Returning wealthy individuals develop their hometowns and become rich in the 1980s

Seeing that the three of them were silent, Huang Bin was unaware that they were preparing to attack from the side by classifying the Xiaochi car invested by Huasheng Company as an imported car. After taking a sip of tea, Huang Bin continued speaking.

"The 81 Special Economic Zone Ordinance and the 82 Provisional Regulations on Enterprise Registration both clearly state that foreign-invested enterprises, joint ventures, and cooperative enterprises are listed side by side. Therefore, wholly foreign-owned enterprises are permitted!"

"Procedurally speaking, our Ministry of Industry can offer suggestions, but we don't have the authority to shut them out directly."

As soon as Huang Bin finished speaking, Ji Shuzhi immediately seized on the loophole in his statement and asked, "So, Lao Huang, since Xiaochi Motors is a wholly foreign-owned enterprise, shouldn't the cars it produces be classified as imported goods?"

"Yes, Lao Huang, we need to clarify this point first. You said we can offer our opinions, so our opinion now is whether or not it should be classified as an imported product!"

As soon as Ji Shuzhi spoke, Bai Jianbo and Chen Laisheng immediately followed suit, "That's right, Lao Ji and Lao Bai are right. Xiaochi Motors is a foreign-owned company. Tuocheng has absolutely no industrial foundation and there are no auto parts available to supply them. They still have to rely on imports. Isn't this just assembling finished cars?"

"Assembling a finished vehicle means it's an imported car. The Special Economic Zone has clearly stipulated that imported goods cannot be dumped outside the Special Economic Zone," Chen Laisheng said, glancing at the other two with a smile on his face, as if he had already won.

The auto parts suppliers in China today are all subsidiaries of the three major state-owned automakers. If you, Xiaochi Auto, are so arrogant and want to be a sole proprietor and not form a joint venture with us, then we won't sell you a single screw.

If we rely entirely on imports, then we'll be assembling imported cars, which will only be exported to earn foreign exchange. Not a single car will leave the Tuocheng Special Economic Zone.

The three state-owned automobile manufacturers have made a joint plan. They can't just let any foreign company come in and arrogantly start a wholly-owned automobile business.

If there are no barriers to joint ventures, what is the point of spending foreign exchange to buy technology, build systems, and cultivate supporting factories over the years?

This trend must be suppressed; sole proprietorship is absolutely out of the question!

Huang Bin didn't reply, but lit another cigarette and sighed. In the eyes of Ji Shuzhi, Chen Laisheng and the other two, Huang Bin was speechless after they had said something to him.

Ji Shuzhi pressed his advantage, now speaking with a smile, "Old Huang, this Xiaochi Motors is clearly trying to resell imported parts, assemble the cars domestically, and then sell them as domestically produced vehicles. That's speculation!"

"Look at the engine, automatic transmission, and electronic fuel injection system mentioned in his document. Which of these can be provided domestically? They all have to be imported from overseas. The parts are brought into the special economic zone, assembled into complete vehicles, and then sold domestically. This will seriously disrupt the domestic market!"

"We absolutely cannot agree to this!"

"Yes, if you want to sell domestically, you have to pay the tariffs!"

Bai Jianbo added insult to injury, speaking in a gentle tone but his words were sharp: "Paying tariffs is one thing, but the key is whether it is qualified for domestic sales. The three of us formed a joint venture and introduced technology. The government provided policies because we were able to gradually increase the localization rate."

"His Vios was assembled entirely from disassembled parts; how is that any different from a smuggled, assembled car!"

Huang Bin quickly finished his remaining cigarette in a few puffs, forcefully stubbed it out in the ashtray, then chuckled, looked at the three of them, and asked with a smile, "Who told you that the Xiaochi car was imported in parts and then assembled?"

"Does he also want to import the entire vehicle? That's even more unacceptable!"

Ji Shuzhi also joked, "You're not just importing them, spraying on some paint, and putting on a 'Made in China' badge, and that's considered a domestic car, right? If that's the case, what's the point of domestic production rates? Everyone should just give up on independent research and development!"

"You guys can't even read all the documents, yet you're trying to block Xiaochi Motors' path," Huang Bin tapped the documents on the table with his finger. "Take a closer look at the application documents Xiaochi Motors submitted, and see how much money they've invested in this automotive industrial park!"

Chen Laisheng's expression changed slightly. Bai Jianbo lowered his head to flip through the documents. Ji Shuzhi picked up the cup of tea that he had already finished drinking, took a sip, but actually didn't drink anything. Then he pretended to be calm and started flipping through the document in front of him.

After watching, all three of them gasped for breath from the secondhand smoke, and Ji Shuzhi even coughed lightly to ease the awkwardness in his heart.

The company will invest 200 million US dollars and establish R&D labs and workshops for engines, transmissions, etc., and will also provide at least 5,000 jobs!

And depending on the specific circumstances, at least another $100 million will be invested!

Holy crap! This is inhumanly extravagant!

Two hundred million US dollars!

If we partnered with any one of those three companies, the two hundred million US dollars invested would be enough to upgrade the production line equipment in the factory!

How could they possibly stop Snapdragon Motors? Not to mention the $200 million investment and the potential additional $100 million depending on the situation, the fact that Snapdragon Motors could provide at least 5,000 jobs once it opened in Tuocheng was something they couldn't stop.

Five thousand people may not seem like much, but you have to consider the upstream and downstream industrial chains driven by this automotive industrial park, as well as the employment issues of tens of thousands of workers in the industrial chain!

To put it dramatically, if Xiaochi Motors really does invest $200 million upfront as mentioned in the application documents and strictly construct all the necessary supporting factories and production lines, 5,000 people will definitely not be enough!

The Tuocheng Special Economic Zone government would treat such a large automobile company as a "strategic pillar project." If someone in that department messes things up and scares Xiaochi Motors away from Tuocheng, causing it to go to Shenzhen or Shanghai, then Zhou Haimin, the municipal party secretary, would strangle him to death!

If Xiaochi Motors starts production and tells Zhou Haimin, the municipal party secretary, that they are short of workers, Zhou Haimin, the secretary of the Tuocheng Special Economic Zone, will be able to use all his administrative resources to "snatch" workers for Xiaochi Motors.

Moreover, in order to ensure that these 5,000 employees can not only be recruited but also settle down locally, the Tuocheng Special Economic Zone government will provide highly competitive housing and incentive policies.

Don't forget that China hasn't abolished the "welfare housing allocation system" yet. If Xiaochi Automobile's industrial park is built, do you think the Tuocheng City government will build a dense cluster of employee dormitory buildings around the Jinbu factory area?

Once this new district, which starts with 5,000 people, is built, it will generate a lot of jobs and economic benefits. The Tuocheng City government is no less intelligent than Ji Shuzhi and his two companions; Keke understands the calculations much better than they do.

At this point, daring to touch the future economic lifeline of Tuocheng is tantamount to challenging all the officials and ordinary people of the entire Tuocheng Special Economic Zone!

Then Zhou Haimin, the secretary of the special economic zone, will have to use his only skill: "reporting to the central government"!