Hong Kong Island: From a small stall to a global supplier

In theory, the State Council's Honglu Temple serves the national system, not any individual or group, just as American police have no obligation to protect civilians.

But theory is theory; the core of capitalist countries is still capital, and Rio Tinto is controlled by Anglo-Australian capital.

The top eight individual products by export value from Australia are: iron ore, coal, natural gas, gold, aluminum ore, beef, crude oil, and copper ore.

Rio Tinto's position in Australia is self-evident; it would be no problem for them to exert influence over the Honglu Temple in China.

Therefore, the Hong Lu Temple in Australia immediately contacted the Lao-Chinese community to file a complaint and make negotiations.

I heard that some people from my hometown had become pirates and hijacked a cargo ship from Australia. My hometown was quite shocked. Of course, we didn't jump to conclusions immediately. People at this level always know that things should be done slowly and deliberately.

Moreover, the person being complained about is 'Wang Yaotang,' who is on the Honglu Temple's list of people under close surveillance, so they have to be even more cautious.

An internal meeting was quickly held, and information about Wang Yaotang was reviewed and analyzed. His business spanned Southeast Asia, and he was developing two major projects: "Tuen Mun Harbour" and "Pattaya Tourism City." He was a super-rich man with assets exceeding HK$50 billion and had a great influence in Hong Kong, Macau, and Siam.

"How could such a super-rich person possibly do something like piracy?"

"Nonsense!"

"Exactly, it's very possible that someone did it in his name, or that his subordinates did it secretly."

For many years, the maritime issues that the Honglu Temple has dealt with have always involved people from their hometowns being robbed or attacked while abroad. It has always been the same, and it has never changed. When did Chinese people become able to act so arrogantly and commit such robbery-like acts abroad?

Impossible, absolutely impossible!
It's not that I don't want to, but that I simply can't!
Of course, we still need to contact Wang Yaotang in Hong Kong about this. They are all 'old friends,' and it would be best if he were to clarify things quickly since he has been misunderstood.

They said they would notify them immediately, and they even went through the Honglu Temple's route, but it still took a full hour to get through.

Modern people probably can't imagine how difficult it was to make international calls back then; International Direct Dialing (IDD) service wasn't available until 1991.

Currently, the system relies entirely on manual call transfers, and limited technology results in complex call processes and unstable call quality.

Local users need to register for a long-distance number through the local post office, and the operator will transfer the request to the provincial long-distance exchange center, and then transfer the signal to the international exchange.

International exchange bureaus connect with foreign operators via satellite communication or a small number of submarine cables (such as the early TAT-1 cable which only carried 36 telephone lines). Due to the extremely small line capacity, manual coordination with the exchange center in the target country is required. The entire process may involve 3-5 manual transfers and often requires waiting for several hours or even a day to get connected.

Even now, in Shenzhen, which is only a short distance from Hong Kong, long-distance calls still require a transfer to Guangzhou, and can take several hours.

Currently, only the Shekou Industrial Zone in China has a microwave communication system, which was established in 81. It has 60 lines that can directly dial Hong Kong, and the call only takes about 20 seconds.

The reason why Shenxianjin was easily wiped out by Wang Yaotang was because of communication problems; they really couldn't get any news.

If international communications in Beijing are so difficult, one can only imagine how difficult it is in a remote and isolated place like Shan State. To this day, the outside world is still unaware of the conflict, let alone Wang Yaotang's deep involvement and his personal delivery of incendiary bombs.

The small meeting at the Court of State Ceremonial had long since ended, but Director Chen, who was in charge of the matter, finally contacted his colleagues in Hong Kong an hour later and spoke into the microphone for a while, getting a rough word out.

Whether the Hong Kong side didn't hear clearly or not, they blurted out, "What? Wang Yaotang has been exposed?"

Director Chen froze for a moment, blinked, picked up the receiver and looked at it with disbelief, "What did you say? We've been exposed?"

"Didn't you say that Wang Yaotang's hijacking of the ship was discovered by the people in Australia?"

"When did I say he hijacked the ship? It was people from Australia who complained. What do you mean by that? Wang Yaotang wouldn't have actually done that, would he?"

"Uh...I don't know."

"I don't know what you're saying, but this is incredibly irresponsible of you!"

"No, let me explain. Wang Yaotang, he does things in a rather unusual way."

"What do you mean?"

"I've heard, I've heard, but there's no definite news. It's rumored in the business world that when he was fighting with Lü Zhihe, he intercepted several cargo ships from Taiwan transporting stone ore at sea. He also owns a security company, which is full of retired crew-cut men from our area."

"Huh?" Director Chen was completely stunned. No, when did there become such an awesome Chinese person overseas?
It's not that there aren't any who are successful abroad; several have even become presidents, but the nature of those cases is completely different.

"So you mean he did it?"

