Chapter 347 Dilemma

Chapter 347 Dilemma

Chapter 347 Dilemma
As night falls, Li Minbo lives in Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam District.

Following Bai Jinjun, An Rushong walked into the brightly lit living room on the first floor, and just in time saw Li Minbo, dressed in casual clothes, slowly walking down the escalator on the second floor of the villa. He was holding a document in his hand, and he seemed to be very focused as he walked down the stairs.

Behind Li Minbo, there was a middle-aged man with half-gray hair. An Rushong also knew this man. He was Li Minbo’s second brother, named Li Xiangde, and currently a member of Congress.

Li Minbo had two older brothers. The eldest was Li Xiangen, a businessman, and Li Xiangde was the second oldest. In fact, Li Minbo should have three older brothers and one older sister, but one of them died when he was four or five years old. It was during the Korean War. The brother and sister were injured by a bomb in the yard of their home and eventually died.

"Have you eaten?" Walking down the stairs, Li Minbo seemed to see Bai Jinjun and An Rushong. He stopped, rolled up the document in his hand, clenched it in his palm, then looked at the two of them with a smile and asked.

"Not yet," Bai Jinjun said without hesitation, smiling, "I met with Councillor Zheng Ganhe before, and then I came here directly."

As he said this, he turned around and glanced at An Rusong who was half a step behind, and added: "Rusong probably hasn't eaten it either."

"Then let's have a simple meal together," Li Minbo smiled at An Rusong and waved his hand, "It just so happens that there are not many people at home today, only Brother Xiang En and I are here. I originally thought it would be lonely to have a meal with only two of us."

People outside say that Li Minbo has a good relationship with his two brothers and a close relationship with his nephew, but judging from An Rusong's feelings, this kind of statement does not seem to be credible. At least, when Li Minbo was getting along with Li Xiangen, the "closeness" between the two actually had a sense of distance, not like the closeness between family members.

Of course, people are complicated. As the saying goes, "Brothers should settle accounts clearly." As long as they are adults, the relationship between even brothers is not necessarily good. Otherwise, how could the term "brothers close the wall" come into being?

Compared to Li Minbo, Li Xiangen is also a serious person. Perhaps in order to maintain a dignified attitude, smile is rarely seen on his face. Even if he smiles once, the smile looks very fake, as if it is forced out.

Hearing Li Xiangen mentioned in Li Minbo's words, An Rushong moved his gaze and looked at Li Xiangen who was standing two steps away. Seeing the other party's eyes glancing over, he bowed slightly and saluted the other party.

Li Xiangen didn't say anything, but just nodded at him as a greeting. Judging from his attitude, this guy was quite cold towards An Rusong, as if he had some opinion about the latter, but in fact, this guy was just like that, and he was always so deadly to everyone.

At Li Minbo's invitation, An Rushong did not refuse. He followed Bai Jinjun and entered the restaurant with the two big guys who were walking in front.

The restaurant was very spacious, with a rectangular table placed in the middle. Brothers Li Minbo and Li Xiangen occupied one end each, while Bai Jinjun and An Rushong sat on the left and right sides of the table.

After the four of them were seated, servants naturally brought them dinner one after another. During this time, Li Minbo did not speak. He kept looking down at the document in his hand. Opposite him, Li Xiangen also did not say a word. He just stared at a certain spot on the table in a daze, as if he was daydreaming.

A few minutes later, the servant brought the last soup. Li Minbo was still looking at the documents in his hand. He seemed to have forgotten about eating because he was too focused. As guests, neither Bai Jinjun nor An Rusong should pick up their chopsticks before the host spoke.

Across the long table, Li Xiangen finally came back to his trance. He glanced at his brother sitting opposite him, then at An Rushong and Bai Jinjun sitting on both sides. His frost-stained eyebrows wrinkled slightly, and then he tapped the table with his finger joints.

Startled by the sound of him knocking on the table, Li Minbo raised his head and looked across.

"Eat first," Li Xiangen waved at him and said casually, then picked up the chopsticks at hand and started eating as if no one was around.

"Ah," Li Minbo realized that he had neglected the guest. He smiled apologetically at Bai Jinjun, then turned to An Rusong on the other side and said, "Don't be polite. Everyone, pick up your chopsticks. There are no outsiders here."

