The Adventuranza Redress (Yosai-Spain Summit)
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The Yosainese delegation bowed after they shook hands General Secretary Junichi Watanabe addressed President Jesús Aguilar "Mr President, thank you for coming I trust your journey wasn't too unconfprtable, unfortunately Yosainese weather is less pleasent than your homeland. Its getting to the time of year where it can get harsh especially in the North East. This way." They were then let to the cars waiting. There were bulletproof vehicles waiting at the exclusive side entrances outside of the terminals. As they made their way out General Secretary Watanabe opened the communication up for light chat. "I was in Spain as a young graduate and only starting my career in finance, I went to Pamplona during the running of the bulls, that was a scary experience I can tell you, I wonder, do they till have that?" He asked with a friendly smile.
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"Oh Mr. Watanabe, it was not an umpleasant journey, in fact we enjoyed a good weather during most of the flight. We are having some unusual weather for this season of the year, to be honest, but I am a huge fan of the cloudy and wet weather, and I love having to wear coats, so this weather is perfect for me" The President smiled while he followed the Yosainese delegation.
In the motorcade, Aguilar listened to Watanabe and smiled when he heard that the General Secretary had been to Spain before, and that he had ran the Sanfermines. "Oh, it is indeed a scary experience, but it is very funny to see on television, I assure you! We still have them, and it is a very popular event all around the region. Every year, more and more people from Inquista or Montenbourg come to Pamplona and run the encierros, but under their own risk. Also, security has increased quite a lot recently, so maybe now you would feel safer." Aguilar said, while he saw some bits of Tokyo.
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General Secretary Watanabe chuckled "I see, well that's a young mans event. I can't do that anymore." After the cars got through the busy traffic of Shinjuku, they managed to arrive before the peak lunch our traffic and rush. After they stoped they got out of the Executive Blue Manor building
The General Secretary and other members of his cabinet then directed President Aguilar to on the side of the building towards the Blue Manor Ishiguri Garden temple that overlooked a small freshwater pond of Koi fish. The weather was still crisp but not harsh, it was a frsh cool breeze, with the sides being tempered by Yosainese maple trees mostly with red and burgundy to purple leaves.
The garden had a small cafe area with chars prepared and a table for a more austure, less grand but a more freidnly feel. Junichi Watanabe then sat down. "If you wouldn't mind Mr President I would just like to spen a few moments out here for a bit if you wouldn't mind. Now I believe we know why both of us are here now. The Adventuranza Strait. I beleive your government has an agenda of their own regarding the strait. So would you care to outline your agenda first or should I?"
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The Spanish President sat at the same time than his Yosainese counterpart, and he listened to Junichi Watanabe. To Aguilar's eyes, the Adventuranza Strait was Spanish, however he needed to seach for an agreement that the President was willing to achieve. The pressure was high, and he already knew that there were many eyes put on him, so Teodoro García Egea and himself had been working on an interesting proposal that could save the tax and, at the same time, bring some stability to the region. Aguilar, who had been President of Spain for 5 years already, and he knew what all of this was about.
"As you have offered to outline my agenda first, Mr. Watanabe, I think I will take that offer," expressed Aguilar, making a brief pause. "The Spanish Government has been working on a proposal to solve this crisis, which is mantaining the tax. I would like to say and make clear that the taxing is a red line to us, as I imagine you will also have some red lines concerning this negotiation. The taxing scheme we have on the Adventuranza Strait brings prosperity to this region of the European Union, to its people and protects the flora and fauna of the Strait, then we consider the tax as a must for this part of Southern Europe. The money is invested on the area exclusively, and it would keep being invested in this area with this possible agreement.
Furthermore, I would like to mention that the Strait standard tax is set at 2% of the total cargo value, and we have certain exceptions for nations that have a deal with us. The tax, as you may be aware of, is voted by the autonomous communities that form the Adventuranza Strait Maritime Security Agency. Given the case we reach an agreement, Spain would have one vote and Yosai would have another, and all the changes to the current taxing scheme should be agreed between both countries."
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"Hmm, so now we know what the red line is Mr Aguilar, we have red lines as well. Equal territorial integrity in terms of our position of the waters of the Srait is paramount. The tax is also a contention, however I am willing to hear what your proposal is in more detail. So Mr Aguilar, please...Elaborate." General Secretary Watanabe asked while straightening his glasses. What I mean is how the procedures work. WE just want a full comprehensive explanation. Details of entry, details of tax grades, what if we dissagree on who to tax. That kind of thing."
