Chapter 112: That Time I Got an Investment Offer in South America

TL: Skye

[NBS 9 O'Clock News]

“Next up. The Caribbean nation of San Marcos has recently been showing remarkable economic growth. Just five years ago, it was the poorest country in Central and South America. So what exactly has been happening there? Correspondent Kim Soyeon reports from San Marcos.”

The screen changed.

A Korean female reporter stood with the blue Caribbean Sea behind her.

“I’m currently standing in Libertad, the capital of San Marcos. As you can see, new storefront signs now line the street behind me. Just one month ago, there was nothing here.”

The camera panned across the street.

New signs were packed together everywhere, Caribbean Foods, Marcos Furniture Workshop, Costa Sewing, Reber Fisheries, and more.

“Just three months after the San Marcos government implemented its private startup investment policy, no fewer than 181 private businesses have opened their doors at the same time. They span a wide range of industries, including furniture, food, garment manufacturing, and seafood. What is particularly noteworthy, however, is their sales.”

The screen switched to a furniture workshop.

Carpenters were bustling about.

“This furniture workshop has accumulated a two-month backlog of orders just three weeks after opening. As the incomes of San Marcos citizens have risen sharply, demand for everyday goods such as furniture and processed foods has exploded.”

The screen returned to the reporter.

“Experts are taking note of San Marcos’s model of economic development. And at the center of it all is its Korean president, Yu-jin Choi. This is Kim Soyeon for NBS News, reporting from Libertad.”

The screen switched back to the studio, and the anchor spoke.

“That was correspondent Kim Soyeon. A Caribbean economic miracle led by a Korean. Naturally, we couldn’t pass up the chance to hear from an expert. Joining us today is Professor Kim Gyeongtae of the Department of Economics at Korea University. Professor, how do you view San Marcos’s economic growth?”

“The state first builds infrastructure and fosters heavy industry to create employment and income, then uses the resulting purchasing power to stimulate the private economy. It’s a textbook model of economic development. In fact, it is quite similar to the path Korea took in the 1960s and 1970s. The difference is that San Marcos is moving much faster. Reaching this point in only five years is an astonishing achievement. It is particularly meaningful that these policies were implemented by a Korean president. In particular, the model of state-led investment into the private sector is, unlike Korea, an extremely progressive policy...”

The day after the news aired.

The Korean internet was in an uproar.

And as always, the hottest place of all was San Gallery.

[San Gallery]

Title: [Breaking] 181 private companies open at once in San Marcos, holy crap

ㄴ Did you watch the news? lol Looks like His Excellency is raising chaebols this time.

ㄴ 181 at the same time lol Is this a country or a startup accelerator?

ㄴ Is it for real that every piece of furniture they make sells immediately? Talk about a blue ocean.

ㄴ Obviously lol It’s a country that didn’t even have furniture stores lol You could go there and sell lemonade and have a monopoly.

ㄴ Fr, there’s basically no competition. Damn.

Title: Apparently the San Marcos People’s PC is about to launch lololol

ㄴ Marcos Tech? The name alone is hilarious lol

ㄴ What are the specs?

ㄴ What do you mean, specs? They import the parts and put them together. It’s basically a Yongsan custom-built PC.

ㄴ But isn’t this actually kind of huge? Korea got its IT industry started with the People’s PC too.

ㄴ Fr, His Excellency is straight-up copy-pasting Korea’s economic development.

Title: San Marcos package tour just dropped

ㄴ Apparently a local travel agency called Caribbean Travel opened up. Five nights, six days.

ㄴ The itinerary lol Presidential Palace tour → Caribbean beach → steel mill observation deck → tortilla farm experience

ㄴ Damn, I seriously want to go lol Can we see His Excellency?

ㄴ It says exterior viewing of the Presidential Palace. You can only see it from outside.

ㄴ ㄴㄴApparently if you’re lucky, you might even get an autograph.

ㄴ Still, you’d be seeing the actual building His Excellency is in (emotional)

ㄴ I want to send my mom and dad. If they come out with a middle-aged and senior package, I’m booking it immediately.

Title: They have a newspaper now lol

ㄴ Libertad Daily. Apparently it’s San Marcos’s first privately owned media outlet.

ㄴ A reporter from the state broadcaster quit and started it.

ㄴ Involuntary democracy lolol

ㄴ Involuntary freedom of the press lololol

Title: Serious) When is His Excellency retiring?

ㄴ Never.

