The Crane & the Mute Swan
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12:30pm, Handeda Airport, Tokyo, Kanagawa Province, Federal Republic of Yosai
The city of Tokyo was bustling with activity, it was the lunch hour and tons of people are rushing to get to their favourite restaurants and Yatai eateries before they have to go back to work. Shinjuku was famous for being the busiest district in the entire Tokyo metro area. Not unlike today for many citizens of the busy city of Tokyo, General Secretary Junichi Watanabe will be busy.
He is expecting to host an important guest. The guest in question was President Albína Reiserová of the Democratic Republic of Czech Slavia, The Executive Office of the General Secretary booked out a private terminal, as per usual when expecting high profile government officials. He was waiting along with Secretary of State Yuichi Matsuda, both of whom engaged in casual conversation while waiting for their guest to arrive.
Matsuda asked "Are you sure having another foreign world leader here is a good idea considering last time?" General Secretary sighed and replied "Yuichi not every country has the same agenda as Spain does, unlike that whole....Mess we don't know what the agenda here is today. But I'm sure its going to be far more pleasent. I'm thinking they just want to talk commerce and trade."
Yuichi replied "In that case shouldn't either Kyomi or Ayumi be here?"
Junichi replied "Well normally yes, but Ayumi i on care leave due to her mothers car accident last week. As for Kyomi, well she racked up her Sick leave and was adamant about using it. Good luck trying to stop her from her vacation time. I'm not going up against that woman. Would you?"
Yuichi nervously laughed "Oh no, beleive me I am familiar with the vacation disputes of 2020. So where is she?"
Junichi responded "Well if her Tomo Connect account is anything to go by she is back in her hometown of Osaka visitng her daughter and sister helping out with their family hotel."
Yuichi chuckled "Yeah that tracks. Never trust that woman to take an actual vacation. So what now? We don't have a Commerce & Industry Secretary in the meantime?"
Junichi just casually replied "Yeah pretty much"
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"Comrade President, I am terribly sorry to disturb you, but we will be landing soon" said a flight attendant while gently putting her hand on the shoulder of Albína Reiserová who fell asleep at a desk she had at the airplane
The President slowly opened her eyes and massaged her head before focusing on the flight attendant. The flight attendant was of Yosainese descent which formed a small but noticeable minority in a ethnically heavily homogeneous Czech Slavia. "I am so sorry comrade, you, and the others on the plane work so hard and meanwhile I am here sleeping." said Reiserová. She recently started to feel very exhausted, as she insisted on going over all the documents of her ministers in detail to check if there isn't anything she'd change. The Minister of Health Zuzana Saková tried to persuade her to trust the work of her ministers more and relax her working schedule, but there was no arguing with the President who regarded others as incapable without her oversight.
"That is alright Wise Leader, I was the only one who came to check on you and besides, for us the work ends after few hours in a day, but you work much longer and for all of us, to ensure our prosperous future!" explained the carried away flight attendant in a spark in her eyes, which made Reiserová feel even worse for falling asleep.
"Comrade, thank you for your work and telling me we are approaching our the airport, you might go." said Reiserová now in a monotone voice as she now tried to appear serious before the flight attendant, crossing her hands to cover the fact that she drooled a little on her shirt in her sleep. "Oh and.. please take this and offer the others to the bodyguards too." she added while offering three muesli bars from her desk to the flight attendant who thanked her and took the muesli bars before leaving. Reiserová herself just put a little piece of orange in her moth and after swallowing it she went to changed her shirt and re-apply her make-up.
Handeda Airport, Tokyo
The President stepped out of the plane and walked toward her hosts. Shaking hands with the Yosainese Secretary of State and then with the General Secretary Junichi Watanabe. "Your Excellency, I am pleased to meet you. Will there be a chance to speak with the public? I have a speech ready if there will be such occasion." she said smiling.
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Junichi smiled while shaking President Reiserová hand "Comrade President its nice to meet you." He then looked at his phone. "Alright well it is noon. We do have a full day ahead of us. We can do a press conference at around 5:30pm, people will be finishing work."