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"The Adventuranza tax is very simple, we only tax ships going through the Strait, incluiding those that make a stop on Spain to refuel of do some maintenance but Spain isn't their final destination. Ships arriving to or departing from the countries involved on the Adventuranza Strait Maritime Security Agency are not taxed, as this would not bring benefits to the nations taxing the Strait. Avoidance with stopovers is not possible either, as you need a 24 hour margin to consider a new journey has started, and unless the ships from Pravoslaviya, to give you some sort of example, can afford to pay that, it is impossible. When it comes to entrance, everything flows freely unless the ASMSA detects a ship entering that hasn't payed the tax in advance, then a boat is sent to check what is going on with them. These kind of ships are usually reached beforehand to clarify everything, so we avoid any major incident to take place.
Now, onto the tax grades and disagreements. There are 5 main taxing groups: zero, one, two, three and four; that get their names from the applied tax percent it is applied to the total value of cargo. At the moment, the autonomies involved on the ASMSA decided whom to tax and how much percent to apply, but again, with an agreement it would be a representative from Yosai and a representative from Spain the ones that would decide everything. Disagreements are part of the democratic exercise of the Adventuranza Strait Maritime Security Agency; however dialogue and negotiation between both representatives should be fluent to agree on tax changes. These are subject to change every single day."
The Kingdom of Spain
His Majesty the King, Felipe VI
President Alberto Núñez-Feijóo
Councillor and Council Speaker Donald Tusk -
There is the contention of what happens if both parties can't agree to tax? As well as Yosai having to enforce what is ultimately Spanish law. A law that has nothing to do with Yosai. We believe that this tax unfairly penilises nations that have no choice but to transport goods through the strait just on the basis of geography. Also if we accept this policy it forces us to accept some degrees of Spanish foreign policy, trade policy and maritime conventions by a body that is ultimately administered by Madrid.
"Yosai doesn't have the interest in taxing anyone in the strait on the basis of what is ultimately Spanish law as we believe that Yosai doesn't need to rely on such a revenue stream. The tax ultimately ties us to Spanish trade policy in terms of cargo taxes, and foreign relations with other states will ultimately not be the same of Spain's relations I mean what we want is to be able to do is to conduct our own commercial and trade policy and maritime procedures. I am sure you can understand such reasoning. If we implement this tax we risk alienating potential business interests on the basi of a policy decided and administered by Spain.
What we want is For Yosai and Spain to share an equal portion of the Strait of Adventuranza as is perfectly reasonable of
12nm each and each conduct their own trade, commercial and ta policy as both see fit. We have equal share of the Strait and go our seperate ways. I know you have your red lines and so do we. So I ask you Mr Aguilar, where do we go from here? " -
Aguilar answered, wishing to be clear: "Mr. Watanabe, if you want 54.5 kilometres of waters for Yosai, you will have to compromise to the tax. This agreement has to be fair for both parties, and as I have and am compromising to your red lines, you should compromise to mines. It is the fairest choice and the only one that will bring stability and prosperity to this area of the South of Europe. The ball is in your court now, you decide between an agreement or losing all this progress we have achieved so far."
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"In other word comply with the tax or loose our right to equal share of the waters? Would it not be reasonable for both sides to have equal share of the Strait and free to implement their own laws on either side? What you are asking is pretty coercive Mr President. Not what I call a respectable foreign policy. We aren't asking for much Mr President. All we want is Equal share of the strait, something we shouldn't have to ask for seeing as we have stake in what goes on in the strait as well. We get equal share of the strait along with the right to implement our own laws. It's that simple. But if you are unwilling to accept something that basic then I'm afraid we are at an impasse. I apologise for having you fly all this way for no reason."
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"I think that calling our foreign policy as not respectable and saying our proposals are coercive is not the correct way to carry on with these negotiations, Mr. Watanabe; in fact making these statements do not help this negotiation, but makes it worse and increases tensions between us. Let me give you some helpful advice for when things do not go on your way, for possible future situations like this one: never disrespect or indirectly insult a country.
