“I need some help, too, old friend,” I said when the waiters had cleared the last of our food. “I’m working on a great story, but it’s one that could get me in real trouble if I make a mistake. That’s why I need your advice.”

“Whatever I have is yours, within reason.”

“My excuse for coming to Beijing is to cover the Unetat conference and all the hullabaloo surrounding the communications contract. But what really interests me is French business corruption.”

“I know,” he said, tapping his nose. “I read your story about New Asia Development Corp. It was faxed to me a few hours after it was published in New York. It was very accurate.”

“I’m glad you liked it.”

“I didn’t say I liked it. It caused serious indigestion among some of my clients. A lot of them do the same things—the Germans, the Brits, the Japanese, the Taiwanese; it’s a cesspool, here, really—and they were all wondering where you got your information, and whether they were next. Where did you get your information, by the way?”

“I can’t tell you. I think the story referred to ‘U.S. officials.’”

“Okay, that’s an answer. But it doesn’t matter where it came from, because it was right. And it was a classic example of what the French do here. That’s why they’re going to win the contract.”

“You think so?”

“It’s a lock. I told my American clients that, months ago. I represented American Telephone, General Science and some of the other companies in the U.S. consortium. They wanted me to help them make the right contacts, find the right joint-venture partners. So I asked them flat out, ‘Are you prepared to break the law? Because otherwise you’re going to lose. The competition has greased every palm from here to Guangzhou.’”

“How does the game work?”

“It’s just like what you wrote about New Asia, multiplied a hundred times. A thousand times. You find the people in government who can stop the deal from going through; then you find some way to pay them enough money to keep them from making trouble. Usually, it’s through their kids. The children of the senior cadres are all very rich, if you hadn’t noticed. The old man may still be wearing a Mao suit, but the kids are buying up beach property in Malibu. This is still a Confucian society. It runs on respect for elders, and the basic business unit is the family. The kids are out shaking down Western businesses on behalf of Dad and Granddad. That’s for ordinary deals. But the communications contract is bigger.”

“How will it work, precisely? Where will the French payoffs go? I hate to push you, but I need to know.”