The Northern Lion and the Eastern Dragon

[TheShammySocialist]

[b]Secure Transmission to the Office of the August Imperator[/b]

[quote][i]Salutations,[/i]

As the Minister of International Affairs and Trade, let me be the first individual of the Swedish government to reaffirm our thanks to your nation for providing Sweden with advanced weaponry at reasonable prices over these past few months. We can say confidently that the import of the weapon systems provided to us have given Sweden the necessary tools to ensure its national defense against virtually any regional threat to our sovereignty.

That being said, the Swedish government is interested in expanding its relations with the Far East, and we would like to invite a delegation from the United Federation of the East to Lulea, Sweden, the home of the Swedish governments' Sandon Island Estate this weekend, to discuss these matters in further detail. The government of Sweden has made preparations for your arrival, should you accept our invitation, at Naval Air Station Lulea, as well as travel arrangements from there to Sandon Island. Prime Minister Fredrik Ericsson, as well as myself, will be in attendance of this summit, and we look forward to your response.

[i]Christian Nyquist
Minister of International Affairs and Trade[/i][/quote]

[Triyun]

[quote]Greetings,

The United Federation of the East shall dispatch our Head of Government and Foreign Affairs, Grand Vizier Wei Hai to meet with your government.

[b]Signed,[/b]

Chief of Staff of the Office of the August Imperator Qi[/quote]

Grand Vizier Wei along with his staff, representatives from the People's Liberation Army, and representatives from various major UFE corporations would be dispatched to the meeting place.

[TheShammySocialist]

[b]Naval Air Station Lulea
Northern Sweden[/b]

There was a chill in the air and fresh snow had been cleared from the runways at NAS Lulea, one of the few operating airbases in northern Sweden, a number of other similar facilities were being constructed, but NAS Lulea was one of the few operational at the moment. On the tarmac, an honor guard of troops from the Life Guard Brigade stood in a smart formation, at their front, Prime Minister Fredrik Ericsson stood, with Christian Nyquist standing beside him, smoking a cigarette. Ericsson looked into the sky on the approaches to the Naval Air Station, the jet bearing their guests would be there momentarily. Behind Ericsson stood, in full military uniform, Aden Dawkins, the recent politician-turned-soldier, and son of Sham Dawkins, who had been assigned to the Life Guard Brigade following his waiving of his public service exemption.

"A little on the side of late," remarked Nyquist, quietly, looking at Ericsson.

"The weather isn't exactly the greatest, I think Northern Sweden is beautiful this time of year," said Ericsson, wistfully, as he observed the fresh snow covering the landscape around him.

"I'm not ready for winter," murmured Nyquist, as he threw away the stub of a cigarette.

"How can you call yourself a Swede and not be ready for winter, there can be snow in Stockholm in May for Christ's sakes," chuckled Ericsson, his older face creasing slightly as it broke into smile. His comment made Dawkins, who was within earshot, just smile quietly as he stood behind the two senior politicians. Behind the honor guard, a convoy of vehicles was waiting for the Federation delegation to arrive, and would transport them to Sandon once they landed.

"Don't remind me, Fredrik."

"I think I can hear their aircraft," nodded Ericsson, squinting and looking into the distance.

[Triyun]

As Grand Vizier Wei Hai exitted the plane, shivering slightly. The cold nordic environment contrasted sharply with the humid weather of Southern China. He went over to greet both men, "Thank you for inviting us to your country. The Scenery flying in was quite something. We hope to improve relations between our two nations, as well as build cooperation that will be beneficial to true global security. I have brought with me representatives both with our military and economic establishment."

[TheShammySocialist]

"Greetings, Grand Vizier," nodded Ericsson, as he offered his hand to Wei Hai with a polite smile. "I am Prime Minister Ericsson, this is International Affairs and Trade Minister Christian Nyquist, Welcome to Sweden! I personally have looked forward to this summit since our invitation has been accepted, Sweden has a lot of potential for economic growth, and I am glad that it appears that the Federation has recognized that, along with the regional influence we have been building in Scandinavia."

Nyquist would offer his hand to the Grand Vizier, and exchange pleasantries with the rest of the Federation's delegation, before nodding, "If you are ready, we have a caravan waiting to bring us to our venue for this summit." Nyquist would nod at the honor guards on duty, which would open the doors of the line of vehicles for the delegations once they were ready to proceed.

[Triyun]

"Thank you, your hospitality has been most kind." Wei said smiling. "Lets go." he said boarding the caravan of vehicles to the summit location for the two sides to hammer out an agreement.

OOC: I'm bad at the small talk, if you don't mind lets fast forward to the substance lol.

[TheShammySocialist]

The caravan would quickly whisk the delegations to Sandon Island, accessed by a causeway from the mainland, where the governments' northern guest estate was located. The mansion and grounds encompassed the entire island, and had a number of outbuildings and secondary houses for government officials or visiting delegations so that they may stay at the estate with private accommodations. The main building was basically a mansion that was reminscent of a hunting lodge, but on a grander scale, the rooms were all finished wood from Scandinavian forests, the walls adorned with pictures, state regalia, and other ornaments. The hardwood floors were adorned with rugs, and the entire venue was provided with comfortable leather or wicker furniture.

The delegations would be escorted into an expansive meeting room, and refreshments would be offered as soon as the delegations were settled into their chairs. As an aide passed around drinks that had been ordered, Ericsson would get straight to business, "I must thank you again in person for your technical assistance with arranging our arms deal, it has been most relieving to be able to ensure our country's defense so early in its life. Sweden is a growing influence in these regions, and I'm sure that our neighbors have taken notice to that, and probably take interest in it as well. That being said, we have little in the way of diplomatic arrangements with other countries, outside of arms deals with your own country, as well as the Gulf Federation. Although we have been in talks with the region about a 'Nordic Council' of sorts, those talks have stalled out for the time being. We are looking for diplomatic relations and strategic agreements abroad, which is ultimately why we have invited the Federation here."

