Marko, vice president of the German company Giessen, stood in front of the gate of China's National Development and Reform Commission, with extremely mixed feelings.

Europe's economy is declining, especially in terms of infrastructure, which has almost come to a standstill. Some tourists from China stand on the streets of England, looking at the old buildings that have appeared in World War II movies, and are infinitely moved by the British people's protection of historical relics. And the British, who were standing beside them, sighed helplessly: Nima, if we have the money to build infrastructure, who wouldn't be happy to live in a new house?

By contrast, China's infrastructure can be described as crazy. Walking in the cities of China, there are towering tower cranes all over the eyes, and the English word for cranes is "crane", which also means "crane". This coincidence makes Westerners simply call the tower crane China's national bird.

Large-scale infrastructure construction has brought a huge demand for industrial equipment. Steel is needed for construction, which drives the market for equipment such as steelmaking, steel rolling, and profile processing; Construction requires machinery, so products such as cranes, pavers, rollers, and shield machines are in high demand.

Such a large market is something that no equipment manufacturer can ignore. Now companies around the world are sharpening their heads to squeeze into the Chinese market and take a piece of the hundreds of billions of dollars in fixed asset investment in China every year. Naturally, European companies are not immune to the vulgar and have sent executives to China for public relations. Marko's visit to China comes because China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has just released a rumor that China will invest 2 trillion yuan in the construction of the railway network in the next five years, which is a giant cake worth 250 billion US dollars.

Some of Giessen's product lineup are railway construction machinery, as well as special machine tools for the processing of rails and steel beams. If it can become an equipment supplier in the construction of China's railway network. For Giessen, who is in financial difficulties, it is no less than a shot in the arm. Before Marco left Europe this time. The president took his hand, only two tears were missing, and he told him to open the door to the Chinese market no matter what.

After Marco arrived in China, he did not rush to the National Development and Reform Commission, but first asked some Chinese companies that had business contacts in the past to understand the situation. As soon as the executives in charge of sales in these companies saw Marko, they invariably asked about the rumors that European companies planned to join forces to ban Chinese companies, which made Marco so embarrassed that he had to repeatedly say that this was just a move by individual companies. It has nothing to do with Giessen.

But this explanation is clearly pale. Because last month, when European companies issued an initiative to increase patent licensing fees, Giessen's name also appeared in the list of sponsors of the initiative. If Marco were to say that the Giessen company was completely not responsible in this matter, I am afraid no one would believe it.

Marco came to the door of the National Development and Reform Commission with such a shadow. Thinking about the upcoming meeting with Chinese officials. He couldn't help but feel a little remorseful, he knew that there was today, why did he mess around with Khedira in the first place?

When the appointed time came, Marco and his entourage arrived at a small conference room under the guidance of a junior cadre from the National Development and Reform Commission. A long table was set up in the small conference room, with six or seven Chinese sitting on one side and an empty one on the other, apparently leaving a place for Marco and them.

"It's Mr. Marko, you're very welcome. My name is Huang Gang. I am the deputy director of a department of the National Development and Reform Commission, and I will be in charge of today's talks. After Marco and the others sat down, a young official sitting across from them spoke.

"It is a great honour to have the opportunity to meet with Mr. Huang, and I am sure that our meeting will be very pleasant." Marco said to Huang Gang with a smile. ..., "Let me first introduce Mr. Marko to our people who will participate in the talks. Huang Gang said, he turned his head sideways and looked at the people sitting on either side of him. began to introduce their identities one by one. The first person he introduced made Marco startled:

"This is Mr. Lin Zhenhua, chairman of China Hanhua Heavy Industry Group Corporation."

"Lin ......" Marco almost bit his tongue off. Lin Zhenhua of Hanhua Group, Marco doesn't know, if you want to say that the person he is most afraid of seeing in China this time, I am afraid it is none other than Lin Zhenhua. This is really afraid of something, Lin Zhenhua appeared at the meeting site of the National Development and Reform Commission at this time, I am afraid that the person who came is not good.

"Mr. Marko, it's a pleasure to meet you. Actually, we've met several times in the past, right? Lin Zhenhua greeted Marco with a smile.

"Yes, yes, we've met several times." Marco replied awkwardly. He and Lin Zhenhua did meet a few times, but they were all at some exhibitions or forums, and everyone just nodded to each other, and there was no deep friendship.

"Since you know each other, it's even better, and it's more convenient to have something to say." Huang Gang said heartlessly, completely ignoring the embarrassment on Marko's face.

Huang Gang went on to introduce a number of other Chinese participants in the meeting, including two other officials from enterprises and two officials from the National Development and Reform Commission. There is also a little girl who is a translator, her main task is to help translate some overly complex grammar or unfamiliar words, regular conversation is not needed, the Chinese and German personnel who participated in this meeting have a very good level of English.

