shows that the subtle relationship between the two countries now makes the current situation impossible to infer based on common sense.
The Republican Party has dominated the United States for a full twelve years, but the US economy has not improved significantly. The Bush administration's desert storm operation in Iraq has not achieved the goal of destroying Saddam. There are too many countries that have dragged their legs. The Democratic Party is resentful of the defeat in three consecutive presidential elections. In October last year, Clinton of the Democratic Party announced that he would compete for the 1992 US presidential election and swear to win Capitol Hill.
Under such circumstances, the normal relationship between China and the United States is very important to the Bush administration, and no one wants to mess up their own affairs at such a critical moment.
After many negotiations, China rejected the unreasonable accusations and sky-high asking prices. Finally, on January 17, the Chinese and American governments signed the first agreement on intellectual property protection, namely the "Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the United States of America on the Protection of Intellectual Property".
During the negotiations, China and the United States made some commitments, and the two governments will take effective measures and relief at their respective territory and abroad to avoid or stop the infringement of intellectual property rights and curb further infringement.
The Chinese government has pledged to improve the level of patent protection, agreed to provide administrative protection for American drugs and agricultural chemicals from the following year, and has pledged to join the "Berne Convention for the Protection of Literature and Art" and the "Geneva Convention for the Protection of Record Makers to Prevent Records from Unauthorized Reproduction".
In response, the U.S. government recognized the progress made by the Chinese government in improving intellectual property protection. The U.S. government terminated the investigation initiated under Special Article 301 from the date of the signing of the memorandum and canceled the designation of China as a key investigation country.
This memorandum brought the negotiations on intellectual property issues that lasted for a year between China and the United States.
Chapter completed!