Ultimatum (19 page)

~ * ~

Tuesday, January 25

West Wing, The White House

The surprise on Chen Liangming’s face showed for only an instant, but Larry Olsen saw it. That was exactly the effect he wanted. The invitation had led Chen to expect to be meeting the new president’s chief of staff. The extra presence in the room caught him unprepared.

Ben Hoffman shook hands with Chen. “This is Mr. Olsen, the secretary of state,” he said.

Olsen smiled. He spoke in Mandarin. “We know each other, don’t we Mr. Chen?”

Chen nodded. “Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary. He spoke in English, shaking Olsen’s hand. “This is Miss Hu,” he said, gesturing to the young woman who had accompanied him. He smiled at the obvious redundancy of her presence. “She is my interpreter.”

Ben Hoffman indicated chairs. They sat.

“It’s still chaos,” he said, waving his hand around his office. “I apologize.”

Chen nodded. “New job, Mr. Hoffman.”

“Everyone here’s got a new job, Mr. Chen. A whole building full of people with a new job.”

“I add my personal congratulations to President Benton to those of my government.”

“Thank you, Mr. Chen. I’ll pass it on.”

There was silence.

“You happy to do this in English, Mr. Chen?” said Larry Olsen. He chuckled. “My Mandarin’s a little rusty.”

“Certainly, Mr. Secretary.”

“We can call in an interpreter on our side if we need to,” said Hoffman.

“There’s no need, Mr. Hoffman, I assure you.”

“You might want to . . .” Larry Olsen glanced at Miss Hu, and then looked meaningfully again at Chen.

“My assistant will take care of Miss Hu,” said Hoffman.

Chen hesitated for a moment. Then he nodded. “Thank you.”

Hoffman ushered the interpreter out.

“I was surprised to receive this invitation,” said Chen, when Hoffman came back. “I would think you have many urgent calls on your time during this period, Mr. Hoffman. And of course you, Mr. Secretary.”

“Well, we’re busy,” said Olsen. “I don’t think we’d deny that, huh, Ben?”

Hoffman nodded.

“There’s something we want to talk to you about,” said Olsen. “We’re aware that over the six months prior to the last election the previous administration was engaged in a process of negotiation with your government. More particularly, with yourself, Mr. Chen, as your government’s representative.”

Chen’s expression was deadpan. “Our governments negotiate over many things, Mr. Secretary.”

Olsen smiled briefly. “Of course they do, Mr. Chen. I think we both know what negotiations we’re talking about. Carbon emissions, if you want to be explicit. Now, you should know that we’re aware of the scientific evidence that caused these negotiations to start. We’re aware of the implications for our country and for yours.”

Olsen paused. Chen didn’t speak.

“These implications are very grave, Mr. Chen.”

Still Chen didn’t speak.

“Mr. Chen?”

“Are you aware of the proposal your government put to us, Mr. Secretary?”

“At this stage, that’s not a relevant point, Mr. Chen.”

“Your government proposed a joint cut in—”

“I don’t care what the previous administration proposed, Mr. Chen. My understanding is that your government rejected all the proposals made by that administration.”

“The last proposal, Mr. Secretary, is still under discussion in Beijing.”

“Three months after it was made? That’s a lot of discussion.”

“I can only repeat, the last proposal is still under discussion in Beijing.”

Olsen shrugged. “Well, it’s not under discussion in Washington.”

“But the last proposal—”

“The last proposal was not accepted by your government. Mr. Chen, this is a new administration. It will honor any agreement signed by any of its predecessors and duly ratified by the United States Senate. It is not bound by a proposal made by a previous administration to which a response was never even received.”

Chen watched him stonily.

“I’m afraid that proposal’s no longer on the table.”

“Then perhaps you will tell me what is on the table, Mr. Secretary?”

“Nothing. It’s your turn, Mr. Chen. We’re waiting for your government to put something there.”

Chen didn’t reply. He glanced at Ben Hoffman.

“You need to give your government a message, Mr. Chen,” said Olsen. “Last year, you were negotiating with a president in the last year of his term. I’m sure you understand the way politics works in this country, and I’m sure President Wen understands as well. You’re now dealing with a president in his first year of office. A Democratic president with a majority in both houses, which is something that hasn’t happened since the 2012 Congress. I’m sure you understand the implications of that, Mr Chen. I’d like to be sure that President Wen understands as well.”

“President Wen is fully aware of the political processes in your country, Mr. Secretary.”

“Good. Then he’ll know he’s not dealing with a Mike Gartner now.”

Chen allowed himself a slight smile.

Olsen adopted a more familiar tone. “Chen, I don’t know why we’re arguing here. We know as well as you what’s going to happen to your country if nothing’s done about this. The Guangxi coast, Hainan island, large parts of the Guangdong coast all the way to Hong Kong are going to be severely compromised if not uninhabitable. Those are some pretty important areas. Chen, you’re from Guangdong yourself. What’s going to happen to your home village? The relocation plans your government’s got in place are woefully inadequate to the scale of what’s going to happen if we don’t sort this out.”

