Chapter 71 Financial version "latent"

In the autumn of 1939 in New York, Chen Guangfu interviewed a young man in a Chinese restaurant, and saw that the young man's elegance implied sophistication.With sharp eyes and quick thinking, he answered Chen Guangfu's questions in English fluently.Chen Guangfu nodded secretly. As expected, he was a young talent personally recommended by his old friend Browder, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury and Director of the Department of Currency.Chen Guangfu made a decision immediately, hiring the young man in front of him as his secretary, and focused on cultivating him. The young man's name is Ji Chaoding, who was born in a famous family in Shanxi. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University and a researcher at the Pacific International Society.What is not widely known is that he was an old member of the Chinese Communist Party in 1927, at the height of the White Terror.In terms of organizational relations within the party, he was under Zhou Enlai's single-line leadership.His younger brother is Ji Chaozhu, who will represent New China as the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations in the future.

During the time when he was sent by the organization to study in the United States, through the organizational relationship between the Chinese Communist Party and the American Communist Party, Ji Chaoding met Adler, an official of the Monetary Policy Research Office of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and who joined the American Communist Party in 1935.Later, Adler introduced Ji Chaoding to Browder, a powerful figure in the U.S. Treasury Department.Browder was a member of the US Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) at the time. Seeing that Ji Chaoding from China was a rare talent, he recommended Ji Chaoding as a researcher to work at the Pacific International Society.

The Pacific International Society is unusual. It was established in Honolulu in 1925 as a branch of the US Council on Foreign Relations. It is composed of elites from China, the United States, Japan and other countries in the Pacific Rim.The Rockefeller Foundation and the Carnegie Foundation funded it, and the Wall Street Alliance, which represents the interests of the Morgan and Rockefeller families, controls the organization [17].Also providing funding to this organization are Standard Oil, AT&T, IBM, General Electric, Time Magazine, J. p.JPMorgan, Citibank, Chase Manhattan Bank, and others with ties to Wall Street.

As the main representative of the US side of this institution, Browder, a powerful figure in the Treasury Department and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, has his own set of views on the system design of the post-war international financial order.He believes that in order to avoid the recurrence of tragedies like the Great Depression, an international stabilization fund should be established in which all major countries in the world participate. It is decided based on factors such as the gold and foreign exchange reserves of member countries, the balance of payments and national income, and the fund will use the US$5 billion as a preparation to issue an independent currency unit "Ua".Each "Uunita" is equal to 10 US dollars or contains 137 grains of pure gold (1 grain = 0.0648 grams of pure gold). The "Uunita" is linked to the U.S. dollar and gold, and the currencies of all member states must be linked to the "Uni It "maintains a fixed exchange rate, and the currencies of member states cannot be devalued without being voted by 3/4 of the voting rights of the member states of the foundation.In addition, discriminatory measures such as foreign exchange control and bilateral settlement will be abolished, and short-term credit will be provided to member states to solve their balance of payments deficit.

This is the predecessor of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which rules the global financial order today, and the International Stabilization Fund plan suggested by Browder will eventually be recorded in the international monetary and financial history under the name of "White Plan". Browder and the U.S. Treasury Department, who proposed the International Stabilization Fund plan, urgently need a test field to test how effective their plan is.At this time, in order to stabilize its currency value, China took the initiative to send Xu Xinliu and Hu Bijiang to the United States in August 1938 to discuss the establishment of a Sino-U.S. stabilization fund; Shot down by Japanese fighter planes.In the second month after the tragedy, the Nationalist government, which urgently needed American aid, quickly appointed Chen Guangfu to continue negotiations in the United States.

Originally, this was something that the U.S. Treasury Department could not have dreamed of. However, due to the strength of the U.S. isolationist forces and the neutrality law, it cannot directly lend money to the Chinese government.Therefore, Chen Guangfu, who is familiar with the political climate and business routines of the United States, suggested that the U.S. Treasury Department hand over the loans used to promote trade to a company registered in the United States, namely China Global Import and Export Corporation, and use this platform as a transition to establish a stabilization fund in the future. And the company's records can be inspected by the U.S. government at any time.These loans are secured by China's natural resources that the United States lacks, including tung oil, tin, and tungsten.Exporting these resources will allow China to build vital industries with minimum defense capabilities, such as trucks, motor transport, communications, modern mining machines, and modern processing plants. 【18】Subsequently, Chen Guangfu conducted in-depth and detailed negotiations with U.S. Treasury Secretary Morgenthau and Browder, and finally reached the first $25 million "tung oil loan" agreement in the second half of 1938.

