Chapter 465 The Government's Shame: This is a Great Opportunity to Develop Cross-Border E-commerce

In fact, when it comes to negotiation, the most suitable person is Chubais. He is Russia's recognized expert in foreign negotiations, with extensive knowledge and rich experience.

But Chubais was unavailable.

Prior to this, Chubais had been in charge of negotiating with the International Monetary Fund in Russia, and now he naturally had to keep a close eye on the situation and urge the loan to be disbursed in a timely manner.

In the face of this crisis, money is absolutely essential. If reserves become insufficient and counters have to close, panic will rage like a tsunami, tearing everyone caught in the storm to shreds.

Instead of showing up, Chubais rummaged through the remaining high-ranking officials—

As for Prime Minister Chernomyrdin, he is not eloquent and is known in Russia for his cautiousness (in fact, he is probably afraid of being seen as stammering), so he is naturally incapable of negotiating with foreign countries.

Another deputy prime minister, Soskowets, was a well-regarded pragmatist and a good man. However, he was also a typical old Soviet official, and when negotiating with capitalist countries, he was easily led astray.

Others either lack the necessary status—for example, former Deputy Prime Minister Gaidar, who was indeed quite famous, but apart from a nominal position as an advisor, his main identity was that of an economics scholar, and his reputation was not good, so he was really not suitable to travel abroad in a non-private capacity.

Either his health is failing—yes, the highest-ranking person must be the President.

However, winter is a time of ice and snow for both Moscow and Seoul, making it unsuitable for a frail elderly person to travel back and forth.

If he were to collapse on the road, we would all be doomed.

Moreover, this kind of in-depth negotiation doesn't require him to rush to the front lines.

His enthusiasm might actually have a negative effect.

In the current climate of stagnation in the international financial markets, the head of state's overly proactive attitude could easily be interpreted by outsiders as a sign that Russia is facing a severe financial crisis, forcing even a president who has been out of the public eye for a long time to travel around the country despite his illness.

Isn't it touching? It makes you want to reach out and feel a deep sense of compassion?

The answer is yes.

Then you can just wait for the international financial markets to completely abandon Russia.

In this dog-eat-dog world, all investors are watching with bloodshot eyes, eyeing the weak with predatory intent. The moment anyone shows any sign of weakness, they swarm in, mercilessly tearing the underdog to shreds and draining them dry.

Only the strong, seen as a powerful force, receive a continuous stream of offerings. People will try every means to establish a relationship with you and vie to send money to you.

As the Bible says: For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.

So even if it's just an act, it has to be a well-executed charade; we absolutely cannot let anyone discover Russia's true weakness.

It was under these circumstances that Ivanov became the representative to take the lead.

There are many interpretations of this, with many even regarding him as a leading candidate for the next presidential election, believing that the president put him on the front lines to enhance his political experience and demonstrate his diplomatic skills.

In this way, when the next election comes, if the president chooses him as his successor, there won't be much opposition from the outside world.

After all, although Deputy Prime Minister Ivanov has not made any serious mistakes since taking office, he has generally done a lot of practical work and is considered a representative of the pragmatists.

But he is still young. He will only be 34 years old after the New Year. Three years later, if a 37-year-old presidential candidate does not have a remarkable track record, it will be easy for voters to have doubts.

This shows that the president really put a lot of effort into cultivating him.

Ivanov was certainly aware of these discussions.

As he boarded the plane, he was still whispering to Wang Xiao, "I've really realized now, it's better not to do it."

Look at their president; since he was sworn in for his second term in August 1996, he has spent most of his time either undergoing surgery or recuperating.

Apart from a few visits to foreign countries and receiving foreign heads of state, he mainly showed his good health and that only he was capable of doing the job; otherwise, he rarely appeared in public.

It truly proves the old saying: distance makes things better, proximity makes things worse.

During his first term, he made a strong impression but failed to do a good job, leaving the economy in a mess, and the Russians were fed up with him.

During his second term, his health prevented him from making public appearances, which evoked sympathy from many Russians who felt it was truly admirable that he was still working so hard for the country at his age and in such poor health.

Polls show he is more popular than when he was elected president in 1996.