I have done a lot for this agreement, nonetheless it is disappointing to hear Yosai is not intending to accept the only red line Spain has proposed all over this negotiation, even more when the justification is full of untrue statements: this is not ultimately Spanish law, as the sound tolls were born from an agreement between Spain and the former Ottoman Empire; and saying this implies accepting Spanish foreign policy is even more untrue, because you actively take part on the decision making process on the ASMSA, which also does not imply or mean a tie to Spanish trade policy as, again we both take decisions. And when it comes to trade, it might penalise them but that is how this works, and as Céline Dion says, 'that's the way it is.' So, Mr. Watanabe, do we have an agreement or not?"
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General Secretary Watanabe face was a calm and gentile demeanor but also firm "Mr President our position on the tax was clear from the beginning. The tax was also a red line for us, but in a different way. You want to keep it, we never wanted to enforce it as having another country administer a law which has nothing to do with that nation was something do not have any interest in, whatever agreement you had with the Ottoman Empire was a decision that was for another time. We are not the Ottoman Empire . I cannot go back to the Yosainese people and say that we have won our right to sovereignty at the expense of our tax policy. We do apologise if you feel insulted, that was not our intention, however we cannot in good conscience accept this policy. I do hope that one day we can look past this and if not under our current adminiosterations but maybe the next that Spain and Yosai can call each other allies, but we have nothing to gain with further negotiations with each other as it currently stands. So I'm afraid I must decline. I'm sorry." He aid as he gave the signature respectable Yosainese bow.
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Well, then as Yosai is not interested in the good ending of this negotiation, while Spain is, we will be us who will make the effort. We will drop the Adventuranza Strait Maritime Security Agency and with that, we have a deal, Mr. Watanabe. And now, once that has been solved, we would like to move on to talk about trade and movement.
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General Secretary Watanabe raised his eyebrow while straightening his glasses pensively.
"Of course Mr Aguilar. After all it wouldn't be nice if you left Yosai completely empty handed. What did you have in mind Mr President. We are welcome to any talks regarding trade and movement. What did you have in mind?"
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Well, we are interested on many products from the Republic of Yosai and Spanish products are great quality and many people will surely enjoy them even more if we both up to free trade and movement. When it comes to movement, I believe we should both be able to shut down our borders whenever we want if there is a risk to national security or any international conflict or problem. And, related to free trade, I believe we should suspend any and allcustom duties and tariffs but keep cargo inspections as well as health controls, so we can avoid incidents that are unlikely to happen, but it is better to prevent that searching for a cure later, isn't it Mr. Watanabe?
I also believe we should cooperate when it comes to the Strait environmental protection and security, as Spain is really concerned about drug trafficking through the Strait from other African countries. The tax might be gone and our relationship might have just started a new era, yet the Strait criminals are still out there, and there is no time to lose.
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General Secretary Watanabe "Well Mr Aguilar I believe you have a deal. We see no reason not to agree to any of what you proposed. Free trade and free movement while still maintaining control of our borders in times where there might be a need for greater national security. Suspending tariff barriers and customs duties. Environmental protection is something this government does take very seriously s we are undergoing several environmental initiatives. Which are periodically published in journals. Today is a good day. Our relationship while tested has come up with a good outcome for both of us. I know it doesn't look like that now, but in the future I believe that this relationship will transform from merely productive to a positive outcome for us both. Is there anything else you wish to discuss at the moment or do you want to start a press conference?"
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"Right now there is nothing else that I believe I have forgotten to comment with you, Mr. Watanabe. So it is up to you right now! We have a good meeting after all, and coming to an agreement is very possitive for the future of this area of the European Union." Aguilar said and then smiled.
"But now I think of it, we need to write the Treaty! We nearly forgot of that!" The Spanish president commented.
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General Secretary Watanabe replied "OK, well If we can't come up with a treaty at this very moment. I'll have my department of state and senior members of my diplomatic corps to draft one up that benefits us both and we'll meet at a later date to go over it and sign it. Would you be ok with that?"
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"Of course, that is no problem to me Mr. Watanabe. It has been a pleasure to meet with you and reaching an agreement. I hope you have a great day and to see you again soon." Then the routinary press conference, a tradition in Yosai, took place and the Spanish President left the country. One of the most complex summits had just finished.
