The Feng family, young and old, mobilized together to inquire about Captain Cook's project for Feng Xiaochen. Feng Xiaochen and his entourage visited supporting service companies in various parts of Germany as planned, and there was no need to mention the details.

News that the Chinese government intends to participate in Captain Cook's project has been heard from several channels to the ears of the project committee officials. The project committee chairman Matsk urgently convened members of the committee to discuss in the committee office in the Netherlands.

"Dear everyone, have you heard a news recently that Chinese government officials have expressed strong interest in our project and hope to have in-depth talks with us."

At the beginning of the meeting, Matsk informed his colleagues of the news without taking any turns.

"I heard that a partner of Rutenberg Patent Office in Germany asked me about the specific situation of the project. According to her, her nephew was an official in charge of the development of major equipment in China." A committee member reported.

"Yes, I also got related inquiries. The person who asked me this question also mentioned this official from China Equipment Industry Corporation, which is said to be in Europe at present." Another committee member also echoed.

"I heard some news, but it's not very accurate. Can anyone tell me in detail what's going on?"

"What, the Chinese are interested in Captain Cook project, aren't they so confused?"

"When will Chinese people be qualified to discuss such projects?"

Everyone added their understanding and opinions on this matter. Feng Xiaochen did not intend to conceal this matter, so most of the members heard about this news more or less, but their understanding was different.

After listening to everyone's words for a while, Matsk waved his hand and signaled everyone to be quiet, and then said: "It's clear that China intends to develop their oil in the East and South China Seas, so it is eager to obtain the manufacturing technology of the sixth generation marine drilling platform. But as we know, the Chinese have almost zero technical accumulation in this area. They cannot develop such a platform with their own strength, so they want to join our project to catch our free ride."

"It is true," said a commissioner named Hetherington. "The Chinese desire for technology is public. They are used to getting the technology they need from Europe, which is why they want to participate in Captain Cook's project."

"But why should we get them involved?" said another commissioner named Kelvey. "In the past 20 years, the Chinese have obtained a lot of technology from us, and they have used these technologies to seize the traditional market of European companies. The sixth generation of drilling platform technology is a key project for us to maintain our leading position in the field of marine equipment. If this project can be completed, we can maintain an advantage in this field for at least 15 years. If the Chinese want to develop their marine oil, they can buy drilling platforms from us. We just need to sell the eggs to them. What is the need to teach them how to raise chickens?"

"Yes, we must not let Chinese people learn our technology, because once they learn these technologies, they will use them to seize our market. Have we learned fewer lessons in the past 10 years?"

The person who spoke was the business specialist of Pumai Company. Captain Cook project is an equipment research and development project, leading the EU, but the specific participating units are large equipment companies in Europe. Pumai Company is also one of the participants in the project, and Heinzel serves as a member of the project committee on behalf of Pumai Company.

"I mean exactly the same as Heinzel. I don't think we can accept that China will join this project. They will learn technology from this project and then use these technologies to defeat us. This is not the original intention of our project." Kelvey echoed.

Others also yelled:

"Yes, we can't let Chinese people participate in this project. I hate Chinese people!"

"I have a good impression of Chinese art, but when it comes to industrial technology, I don't think they are qualified to talk to us at all. Letting them participate in such projects will only cause us trouble."

"If Chinese people are willing to order this kind of drilling platform from our company, I would be happy to see it..."

“They will come and order!”

Seeing that everyone was making a fuss again, Matsk knocked on the table and raised his voice and said, "Everyone, please be quiet. I understand what everyone means. The European Commission has received many accusations from companies about Chinese people who have learned European technology and competed with European companies in turn. The Commission's attitude towards this is also very clear, that is, we must pay attention to the issue of technology loss."

"If this is the case, then what else do we need to discuss today? Just simply reject the Chinese people's request." Hetherington said.

Matsk shrugged and said, "Hetherington, if things are all so simple, then why do I have to trouble you to travel to the Netherlands? I would like to ask everyone to think about a question: In order to let the Chinese participate in Captain Cook project, is there any factors that are beneficial to us besides the factors that are unfavorable to us?"

"A favorable factor? Are you talking about political factors?" Kelvey asked.

Matsk shook his head and said, "Our project is an economic project and has nothing to do with politics, so we don't need to pay attention to political considerations."

"So, Mr. Chairman thinks it is necessary for us to participate in the Chinese?" Kelvey asked again.

Matsk looked at everyone and saw that everyone had a questioning look on their faces, so he sighed and said, "What if the Chinese were willing to provide a considerable amount of funds for this project?"

"funds?"

Everyone was stunned for a moment and then fell silent. Before Matsk mentioned this issue, everyone had not thought about it. Now after Matsk said that, everyone found that this seemed to be a question worth considering.

The purpose of Captain Cook's project is to develop the sixth-generation marine drilling platform technology. The project planning is to concentrate the efforts of various companies to build a drilling platform and solve the technical problems involved in the construction process. The cost of a semi-submersible deep-sea drilling platform is initially estimated to be around 2 billion US dollars. This money will be collectively raised by the companies participating in the project. The drilling platforms completed in the future and the related technologies obtained will be allocated based on the investment of each company.

All companies know the value of the sixth-generation drilling platform technology and hope to take these technologies into their own hands. But when they ask them to pay for money, everyone has a small plan in their minds. The research and development of a new technology is very risky, and no one is willing to take this risk with their own money. The idea of ​​each company is to make others pay more, and they just follow the project and make soy sauce.

If development encounters difficulties and the project is abandoned halfway in the future, then you will pay less money and suffer less losses. If the development goes smoothly and the relevant technologies have made breakthroughs, each company does not have to worry about the low share of the technical patents they have obtained, because they can learn from the experience in development and start a new set of technologies themselves. It is easy for others to spend money to find the way for themselves, and it is easy to walk it again.

With this idea, it is easy to imagine how the funds raised for the entire project are expected to be 2 billion US dollars. In fact, so far, Matsk has not even received 500 million US dollars. Some companies promised to take out a sum of funds to participate, but said that the funds must be put in place after the project was officially launched. Matsk really couldn't believe the promises of these companies. If the project starts and these companies find some reason to refuse to pay, the entire project may be unfinished, and the money invested in the early stage will be wasted. The companies that paid the money will not let Matsk go.

It was precisely because of this dilemma that Matsk had to apply to the European Commission to open the project to countries outside the EU. Steyer told Feng Xiaochen that Australia, New Zealand and Brazil both participated in the project, which is the reason. These countries have all been led by the government, organized some companies to participate in the project, and provided some funds. But even so, the money Matsk received is still far from the $2 billion it needs. This time, people said that the Chinese government is interested in this project. The first thought that Matsk's mind was: to catch a big funder!

"The Chinese are eager to obtain the technology of the sixth generation drilling platform. This includes not only economic considerations, but also political considerations. Because of this, I judge that their investment in projects should be relatively generous. Our projects are currently facing a large funding gap. If the Chinese can help us fill this gap, should we accept them?" Matsk asked everyone.

This time, no one rushed to speak. Matsk is an EU official, not from enterprises, so he does not have any unforgettable understanding of the competition among Chinese people, but regards the Chinese as a rich partner. But Heinzl and others are different. Their companies are currently under competitive pressure from China, and they do not want the Chinese to obtain more technology.

However, if they stand up and oppose, Matsk will definitely push the task of filling the funding gap to them. If you don’t want the Chinese to pay, can you pay? If you don’t pay the money yourself, I finally found a country that is willing to pay, but you don’t agree. Isn’t this intentional sabotage?
Chapter completed!