"Why?" Upon hearing this answer, Duan Yongping became furious. He rarely lost control like this.
"Sir, please calm down. These matters are clearly stated in the regulations. As for the reason, it's naturally because we are the China Electronic Technology Industry Alliance, and with the title 'China' in our name, we naturally only accept Chinese citizens and Chinese enterprises as members."
"I, Duan Yongping, was born in China, grew up in China, and China's blood flows in my veins. By what right do you say I am not Chinese?" Duan Yongping said angrily.
"But your nationality is clearly American."
"Nationality is just a symbol, merely for the convenience of doing business. It doesn't represent anything. I, Duan Yongping, am a true Chinese!" Duan Yongping declared furiously. The young lady from Jiangnan Group was completely stunned.
"Who is shouting so loudly here? It turns out to be Boss Duan!" a voice said calmly, and then someone walked out.
"Who are you?"
"I am Liu Xiangjiang, Vice President of Jiangnan Group!" Liu Xiangjiang introduced himself.
"So it's President Liu. I've heard of your reputation!" Duan Yongping nodded slightly. He knew Liu Xiangjiang, a senior executive at Jiangnan Group responsible for their crucial blind box business, essentially the third-in-command.
"You're too kind. I'm just wondering why Boss Duan is shouting here? Doesn't it seem beneath your status!" Liu Xiangjiang said.
"Very well, since President Liu is here, I'll speak directly. You refuse to let me join the alliance. This reflects your company's attitude in creating this alliance, doesn't it? Are you trying to keep me, someone who proactively wants to join, a thousand miles away?" Duan Yongping questioned.
"Oh, is that so? Let me inquire!" Liu Xiangjiang spoke briefly with the female staff member, then nodded. "I understand the situation. Our staff did nothing wrong. Mr. Duan, since your nationality is American, you do not meet our alliance's regulations. Refusing your membership is entirely reasonable."
"I've already said, I am not American, I am Chinese. It's just a tool; it doesn't represent anything. As long as the blood of Yan Huang's descendants flows within me, I am Chinese!" Duan Yongping gritted out.
"However, China does not recognize dual nationality!" Liu Xiangjiang shook his head. "Since China doesn't recognize dual nationality, a person can only have one nationality. Since your passport states you are an American citizen, then you are currently American."
"I have no time for your nonsense. Have Huang He speak with me!" Duan Yongping said.
"Alright, I'll make a call to ask the boss if he's willing to see Mr. Duan!" Liu Xiangjiang said. He then dialed Huang He's number in front of Duan Yongping, explained the entire situation, nodded, and hung up. "Mr. Duan, our chairman said that since you consider yourself Chinese, he can hold your membership application. You can also attend the upcoming meeting. As long as you renounce your American citizenship within three months, he will retain your founding member status. What do you think?"
"..." Duan Yongping's expression was somewhat awkward. Although he had vehemently proclaimed himself Chinese moments ago, when Huang He proposed he give up his American citizenship, he hesitated.
American citizenship was not easily obtained. He had gone through great lengths to acquire it. Becoming an American citizen and now giving it up for an alliance? How could that be possible?
"I said, nationality is just a symbol, a tool for doing business. Why must your company relentlessly pursue and make things difficult over nationality?" Duan Yongping said with a hint of helplessness.
"Mr. Duan, if nationality is just a symbol, then why are you reluctant to switch back to Chinese nationality? After all, it's just a symbol.
Of course, you could say it's a tool, because American nationality offers more preferential treatment and benefits for doing business domestically."
"But have you ever considered that by holding American citizenship, you must pay taxes to the United States? And the taxes you pay to America might ultimately become a force to counter China?" Liu Xiangjiang retorted.
"Please don't engage in such ideological escalation," Duan Yongping said angrily.
"This is not ideological escalation. This is the difference between being Chinese and American. You can ask, 50 years ago, for those martyrs who shed blood in Korea, was American nationality merely a symbol? And were the taxes you paid ultimately turned into bullets fired at our martyrs!" Liu Xiangjiang suddenly opened his eyes wide and rebuked.
His gaze was sharp, like two swords. Duan Yongping, startled, took two steps back, suddenly losing the desire to debate further, and also any inclination to join the alliance. He merely cursed "madman" and then left the meeting site in a rather disheveled state with his entourage.
"Little brat, I can still handle you," Liu Xiangjiang snorted coldly. He came from a military family; his father and grandfather had been heroes who set foot on that battlefield 50 years ago. He possessed a military spirit and could not tolerate people like Duan Yongping who considered nationality a mere symbol.
Teacher Ma said it well: capitalists have no nationality. He now deeply understood this.