Secretary of State Yuichi Matsuda replied "Ah well yes its the beginning of the news on many prime time networks. Would you like to make a press conference then? Or do you have a particular time in mind Comrade President?"
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The President was taken aback by the two representatives of Yosai referring to her as a comrade, she wasn't expecting that from them. "No no, I don't have a particular time in mind, any time works for me, I just want to make it clear to the public that Czech Slavia respects and supports the position of the Federal Republic of Yosai in the Adventuranza Strait dispute and your fight for what is yours." she explained and nodded waiting for her hosts to transport her out of the airport.
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General Secretary Junichi Watanabe smiled "Well, Comrade President thank you. You have really made my day. I tell you that whole Adventuranza Strait affair gives me headaches just thinking about it and I think it has made me greyer than I am." He said as he smiled
Yuichi chuckled "Yes, a year and a half ago his hair line on the sides was all black, now look at him, he's aged 10 years." General Secretary laughed "Yes I'm afraid Yuichi is right. The Adventuranza Strait has resulted in some sleepless nights. But its great to hear your support."
The delegation then started to walk out of the side entrance of the private booked terminal to a bullet broof state car with other just like it in front of and had staffers drive them to the Executive Blue Manor.
Yuichi asked "Also Comrade President Reiserová. We were wondering if we were addressing you correctly? We were told that that title was used to address you in your country. We just want to make sure we are using the title of Comrade President properly."
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The President expression froze for a moment when she heard what effect intense work, stress and a lack of sleep had on Watanabe her eyes pointed at the gray hair of his, soon she however realized that by this, she is inviting the stress in in the first place so she quickly purged those thoughts from her head, just as she purged the Left and Right Deviants from the Party, and she shrugged her shoulders and tilted her head at the conversation about the General Secretary's hair. "Have you tried yoga Mr. General Secretary? Or meditating? I think that might be very helpful with stress and achieving calmness.... although some more, let's say more traditionalist, comrades at home do not agree with me and view meditating more negatively. Drinking wine however helps no matter what!" Reiserová tried advising her counterpart.
Once Reiserová was seated in the Executive Blue Manor, she started going through her documents to put some of them on in front of her, but the question of Yuichi Matsuda made her smile and lose focus for a moment. "No, no, President is my official title, Comrade is our, socialist, form of addressing one another, just like you might address one another as mister or madam or missus or miss. But it isn't a part of my title."
After a few second of the President just going through her documents she finally found what she was looking for and once again focused on her hosts and on the paper before her. "The Federal Republic of Yosai and the Democratic Republic of Czech Slavia are both countries with large deposits of REM and Iron. I think the past few days have shown us all how crucial it is to co-operate, for that reason I have come here with proposition of co-operation especially between the REM mining industries rather than competition between them. Now even before this we have heard voices coming for co-operation from the revolutionary government in Icholasen, but they seem to get less involved in European matters as of late, and from Istkalen, although now we can't really be sure with the situation there changing rapidly, I am expecting to meet with their representatives soon, so I hope they will be able to make the situation there clearer to me." Reiserová paused to turn the page "I'd therefore like to ask if the Federal Republic of Yosai would be interested in establishing a relation of co-operation in the REM mining industry, either by negotiating and fixing the prices of the REM or splitting the countries into which one country will import their REM, without interference of the other, this includes agreeing upon splitting the imports into one country. And if it would be interested in that, would it also be interested in expanding this co-operation to other REM producers?" With that she has put her paper down and relaxed in her chair.
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General Secretary Watanabe "Yeah...I'm a Scotch a Sake man myself" he said as he calmly smiled and chuckled. He then heard Reiserová proposal and straightened his glasses and raised his eyebrow pensively "Hmm, officially this government has voiced their concerned against monopolies. But given the past few days as you have pointed out it is important for co-operation, you are correct Madame President. A REM trading community or trading body consisting of REM countries to form some kind of price monopoly our government would usually be against domestically, however given the world we live in right now we need all the leverage we can get. Splitting option appeals to us. So Madame President, this hypothetical REM trading bloc has peaked my interest. Do you have some details written up or are we starting from scratch at the moment?"