&nb

sp; Marco also introduced his attaché, and then the two sides exchanged a few words, and the talks officially began.

"I think you will already know that China will invest about 300 billion euros in the next five years to improve China's railway network, including a number of new railway lines, as well as the modernization of some of the existing railway lines, of which more than 2,000 kilometers of new high-speed railway lines will be built. In order to complete these construction tasks, we are very much in need of large international multinational companies, including Giessen, to provide us with relevant equipment. Huang Gang first introduced.

"We at Giessen are very willing to help China build its own railway network. Germany has extensive experience in railway construction, especially high-speed rail construction. Our company has long been committed to the production of railway construction machinery and rail processing equipment, and the technical level is first-class in the world. Marco said conceitedly.

Huang Gang nodded and said, "We don't doubt this at all, so." We specially invite all the gentlemen of Giessen Company to come to the National Development and Reform Commission to discuss what kind of fields the two sides can have. How to work together. ”

Marco asked: "I would like to know what kind of ideas the Chinese side has on cooperation?" For example, what should we do to have the privilege of being a partner in your country? ”

Huang Gang smiled slightly and said, "Our door is open to all international manufacturers. If there are any conditions, I am afraid that only one thing is enough to summarize, that is, we want our partners to be friends of the Chinese, not enemies. ”

"There is no doubt about the friendship of our Giessen company with Chinese." Marco said, looking around at the Chinese present. Then he gestured to Lin Zhenhua and two other people from the company. "For example, we have had a very pleasant cooperation with Mr. Lin and the companies where these two gentlemen work. ”

Lin Zhenhua saw Marco pointing at him, so he smiled and said, "I can prove this, at least in the past." The cooperation between us and Giessen is still very pleasant. "...,"Uh......" Marco's face was a little unbearable, Lin Zhenhua's words were clearly praised, although he said that the cooperation between the two sides was pleasant, but he added a qualification, that is, in the past, not now. As for what is happening now, God knows. Everybody in this room knows that.

"I think our future cooperation will continue to be very pleasant." Marco said.

"Well, that's great." Huang Gang said, he turned his head to look at a NDRC official sitting next to him, and said, "Xiao Chen." You can show Mr. Marko our purchase list and ask him to judge the extent to which Giessen can help us. ”

The official named Xiao Chen opened the folder in front of him, took out a document, and pushed it across the table. Marco took the material and eagerly flipped through it, and the attachés sitting on either side of him also leaned their heads over and browsed through the material with Marko.

"40 integrated track-laying machines, 20 double-cantilever bridge erecting machines, 15 shield rock machines, 20 large-scale heavy rail correction machine tools......"

Malcor silently read the items on the list, and felt that his blood was so strong that he almost jumped up and shouted hooray. A full 4 billion euros of equipment, and this is only the first phase of demand. He also knew that it was impossible for Giessen to scoop such a large order exclusively, but if it could scoop up a third of it, even a quarter, it would be enough to make the company breathe a sigh of relief. Now in the global market, where can you scoop up a large order of more than 1000 million euros?

"We intend to use a competitive bidding method to select suppliers for these equipment." Huang Gang said, "You can go back and have a good evaluation, and then make a tender and hand it to us, and we will select the best companies to be our suppliers." ”

"Okay, we'll send the materials back to the company right away, and ask the company's technicians and sales staff to make the tender together." "I believe that the quality and price of our products will be the most competitive." ”

Huang Gang smiled and said, "Here, there is one thing that needs to be added in particular. There is an old Chinese saying that it is better to teach a man to fish than to teach him to fish. China is a large developing country, and the task of infrastructure construction in the next few decades is still very arduous, and we cannot completely rely on foreign countries in terms of equipment manufacturing, but hope to be able to cultivate our own equipment manufacturing capabilities.

Therefore, there is an additional clause for these equipment we have contracted this time, that is, the supplier is required to transfer the technology related to equipment manufacturing at the same time as the delivery of the equipment, especially the key patented technology. ”

"Critical patented technology?" Marco's mind moved, and he clearly heard the sound of "Hoho", which was someone sharpening his knife, ready to tie himself up and kill him. He looked at Lin Zhenhua and found that the other party was also looking at him meaningfully, and he understood in his heart that it was obviously the European companies that threatened to increase the patent licensing fee some time ago that made the Chinese anxious, so now the Chinese want to use the cake of railway engineering equipment to force European companies to make concessions.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Huang, I didn't understand what you meant, what you said was ...... Transfer? Marco asked hesitantly.