"I never said that!"

Government departments must be responsible for their words.

"Okay, why don't you talk to him and confirm the situation first?"

After hanging up the phone, Director Chen sat in his office in a daze for a long time. The information in the hands of the Court of State Ceremonial was wrong; the situation was too different from the reality!
This is actually normal. Let alone foreign sources, even within China, how those below see Heshen is a different story from those above...

Director Chen wasn't in a hurry to report it; he would wait for confirmation first.

Meanwhile, Shi Qingyun in Hong Kong contacted Wei Tao immediately, and after going through a lot of twists and turns, finally met Wang Yaotang.

Leaving aside the polite greetings, Shi Qingyun got to the point.

Wang Yaotang said with a smile, "I am definitely Chinese, that's beyond doubt, but according to my passport, I am a Briton, and a first-class passport at that. Legally speaking, shouldn't this kind of accusation be directed to the British Court of State Ceremonies?"

Shi Qingyun raised his hand and suddenly burst out laughing.

Yes, this isn't a matter for domestic authorities to handle. Legally speaking, Rio Tinto and Wang Yaotang are on our side...

For a moment, everyone forgot that Hong Kong itself does not have diplomatic or military power, and that Wang Yaotang is an atypical Hong Konger whose foreign policy has always been as tough as it was in the early days of the People's Republic of China...

"Then I'll reply to the above as follows."

Wang Yaotang smiled and nodded.

He didn't say whether he did it or not, but you could tell from his attitude. Shi Qingyun couldn't help but feel admiration. People in the capital thought differently from him. The more you are outside, the more you can feel that being tough is really satisfying.

This time, instead of making a phone call, a telegram was sent directly. Director Chen chose not to ask any questions and simply dismissed the matter by saying that Wang Yaotang was not a Chinese citizen and that the matter was outside my country's jurisdiction.

The people at the Honglu Temple in Australia were dumbfounded; this was an internal affair of the Commonwealth of Little Britain.

After going through all that trouble, they went to the Hong Kong British government.

The Chief Secretary of the Government House was so angry he laughed. Did you think we could control him?

Who gave you this misconception? He dared to shoot down a Royal Air Force helicopter with a rocket launcher in Hong Kong, even though the circumstances were special at the time.

Of course, you can't say that in your reply, otherwise it would make the Hong Kong British government seem too incompetent. What are you, Australia, compared to us? Hong Kong is a trading port with a very special status. It has always been Australia that begs Hong Kong. When did it become your turn to question us?
With a forced smile, the Provincial Treasurer, Wade, asked, "Have you captured any pirates? Do you have concrete evidence to prove that Mr. Wang Yaotang was responsible?"

"If you have any, please go directly to the court. If you can't find it, I can give you a phone number."

Australia: Holy crap!
When the news reached Indonesia, KPC's Henderson, Mason, and Miller were furious. Dynacon made it clear that if the cargo ship suffered losses again due to this kind of incident, KPC would be fully responsible and would have to compensate for the losses to the ship and personnel.

It's not wartime now, so the port can't be blocked. The moment a ship leaves, it will be known immediately.

While it may seem like you can go anywhere at sea, and that was certainly true during wartime, commercial shipping routes are actually fixed. Whether you take the Sibutu Channel-Barabak Strait or the route through the Sulu Sea to Mindoro Island in the Philippines, you will eventually enter the South China Sea, making it easy for warships belonging to the Wang family to be caught.

How could a cargo ship of more than 5 tons possibly escape radar detection!
Of course, you could also go around the Philippines via the Pacific route, but that would be so much longer, it's better to just sell Australian coal directly!

Moreover, even if they were willing to increase the freight, Dynacom would not agree. What would happen to the cargo that was originally scheduled to be picked up on the return trip if the ship arrived at the port late?
If we can't meet the delivery deadline, we'll lose money!

Unless KPC is willing to continue to increase funding, it is not impossible to completely leave the capacity idle.

However, this means that selling coal will not only result in losses, but also leave no profit at all.

Is shipping really that simple? Anyone can do it.

KPC wants to suspend shipments because the coal they have stored in warehouses at Japanese and Korean ports can last for a long time. But Dynacon disagrees. The shipping capacity was planned in advance, and if it is suddenly adjusted, who will pay for the losses?
……

"No, they're really giving them away?" On the warship, Hai Dazhao was completely bewildered when he heard the report that he had spotted Dynacon's bulk carrier again.

Not only did they come to deliver it, but the flight route they took remained unchanged.

The Barabác Strait is only 40 miles wide, and even a few ships could easily make it visible to the naked eye.

Hai Dazhao didn't understand, but still ordered the warships to meet them. Before they even got close, a communication request came from the other side.

After a brief confirmation, we surrendered immediately.

"Respected pirate sir, where are we headed now?"