Wang Xiao laughed: "That's because people with a voice feel they are richer now than they were before August 1996."

In this regard, Wang Xiao greatly admired Chairman Mao. Even in Yan'an, he didn't expect the people to steadfastly support him. No matter how lofty your goals are, no matter how much your program serves the people, if you can't offer tangible benefits, people will still turn their backs on you.

This is like trying to call a chicken when you have no rice in your hand.

Ivanov fell silent, and strategically took a sip of tea.

Wang Xiao held his hand, leaned close to his ear, and whispered, "Don't worry, everything will be fine. South Korea is a small country that is always trying to survive."

Although before she traveled through time, South Korea had already become a laughing stock in the online world.

But one thing everyone has to admit is that South Korea has never given up. Even though the harder it tries, the more heartbreaking it becomes, it is still trying its best to improve its international status and voice.

This effort determines that it will try every means to fight for greater living space for itself in the great power game.

It will not dare to offend any major power unless absolutely necessary, especially since it lacks independent defense capabilities. It will try its best to explore more avenues for itself, and do everything possible to ensure that it has more opportunities.

Ivanov nodded.

He and Wang had discussed this in detail when he stayed overnight at the container market on New Year's Eve.

It is clear that South Korea hopes to strengthen its ties and cooperation with Russia.

The rapid warming of relations between the two countries is seen by many extreme nationalists and the far left in Russia as a result of the Kremlin president fawning over South Korea and groveling in various ways.

He even sacrificed the traditional friendship between Russia and North Korea for this.

However, if you can step outside this narrow emotional perspective and consider it from a geopolitical standpoint, you can easily see that the improvement of relations between Russia and South Korea is entirely based on the needs of both countries' interests.

South Korea, with its small land area and scarce resources, urgently needs to strengthen ties with resource-rich countries and establish stable cooperative relationships to meet its domestic energy needs.

That's why so much South Korean capital rushed into the Russian market after the 1996 Russian general election.

As a major energy producer but a weak manufacturing nation, Russia also needs to expand its own market.

This is clearly a two-way journey, so how can it be distorted into a one-way arrow?

South Korea is currently experiencing a severe financial crisis.

On December 22, 1997, Moody's downgraded South Korea's long-term sovereign debt rating to below investment grade. Standard & Poor's also downgraded South Korea's foreign currency long-term sovereign debt rating to below investment grade.

These two heavy blows directly knocked South Korea's financial system to the ground. On December 23, the exchange rate of the Korean won against the US dollar broke through the psychological barrier of 2,000 won to 1 US dollar in one fell swoop.

Just over a month earlier, on November 10, the South Korean government was still guaranteeing that it would maintain an exchange rate of 1,000 won to 1 US dollar.

The South Korean won has plummeted by more than 50%, and its foreign exchange reserves are less than $5 billion. South Korea is currently in a state of utter disarray.

It urgently needs a stable and inexpensive energy supply to achieve post-war reconstruction.

Indeed, the financial crisis has hit South Korea just as hard as a real war.

If the newly elected government fails to take strong measures to turn the tide, it's likely that he won't even have time to warm his seat in the Blue House before being ousted without hesitation.

As is widely known, the Blue House is cursed; presidents who leave office rarely have a good ending.

Therefore, he had to be bolder, take bigger steps, and establish more international connections.

They had discussed these things before, but Ivanov just wanted to hear Wang Xiao whisper them in his ear again.

Her warm breath tickled his ear, filling his heart with warmth and soothing his anxiety and unease.

His biggest trump card for this trip is energy.

The Russian government hopes that South Korea will convert its GKO investments into long-term Russian government bonds to avoid a run on the bank, a massive exodus of South Korean capital that could trigger a financial crisis in Russia.

This long-term government bond is secured by Russian oil and gas.

Although international oil prices have fallen considerably since the beginning of 1997.

Thankfully, at the OPEC meeting held in December, after discussions among member countries, it was unanimously agreed that, given the uncertainty of when the current financial crisis would end and the anticipated decline in international oil demand in 1998, production capacity could be reduced at an appropriate time while maintaining the original output, in order to ensure the stability of the international crude oil market supply and prevent oil prices from collapsing.

