Negotiations with Chinese merchants of construction materials

Negotiations with Chinese merchants of construction materials

 

[시사타임즈 = 이철원 시사타임즈 회장] At the beginning of the dispatch, the city was destroyed by a typhoon and there was no place to sell building materials because it was submerged in seawater. We purchased materials from a building materials dealer, but it was really difficult to find them because the construction required was so high compared to materials coming from outside. Usually, materials were loaded onto ships from Cebu and Manila and arrived at the port of Tacloban on the scheduled date, but sometimes it was delayed by 5-7 days due to bad weather. Moreover, due to the high volume of cargo entering the port, it was necessary to wait several days to pass through customs. The garrison construction company was also stuck at customs while importing materials from Vietnam, and the garrison construction was delayed. To make matters worse, the local construction material price started to soar.

 

▲High school students carrying materials (c)시사타임즈

 

It was clear that the planned restoration of public buildings would be disrupted at this rate. I met with the governor and asked, “As the restoration work is expected to be disrupted due to a lack of supply of materials, please apply pressure to the building material dealers to prioritize the supply of materials to the Arau unit.” In response, the governor said, “I will talk about it, but there are so many organizations that try to purchase building materials and I have no choice but to do business with the material dealers, so I would like to meet and talk to them in person.” So, I invited the presidents of material suppliers, who mainly deal with us, to the unit. All of these were Chinese merchants, and like a large merchant, they came to the unit with 2-3 attendants.

 

I guided the material merchants to the camp, showed them how the members of the unit live, and introduced the activities of the unit. They were amazed at our container accommodation and facilities and said, “It was my first visit to a military base, so I came here with fear. However, it is impressive to see the Korean soldiers living in the camp, and it is touching to see them working for the Filipinos.”So I served green tea and said what I wanted to say in a good atmosphere.

 

In the meantime, thanks to your active material support, the Arau Unit can restore public institutions, such as schools, hospitals, and nursing homes, and help the victims. The last time the President of the Philippines visited Tanawan Elementary School, where we are under construction, he thanked me and said, “If you have any difficulties, please tell me.” It was a personal honor for me. There is a Korean proverb that says, “Good rich people do not increase their wealth when the people suffer from disasters.” An unprecedented disaster here in Tacloban resulted in the death or disappearance of over 12,000 people, and most of the buildings collapsed, destroying the livelihoods of the residents. Still, if you use these as an opportunity to make excessive profits, you are a bad person. Your ancestor, Confucius of China (not actually Confucius, but the words of Mandeok Kim, a merchant from Jeju during the Joseon Dynasty) said, “A good merchant does not make a profit in his business, he leaves people behind.” If you are too blind to profit, you lose people. I invited you to this event because I wanted to see you after receiving reports from my subordinates saying, “You are good people who keep the way of merchants,” but in order to maintain a good relationship in the future. As you know, the Arau Unit does not intend to make a profit through the restoration of the building, but is donating all of it to the residents for free. Therefore, I hope that you will give us a reasonable price and priority in purchasing materials over other organizations. I will never forget your support and will surely pass it on to politicians, including the president, ministers and governors. thank you

 

 

At my words, the merchants blushed for a while and did not say anything, but with a serious expression, they promised to “support the Arau unit first.” As the saying goes, “Chinese people can't stand it when they lose money,” Chinese people are accustomed to making big profits anywhere because they have good business skills. I was asking such people to ‘do business at a reasonable price without taking profit.’ After the invitation event, I could feel that their attitude had definitely changed. When materials came in, they sold them to us first, and sometimes provided financial support. Other organizations and government offices had difficulties in supply and demand for construction materials, but the Arau units were able to smoothly receive material support from overseas Chinese material dealers without any difficulties until they withdrew.

 

글 : 이철원 시사타임즈 회장

 

 

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