ㄴ At this point, isn’t he literally unable to?

ㄴ Stay strong, Your Excellency ㅠㅠ We’re cheering for you.

ㄴ Don’t cheer for him, go do his work instead lol

At the same time.

There were also eyes watching San Marcos from the other side of the world.

Beijing.

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A report on San Marcos had been placed on the desk of the department responsible for Latin America.

[Analysis of San Marcos’s Economic Conditions — Private-Sector Expansion and Infrastructure Development Trends]

After reading the report, the officer reported to his superior.

“I believe this warrants another review.”

His superior, Chen Hao, Deputy Director of the Latin America Bureau, took the report and opened it.

San Marcos was not a name he was hearing for the first time.

It had been quite some time since the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs began paying attention to the small country.

San Marcos was located at the southern end of the Caribbean Sea.

The Caribbean was often called America’s backyard.

It was only two hours south of Florida by air and close to the Panama Canal.

If the Chinese navy could secure a foothold in the Caribbean, it would be no different from driving a wedge into America’s southern defensive line.

Of course, a military base was still a distant prospect, but merely establishing a friendly government would have considerable diplomatic value.

Venezuela, Nicaragua.

China already had several friendly countries in the Caribbean and Latin America.

But San Marcos differed from those nations in one decisive respect.

It was growing.

Mexico was stagnating, Venezuela was collapsing, and Nicaragua was isolated.

Even Maduro of Venezuela had ended up being captured by the United States.

San Marcos, on the other hand, was growing rapidly, posting double-digit growth every year.

Infrastructure was being built, industries were taking root, and education was spreading.

Establishing ties with a country like this could create not merely a diplomatic ally, but a genuine economic partner.

That was why China had established an embassy in San Marcos early on and watched from the sidelines.

Of course, there were reasons it had not approached San Marcos aggressively until now.

First, San Marcos’s politics had been unstable.

There was no knowing how long a government that had seized power in a coup would last.

Invest too early and a change of regime could wipe everything out.

China had made that mistake several times in Africa.

Second, there was a chance San Marcos would come to China on its own.

Developing countries needed money to build infrastructure, and once they needed money, they inevitably ended up reaching out to China.

There would be no harm in waiting until then and entering on more favorable terms.

Waiting had been China’s strategy.

But.

The situation was changing.

San Marcos had built its infrastructure on its own without China’s help.

It had signed an FTA with Korea, attracted capital, and built a steel mill and an oil refinery.

A nuclear power plant was even under construction.

And now, it had begun activating its private economy as well.

One hundred eighty-one businesses had opened simultaneously, and a consumer market was taking shape.

At this rate, within ten years San Marcos would possess an economy too large to ignore in Latin America.

By then, San Marcos would have no reason to take China’s hand.

Chen Hao closed the report and looked at the officer.

“We need to move before it’s too late.”

“How should we approach them?”

“We need to establish a relationship under the pretext of infrastructure investment.”

Chen Hao rose from his chair as he spoke.

“Propose an expansion of the port. San Marcos’s current port capacity cannot handle its increasing trade volume. They must know that themselves. And tell them we’ll build a railway as well. They’ve built highways, but they still don’t have rail lines.”

The officer finished taking notes and asked.

“There is one concern. President Yu-jin Choi is Korean. He may be wary of China.”

Chen Hao gave a faint chuckle.

“I’m sure he is. But this isn’t a matter of emotion. It’s a matter of interests.”

Chen Hao looked out the window.

Beijing’s gray sky.

“The leader of a small country ultimately has to walk a tightrope between great powers. Rely solely on the United States, and eventually you lose the ability to refuse its demands. Establish relations with China as well, and you gain leverage to play the two sides against each other.”

Chen Hao turned around and continued.

“There’s no way Yu-jin Choi doesn’t understand that. He’s a clever man who managed to build San Marcos up this far.”

“Wouldn’t that make him even more cautious and likely to refuse?”

“He may refuse for now. But we still need to plant the seed. If he rejects us this time, we can make another offer later. The more San Marcos grows, the greater its demand for infrastructure will become, and greater demand means it will need options.”

Chen Hao gave the officer his instructions.

“Contact Ambassador Liu in Venezuela. Tell him to arrange a meeting.”

---

The next day.

Presidential Palace of San Marcos,

“Your Excellency, China has requested a meeting.”

At Isabella’s report, I tilted my head.

“Who?”