After he finished speaking, he closed the document in his hand, stretched out his arm and handed it to Bai Jinjun, saying: "This is a letter from Bill Forrest that was sent from Washington this afternoon." On the other side, An Rushong had just picked up the chopsticks, and after hearing what he said, he looked over curiously.

He knew Bill Frist, a Republican senator and a leader in the Senate with deep political experience. Last year, he was even expected to run in this year's US presidential election, but unfortunately, due to a previous scandal, he had to publicly announce that he would not participate in the presidential election and resigned from his senator position at the end of last year.

To be honest, if Frist hadn't been involved in that scandal, Pelosi, the current Speaker of the U.S. Senate, might not have been able to get the position of Speaker.

"Oh?" Bai Jinjun was about to reach out for the chopsticks when he saw Li Minbo handing a document to him. He then reached out to take the document and unfolded it to look at it.

"The current situation is a bit complicated," Li Minbo smiled at An Rusong and took a pair of chopsticks from his hand. While picking up food, he said, "Our powerful neighbor has developed at an alarming speed in the past few years, which has aroused high vigilance in Washington and even Europe. I guess you have also noticed recently that Europe is putting pressure on our powerful neighbor on certain issues, and in Washington, the Democratic Party in the Senate has already called for a boycott of this Olympics."

He pointed at the document in Bai Jinjun's hand with chopsticks and said, "The Republican Party is relatively conservative in its attitude. After all, the impact of the subprime mortgage crisis is still spreading. The US economy has definitely had problems. To survive this crisis, Washington needs the cooperation of our powerful neighbors."

"We are now under pressure from the Democratic Party. Speaker Pelosi even called me and asked me to cooperate with her on the issue of boycotting the Olympics," said Li Minbo, who had no appetite despite holding chopsticks. He frowned and said, "while Frist holds a position that is almost the opposite. This is really a dilemma."

After hearing what he said, An Rushong understood what was going on.

In fact, in the past two years, there has been a lot of noise in the international community, especially in Western countries such as Europe and the United States, on the issue of China hosting the Olympic Games. Some time ago, Pelosi, as the Speaker of the US Senate, publicly called for a boycott of the Chinese Olympic Games.

In response to her, some European countries, especially France, have been hyping up this topic, including the media and politicians in the country. Of course, Britain, Germany and other countries are also involved. In An Rusong's memory, in his previous life, the French did even more excessive things, and in this world, the same thing is expected to happen again.

To put it bluntly, these things are not new at all. In this world, the rise of any country cannot be smooth sailing. You think being a crane is cool and beautiful, so you want to stand out from the crowd of chickens, but have you ever considered the feelings of the chickens? Before you really grow into a crane, they will peck you, right?

In the past, Lee Min-bo probably didn't have to consider these issues, and even the entire Conservative Party didn't have to consider these issues, after all, they were not the controllers of the country's political power. But now, the situation is different. Lee Min-bo is about to move into the Blue House, and these pressures from all aspects will naturally be on him, and difficult choices will naturally be made by him.

As a country built on a US military base, the so-called Republic of Korea actually has no choice on many issues. They have to do whatever their American father tells them to do. The only difference is that there are also contradictions and differences in the United States on many issues, such as when it comes to dealing with China, there are hawks and doves, and this contradiction and difference also gives South Korea some opportunities to make independent choices.

For example, this time, Pelosi and Frist have different opinions, so Li Minbo can make a choice between the two positions.

Now, as the victorious president, Lee Min-bo has not yet fully stated his position on diplomatic issues, but An Rusong is very clear that although Lee Min-bo belongs to the conservative party, he still hopes to further strengthen the relationship between China and South Korea on the issue of foreign relations.

In fact, although public opinion in South Korea has always been negative when it comes to China, both the so-called progressives and conservatives hope to bring China and South Korea closer together. Oh, there is only one exception, and that is the "savior" President Yoon. He is the only South Korean president who is determined to worsen China-South Korea relations since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Korea.

The reason for this is very simple, that is, the ties between China and South Korea are too close. In addition to economic ties, South Korea's geopolitical stability also depends on China's support.

The most important thing is that in recent years, North Korea has been developing nuclear weapons, which is a huge threat to South Korea. If South Korea wants to fundamentally resolve the North Korean nuclear issue, it cannot do without the support of its two powerful neighbors.

"What are your plans?" On the opposite side, Bai Jinjun quickly glanced through the document and then asked Li Minbo.

(End of this chapter)