The rise of great powers: starting from military industry

The members of this mercenary army come from all over the world.

This can be heard from everyone's accent.

Liu Tao has been traveling around the country over the years. He has met many people and can recognize many of their accents.

Things like accents are not so easy to change.

Some people go out to live a lifetime, and when they return to their hometown when they are old, their accent still hasn’t changed much.

Liu Tao was concerned about everyone's lives and asked if anyone needed help.

Liu Tao didn't leave the military camp until evening.

The next day, Liu Tao held closed talks with King Fahd, Prince Sultan and others.

The two parties are discussing cooperation.

Liu Tao's participation in the ocean this time was naturally not just for testing during the first ocean voyage of the Type 818 large-scale electronic reconnaissance ship. He took this opportunity to come to the Middle East this time and had a lot to do.

For example, here in Saudi Arabia, many things need to be negotiated.

Liu Tao hopes to use Saudi Arabia as the most important strategic fulcrum of Panshan Group in the Middle East, so that its products can enter the Middle East and ensure the competitiveness of its own products.

Saudi Arabia has money, and many countries in the Middle East have money. This is a huge market for cars, motorcycles, and computers.

They have cooperated in communications and the Internet long ago.

However, progress in Saudi Arabia is too slow. The popularization of 2G is very slow. At this rate, it may take ten years to popularize 2G. As for the infrastructure construction of the Internet, it is also very slow. It is estimated that ten years will not be enough for every household to have Internet.

As for cars and motorcycles, sales work, maintenance work, car washing, etc., the Saudis simply don’t bother to do such dirty, tiring and low-paying work. Panshan Group must be mobilized from China, which involves Visa issues.

Some people come with their families, which involves education, medical care, etc.

Then there is the safety issue of Panshan Group employees in Saudi Arabia, which must be taken seriously.

To monopolize the entire Middle East market, Panshan Group still has a lot of work to do.

Saudi Arabia also seeks help from Panshan Group. Saudi Arabia has a heart for industrialization.

Because the Saudi royal family and Saudi elites realize that only industrialization can make the country strong, and oil trade can only make Saudi Arabia a rich country, but not a strong country.

However, Europe and the United States are not willing to help Saudi Arabia industrialize at all. Saudi Arabia knows this very well. Saudi Arabia is actually very dissatisfied with the actions of Europe and the United States.

Saudi Arabia believes that any country has the right to become industrialized.

Industrialization should not be exclusive to European and American countries.

When he heard that Saudi Arabia hoped to get support from Panshan Group in industrialization, Liu Tao actually felt dumbfounded.

Relying solely on oil, Saudi Arabia earns huge amounts of foreign exchange every year and has become a famously wealthy country in the world. Saudi Arabia's social welfare is very good, and it can maintain high social welfare with its annual oil income.

Since there is such a good social and high welfare, who among the Saudis is willing to do a job that is tiring, dirty and moneyless?

Besides, the cost of producing these low-end manufacturing industries in Saudi Arabia must be very high. In this case, how can Saudi products compete in the market?

Even in Saudi Arabia's situation, it is impossible to meet Saudi Arabia's requirements when engaging in mid-range manufacturing.

Only by developing high-end manufacturing can we truly meet Saudi Arabia's requirements.

But there are only those high-end manufacturing industries, such as high-end machine tools, aircraft, aerospace, electronics industries, etc. These all require high-end talents, a large number of qualified workers, and consume a large amount of electricity and water. The question is, does Saudi Arabia have it?

Saudi Arabia doesn’t have that at all.

Because Saudi Arabia does not have that many scientific research talents or workers.

Even China still has a lot to do in terms of industrialization.

"Saudi Arabia's ambitions are too great. Industrialization is not easy!" Liu Tao sighed secretly.

Unless Saudi Arabia sends a strong man from the sky and recreates the sun and the moon, he really cannot see the hope of industrialization in Saudi Arabia.

However, although he did not agree with it in his heart, during the discussion, Liu Tao kept nodding in agreement and agreed that the two sides should strengthen cooperation.

"Yes, Saudi Arabia pursues industrialization and becomes an industrial country. This is Saudi Arabia's legitimate pursuit. We fully recognize it. Every country has the right to pursue industrialization. There is no doubt about this."

"We are willing to help Saudi Arabia, thereby strengthening exchanges and learning between the two parties, and playing a positive and constructive role in the process of Saudi Arabia's industrialization." Liu Tao said with approval: "We are not the kind of pirates that are very popular in European and American countries. A country with a culture, China is a country with ancient civilization. We have a civilization that has lasted for more than five thousand years and has never been discontinued. We, China, want to use it most and are willing to help our friends. This can be seen from the past ten years or so. "

"We, China and Arabia, have been in contact for more than a thousand years, and we have had a thousand-year relationship. Believe me, our Panshan Group has always adhered to the concept of win-win cooperation, and we are willing to play an active role in Saudi Arabia's industrialization construction project. , and also share the dividends brought by Saudi Arabia's industrialization process," Liu Tao said righteously.

In this regard, Liu Tao has absolutely no problem speaking.

King Fahd, Prince Sultan and others were very happy when they heard Liu Tao's statement.

This shows that Panshan Group is willing to support Saudi Arabia’s industrialization.

"Liu, we have a vast market in Saudi Arabia. We will increase our cooperation with you in infrastructure projects, including water conservancy projects, railway projects, highway projects, etc." Prince Sultan said, "We know that you are very strong in this area. The high-speed rail I took last time to China impressed me deeply. We plan to build the Mecca-Medina high-speed rail."

Hearing Prince Sultan's words, Liu Tao's smile became even bigger.

Mecca and Medina are two holy cities of Islam.

Rumors that Saudi Arabia plans to build the Mecca-Medina high-speed rail came out at the end of last year.

Liu Tao naturally knew it.

This time, Liu Tao came here for one purpose, which is to win the Mecca-Medina high-speed rail project. This high-speed rail project is 450.25 kilometers long, with a total investment of 60 billion US dollars and an average construction cost of 133.26 million US dollars per kilometer.

There is no doubt that the profit here is very considerable.

If it is built by China, it will cost about 25 billion yuan, and the rest is profit, which means that it can earn about 200 billion yuan.

Of course, there is a problem here, because this is a desert high-speed railway. There are many sand dunes and mountains along the railway. The surface along the railway is mobile or semi-mobile sand dunes. The surface is undulating and mostly loose back sand layers. The road conditions are very complicated, and it will face a hot climate of 55℃ and extreme drought, which is a huge challenge for engineering design and construction.

Another problem is the problem of wind and sand. One-third of the year in the desert is blowing sand and dust, and most of them are mobile and semi-fixed sand dunes. Some construction sites happen to be at the wind outlet. Even very low sand dunes move tens of meters each year, and the rails are easily covered by yellow sand; the sandstorms that come from time to time will also cause wear and erosion of the communication signal settings of electrical equipment, and sand particles will penetrate between the gates or the bottom of the gate layer, which will damage the rails and fasteners, thereby shortening the service life of the entire railway system.

It can be said that there are many problems that need to be solved, and even these will lead to a significant increase in construction costs.

But no matter how much it is increased, the total investment of 60 billion US dollars is still profitable.