“Liu Weiming, the Chinese Ambassador to Venezuela. As far as I know, he was appointed fairly recently.”

“Did they say what it was about?”

“Only that they wished to discuss economic cooperation.”

Economic cooperation.

That was an interesting phrase.

“Well... tell them that’s fine.”

“Yes, then I’ll arrange an appointment.”

But then...

“What? Today?”

Apparently, they were in more of a hurry than I thought.

Only six hours after giving Isabella the instruction, I found myself sitting across from Ambassador Liu.

Dressed in a neat suit with silver-rimmed glasses, he wore the smooth smile characteristic of a career diplomat.

“Your Excellency, President Yu-jin Choi, it is an honor to meet you. I am Liu Weiming, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China.”

Fluent Spanish.

Since I had learned both Portuguese and Spanish, we began the conversation without an interpreter.

“A pleasure, Ambassador. Please, sit.”

Once Ambassador Liu took a seat on the sofa, Isabella brought out coffee.

“I’ll get straight to the point.”

“Please do.”

“San Marcos’s recent economic development has been extremely impressive. My government has also been watching it with great interest.”

“Thank you.”

“The pace of your infrastructure development and industrialization is particularly remarkable. Outside of China, it is difficult to find a country that has achieved this much in only five years.”

Sneaking his own country into the compliment. Typical Chinese diplomat.

I smiled and nodded.

“You flatter me.”

“Not at all. For that reason, the Chinese government would like to begin significantly expanding economic cooperation with San Marcos.”

Ambassador Liu removed a document from his briefcase.

It was a neatly bound proposal.

The cover bore both Chinese and Spanish text.

[Belt and Road Initiative Cooperation Framework — Infrastructure Development Assistance Plan for San Marcos]

The Belt and Road Initiative.

一帶一路.

The moment I saw those words, my guard went up.

“As Your Excellency is aware, the Belt and Road Initiative is China’s global infrastructure development project. We support infrastructure construction in developing countries throughout Asia, Africa, and Latin America.”

Ambassador Liu opened the proposal.

“Specifically, we would like to make three proposals.”

Ambassador Liu raised three fingers.

“First, an expansion of your port. Libertad Port is currently quite small. China can provide the capital and technology needed to expand it into a major container port. Alternatively, we could build an entirely new port for you.”

“Second, we will build a high-speed railway. Your highways may be complete, but they are insufficient for connecting the entire country. If you grant us permission, our construction companies will lay rail lines throughout San Marcos and establish a high-speed rail network.”

“Third, we will provide long-term loans at an annual interest rate of approximately 2 percent. The repayment period will be thirty years. These terms are designed to minimize the burden on San Marcos’s finances.”

Ambassador Liu smiled.

“China sincerely supports the development of San Marcos.”

Partner.

It had a nice ring to it.

The proposal itself wasn’t bad either.

Expanding the port was something we genuinely needed, and high-speed rail was something we really did need.

On top of that, a long-term loan at 2 percent annual interest was an exceptionally generous offer.

But.

I knew the rules of this game.

Sri Lanka’s Hambantota Port.

It had been built with loans from China’s Belt and Road Initiative, but when Sri Lanka could not repay the debt, it had to hand over control of the port to China on a ninety-nine-year lease.

Pakistan’s Gwadar Port was much the same.

Laos, Zambia, Djibouti.

The countries that had accepted China’s generous support had all ended up in similar positions.

A debt trap.

They called it a partnership at first, but once the debt could no longer be repaid, sovereignty started changing hands.

Port operating rights, mining rights, land-use rights. China wasn’t lending countries money. It was buying the countries themselves.

‘They even use nothing but Chinese workers for the construction.’

There was no reason to fall for it.

That didn’t mean I needed to antagonize them either.

“It’s a very interesting proposal. What do you expect in return for the investment?”

"Nothing particularly significant. Simply close relations with our country and an appropriate equity stake commensurate with our investment."

I kept smiling as I replied.

“I like the proposal, but cooperation on this scale requires careful consideration. I’ll review it thoroughly and give you an answer.”

Ambassador Liu nodded.

“Of course. There is no need to rush. China is prepared to wait.”

Prepared to wait.

Put another way, that also meant they had no intention of giving up.

“It was a pleasure, Ambassador.”

“The pleasure was mine. Once again, Your Excellency, I commend you for your accomplishments.”

“I’ll give you an answer as soon as possible.”

“Thank you.”

I smiled as I shook his hand.

*****

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