Chapter 1450: Sugar Cube Diplomacy
In the early morning of February 10th, a silver-white jet landed on the runway of Coro International Airport.
Surrounded by a group of men and women in suit, Trump walked down the gangway with his head held high, waved to the cameras on both sides, and went up to Zhang Yaping. He smiled and shook hands with him. No matter how tense the relation between the two countries, they still had to appear friendly.
“On behalf of the people of Xin, welcome.”
“Thank you. On behalf of the people of the UA, I would like to express my grat.i.tude to you for your warm welcome…” After Trump let go of Zhang Yaping’s right hand, he looked around the airport, “Why do I feel… There seems to be someone missing here?”
“What do you mean?” Zhang Yaping asked.
“Jiang Chen.”
“Oh, you mean Mr. Jiang,” Zhang Yaping said with a smile. “He is waiting for you in Future Building.”
Trump raised an eyebrow.
Obviously, he was a little surprised by the fact that Jiang Chen did not show up to greet him at the airport.
But at any rate, he was also a well-known celebrity on talk shows. This kind of small awkwardness was normal for Trump, so he didn’t mind at all. After a brief conversation with Zhang Yaping, he went to the Xin Presidential Palace along with the senior officials from Xin.
…
At noon, Xin Presidential Palace had set up a state banquet in the Heart of the Sea to welcome the delegation from UA.
The state banquet was not particularly pleasant. He constantly sipped on the wine while he searched in the banquet hall for Jiang Chen’s presence. However, the situation made him feel awkward again. It seemed that Jiang Chen did not plan to discuss sensitive issues with him in front of the media, so he did not attend the banquet at all.
At last, it was the end of the state banquet. Trump delegated the afternoon visit to the Xin Presidential Palace to his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson as he headed to the Future Building on the other side of Coro City.
At last, they met.
He finally met Jiang Chen in the meeting room of Future Building.
“I have been looking forward to this meeting for a long time ago. I didn’t expect it to be difficult to meet you,” Trump walked into the room, then said while he looked at Jiang Chen in front of the table.
“I just don’t want our conversation to be on someone’s talk show. According to my observations, compared to when you are in front of the camera, you are calmer in a place without it.” Jiang Chen smiled politely, made a gesture to Trump to invite him to take a seat, “It’s better for us, isn’t it?”
Trump pulled out a chair and sat down.
“Let the guest come to the door by themselves, is this the way you treat your guest?”
“You and Zhang Yaping are both presidents. It doesn’t seem to be impolite to let him greet you.” Jiang Chen smiled.
“Really?” Trump raised an eyebrow, and said in a meaningful tone, “Who doesn’t know that Zhang Yaping is a puppet.”
“It doesn’t matter whether he is a puppet or not, he also relied on votes to get to his current position,” Jiang Chen said, “Just like you.”
Trump was about to refute, but he found what Jiang Chen said made sense.
He also rose to power because of votes from the people of the UA.
Except that when Jiang Chen compared him to a puppet president, it still made him feel unpleasant.
Dear G.o.d, I became president because of my own abilities!
For now, Mr. Trump was still unaware of the roles Morgan and Rockefeller played behind this election.
“Enough of the nonsense, your time and my time are both precious, there is no need to waste it on irrelevant topics,” Trump waved his hand impatiently, then continued, “If you have no objection, let’s just get to today’s topic.”
If there were reporters standing here, he would still be interested in taking a tough stance and banter with Jiang Chen. However, since all the reporters and cameras were stopped downstairs at the door of Future Building, he lost his desire to act tough.
“I agree with your point of view.” Jiang Chen smiled.
“Very well, let’s talk about the mess in Colombia first. I ask you to immediately…”
Jiang Chen lifted his right hand and interrupted Trump’s speech.
“If we continue to talk like this, there will be no results. I seem to know how today’s meeting will end, with no agreement reached between us. So, since you and I are both businessmen, I think you are tired of the way politicians do things. Why don’t we change to a negotiation method that you and I are both familiar with?” Jiang Chen smiled and pointed to the porcelain plate in front of Trump, “Do you see the sugar cubes there?”