Hai Dazhao: "..."

I haven't even asked yet!
Isn't it a bit too eager of you to surrender so quickly?

Captain: Don't get me wrong, I didn't mean anything by it. I just wanted to see for myself.

Following procedures and maintaining radio silence, Hai Dazhao then led the cargo ship into the Spratly Islands, while simultaneously contacting Wang Yaotang to report the situation.

"What's so strange about that? The KPC general manager has to give the board a reasonable explanation for the losses caused by ordering the delivery to stop. But if it's been hijacked by pirates, then the responsibility has nothing to do with the general manager. As for the bigger issue of losses..."

Wang Yaotang scoffed, "The company only loses money, but I lose my performance evaluation!"

Hai Dazhao was speechless. What kind of talk was this? Shouldn't professional managers be responsible for the company?
This kind of thing becomes all too common after a company transitions from the founder era to the professional manager era.

……

Another cargo ship was hijacked, and Henderson was preparing to report it to the board of directors according to procedure and handle it at the Rio Tinto headquarters level. At this time, more information that was exposed after the recovery of Brabus Communications finally came to light.

However, these veteran sailors were able to describe the appearance and surface details of the warship simply by word of mouth, and it was still through some channels that it was confirmed that the warship belonged to the Chinese.

"I fucking said it was the Chinese supporting them behind the scenes, bullshit! What British passports? How do you explain the warships? And they still say they didn't do it, despicable Chinese!"

Miller was furious when he heard the news, yelling, "Immediately send the Australian Court of State Ceremonies to condemn them! These damned bandits! This despicable government has allowed pirates to run rampant; they must be held accountable!"

Mason, the Australian, looked over with disdain. How could a Brit say such a thing? He's fucking shameless!
He wasn't afraid of upsetting Miller, since they weren't even from the same company. Besides, the British always looked down on Australians, calling them descendants of robbers, thieves, hooligans, and pirates.

Of course, despite the disdain, things still had to be done, and Australia was still the one to step in.

The British Court of State Ceremonial would not step forward; BP doesn't have that kind of influence. Besides, when trouble comes, it's always the subordinates who rush to the front lines.

When faced with another complaint from Australia, the Court of State Ceremonial was much more composed in its response. They hadn't been idle these past few days; they had re-collected and organized information about Wang Yaotang, only to discover that he was also involved in the arms trade...

Not only guns, ammunition, and artillery, but they even bought warships! 0!

Even if I knew, I couldn't reply directly. I said I would go back and investigate. The next day, I received a reply confirming that I had indeed sold 0, but it was to Somalia. As for what happened to the warships after they were purchased... China never interferes in the internal affairs of other countries. You should ask Somalia.

How could people in Australia not see the problem? What kind of place is Somalia? The government is like a bandit. Forget about money, they don't even have warships.
Can the entire country find enough literate people to operate warships?

But I could only keep these thoughts to myself. No matter how rotten or hopeless the Siad regime was, it was still a state power recognized by the United Nations. This reason that had nothing to do with me actually held water.

The Honglu Temple in Australia was naturally unwilling to accept this, and had made similar contingency plans. They directly retorted, "Piracy has repeatedly occurred in your territorial waters. You have been negligent in managing your territorial waters. The pirates are Chinese, and the warships are yours. We have sufficient reason to suspect that you are behind it!"
"So, you Australians acknowledge that area is our territorial waters?" Director Chen asked solemnly.

Australia: "I didn't say that, I'm not, don't talk nonsense!"

"If you don't admit it, why did you come to me?" Director Chen shrugged.

The Australian angrily shook his hand and turned to leave.

Once the message was relayed back, KPC knew there was nothing they could do.

Not to mention that there was no evidence at all, the Chinese side pushed it all away, the Hong Kong British government didn't care, and there was no way to resolve it through diplomatic means, so the only option left was to take the last step.

At sea, since ancient times, the one who speaks louder has always had to actually fight it out.

Rio Tinto is, after all, in the mining business, and how could a mining company not have some power?

It's just a warship. Everyone has one. Let's bring them out and have a go at it!
Of course, the problem lies with KPC, not Rio Tinto. There are many meetings to be held and many relationships to navigate. Who will bear the costs and losses involved? Rio Tinto is not the only shareholder in the company. The whole thing was caused by BP. The stakes must be clearly understood before any action can be taken.

As for the cargo ship that was hijacked at sea...

Let it float like this for now.

After the Hong Lu Temple in Australia completely backed down, Wang Yaotang became more vigilant. When it came to a real confrontation, he immediately took Teresa Teng, Sally Yeh, and their children to Guangzhou.

We have businesses here, so how about we come and take a look and talk business?
Hong Kong is no longer a safe haven; it's British territory after all, and we need to prevent them from doing anything underhanded. (End of Chapter)