"Yes, transfer." Huang Gang replied lightly.

"Isn't it authorized?" Marco had the last shred of luck in his heart. He hoped that Huang Gang had used the wrong words.

"It's okay to say it's authorized." Huang Gang smiled and said, "But." This authorization is one-time and permanent, and it should be a full authorization. It means that our designated assignee will own the intellectual property rights of these technologies and can use them freely. ”

"It's impossible!" An engineer sitting next to Marco blurted out, "Sir, you should know that these technologies are the core technologies of Giessen, and these technologies must not be transferred to anyone. "Hown, calm down. Marco said to the engineer in a fake way. But he didn't correct Houn's words. Instead, he turned his head and looked at Huang Gang, waiting for Huang Gang's reaction.

Huang Gang still looked relaxed, and he asked Marko, "Mr. Marko, your colleague's opinion just now. Does it represent your company's attitude? ”

"This ......" Marco quickly judged Huang Gang's bottom line in his mind, pondering how to answer better, "I think what Mr. Horn said should represent our company...... At least a significant part of the executives' opinions. ”

"Is that so?" Huang Gang pretended to be very surprised and said, "If that's the case, I think there may be no need for us to continue talking." Exchanging the market for technology, this is our bottom line, if we can't get these technologies. I think we'd rather leave this market to domestic companies. …… For example, this Chairman Lin, he should like the attitude of this gentleman just now. ”

Marco was not also frightened, and in response to Huang Gang's threat, he countered in a soft tone: "With all due respect, I also have a little understanding of the existing technological situation in your country. In terms of heavy rail correction machine tools, large shield rock machines, etc., your country's technical reserves may still have some deficiencies, right? ”

"You're right, we still have some deficiencies in these areas." Lin Zhenhua spoke, "However, with all due respect, Jisen is not the only company with these core technologies in the world, right?" Maple Leaf Company and Nojima Heavy Industries of Japan also have similar technologies. If Giesmori insists that we can't transfer the technology to us, I think we might be able to get what we want from Karak-sama or the Japanese. ”

"No, no, no, that's not what I meant." Marco hurriedly said, "Mr. Lin, our cooperation in the past has always been very good, and we shouldn't have a misunderstanding over such a small matter." In fact, we are willing to provide relevant technology for enterprises in your country, such as your GCA Heavy Industries, and we can cooperate in the form of patent licensing, just like our past cooperation model. ”

"It's true that our model of cooperation in the past was still desirable, but now the situation is different. Because the cost of patent licensing has risen so fast, we can't afford to pay for it, so we ......," said Lin Zhenhua.

Marco took a deep breath and said in a low voice: "The issue of patent licensing fees, in fact, we can discuss it again. As a long-time partner, we may also offer you some discounts, such as a reduction in some licensing fees. ”

"It's only temporary." Lin Zhenhua said, "Director Huang has just said that China's infrastructure construction will continue for many years, and if we do not have independent intellectual property rights in equipment manufacturing, then we may be threatened by a sudden surge in licensing fees at any time." I think we'd be more inclined to fix this once and for all. ”

"Okay, what do you want to patent?" Marco asked, and since the other party had bitten the bite to transfer the technology, he decided to listen to the other party's appetite first.

Lin Zhenhua said: "Precision machine tools, heavy-duty machine tools, high-speed turning tools, stepper motors...... There are about 2,100 patents. ”

"No, it's not fair!" Marko's eyes widened, "Mr. Lin, at least 70% of these patents are irrelevant to the project we are currently talking about, and we should not talk about things that are not related to this project in a project." ”

Lin Zhenhua said: "How can it be irrelevant? We want to make a heavy rail correction machine, and many of the parts in the middle of this machine need to be machined with precision machine tools. If we don't have patents for precision machine tools, then we can't make machine tools for machining these parts. You should know that we don't just need industrial machines, we also need machines that can produce them...... Maybe we should call it the grandmother machine. ”

"We will never accept such conditions." Marco said categorically. Lin Zhenhua's logic is so weird, it's just insulting Marko's IQ, but Marco can't walk away.

Before Lin Zhenhua spoke, Marco thought that Huang Gang's request was something he could not agree to. But after listening to Lin Zhenhua's request, he took a big step back from his bottom line. He thought that if what the Chinese wanted was only the core patent for railway construction machinery, maybe he could still agree. But there are so many conditions like Lin Zhenhua's request, but Jisen can't agree to it anyway.

"Mr. Marko, I think you should think calmly about our request." Huang Gang said, "We are fully sincere about the cooperation between the two sides, and all conditions can be discussed." (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to (.) to vote for recommendation, monthly pass, your support is my biggest motivation. )