Look how interesting it is! The Asian financial crisis started in July 1997 and caused quite a stir. Everyone knew that unless the Asian economy recovered, the demand for crude oil in the international market would definitely drop significantly.

At that time, OPEC member countries seemed to be blind to this, completely ignoring the issue and focusing solely on increasing production and waging a price war to teach Venezuela a lesson.

As a result, when the US stock market crash escalated and Wall Street descended into chaos, the US also encountered a financial crisis. Suddenly, the princes in the Middle East saw things clearly and realized that a global financial crisis was underway, which would lead to a decrease in oil demand.

Indeed, the world is a great dark comedy.

To someone who doesn't care about you, even if you hanged yourself, they might just think you were swinging your neck on a swing.

Ivanov loved listening to Wang Xiao's rambling; he couldn't help but laugh when he heard this.

Only she could come up with such a strange idea as "swinging her neck around."

Therefore, only she dared to scheme against Wall Street in the United States, and was able to succeed in doing so.

Thinking of this, Ivanov felt more at ease.

See, the OPEC meeting they had been worried about, which would decide to increase oil production in 1998 to the point that it would drive down international crude oil prices and wipe out Russia's largest source of foreign exchange earnings, is no longer a threat.

It all sounds a bit absurd, but the reason they attacked the US financial market and caused the US stock market to plummet was to drag the US into a quagmire and make it feel the crisis so that it would not dare to allow OPEC to increase production.

After going through all this trouble, isn't it like making dumplings for a bottle of vinegar?

Americans probably racked their brains but never imagined that the real cause of this financial crisis would be here!

Ivanov deeply understood the phrase Wang Xiao often used: "The world is just a giant makeshift operation."

All the high-end things you think are impressive can't stand up to close scrutiny. If you're patient enough to look closely, you'll always find countless flaws.

So what's there to be afraid of? Let's roll up our sleeves and get to work!

Ivanov also grumbled to Wang Xiao, secretly revealing his dark thoughts: "It's too easy for the United States, letting them recover so quickly."

Thinking about how Wang had painstakingly arranged everything from Bangkok to New York to ensure that OPEC would not increase production in 1998, spending almost half a year coordinating all available resources.

He felt that letting the United States off the hook was too lenient on them.

Wang Xiao was both amused and exasperated: "The market's reaction will depend on real skill; emotions can only have a temporary effect."

Ivanov understood this principle, of course. He felt that the Queen had worked so hard and received too little; she deserved more.

It's a good thing Zhou Liang doesn't have a telepathic connection with him, otherwise he would have coughed up blood in New York.

Dude, are you kidding me? The boss already got a lot!

She left the market with tens of billions of US dollars.

Looking at the global landscape, if you were to list all the major international companies, how many of them could come up with tens of billions of dollars in cash?

Even now, the number of countries that can hold such large foreign exchange reserves is extremely limited!

What does it mean to be richer than a country? This is the real deal – richer than a country!

However, before entering the financial market, Ivanov had never experienced the feeling of being short of money, so he firmly believed that Wang could get more, and should get more.

Wang Xiao smiled and touched his face, coaxing him in return: "A market rebound has its advantages. If it didn't rebound, the money wouldn't flow in. If it didn't flow in, how could we take the opportunity to develop our shopping website?"

MyBuy.com is doing quite well in South Africa, and the financial crisis that spread from Asia to the United States and then to the whole world has also affected South Africa.

This is a significant blow to South Africa's real economy, especially to large shopping malls and entertainment venues, where customer traffic has plummeted.

However, the customers lost from shopping malls are the potential customer base for my website. If we can win them over, the website can expand and grow rapidly.

But Ivanov couldn't help but whine in front of Wang Xiao: "It doesn't bounce back, but that doesn't affect my ability to buy nets."

Wang Xiao shook his head, took out a notebook from his bag, and showed him the development plan of "WoMai.com".

South Africa is so small, with such a small population. As a popular online influencer who has benefited from the internet age, she wouldn't just focus on that tiny patch of land in South Africa.

The reason for starting with South Africa is simply because, objectively, it is the most suitable experimental field.

After obtaining data and experience from the experiments, it is natural to expand the scope and promote it on a large scale.

Ivanov stared at the planning document, his eyes widening.

