Empire of the Ring

While Moscow’s investigation was underway, rallies were being held across Russia to oust Chinese companies.

In principle, the gathering of people in a socialist country should be regarded as an expression of discontent with the government, so the government would prevent such rallies from being held at the source, but this time it seemed to be neglected by the Russian government. It was intended to fundamentally block China’s opposition by taking advantage of the current public sentiment.

Putin said he would shut down any companies that committed illegal activities.

He was confident that the foreign companies and the Kazakh royal family participating in the Trans-Siberian Railway project and various canal projects would fill in the empty spots after Chinese companies left.

He expected that Kazakhstan would invest in Russia and attract other foreign companies as well since Kazakhstan was a blood ally and neighbor.

Putin made a call himself to Youngho to discuss this issue.

“Mr. President, I know what your concerns are. But you’ll have to come up with a better safety device. There is a limit to what our royal family can guarantee.”

-We’ve already got good examples of the canal project and the Trans-Siberian Train Project, and the taiga forest business in Siberia. Are they not enough?

“They were public projects, but individual investment is a different story. Multinational corporations seem to still find the investment environment of Russia tricky. If you apply Russian domestic law to them, they have no choice but to hesitate to invest.”

It was up to Putin to create an investment environment so that multinational companies would invest with confidence.

-All right, I’ll enact a special law to make sure we don’t have any obstacles for foreign investment.

“Thank you for your decision. Then my friends in Europe would love it. They’ll be in Russia soon.”

-I’ll look forward to it. By the way, how much would you invest?

Putin asked because investment from the Kazakh royal family was necessary to attract multinational companies’ investment.

“Our Royal Family will be in charge of the Krasnoyarsk area. However, as long as we have Chinese companies, we’ll have a limit to investment.”

-You won’t see Chinese companies at least in Krasnoyarsk. I decided to accept the petition of the people there.

“Very well, then the province of Krasnoyarsk will be a measure of Siberian development in the future. I will do my best to make it happen in our royal family.”

The Krasnoyarsk region was ten times the size of the Korean Peninsula, slightly smaller than Kazakhstan, and was equivalent to 13 percent of Russia’s total area.

The Krasnoyarsk region was where the Yenisei River flowed, which was connected with the Arctic Ocean.

The Yenisei River was a huge river that stretched 4,130 kilometers.

The Evenki called the river Johannessi (a big river), which was why Youngho put his efforts into the Krasnoyarsk region. A ship that sailed from the Yenisei River through the Arctic Ocean would reach Far East Asia and Europe in only seven days. It was a place where logistics could be moved at any time even without the Trans-Siberian Train.

And the region was estimated to have valuable resources, such as coal and iron, non-ferrous metals and oil and gas as well as Youngho’s favorite gold and diamonds.

-This incident brought the Russian people together. People’s support for the government has also increased a lot.

“I didn’t know the Russians hated China so much.”

-We’re both socialist countries, but we can’t mix like oil and water. Your Highness has taken the lead, and it seems to have ended well.

“That’s not true. All we’ve done is to provide transportation and a little drink to the people who attended the rally.”

-Soon, many of the Chinese companies that have entered Russia will be withdrawn. I hope we can fill the vacancy quickly.

“Don’t worry. Mr. President, we’re going to collect investors and visit Krasnoyarsk soon.”

-Thank you. I’ll visit Krasnoyarsk if my schedule permits.

Putin, who was known for his strong self-respect, thanked Youngho. This probably meant that it was burdensome even for him to abandon Chinese companies.

***

“He left the development of all the forest region of Krasnoyarsk to our royal family?”

Eriksson asked back with a look of disbelief.

“That’s what Putin promised.”

“How can you handle all that?”

“It’s not that big if you exclude the tundra area and the cities around the Yenisei River.”

“Putin’s going to demand it back one day.”

“It’s not ours anyway. Putin offered it because he had the confidence that he can retrieve it at any time.”

“Is there any other thing that caught your eye in the region apart from diamonds and forest resources?”

Eriksson was pinpointing Youngho’s innermost thoughts.

“There is a lot of gold. Chinese companies, too, were digging through the forest to collect gold, and found the diamonds out of the blue.”

“Indeed, it was gold.”

Eriksson seemed to understand Youngho’s interest in the region at once when he heard about gold. Youngho was the one who could wake up in his sleep when someone mentioned gold.

Eriksson’s face made Youngho laugh.

“Hahaha… Do I look like a crazy person?”

“No, I know better than anyone why you’re obsessed with gold.”

