When Gu Chen's plane arrived in London, Mrs. Thatcher sent a cabinet minister to greet him as usual, Gu Chen and the cabinet members of the Thatcher government can be said to be old acquaintances, every time he comes to the United Kingdom, he will deliberately move around with some British magnates, including Mrs. Thatcher's party Conservative Party, and also the largest opposition Labour Party supporters, but he is very low-key when interacting with the Labour Party, after all, it is now the Conservative Party that rules British politics, and many of his things must be supported by Margaret Thatcher.

Since it was almost ten o'clock in the evening, Gu Chen returned to the hotel directly and didn't say anything all night...... The next morning, Gu Chen came to No. 10 Downing Street on time according to the agreed time, speaking of which he was already very familiar with the Prime Minister's official residence in the United Kingdom, and he almost had to visit it every time he came to the United Kingdom. As usual, Mrs. Thatcher greeted her at the door of her office, just casually with a few polite words, and Mrs. Thatcher invited Gu Chen into the office, which also reflected the close personal friendship between the two from the side.

There was not much formal scene, Gu Chen sat on the sofa in the office very simply, chatting with Mrs. Thatcher casually and casually off-topic, there was a cup of coffee with the smell of heat and strong coffee on the table in front of him, this is the coffee that Mrs. Thatcher's secretary just brought in not long ago, although it is not his favorite Amber coffee, but the coffee in the Prime Minister's Office is still very good.

After a while, Mrs. Thatcher first cut to the chase: "Since Mr. Gu has come to the UK, he has already thought about it, right?" ”

Gu Chen shrugged his shoulders: "Madame hopes that the Global Development Bank and the Bank of England will form a strategic partnership, to be honest, I can refuse such a request." Because an alliance with the Bank of England would only make the world lose its independence and affect my decision-making. ”

"No, no, no, I think this partnership is a win-win. After the alliance between the Global Development Bank and the Bank of England, with the United Kingdom as its backing, the financial operation of the Global Development Bank will be safer, and there is no need to worry about some rogue countries defaulting. All it takes is to accept the guidance of the UK government on certain businesses. Please note that it is a direct, not an order, that the GDB is a private bank and that the UK government does not have the power to dictate what it should and should not do. Moreover, the British government did not think of doing so. ”

However, Margaret Thatcher hoped that the Global Development Bank would form a strategic partnership with the Bank of England, the Bank of England, the Bank of England, and if Gu Chen agreed, the Global Development Bank would have to accept the guidance of the British government in some business involving British interests in the future. For example, the UK government could ask the Global Development Bank not to lend to any country, although this requirement is indicative rather than mandatory.

Similarly, the UK government can also set up a global development bank to lend money to any country. In this way, the British government can use the Global Development Bank to expand its diplomatic influence. Even do things that diplomacy alone can't. The abacus is so big that it can't be said to be loud; In addition, the Bank of England can rely on the Global Development Bank to improve its ability to combat financial risks. The price paid by the UK government is to ensure the safety of the global development bank's capital operations around the world.

Originally, Margaret Thatcher's proposal was for the Bank of England to invest in the Global Development Bank, but this idea was categorically rejected by Gu Chen. Most of the terms in the agreement proposed by Margaret Thatcher were not mandatory, and he speculated that Margaret Thatcher simply wanted the agreement to link the GDB to the British government, and then use the influence of one country to influence his decision-making.

This influence is a kind of national will, not a legal constraint, whether it will be influenced. It is entirely up to Gu Chen to see if Gu Chen can resist the pressure of the British government. Or maybe it's just a matter of how he's feeling.

But if the Bank of England takes a stake in the Global Development Bank, it is a different matter, because the Bank of England's stake in the Global Development Bank must want to gain the right to speak, and once the Bank of England obtains the right to speak, it will inevitably have an impact on the daily operations and decision-making of the Global Development Bank, which is unacceptable to Gu Chen, and he will not allow anyone to have the intention of stealing his dominance over the Global Development Bank.

He groaned: "Actually, it's okay if you want me to agree, as long as Madame can promise me two conditions." As Margaret Thatcher said, with Britain as the backing of the world, the global development bank's capital operation will be safer, and there is no need to worry about some rogue countries defaulting. The Global Development Bank (GDB) really needs a strong backing so that the bank's capital operations can be more flexible. In his heart, the most suitable backing for the Global Development Bank is naturally Chinese mainland, but unfortunately Chinese mainland obviously does not have such strength now, so he can only temporarily retreat to the second best and seek cooperation with the British government.