[Triyun]

"Heh, it can often be much harder for those with a strong core set of beliefs to agree to regional alliances and agreements, rather than those ones grounded in political vision and reality. It has been my experience that regional agreements that are rushed tend to be relationships of convenience and often in the long run are quite easily strained. I believe the key to a strong agreement is one which is based on a willingness to be honest about one's vision and also one which both sides have confidence the other is willing to put skin in the game. We live in a dangerous world afterall." Wei said.

[TheShammySocialist]

"I wholeheartedly agree, and in all honesty, Sweden's influence will not be leaving Northern Europe, we plan to be a regional power for the time being, and keeping it that. While of course, we will seek markets across the globe where we can find them, the willingness of our government and its citizenry to countenance power projection on a grand scale is nil. We are looking for global partners, yes, that being said, we plan on staying close to home. Although, of course, we would be willing to support the military operations of our allies should the need arise," nodded Ericsson, as he sipped his tumbler of whiskey lightly.

[Triyun]

"Hah. Well I will be honest we are not opposed to a Swedish Global Presence if its in support of a UFE Global Presence." Wei said dryly taking a sip of tea. "In regards to opening markets and strategic cooperation I believe there is a lot of work we can do. As you probably know, being one of the worlds largest lumber exporters, we have a lot of people, which means we have an extremely high demand of furniture... the problem is we've had that for 3000 years... and well we have few trees left. Alaska aside, we could definately use more of those. We also have tremendous demand for metal ores. It is our understanding that Sweden is quite plentiful. In exchange for favorable supply lines, I have been authorized by my government to relax some of the export restrictions we have on advanced technologies, and put Sweden on Probationary Tier 1 Economic Ally status. This is the level which prepares both countries for technology sharing of the most advanced technology. A status which few nations, Athens, Burma, and Germany really are the only ones who have this. Additionally we think that this would strengthen a military and political strategic alliance."

[TheShammySocialist]

"You've done your homework before you came, Grand Vizier, I like that," remarked Nyquist, taking over for the Prime Minister, as he was Sweden's top external economic affairs official. "Sweden is plentiful in a number of ores, including zinc, copper, lead, and iron, just to name a few, which we are inclined to export to our benefit, and to be the beneficiary of some of the most advanced technology in the world would not one serve our country well domestically and strategically, we can use that same technology to make the most out of the resources we do have. In terms of lumber, Sweden is one of the top exporters of lumber in Europe at this moment. While we are certainly able to expand that export to your own nation, we will stress that our national lumber industry [i]must[/i] continue to be a sustainable one, which will benefit us all over the long run."

"Agreed," nodded Ericsson, "As a strategic partner, we could also elevate the Federation to preferred trading status, which would decrease tariff rates on a number of goods."

[Triyun]

"That sounds good. Since the collapse of the Holy American Empire and our relations with it, our natural resource collections have dropped somewhat. Of course we shall follow all laws regarding sustainable harvesting of your land and resources.

For our part, what sort of technology are you interested in building partnerships with. We have the Chongqing Aeronautic-Boeing Group representative with us. Along with him are Hebei-Posco Metals, Kiaohsiung Ironworks, Lenovo Advanced Electronics and its subordinate company Samsung."

Edited November 17, 2011 by Triyun

[TheShammySocialist]

"I believe all those companies pose great opportunities for our nation to partner with. Saab Aerospace is one of the premier aircraft builders in the Western Hemisphere now, CybAero also has become a force within its own right, producing reconnaissance and attack drones for our nation, and it would be fruitful to be engaged with the Chongqing Aeronautic-Boeing Group. As Sweden is undertaking green energy solutions, it would be fruitful to be able to partnered with Hebei-Posco Metals, to procure rare earths materials for the building of various systems, including solar panels and the like. It would also be beneficial to be able to learn any additional advanced resource extraction methods, as well. Karlskrona AB is always looking for partners to troubleshoot shipbuilding issues and develop solutions for the most efficient and high quality vessels around, and Ericsson would benefit from being able to partner with Lenovo as well, just a few to name off the top of my head," nodded Nyquist.

[Triyun]

"The United Federation of the East finds all these proposals generally acceptable. I think the one remaining thing to discuss is the nature of a military and political alliance. What do we want this to include, and what aspects do we want public and private?" Wei asked.

[TheShammySocialist]

"I believe that a Mutual Defense Pact with a secret optional Aggression Clause would be perfectly acceptable, along with a preferential trade agreement tacked onto the same pact," nodded Nyquist, after exchanging a few words with Ericsson quietly in Swedish.

[Triyun]

"Secret Optional Aggression is lame... if your going to have secret agreements it should be a guarentee that we shall use this treaty not just to possibly act aggressively, but definitely act aggressively." Wei said, it was unclear from his face whether he was joking or not. Only [s]bom...[/s] time would tell.

Edited November 18, 2011 by Triyun

[TheShammySocialist]

Ericsson looked at Nyquist, then grinned, "I can't speak for my Minister here, but I would support a full Aggression clause, I'm not against the signing of such clauses."

[Triyun]

"Hah!" Wei said. "Then if the Prime Minister agrees so do we." he smiled widely and possibly sinisterly. "We should celebrate."

[TheShammySocialist]

"Cheers," nodded Ericsson, with a polite smile, raising his glass and taking a sip of whiskey. "I would very much like to get a draft of this treaty prepared and ready for our signatures."