"However, our Boss Huang is an exception. I've never seen such a red and expert capitalist in my life!" Liu Xiangjiang muttered to himself.
---
"Brother-in-law, will doing this upset many people domestically? And perhaps internationally as well..." Duan Yongping was unaware that everything that had just happened had been clearly observed by Huang He from the second floor, and Liu Xiangjiang was also acting on Huang He's instructions to handle the issue.
"We don't need to worry about people domestically. Those who will be upset by this are likely the ones with divided loyalties. It serves them right if they're angered to death. Anyway, the alliance is primarily about our Jiangnan Group fostering certain enterprises. It's best if these people leave in anger; I only want to support enterprises that love their country!" Huang He said with a smile.
"What about abroad?"
"Don't worry about foreign affairs. Even if they find out, they won't do much. They'll just dismiss my words as a joke!" Huang He said.
"A joke..." Leng Zhiruo's heart suddenly trembled.
"Precisely. In the eyes of those foreign enterprises, our Jiangnan Group is essentially a joke!" Huang He stated calmly. "To give a simple example, imagine a mouse fighting an elephant. If the mouse says, 'I will defeat you,' and you are the elephant, wouldn't you find the mouse incredibly comical? Would you take the mouse's threat seriously?"
"So we are just a mouse!" Leng Zhiruo said with a wry smile.
"Yes, currently, we are indeed a mouse. No elephant pays attention to us. But who could have predicted that the Chinese zodiac has no elephant, yet it has a mouse, and it's the first in line?"
The "mouse" analogy, Huang He himself was not pleased with, but the reality was thus. However, precisely because of this, Huang He had at least several years to develop his Jiangnan Group.
At 3:00 PM on August 10, 2003, the founding conference of the China Electronic Technology Industry Alliance finally entered its final phase. Unlike the initial attendance of nearly 2,000 enterprises and individuals, only over 600 units and enterprises remained in the venue. Indeed, two-thirds had chosen to leave.
But Huang He was indifferent. Their absence from the alliance was not a loss for Jiangnan Group, but their own loss. This would become abundantly clear in the future.
Following this, Huang He officially announced the establishment of the China Electronic Technology Industry Alliance at the conference. All units and individuals who submitted their membership applications today officially became founding member units of the China Electronic Technology Industry Alliance, totaling 612.
Of course, the total number of these 612 units was not static. Due to various reasons, this number was bound to decrease continuously in the future.
However, this number would only decrease, not increase. The charter clearly stated that only those who participated in today's conference, submitted their membership applications during the meeting, and were approved to join the alliance could possess the title of founding member.
Subsequently, regardless of their status or strength, other units or individuals who joined the alliance could not obtain the founding member title. This was a completely exclusive honor.
As founding members, they possessed numerous benefits.
Firstly, founding members automatically qualified for the alliance's standing committee.
The alliance's standing committee was the highest administrative body responsible for all alliance matters. Unless there were exceptional circumstances, the alliance would hold a standing committee meeting once a year. During this meeting, various alliance affairs for the year would be decided, the future development direction of the alliance would be determined, and several standing executive boards would be elected through voting, holding the ultimate authority of the alliance.
The committee was set at a total of 899 seats. All 612 founding members had fixed seats, while the remaining seats would be filled based on their contributions to the alliance throughout the year.
Thus, this was the ultimate benefit of being a founding member: maintaining a position at the center of the alliance's power. Those who joined later would have to rely on their contributions to the alliance.
In addition to qualification for the standing committee, founding members also enjoyed advantages regarding membership fees. As previously mentioned, the alliance would deduct 0.05% of all funds transacted through the alliance as development funds.
However, this 0.05% was for founding members. New members joining later would be required to pay at a rate of 0.06%. Although it was only a 0.01% difference, any increase was significant and greatly benefited the cohesion of the founding members.
Additionally, there were over 10 other detailed privileges that allowed founding members to tangibly feel the advantages of their status.
Of course, it was not entirely impossible for later entrants to acquire the status of founding member. There were loopholes that could be exploited to obtain this status.
This method involved acquiring a unit that already held founding member status, or having an individual founding member become a key figure such as a chairman or president of a company. Through this, the later entrant could equally possess the privileges of a founding member.
This loophole appeared very obvious and should have been closed immediately, but on the contrary, it was a deliberate omission by Huang He.
After all, the new always surpasses the old. If later enterprises or units were never given a pathway to obtain founding member status, these newcomers might resort to disruptive actions within the alliance.
By leaving them an avenue for advancement, there would be no need to worry about them trying to sabotage the alliance.