Gu Chen's conditions had already been expected by Mrs. Thatcher, so she just smiled slightly and made a gesture of invitation to Gu Chen.

"Now that the Bank of England is in the midst of a commercial shareholding reform, I want to take a stake in the Bank of England and have to have a seat on the bank. Of course, English law must be followed, and I will find an Englishman to act as my agent to serve as a councillor. ”

Since the Bank of England is the central bank, its privatization reform is also different from that of ordinary state-owned enterprises, according to the plan that has been drawn up, its governing body is the board of directors, composed of the president, vice president and 16 directors, which is the highest decision-making body, the members are recommended by the government, appointed by the king, and meet at least once a week. The term of office of the president and vice president is 5 years, and the term of directors is 4 years, and the resignation of four people at the end of February each year means that the highest decision-making body of the bank is not composed of bank directors like ordinary banks.

The Board of Directors elects a number of permanent members to preside over the business. The Council has five special committees: the Standing Committee, the Audit Committee, the Personnel and Treasury Committee, and the Bank Bills Printing Committee, which are responsible for specific matters. In addition, there are two hard and fast rules, that is, the council must be a British national, under the age of 65, and members of the House of Commons and government workers are not allowed to serve.

As the central bank of the United Kingdom, the Bank of England undoubtedly has powers that other banks do not have, and is an important part of British financial management.

Mrs. Thatcher thought about it for a while, and felt that this was not an opportunity to further bring the Bank of England and the Global Development Bank closer, and besides, Gu Chen was not the only foreign consortium involved in the shareholding reform of the Bank of England. ”

10%！ It was a little less than Gu Chen's plan, but it was still within the acceptable range, so he immediately nodded: "Just do it according to Madame's wishes, the second condition is the incident I told Madame on the phone some time ago, I know that thing is a little difficult to do, but if Madame agrees and can do her best to facilitate this matter, in return I am willing to reduce half of the interest on the national debt this year." ”

Gu Chen has always had the idea of strengthening the armament of the Tang Dynasty security company, but this idea is obviously unrealistic, not to mention whether the British government and the Chinese government will agree, and the citizens of Hong Kong alone will not allow him to have a paramilitary armed force alone.

Since private individuals can't do it, let the government own it, and then let his people control this paramilitary force. He proposed to Margaret Thatcher the idea of forming an internal guard force of about 5,000 men in Hong Kong, but at the time Margaret Thatcher only said that she would consider it, and there was no news after that. Now he's bringing it up again, with a return.

In fact, when she heard Gu Chen's idea, Mrs. Thatcher was a little incredulous at first, and didn't understand why Gu Chen had such an idea, so she just casually perfunctory Gu Chen, but after hanging up the phone, she really thought about it seriously. According to the Sino-British Joint Declaration, by 1 July 1997, Britain would withdraw all troops stationed in Hong Kong and replace them with the People's Liberation Army (PLA), by which time Hong Kong would be completely Chinese, and the remnants of British power in Hong Kong would gradually weaken over time.

But if a paramilitary force is formed in Hong Kong, it will be tantamount to planting an element of instability for the Chinese government. In this way, Hong Kong's return to China will soon be in the future, and Britain will have more room for maneuver on the Hong Kong issue.

Although it would not be a violation of the Sino-British Joint Declaration if Britain proposed that Hong Kong should form a paramilitary force under the supervision of China and Britain to be responsible for Hong Kong's internal security before and after Hong Kong's return to the motherland, the Chinese government obviously would not want such an unstable factor in Hong Kong, and it would not have to think about it to know that Britain's proposal would be vetoed without hesitation.

But now that Gu Chen once again put forward this matter in the form of agreeing to the conditions of a strategic partnership between the Global Development Bank and the Bank of England, and there is an additional reward attached to it, Mrs. Thatcher was immediately moved, only to see her groan slightly, and then said: "I can't give you an answer to this matter now, you know, this is a very strict political issue, I have to discuss it with my cabinet, if you have time, you might as well stay in the UK for a few more days, I will inform you as soon as there is a result." ”

"No problem, I'm always waiting for good news from Madame." (To be continued......)