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"I am glad to hear that you agree with the benefits of economic co-operation in this field! Currently I have no details, as we would still like learn what the position of the Republic of Istkalen is and after that an agreement can be negotiated and signed between us. For Czech Slavia the ability to fulfil the existing agreements with our trading partners will be crucial. The splitting option favoured by you is of course the more ambitious one but I think that it also empowers the REM exporters greatly." said Reiserová as she put down her papers. "Well gentlemen this was the reason for my visit. Again I am glad you agree and you will be contacted once we learn the position of the Republic of Istkalen." Resierová nodded her head few times in silence. "That is all from me, really."
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"Excellent. Well Madame President, that is all from us unless you want to talk about further trade, but I assume that that is for another day. I enjoyed meeting you Madame President."
Secretary of State Yuichi Matsuda replied "As did I Madame President. Now I believe there was mention of a press conference?"
Junichi replied "Ah yes of course. Give me a minute I'll get in touch with our Press Secretary. Just bare with me for a few minutes Madame President. "
A few hours later. They were at the Executive Blue Manor's conference room, it was filled with journalists from many Yosainese news outlets and foreign press. The delegates at the stage behind the podium. The room was filled with anticipation for announcements from their leader as well as the President of Czecch Slavia.
The General Secretary made his way to the two podiums for each leader were with camera's flashing everywhere.
"Ladies and gentlemen good afternoon, today is good day, we have an esteemed guest with us. Madame President Albína Reiserová of the Democratic Republic of Czech Slavia. She came this way as a means of showing friendship and willingness to conduct business with our nation and wishes to say her peace. So I will ask our members of the press today to please refrain from questions until after the speech in which time I will open the floor to both of us taking questions. Now then with that said, ladies and gentlemen President of the Democratic Republic of Czech Slavia, Albína Reiserová"
He then opened the floor to his counterpart.
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Albína Reiserová nodded at her introduction and pulled out a small note to read. "Ladies and gentlemen as Mr. General Secretary has said I've come here to deepen the diplomatic relations between the Federal Republic of Yosai and the Democratic Republic of Czech Slavia, but I have also come to pay respect to the noble struggle of the Yosainese people. A struggle for being the sole masters over your lives and your territory without bending to anybody. In the past days you have become an inspiration to people around Europe when you decided to stand firm in face of foreign might, not stepping back an inch from what is yours and with that you have won not only your rights, but also the admiration and sympathy of the people of Europe. And when all those who fight for justice come together, injustice will never triumph."
Reiserová folded her note and put it back in her pocket as she smiled and turned her head to Watanabe.
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General Secretary Watanabe smiled. The room was silent a few seconds, then the audience clapped while cameras were flashing everywhere. The General Secretary responded "Truly powerful and amazing speech and from the bottom of my heart Madame President, thank you...It means a lot to know that there are leaders such as yourself who are not afraid to call out injustice when it presents itself" . A journalist from AYN was chosen by the Junichi Watanabe asked both of the leaders. "Yes, Haisei Sasaki from AYN. What is the future for Czech Slavian and Yosainese relations in terms of today's visit?"
General Secretary Watanabe responded first "Yes. Well today's visit is a good indicator for future trelations in terms of intergovernmental relations and trade. We do wish for future relations between Yosai and Czech Slavia. As for what these sort of relations would look like, we will figure it out in future visits." The press then waited for President Albína Reiserová to give her answer.
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The response to Reiserová's short speech made her feel really good and now with questions being asked, she felt like if she were on a festival giving an interview, which was much more familiar to her then her other duties as the Head of State and Government.
"I am hoping that the meeting today is a beginning of very close, friendly relations based on co-operation and mutual respect between our two countries. The General Secretary has agreed that our foreign trade policies should be funded on the principle of co-operation rather then competition, so I am very optimistic about the future of our relations."
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The press conference continued for some time until the journalists had all of their questions were answered. Then the summit was concluded.