The core challenges of cross-border e-commerce in the "pioneering era" of the Internet.

He felt that he recognized each word individually; but when he looked at them together, he began to doubt whether he had a reading disability.

But it doesn't matter. As a seasoned academic underachiever, he knows the principle of continuing to read even if you don't understand something, so at least he can pretend that he understands it.

What is the core challenge? It is a “triple barrier” consisting of infrastructure, trust, and cost. If any one of these barriers cannot be opened, the entire business model will collapse.

So, how do we open these doors?

Challenge 1: The Trust Barrier – “Why should I trust you?”

Ivanov read down line by line.

He saw the use of a domain name instead of .co.za, which was the first sign of internationalization.

He saw the potential in setting up overseas offices/contact numbers: even just a virtual office or call forwarding service, providing customer service phone numbers and addresses in the US and UK, could greatly enhance the trust of customers in Europe and America.

Although these things were new, as a business tycoon, he quickly understood the logic behind them and didn't pay much attention to them.

What truly piqued his curiosity was Dropshipping.

We establish partnerships with local wholesalers or distributors in Europe and America. Once an order is placed on the website, it is shipped directly by our local partners in Europe and America.

He knew the benefits of doing this: the partner's domestic delivery could deliver within a few days, significantly reducing international shipping costs and cutting expenses. Moreover, customs clearance was simple because the goods were already in the other country's territory.

But he still felt that his understanding had been reshaped. Could it really be done like this?

But the next second, he forgot about that initial surprise, because the subsequent plan shocked him even more.

Regarding the third challenge: Marketing and Customer Acquisition – “How do I get others to find me?”, the first solution is precise community marketing.

Identify specific groups within internet forums, newsgroups, and other vertical communities who have a strong interest in South African products such as tourism, hunting, jewelry, and wine. Then, through providing professional content and collaborating with moderators, conduct targeted penetration and build a reputation.

When Ivanov saw the word "forum," his eyes widened in disbelief.

That's Wang for you. He'd bet that when he was using forums to spread information and short US stocks, he had already planned the forum marketing campaign "WoBuy.com".

She never wastes any resources that have already been developed. Even if the original purpose no longer exists, she will continue to use them in a different direction. She will never pick the watermelon and then abandon the corn cob.

Wang Xiao noticed Ivanov was lost in thought and curiously followed his gaze, only to find him staring intently at a sentence—

Trust, logistics, and traffic are the three cornerstones that cross-border e-commerce will always need to overcome.

Wang Xiao smiled: "MyBuy.com started from South Africa and is essentially doing business in a niche market. It's difficult to compete with platforms like Amazon for mass-market goods. But as long as we solve the two core pain points of trust and logistics, and establish an advantage in specific product areas, it is possible to survive and develop."

From a theoretical point of view, thinking about such a thing in 1998 was nothing short of wishful thinking.

In this era, there aren't even reliable payment platforms; people can only rely on credit cards. For cross-border customers, the trust cost is too high.

But the late 1990s happened to be the era of internet frenzy.

Fanaticism can make people easily overlook the cost of trust.

Fanaticism can also drive logistics companies that were previously unable to grow to the point of being willing to actively develop because they believe they can make big money through the internet.

It's fair to say that without this fervor, she wouldn't have been able to truly expand "WoBuy.com" to Europe and America.

So why should she rack her brains to let the US financial crisis continue?

Hot money should flow into the internet.

She can make money by leveraging this trend to cultivate the website's earliest loyal European and American users, and then stand out from the crowd with her high reputation once the tide recedes.

Ah, right, right, this market is actually not that big compared to the online shopping market that later emerged in China.

However, firstly, it has high profits, and secondly, it allows one to accumulate rich experience in cross-border e-commerce in the early days of the internet, which is crucial for the integrated development of the entire e-commerce business and her retail business.

Ivanov remained silent, then suddenly reached out and hugged her, whispering urgently, "You're not allowed to dump me. If you do, I'll chase after you crying every day."

Good heavens! It's only because he was spoiled by his female elders since childhood that he can say such things without blushing.

But he was so terrified. He was afraid that he would fall behind the king and be disliked.