Trump raised his eyebrows, slightly narrowed his eyes, and stared at the small plate of sugar cubes on the table, as if he was trying to decipher the mystery behind the sugar cubes.
But regardless of how he looked at them, they were just ordinary sugar cubes.
“Now we have the same amount of chips, ten sugar cubes in total,”
Jiang Chen pointed to the porcelain plate in front of him and smiled, “We each put forward an equivalent final proposal, which is worth ten chips. After both parties confirm, the game starts. Each round, both parties propose a reciprocal offer, and then we place our bets separately. The proposal with the higher bet gets pa.s.sed, and the chip is paid to the opponent, and the opponent’s proposal is rejected. The pa.s.sed proposal cannot be bet on again, but the rejected proposal can be bet on again.”
“What are the criteria for winning or losing?” Trump asked.
“There is no victory or defeat. This is the purpose of the game. It’s to avoid us wasting time on meaningless arguments. When one party loses all the sugar cubes, the other party uses ten sugar cubes to directly acquire the other party’s final proposal, and the game ends.” Jiang Chen laughed and spread out his hands. “The final proposal on my side is that the UA unconditionally joins the Earth Defense Alliance. Of course, we can make you a major member state. Now, it’s your turn.”
“Celestial Trade joins Trump Group. This is my final proposal.” Trump laughed and pushed the stack of sugar cubes out, “Let’s get started quickly.”
“Mr. Trump, you are wasting time.” Jiang Chen looked at the rogue expression on Trump’s face, let out a sigh, and said unhurriedly, “I said it very clearly. After both parties agree that the final proposals are equivalent, then we can get started. To show my sincerity, I have put forward my final proposal first. If you insist on putting your whimsical proposal on the negotiation table, then I can only regret to announce that this is the end of the negotiation and the game is over.”
All proposals had to be realistic. All word games were meaningless, and there were no loopholes. In each round, if any party was dissatisfied with the other party’s proposal, the game could be terminated unilaterally. Therefore, boring proposals such as “jumping out of the window” and “paying one trillion dollars” were just a waste of time.
Trump’s eyes narrowed slightly and he sat up straight.
He stared at the porcelain plate full of sugar cubes for a moment as his eyebrows gradually showed a hint of interest.
“Interesting.”
Although the game in itself did not end in victory or defeat, victory or defeat did exist in the outcome.
The two parties would put forward a final proposal, then the ultimate goal would be to use as few chips as possible to pa.s.s as many proposals as possible, and finally use all twenty cubes of sugar to make the other party compromise on the final proposal.
This involved an issue, that was, how much chips had to be spent on a particular issue. If one party deliberately raises in order to win the opponent’s chips, then the risk was that the other party could not call, and the chips would be wasted on less “meaningful” proposals.
Both parties had to guess the price in the other party’s mind while at the same time, give an evaluation, and the ten sugar cubes were the only things with equivalent value on the table.
A diplomatic negotiation was abstracted into an intuitive transaction. Through this method, it did spare a lot of meaningless arguments. Both parties would only need to use their chips instead of speaking.
There was a look of realization in Trump’s eyes.
He had read the essence of this game.
“Then what is your final proposal?” Jiang Chen smiled.
“The Earth Defense Alliance is incorporated into the United Nations framework,” after a moment of pause, Trump continued, “Similarly, we can promise you a seat as a permanent member of the council.”
After Trump finished, he looked at the silent Jiang Chen as he waited for a response.
If Jiang Chen believed this proposal could be negotiated, then their negotiation could officially begin. If Jiang Chen did not believe this negotiation would ever get accepted, and the Earth Defense Alliance would not be incorporated under the United Nations, then there was no need for the two sides to continue their talks.
This “game” would only begin when both parties agreed that the proposals were equivalent.
“Very well, I see your sincerity. At least you didn’t make those whimsical requests again,” Without letting Trump wait too long, Jiang Chen nodded slowly and smiled, “Then, since we’ve already reached a consensus on the ‘price’ of the chips, let us start our game.”