2030_ The Real Story of What Happens to America - Albert Brooks [103]
“What exactly are you asking for?” the United States team wanted to know.
“We want our people who uproot their lives to make your lives better to know how important they are. Our first choice would be dual citizenship.”
“Well, if they stay here long enough and go through the process, we can certainly consider that.”
“We need more than consideration. We need a guarantee. The only way for our people to accomplish such a great task set before them is to ensure that they will be part of what they build. Part of America. Most will take such pride in their workmanship that they will want to stay here. We ask that those who are approved to work on the reconstruction will automatically gain their citizenship.”
“We can’t do that,” the United States said. “They can’t just come here and become citizens immediately; that would be unfair to the rest of the world. They have to live here for five years minimum to apply for citizenship, like anyone else who comes here.”
The Chinese were insistent. “All of the foreigners who have come to your country have come here because they chose to do so. This is not the case with us. You are asking us to come and therefore we do not feel it is right that we have to live under the same rules as those who come here uninvited.”
The bargaining went on like that over many marathon sessions until the agreement was reached. As far as citizenship, it was agreed that after two years of work on the “project,” as it was referred to in the contract, a Chinese-born person could apply for dual citizenship in America, providing his or her work record was clean and they had no issues with the law. The Americans thought they were giving up a lot on this point, but they gained a lot on another issue, that of the possibility of another great quake. At first the Chinese didn’t want to address that, but finally language was put in the agreement that said, “Once China rebuilds and co-owns, they will take the responsibility of keeping the city from further decay, including any act of God, which will also include any further earthquakes.” The U.S. was thrilled. If there was ever another natural catastrophe, the Chinese would shoulder the cost.
The part of the contract that dealt with disputes was a bit of a joke. If either party had grievances, it was allowed to bring them before a combined panel of American and Chinese officials that would then arbitrate. The Chinese asked, “What if there is a situation that cannot be arbitrated; how will that be approached?”
The Americans laughed. “That’s called war, and we don’t want to spell out an attack in the agreement.”
As complicated as the contract was, the Americans were surprised by how quickly it was negotiated. Normally something like this would take years, but once the U.S. realized it was the only solution, everything was done in a matter of weeks. Many times the U.S. negotiating team went home at night imagining how beautiful and modern Los Angeles would be one day. Many of them had done business in China over the years and had become depressed leaving through one of China’s modern and spacious airports, only to come back to the United States and land at an airport that had been built a hundred years earlier. And one of the U.S. negotiators who had lived her entire life in Los Angeles was overheard saying, “Just to get these decrepit water mains replaced is worth the price of admission.”
* * *
The negotiations were secret, but word was slowly leaking out that something big was in the works. Brad Miller had moved in with his son until he was able to board the retirement ship The Sunset. Tom had taken out another loan on his small house to make this happen and he worried constantly about how he would pay it back, but he knew he had to do this for his father.
Brad was sharing a room with his eleven-year-old granddaughter, Melissa. He helped her at night with her homework and tried not to listen when she talked to