“Mr. Secretary, this is because the United States has been a constant and consistent carbon emitter far in excess of its proportional rights.”

“Mr. Chen, isn’t it time we stopped playing the poor cousin? Your country surpassed us in carbon emissions back in 2007. That’s a full quarter century ago. You’re now more than double our size in emissions.”

“But with a population four and a half times as large as yours.”

“And with an average economic growth rate three times greater than ours.”

“And with an average per capita income four times smaller, even now. With respect, Mr. Secretary, don’t talk to me about playing the poor cousin.”

“All right, I’m not here to negotiate with you.”

“These are the facts, Mr. Secretary. I’m sorry if they’re inconvenient. These are the facts successive governments of your country have refused to accept.”

“I said I’m not here to negotiate.”

Chen nodded. “Very well. See? When the facts are inconvenient, it’s easier to ignore them.”

Olsen raised his hand. “There’s something President Wen should understand. A lot of people misunderstand Joe Benton. They assume that just because he talks about domestic issues, he has no interest in foreign affairs. Wrong. President Benton has a keen interest in foreign affairs and an acute understanding of them. If President Wen thinks he’s going to sit around and watch while President Benton finds his feet in foreign affairs, I’ve got a message for President Wen. President Benton has already found his feet. You’re looking at them.” Olsen paused. “President Benton will act, Mr. Chen. He’s not afraid. When it’s in this country’s interests, he will act. You are going to see this very shortly. Note what I say. In the next few days, sir.”

Chen’s eyes narrowed.

“President Wen should judge President Benton on his actions. I want that message to be very clear. I’m going to give it to Ambassador Liu when I meet him, but I’ve got a feeling President Wen’s going to get it a lot quicker from you.” Olsen sat forward. “Chen, here’s the thing. The government of the United States cannot tolerate inactivity on the issue of emissions. It may be the case, that in the past, we haven’t acted with as much urgency as we should. Between you and me and Ben here, I’m prepared to admit that in many cases we haven’t lived up to everything we’ve promised, and we’re no better than anyone else in that respect. So I’m not getting on any high horse. But what I am telling you is, that’s changed. That time is gone. The issue is urgent, and under this administration, when we say we’re going to do something, we’re going to do it. So this is now the number one priority of this administration. The government of the United States cannot tolerate, and will not tolerate, inactivity.” Olsen paused. “But we’re only looking for a fair solution, and a just solution, to this problem. This has to be win-win for both our countries, inasmuch as you can even talk about a win in this situation. This isn’t a question of an unequal treaty.” Olsen stopped again. He wanted to be sure Chen noted the terminology he had used. The agreements imposed on the Chinese empire by foreign governments in the nineteenth century were referred to as unequal treaties, and their memory still provoked anger and resentment in Beijing. “We understand and accept that. The time for such treaties is long gone, and they should never have happened. But we do need to come to an agreement, one that’s fair. As I said, this is our number one priority and that’s not going to change. Now, your government has rejected a number of proposals already that were made by the previous administration. So when you come back to talk to me, I would like to hear what your government
would
like
.
Take your time. Take a week or even two. Ben here is the man to contact when you’re ready. In the meantime, I repeat, judge President Benton by his actions.”

Olsen sat back.

Chen gazed at him. The muscles in his jaw clenched a couple of times. “The Chinese government is only looking for a just solution as well,” he said eventually.

“Good,” said Olsen. “Then we shouldn’t have any trouble, should we?”

~ * ~

“I’ll minute it,” said Hoffman after he had shown Chen out.

“Thanks,” said Olsen. “What did you think?”

“You were harsh on him.”

“You think that was harsh?”

“Isn’t there something about not making Chinese lose face?”

Olsen laughed. “Chen and I go way back, Ben.”

“Okay. Well, to be honest, Larry, I’m not sure the president expected you to go that far. Do you think it was wise to take Gartner’s proposal off the table?”

“Gartner’s proposal wasn’t on the table. What was on the table—or what would have been on the table—were bits of Gartner’s proposal. The bits our friends happened to like. That’s not going to work. We’re in an endgame, Ben. They have to understand that.”

Hoffman frowned. “I’m not sure everyone on our side sees it as an endgame.”

“What about you, Ben?”

Hoffman didn’t reply.

Olsen nodded. “Watch a little. Just watch what they do.”

“Do you think it was smart to tell them how urgent we regard it? Doesn’t that encourage them to prevaricate?”

“That’s a fair question. To be honest, it could do that. On the other hand, it doesn’t look like they’ve needed much encouragement to prevaricate so far, so what have we got to lose? Ben, this is more about setting a tone. Straight talking. It’s like: I know you’re going to try to play games with me, but I’m going to talk straight. Because I know you need a deal too. So you can play your games with me, but it won’t get you anywhere because I’m not going to play them with you. Nothing’s going to change so let’s cut the crap and get started.”