Both Browder and Chen Guangfu, eager to establish a Sino-U.S. stabilization fund, knew very well that this "tung oil loan" was just a preview of the establishment of a Sino-U.S. stabilization fund in the future. People", Chen Guangfu also needs a capable person who can not only handle the company's daily business, but also maintain close communication with the US Treasury Department.Just at this time, Ji Chaoding appeared.The first job that Chen Guangfu assigned to Ji Chaoding was to write a report on "tung oil loan". 【19】The fact that Ji Chaoding can become Browder's "person" makes Browder recommend him to play such an important role, not just because Ji Chaoding's recommender Edler is Browder's confidant, or Ji Chaoding's extraordinary ability is not only because the two worked together in the Pacific International Society, but more importantly, Browder himself is also an "organizational person". In 1944, Browder participated in the Bretton Woods Conference on behalf of the U.S. government and used his "White Plan" to defeat the "Keynesian Plan" representing British interests. "Are.Shortly thereafter, Browder, who penetrated into the nerve center of the brain of global capitalism and carried out deep lurking, died inexplicably.

With the deepening of the war, almost all of China's foreign trade routes were cut off by the Japanese army. In fact, there was no foreign trade at all.There was no need for China Global Import and Export Corporation to exist, so Chen Guangfu brought Ji Chaoding back to China and took up the post of director of the newly established China-U.S.-Britain Equity Fund Committee.Ji Chaoding also logically became the Secretary-General of the Stabilization Fund Committee.The main members of the Stabilization Fund Committee, such as Chen Guangfu, Xi Demao, and Bei Zuyi, are all bigwigs in the financial industry with multiple positions. It is impossible to do the daily work of the quasi-fund committee by himself, so the daily operation of the fund is completely controlled by Ji Chaoding.At that time, the Pingzhun Fund was almost equivalent to China's de facto central bank. This deeply hidden "communist spy" was really a high-ranking and powerful person.

What is even more incredible is that Ji Chaoding not only called the wind and rain in the Stabilization Fund Committee, but soon became the Secretary-General of the Foreign Exchange Management Committee under the control of Kong Xiangxi.It turned out that Ji Chaoding, in his position, was keenly aware that between the two committees, especially between Chen Guangfu and Kong Xiangxi, the balance of power would tilt towards the latter sooner or later. In order to sneak into a deeper position, he had to use In the conflict between the two, he adjusted his strategy in due course and transferred to Kong Xiangxi's camp.Although Chen Guangfu's talent, learning, personal morality, and personal charm are far superior to those of Kong Xiangxi, even though more than two years of getting along day and night has already formed a deep relationship with Chen Guangfu, and even though Ji Chaoding's heart is suffering from betrayal of Chen Guangfu, but for the sake of greater For justice, there are some things that he must do.

After the Japanese army captured Hong Kong, the Pingzhun Fund, which originally opened its doors in Hong Kong, had to move to Chongqing, the accompanying capital, to work in the building of the Central Bank.The staff of the Pingzhun Fund, including Ji Chaoding, lived in the building of Kong Xiangxi's compound in Fanzhuang, North Bank of Chongqing.Ji Chaoding occupied the "favorable terrain" and was able to contact Kong Xiangxi every day.Relying on the family relationship between Kong and Ji, the two great families in Shanxi, Ji Chaoding soon became a frequent visitor of the Kong family, playing bridge with Song Ailing every week, and was so close to Kong Xiangxi that he called him "Old Man".Soon, he was appointed by Kong Xiangxi as the Secretary-General of the Foreign Exchange Management Committee.

In Kong Xiangxi’s calculation, Ji Chaoding and Edler, an American member of the Stabilization Fund Committee, are best friends (that is, the member of the American Communist Party lurking in the U.S. Treasury Department), and they have a close relationship with the U.S. Treasury Department (can it not be close? The U.S. There are "communist spies" everywhere in the Ministry of Finance), and there are "someone above" in the White House (no wonder McCarthy is crazy), when the $500 million "three noes" loan is in place, it is time to replace Chen Guangfu with Ji Chaoding to deal with the Americans, and make Chen Guangfu Completely kicked out.Ji Chaoding is also a fellow from Shanxi. He is a family friend of a wealthy family. He has also drank American foreign ink.How could Kong Xiangxi have thought that Ji Chaoding with such a background would be a member of the Communist Party!So Ji Chaoding soon became Kong Xiangxi's confidant and won Kong Xiangxi's highest trust, so that Kong Xiangxi gave Ji Chaoding all the expensive suits he hadn't worn.As soon as the Stabilization Fund Committee was disbanded in February 1944, Ji Chaoding immediately became the director of the Foreign Exchange Management Committee. By this time, Ji Chaoding had become the de facto maker of the national government's monetary policy!With the power in hand, Ji Chaoding is about to make a move.