Chapter 1034: Diverging Opinions
It was not only the reporters present or the netizens watching the live broadcast that were focused on the press conference, but top government officials around world also kept a close eye on the progress.
Not many developed countries in the world welcomed immigrants; the number was even smaller for developed countries that welcomed Hua immigrants, and Xin was one of them. The top officials of Hua did not expect that the palm-sized country would have replaced the UA in just four years, becoming the first choice of destination for immigrants.
The most unbelievable thing was that although they have raised the threshold of immigration several times, the number of Hua immigrants in Xin increased every year. In the past four years, the average number of immigration out of Hua reached 1.25 million, an increase of nearly one million compared with the previous four years. Of the 1.25 million people, 80% of immigrants chose Xin as their second home.
What was even more incredible was Xin’s government and Celestial Trade’s att.i.tude toward immigrants. They didn’t seem to care about the security and economic problems that may arise from the influx of immigrants. They seemed to always find ways to digest these fast-growing populations. So far, Xin economy did not show any sign of weakness but was thriving with prosperity.
As for security, it was even more remarkable. No criminals and terrorists exist there. Occasionally, a few robbers would smuggle into the country but were quickly tracked down by law enforcement drones, waiting to ambush them in the darkness of streets and teach them a lesson on how to properly behave.
Needless to say, the name of Lunar City also gained the support of many Han. Not only because of the intimate feeling brought by its name, but also the cultural ident.i.ty that is stronger than a blood connection. However, not everyone was pleased with the status quo.
“Humph! Lunar City? This time it is Lunar City. What is it next time? If they are not restricted, they will create a Heaven City?”
In a quaint tea room, a man with a square face said with a gloomy expression on his face.
At this moment, the head of the top ten families has gathered here. Even the w.a.n.g family, who fell from the position of power, sat in front of the long table. Although none of them were still in power, all of them were inextricably linked to the center of power. Although their opinions didn’t represent the opinions of the Republic, they could at least represent the opinions of some important people…
For example, the man with a square face was Zhao Youyong, the head of the Zhao family. The two giants, Hua Aluminum and Hua Telecom, were controlled by the Zhao family. The former was a leading enterprise in the production of rare earths, and the latter was a large state-owned communication giant, demonstrating the family’s wide influence.
The reason why he held a prejudice against Xin was because the rare earth produced from the Moon impacted the rare earth market in Hua. Under the banner of Hua Aluminum, the Zhao family constantly smuggled rare earth metal and profited for foreign companies. However, because of Future Mining’s rare earth deposits in the ocean and on the Moon, it squeezed into the market and further reduced the export price of rare earths. This resulted in at least billions of losses for the Zhao family every year.
Zhao Youyong’s speech received support from some people, but only some people.
Liu Xiangguo put the teacup down and began to act as the mediator,
“If they like the name, we can’t stop them, right? Since the people like it, let them call it that. Anyway, we won’t lose anything.”
It’s not the Liu family that lost.
Although Zhao Youyang thought this, he only sneered and didn’t answer. If other people said this, he could reb.u.t.tal, but not against Liu Xiangguo. The Zhao family didn’t have the cleanest record, so he didn’t need to offend people over commentary.
Future Mining’s entry into Hua’s rare earth market indeed harmed the interests of the country, but objectively speaking, the damage was actually limited. Although monopolizing the global market for rare earth exports, Hua never gained the pricing power of rare earth materials. The cost for sustainable mining and the cost for one-time excavation was night and day. The rare earth materials sold at a large discount naturally didn’t come from sustainable sources. This became a tool for some people to fill their own pockets and resulted in a loss of more than ten billion US Dollars a year for the country.
However, everything has two sides. Originally, it was a way to earn foreign exchange and join the WTO, so the country didn’t control the export volume of rare earths. Now the country became the second largest economy, Hua didn’t need the money anymore, but the rare earth materials problem couldn’t be effectively managed.
“I feel that we need to introduce a stricter visa review bill, especially for travelers to Xin. There are more and more people immigrating to Xin, and most of these people are highly educated talents. I am worried that it will have an impact on our economic environment.” Another elder raised a very practical problem.
“I agree,” Zhao Youyong said immediately. “It is one thing thing to strengthen the cultural ties between the two countries. But there should be a certain limit for everything. Now that this is going to be more harmful than beneficial, it is necessary to begin managing this issue!”
“What’s the problem? We have a lot of people.” Ye Qinghua sipped his tea and smiled. “When the British people ran to the Americas, no one stopped them from going out, right? We can’t control everything and let the West make fun of us.”
Zhao Youyong glanced at Ye Qinghua with a gloomy expression. The Zhao family never had a friendly relations.h.i.+p with the Ye family. Now Ye Qinghua’s open disagreement made him quite dissatisfied.
However, Elder Ye did not care about his att.i.tude. After he finished speaking, he started to enjoy his tea again.
With the help of Celestial, Hua Aeros.p.a.ce Group achieved rapid growth and development. As a representative that obtained the rights for asteroid mining, the Ye family naturally rose in importance. Ye Qinghua didn’t have a problem with Jiang Chen at all. The only regret was his granddaughter and Jiang Chen did not become a couple.
“Okay, there is no point for us to discuss this here. We are just chatting and let’s not hurt any relations.h.i.+ps because of this.” Seeing it was about time, Liu Xiangguo started to mediate and comfort Zhao Youyong.
From the start of the tea party to now, they have been discussing Celestial Trade for almost half an hour, but they didn’t reach any conclusions. This situation was quite rare. But for Liu Xiangguo, it was already the best result he could antic.i.p.ate.
Then, someone asked a very practical question.
“If the United Nations wants to vote on the legitimacy of the Xin’s sovereign right of the city, how should we vote?”
The middle-aged man, who was sitting at the head of the table that didn’t speak a word, spoke slowly.
“Abstain.”
Liu Xiangguo was stilling smiling while drinking his tea as if he had already expected this. Ye Qinghua secretly let out a sigh of relief. Neutrality is always the most conservative choice. Zhao Youyong’s expression was still dark, making it difficult for people to read him.
With their own thoughts, this tea party continued.
The same discussion, in different forms, happened all over the world. The UA Capitol was in a fierce debate at the start of the press conference. They even held a cabinet meeting to discuss how to deal with Celestial Trade’s aggressive expansion on the Moon.
But regardless of their conclusion, Celestial Trade would not make any changes.
In a round of sincere or fake applauses, Celestial Trade’s press conference came to an end.