Wang Xiao looked at his trembling eyelashes and how he was lying in her arms, not daring to look into her eyes, and she was instantly at a loss for words, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

She stroked his head, leaned close to his ear, and whispered, "I don't care about you, I like you the most."

She may not have much conscience, but she does have some.

Ivan worked hard and risked his life; it's fair to say that without him, her plans would have been nothing but empty talk and would never have come to fruition.

Why would she dump him for no reason? She doesn't need to climb the social ladder to expand her kingdom.

Ivanov was coaxed and drifted off to sleep.

He and Wang Xiao were startled awake when the flight attendant reminded them.

I was so tired, but I slept really well.

Wang Xiao straightened his coat, smoothed his hair, and then nodded in approval, showing an Asian aesthetic: "Alright, we're getting off the plane."

After getting off the plane, we all had to go our separate ways.

Ivanov was visiting South Korea on official business as Deputy Prime Minister.

Wang Xiao was in South Korea to investigate the market as the owner of Wuzhou, which was also a business trip.

However, their business was unrelated, so after leaving the airport, they naturally got into their own cars.

Because Ivanov was on a working visit, which is lower in rank than a state visit or official visit, there was no high-level welcoming ceremony according to South Korean custom. It was the first time that an official from the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade went to the airport to greet him.

Ivanov didn't care about that. After getting on the bus, he looked out the window with curiosity and started chatting with the vice minister in English, which caught the latter off guard. He never expected that the Russian would be so talkative.

This is completely contrary to the general impression of Russian diplomacy.

Fortunately, the Russian deputy prime minister was simply curious and did not intend to make things difficult for anyone. His questions were neither tricky nor ridiculous.

Clearly, he had done his research on South Korea before the trip, and his understanding was quite comprehensive and in-depth, leaving him with few preconceived notions.

As the car drove onto the main street of Seoul, Ivanov couldn't help but take a second look at the long lines of people on the street.

There's nothing strange about it; when any country's currency depreciates, everyone rushes to hoard goods.

But perhaps because the South Koreans on the bus were paying close attention to him, when he glanced at them a couple of times, they immediately reacted: "Mr. Deputy Prime Minister, please don't misunderstand. No one in South Korea is panic buying. South Korea doesn't have this habit. Our supply of goods is not a problem at all; it's very plentiful."

These words really made the Russians on the bus uncomfortable, because as everyone knows, Russia has been a country where panic buying has frequently occurred since the Soviet era, or more specifically, queuing is a long-standing feature of Russia.

What do you Koreans mean by emphasizing that there's no tradition of panic buying in Korea?

Ivanov didn't seem angry; instead, he asked seriously, "So what are they queuing up for? To buy concert tickets?"

That's a really good mindset. Even with the South Korean financial crisis at this stage, it hasn't affected the nation's entertainment.

Unfortunately, perhaps his eyes were too clear, which made the Koreans on the bus break down, and several of them had very subtle expressions.

The Vice Minister had no choice but to answer: "It is a donation of gold. Our people have brought out gold necklaces and rings that have been passed down for generations, precious wedding rings, and longevity locks that represent a child's full moon or first birthday, and donated them to the country. Our people and the country are working together to overcome this difficult time."

His eyes were red as he spoke.

Looking at these long lines of dragons, Ivanov had to admit he was awestruck.

Who wouldn't be moved by such patriotism?

Unfortunately, someone just had to affect his mood.

On the bus, a South Korean man, for reasons unknown, suddenly asked, "Mr. Ivanov, do the citizens of Russia also donate gold to the country?"

Who are you trying to disgust?

Ivanov, suddenly seized by a sudden surge of malice, said in a serious tone, "Our people all deeply love their motherland. During the Great Patriotic War, we Russians donated all our food and property to support the country in fighting against foreign invaders. When the country is in trouble, everyone will unite together."

He sighed and shook his head, saying, "But I don't expect to see that happen. So my colleagues and I hope we can do better so that our citizens don't have to pay off our final pension contributions. That would be too unfair to them."

Have you no shame? If the government hadn't messed everything up, would ordinary people have needed to empty their savings? Pushing the people to this point is a disgrace to the government; what is there to be proud of?

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[I'm sorry, I'm late]