1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3718

Before Qian Tiandun launched this operation, the domestic support for the special operations division was actually very limited. After all, Hai Han currently has too many overseas efforts, and the competitive pressure it will face in expanding westwards is much greater than in other directions, and uncertainty will increase accordingly.

Even Star Island, the most important partner of the Special Operations Division, had to temporarily reduce its investment in the Indian Ocean in order to concentrate resources on developing the southern continent.

However, under such conditions, Qian Tiandun was still steadily advancing the westward expansion and had made substantial progress. The successive opening of Fubo Port and Zhenhai Port was no less significant to Hai Han than the establishment of permanent bases in North America and the New World in the south.

"I think the characterization of this matter is very simple. To cause trouble for Qian Tiandun and the Special Operations Division is to go against our country. We must make our attitude clear and make the Portuguese restrain themselves!"

As a representative of the military, Yan Chujie naturally stood on Qian Tiandun's side and raised the seriousness of the matter to the level of national interests.

However, the people in the Executive Committee would not be so easily instigated. They had been in power for decades and had seen all kinds of situations. As soon as they heard it, they knew that Yan Chujie was taking advantage of the situation.

Ning Qi said: "With the strength of the Special Warfare Division, it would be no problem to conquer even ten Hormuz Islands. The reason why Lao Qian asked the Executive Committee for support is probably because he wanted to use this conflict to let the Executive Committee give the Special Warfare Division more autonomy!"

When Ning Qi said this, he received some voices of approval.

The Special Operations Division is a symbol of the Hai Han Army's highest combat power, and dealing with a small Portuguese colonial outpost is certainly no problem. The support that Qian Tiandun requested is more like what Ning Qi said, the purpose of which is to ask for more authority for the Special Operations Division.

Yan Chujie immediately retorted: "I think everyone here should know what kind of support the Executive Committee provided for the Special Warfare Division's operations in the Indian Ocean, and how big the gap is compared to other overseas regions. The natural conditions in the Arabian Peninsula where the Special Warfare Division went are far more difficult than in other overseas regions. I would like to ask everyone, who is willing to live in the desert all year round?"

"Now that the Special Warfare Division has achieved results in the local area and captured two important ports for our country, it is only natural for it to put forward conditions to the Executive Committee and ask for more assistance. If the Executive Committee refuses, aren't you afraid of disappointing the soldiers?"

Ning Qi said: "Of course we should give the necessary assistance. The Special Warfare Division needs more ships, immigrants and grants, larger trade quotas, and more convenient settlement methods. I think we should try our best to provide these to speed up our country's colonization in the local area."

"However, the special operations division now wants more authority, such as the autonomy to sell arms overseas, and also wants to remove the marks on the weapons and equipment. We may not be able to track where these unmarked weapons will eventually flow to, and we have no way to estimate the consequences."

"Also, whether supporting Persia is really in our country's interests, whether it will cause the Ottoman Empire's dissatisfaction with our country, and what kind of impact it may have in the future, these are not explained in detail in Qian Tiandun's telegram."

"We are certainly aware of the hardships faced by soldiers overseas, but I think the right approach should be to find ways to improve their living conditions, improve their treatment levels, and try to meet their needs, rather than granting them greater authority and letting them solve practical problems on their own." Yan Chujie could truly feel that Ning Qi's speech this time was extremely well prepared and well-reasoned, making it difficult for him to defend Qian Tiandun.

Seeing that several people present were on Ning Qi's side, Yan Chujie knew that this meeting might not allow Qian Tiandun to achieve his wish. All he could do was to try his best to get more conditions for him.

Therefore, Qian Tiandun's request for the country to provide a large number of unmarked weapons and equipment was quickly rejected by the Executive Committee on the grounds of security issues. Even though such transactions could bring extremely high profits to Hai Han, the risks brought by the untraceable whereabouts of a large number of weapons and equipment still made it difficult for the Executive Committee to allow this.

The Executive Committee also did not come to a clear conclusion on whether military support for Persia would affect the situation in the Persian Gulf region and Hai Han's international status there. Before Qian Tiandun provided the Executive Committee with more detailed reports, the Executive Committee could not decide on the diplomatic strategy in the region.

This means that Hai Han still needs to wait and see the local international situation, rather than immediately intervene and provide strong support to any of the countries involved.

Yan Chujie could understand this. After all, this decision involved Hai Han's geopolitical strategy for the next several decades or even hundreds of years, and it had to be made with caution. It was not possible to make a conclusion based on just a few telegrams from overseas, even if the writer of the telegrams was Qian Tiandun.

According to normal diplomatic procedures, formal diplomatic relations must first be established between the two countries, diplomatic envoys must be sent to each other and permanent diplomatic institutions must be set up. After understanding the actual situation and needs of the other party, the various support measures mentioned by Qian Tiandun can be considered.

It would take at least one or two years to achieve the desired result. He hoped that Persia would drive out the Portuguese on Hormuz Island after receiving military aid, and the sooner the better, as a revenge for Portugal's mischief in the area.

But if we follow the pace of the Executive Committee, it will probably take three to five years. If the construction of Fubo Port goes smoothly, it should have taken away more than half of Hormuz's trade share by then, and it would not matter whether Persia intervenes or not.

Yan Chujie knew that Qian Tiandun would never be satisfied with the decision of the Executive Committee, so he could only strive for more benefits for the Special Operations Division in other aspects.

First, the Special Warfare Division was commended for building Fubo Port in the Gulf of Hormuz and Zhenhai Port in the Gulf of Aden. Such great achievements in expanding territory deserved no excessive praise. However, for the Special Warfare Division, which had made many outstanding achievements in the past 30 years, even joint commendations from the Executive Committee and the Ministry of National Defense were not surprising.

Providing actual rewards would be more valuable to special operations divisions, which are often fighting overseas.

This time, perhaps to compensate for the limited support given to the Special Operations Division before, or to demonstrate the importance that the top leaders attached to the future development of the Middle East, the Executive Committee allocated a large amount of materials and equipment to the Special Operations Division in one go. The magnitude of the allocation is probably only comparable to when Wang Tom led his troops to North America a few years ago.