Chapter 303 - 303: A Forced Exchange

The emergence of a currency black market in Xiangjiang and the export of various rare metals were things that obviously couldn't be hidden.

This was especially true for the several victims in East Asia. Facing the strong appreciation of the Jin Yuan, they were already feeling intense pressure both internally and externally.

Many people might say that if the Jin Yuan appreciates and their domestic currency depreciates, shouldn't that boost the competitiveness of their exports? That's a good thing for exports!

But the problem was, East Asia didn't have many superior products to sell to the Homo Sapiens Company, while the Homo Sapiens Company itself possessed a vast array of them.

Furthermore, the Homo Sapiens Company's own industrial chain was incredibly comprehensive. Anything East Asia could produce, the company could also produce. And anything East Asia couldn't produce, the Homo Sapiens Company could still produce.

At the same time, the Homo Sapiens Company provided its employees with extremely high subsidies. These subsidies didn't come in the form of direct cash payments, but rather as massive discounts on the company's own products.

What was even more infuriating was that the "New Human" employees were incredibly united. They disliked purchasing products from outside the company, as they considered it aiding the enemy. Physical goods from other regions, in particular, would almost never appear on a New Human's shopping list.

Within the Homo Sapiens Company, these New Human employees were the dominant, high-income group; they were the real engine of consumption.

The combination of these factors shattered the traditional economic model where a depreciating domestic currency benefits exports and an appreciating one benefits imports.

In short, the Homo Sapiens Company wasn't playing by the established rules.

Now, the East Asia Region had to purchase numerous products from the Homo Sapiens Company at high prices, yet they lacked sufficient Jin Yuan. This, in turn, triggered the currency black market in Xiangjiang.

The tens of billions of Jin Yuan earned each month from the culture and entertainment industry were like table scraps left by the Homo Sapiens Company; it wasn't nearly enough.

For example, cargo ships passing through the Kra Canal had to pay tolls in Jin Yuan.

According to current calculations, the annual number of cargo ship transits through the Malacca Strait would remain at around 70,000 to 80,000.

The maximum number of cargo ships that could transit the Kra Canal annually was about 45,000.

And these ships, needing to pass through the Southeast Asia region, couldn't avoid the Homo Sapiens Company's maritime tollbooths. These fees were no small sum.

Of the more than one hundred thousand transport ships passing through, a large portion was operated by various shipping companies from East Asia.

The transport ships of the East Asia Region, which connect them to West Asia's energy resources, had to pass through Southeast Asia as part of their maritime lifeline.

Although the Homo Sapiens Company had lowered some of its fees, the shortage of Jin Yuan still had the shipping companies complaining endlessly.

The Samsung Group, for instance, in order to prevent their transport costs for oil imported from West Asia from rising further, had to use a portion of Samsung Electronics' industrial gold and silver to exchange for roughly 20 billion Jin Yuan.

This was using actual gold and silver to pay for the Homo Sapiens Company's services. Samsung was practically bleeding money.

Meanwhile, on the international market, the prices of physical gold, silver, and various precious and rare metals were also soaring.

With the Homo Sapiens Company holding a stranglehold on the Jin Yuan, every region—apart from the oil-rich nations of West Asia and countries with rare metal reserves—felt the currency's immense pressure.

The Federal Reserve System had already received "cordial greetings" from over a dozen "good friends" hoping to repatriate the gold they had stored there.

However, the Federal Reserve System kept making excuses and even secretly threatened the European Union, forcing it to choose between its gold and its natural gas supply.

The side effects from the United States Army's previous defeat and forced withdrawal from Southeast Asia were still escalating.

If it weren't for the fact that America's military deterrence was still formidable, those old European nations would never have tolerated this so meekly.

...

For over a month, the export value of various "precision components" made with rare earths had been climbing steadily.

After weighing the pros and cons.

「July 26th.」

「The 12th floor of the Star River Hotel in Thonburi.」

Wang Xin Ya was looking at a work correspondence that had just arrived from the Modu office. Its contents were simple and to the point: Bank of China International intended to sell a batch of gold to Qingye Bank.

She instantly understood the situation. 'For Bank of China International to be selling gold now, their Jin Yuan reserves must be critically low.'

'The Homo Sapiens Company opened an exchange channel for precious and rare metals, which was bound to drive up their value in other regions. At the same time, it would suck up all the precious and rare metals everyone held.'

'Faced with the Homo Sapiens Company's overwhelming strength, and in order to cut its losses, the Bank of China has decided to enter the game itself.'

This time, the Bank of China was putting up a full 100 tons of gold to exchange for 50 billion Jin Yuan. Including the Jin Yuan acquired through other channels, the Bank of China now held 63.8 billion Jin Yuan.

They had been so smug about acquiring tens of tons of gold when they withdrew from Hongsawaddy.

Little did they expect that they would now be losing several dozen tons on top of that.

Wang Xin Ya approved the gold acquisition contract on the spot, but with one condition: the other party had to deliver the gold to the Qingye Bank Headquarters in Dongzhi before the funds would be released.

East Japan and South Korea were also forced to increase their sales of precious metals to counteract the negative effects of rising transport costs.

This situation was somewhat analogous to America during World War II, which also frantically siphoned up the world's gold. The only difference was that the Homo Sapiens Company welcomed all comers, indiscriminately accepting all kinds of precious and rare metals.

One shouldn't think that the value of precious and rare metals lies only in their scarcity.

In modern industry, precious and rare metals are indispensable components in high-precision instruments, semiconductors, specialized parts, aerospace engineering, and weaponry.

Rhenium, for example, can effectively increase the service life and heat-resistance threshold of aircraft engines.

But on Huaguo's e-commerce platforms, rhenium cost only 50 Huaguo Yuan per gram. Even after its price recently skyrocketed to 760 Huaguo Yuan per gram, it was still considered undervalued.

Many people were buying rhenium online, having it processed into items like watchbands and necklaces, and then taking them to the Homo Sapiens Company's Southeast Asia Headquarters.

After all, the medicines sold by the Homo Sapiens Company were simply too effective.

This was especially true after the launch of the Meisheng Prophylactic. A large number of wealthy individuals purchased it. And where did these tycoons get their Jin Yuan? From the black market.

Compared to their greed for money, the fear these tycoons had for Alzheimer's disease was unprecedentedly uniform.

These individuals contributed a great deal of gold, precious metals, and rare metals to the Homo Sapiens Company. In doing so, they also helped the company pressure the East Asia Region into proactively using its own precious metals to acquire Jin Yuan.

After all, compared to gold and silver, the industrial importance of other rare metals was actually far greater.

This was not to say that gold and silver lacked industrial applications. However, the amount currently in circulation was sufficient for many industries. Furthermore, they had numerous substitutes and were not as scarce as commonly believed.

The industrial value of certain rare metals, however, was irreplaceable by gold or silver.

For example, rubidium is used to produce powerful magnets, and rhenium is used to enhance engine blades.

Therefore, many regions preferred to sell off their gold rather than watch helplessly as the Homo Sapiens Company completely cleaned out their strategic resources.

But they also recognized the gravity of the crisis.

If they couldn't achieve a trade balance, East Asia's limited reserves of gold and silver wouldn't last long before being completely drained by the Homo Sapiens Company.

For the sake of both strategic security and economic development, the various powers in the East Asia Region had no choice but to consider upgrading their industries or pioneering new ones.

Among the options, the culture and entertainment industry, which had consistently generated good income recently, became a particularly hot commodity in everyone's eyes.