Kazakhstan was in the attention of the West, was also because it had a huge reserve of gold.

Germany, not to mention Denmark, was also offering its original technologies to take gold.

“It has a lot of gold as well as minerals, so it is a very attractive place for investment. We’re not going to develop that place only with our own strength. If we have a good business partner, we should do it together.”

“Your Highness, the development of Siberia still has plenty of time. It would be better to develop it within our reach. Wouldn’t Putin hate it if we developed it too aggressively?”

“I have a slightly different opinion. We won’t be able to develop that large area on its own even if a hundred years passed. It runs counter to Putin’s policy of economic development as a top priority. If we attract the right investors, Putin will be relieved.”

***

All living things in the natural world had natural enemies.

The natural balance was achieved by preventing the unbridled reproduction of the other creatures.

Judging from that, it seemed that Kazakhstan was the natural enemy of China.

This was because Kazakhstan had been putting brakes on China’s businesses.

The incident had caused most of China’s development projects in Russia to stop.

Only manufacturing-based businesses remained.

Youngho had no idea that Russia would act so quickly.

It was time for Youngho to show something visibly.

So, he invited representatives from Spain’s ACS Corp., France’s Vinci Corp. and the U.S.’s Bechtel Corp. which were the most active companies in the Trans-Siberian Railway project.

As the project to modernize the Trans-Siberian Train had just started, the expectations for Russia had risen considerably, so when Youngho proposed, they gladly offered to invest in the Siberia development.

This was because investing in Krasnoyarsk was not signing a contract with the Russian government, but with the Kazakh royal family.

The representatives of those companies accompanied by working-level officials rushed to the royal territory. The fact that they were accompanied by working-level officials was that they intended to tour and survey Siberia immediately.

“Mr. Martin. It’s not a direct contract with the Russian government, so the profits would be halved, are you okay with such a disadvantage?”

“I think of it as I’m insured by the Kazakh royal family. It’s hard for us to deal with the Russian government, and we don’t want to invest individually anyway since Russia lacks safety features for foreign investors.”

Martin, CEO of Spain’s ACS, said.

It was the same for the American and French companies.

Although Putin said to reassure foreign investors by enacting a special law, trust issues in Russia still remained.

“Very well. Our royal family won’t take any ill-gotten gains either. I will receive only ten percent of the remaining business profits except for the Russian government’s shares. Instead, I promise to protect you completely from the Russian government.”

“Thank you for your unconventional proposal.”

From the perspective of the investors, it was an unconventional proposal.

For the Kazakh royal family, however, it was like making a profit without touching anyone else’s land.

“We haven`t signed a memorandum of understanding with the Russian government yet, but the Kazakh royal family already has a development area in Krasnoyarsk. If you’d like to see the taiga region, I’ll be happy to show you around.”

“Your Highness will go there in person?”

“I think we should do that. I think President Putin will be there, too.”

“President Putin is quite proactive with this business.”

“He is in great need of foreign investments. That’s because Chinese companies will be pulling out soon.”

“Is that so? Will Chinese companies step down gracefully?”

“Because of all the illegal activities they have committed, they can no longer do development projects in Siberia. The public sentiment is also deteriorating and Putin is forced to let go of them.”

“The idea of listening to the voices of the people in a socialist country…”

“Putin cannot ignore the voices of the people. Although he is a dictator, he is also an elected president.”

“Your Highness, is there any way to take over the Chinese companies that are pulling out?”

Bechtel CEO Johnson asked carefully.

“It won’t be difficult. They’ll probably sell the companies because there’s no guarantee of coming back.”

“Your Highness. Please let me know if you have any information on the Chinese companies in Krasnoyarsk.”

When the staff of the royal family distributed the data collected, the representatives busily scanned it.

This was because it was an opportunity to shorten the time to build new factories if they acquired Chinese companies’ facilities.

All they could do at the moment in Siberia was wood and pulp businesses.

“The forests don’t only have forest resources. There’s a lot of other resources buried.”

They did not seem to be paying attention to Youngho’s words as they were looking through the data.

Youngho, then, made a shocking comment.

“Do you have resource developers in your company’s affiliates? I wish there is a company with any experience in oil drilling.”

Surprised, the representatives who had been relaxing with their legs crossed, pulled themselves right in front of the table.

“Drilling for crude oil? You mean there’s oil buried in Krasnoyarsk?”

“You don’t know yet? We’re going to test-drill the tundra since we’ve heard that there’s a lot of oil and gas.”

“Then there is a possibility that there is oil in the forests of the taiga.”

“We’ll have to wait and see. Are you interested?”