"You are most observant, Mr. Pitt," said Qin Shang without taking offense. "The piece is not fake, but a well-executed replica. The original was lost in nineteen forty-eight during the war when the People's Army of Mao Tse-tung crushed the forces of Chiang Kai-shek." "The burner is still in China?"
"No, it was on a ship with many other ancient treasures stolen from my country by Chiang that were lost at sea." "The ship's final resting place is a mystery?" "A mystery I have worked many years to solve. To find the ship and its cargo is my life's most passionate desire."
"It's been my experience that shipwrecks are never found until they want to be found."
"Very poetic," Qin Shang said, pausing to glance at his watch. "I must return and tend to my guests so I'll be brief before I have my security people escort you to the door. Please tell me the purpose behind your uninvited presence."
"I thought the purpose was transparent," Pitt replied conversationally. "Ms. Lee and I wanted to meet the man we're going to hang."
"You're very succinct, Mr. Pitt. I appreciate that in an adversary. But it is you who will be a casualty in the war."
"What war is that?"
"The economic war between the People's Republic of China and the United States. A war for extraordinary power and wealth for the winner."
"I have no ambitions on that score."
"Ah, but I do. That's the difference between us and between our countrymen. Like most of the rabble in America, you lack determination and zeal."
Pitt shrugged his shoulders. "If greed is your god, then you possess very little of true value."
"You think of me as a greedmonger?"
Qin Shang asked pleasantly.
"I've seen little of your lifestyle that persuades me otherwise."
"All the great men of history were driven by ambition. It goes hand in hand with power. Contrary to public opinion, the world is not divided by good and evil, but between those who do and those who do not, the visionaries and the blind, the realists and the romanticists. The world does not turn on good deeds and sentiment, Mr. Pitt, but on achievement."
"What do you ultimately hope to gain in the end besides a pretentious edifice over your coffin?"
"You misunderstand me. My goal is to help China become the greatest nation the world has ever known."
"While you become even more filthy-rich than you already are. Where does it end, Mr. Shang?"
"There is no end, Mr. Pitt."
"You'll have a tough fight on your hands if you think China can surpass the United States."
"Ah, but the deed is done," Qin Shang said matter-of-factly. "You country has died a slow death as a world power while my country is in its ascendancy. Already we have passed the United States to become the largest economy in history. Already we have passed your trade deficit with Japan. Your government is impotent despite its nuclear arsenal. Soon it will be unthinkable for your leaders to intervene when we assume control of Taiwan and the rest of the Asian nations."
"So what does it really matter?" asked Pitt. "You'll still be playing catch-up to our standard of living for the next hundred years."
"Time is on our side. Not only will we erode America from the outside, but with the help of your own countrymen we will eventually cause it to crumble from within. If nothing else, future division and internal race wars will seal your fate as a great nation."
Pitt began to see Qin Shang's direction. "Aided and abetted by your doctrine of illegal immigration, is that it?"
Qin Shang looked at Julia. "Your Immigration and Naturalization Service estimates that nearly a million Chinese enter America and Canada legally and illegally each year. Actually, the figure is closer to two million. While you concentrated on keeping out your neighbors to the south, we have been flooding masses of my countrymen across the sea and across your shoreline. One day, sooner than you think, your coastal states and the Canadian provinces will be an extension of China."
To Pitt the concept was inconceivable. "I'll grade you with an A for wishful thinking and an F for practicality."
"Not as ridiculous as you may think," Qin Shang said patiently. "Consider how the boundaries of Europe have changed in the past hundred years. Migration through the centuries has shattered old empires and built new, only to have them fall again from new waves of migrants."
"An interesting theory," said Pitt. "But a theory nonetheless. The only way for your scenario to become reality is for the American people to lie down and play dead."
"Your countrymen have slept through the nineteen nineties," Qin Shang replied, a visceral, even menacing quality in his voice. "When they finally wake up, it will be a decade too late."
"You paint a grim picture for humanity," said Julia, visibly shaken.