Betrayed in China: One Entrepreneur's Hard Journey East
The email started with his usual accusations of insufficient payments. It followed with a demand for money and a serious threat: Wang was holding bills of lading on all the containers he could until he got paid. "Now I'm seriousness tell you, before Aug. 10-15 I need to pay 1 million, please prepare," he wrote.
Kasha didn't have $1 million to pay him. The impossible was happening. Shipped containers, already en route to the U.S. and filled with indispensable product--containers Kasha had assumed were safe--were now in peril. By withholding the paperwork, Wang could effectively hold containers ransom in the port of Los Angeles indefinitely.
In a conference room in Shanghai, Kasha gathered with a lawyer and two members of his staff. On a whiteboard, they recorded each of 33 containers that were at sea or in port. They identified which were still in Wang's possession, and of those, which carried product they needed immediately. It came down to 12 crucial containers. They were on ships handled by three different freight-forwarding companies.
Kasha and the lawyer worked out a plan. Kasha would visit each of the freight forwarders in person, explain the situation, vow he would increase his business, and then offer to put the full value of the containers in escrow. He hoped that would give the forwarders a sufficient sense of protection to let the containers go. The last of the containers were due in port on August 9.
In the meetings, the freight forwarders said they would check with their lawyers and get back to Kasha.
This, Kasha realized, was what trust amounted to for an American in China. It was created by the possibility of future business, or by a financial incentive. That wasn't really trust. It was a practical, amoral trellis to help the little green vine of trust grow.
On August 8, Kasha's lawyer sent a letter to Rex and Bob Wang demanding they release the bills of lading. Otherwise, the letter threatened, Akasha would reject all containers and have them shipped back at the Wangs' expense. They got silence.
But later that day, Kasha heard back from all three freight forwarders. They were releasing the containers. In Los Angeles, trucks picked up the containers and rushed them to Akasha.
On August 9, Rex wrote back, reiterating his complaints. He ended his catalog of hurt with a demand for $2 million.
It was too late for Wang. The power balance had shifted. On August 10, the man got his own surprise. One of his glass suppliers, which was owed three months' worth of payments, took a legal action that led Chinese authorities to seal the Bai-Shi Craft facility. Soon after, Wang called Kasha to work out a settlement. It would be the last time they spoke. Wang's only comment for this story was a single epithet: "Adam is bullshit."
