Sail across the sea

Chapter 501 Seeking Peace Through Struggle
"Old Gao, your son is getting more and more arrogant."

Upon hearing Gao Fan's bold words, Xu Ying jokingly teased Gao Yiping with a smile.

Gao Yiping said insincerely, "He's had this problem since he was a child. He gets cocky as soon as he achieves a little success. It would be quite an achievement if we could complete the import substitution of fertilizers in fifteen years. Let the young people have the dream of conquering foreign markets."

“Let’s just reject the idea of ​​Fair Chemical funding the construction of the fertilizer plant. I’ll write a report to the province later,” Xu Ying said. “Actually, the province doesn’t dare to take the risk either. They want me to use my old connections in the chemical system to find out the Ministry of Chemical Industry’s opinion.”

"Now it seems there's no need for that. Xiao Fan and Minister Zheng have always been in contact. Since Xiao Fan has said that the policy won't be loosened, then it won't be loosened. It's best for Maolin Province not to take the lead."

“That’s right, that’s right. I still suggest that the province should be more cautious and not act rashly,” Gao Yiping echoed.

"Then the second question is, for the province's next phase of fertilizer construction, will we use the imported large-scale fertilizer solution or the domestically produced 1830 solution?" Xu Ying looked at Gao Fan and continued to ask.

“Plan 1830,” Gao Fan answered without hesitation.

Xu Ying smiled and said, "Are you so sure because Aunt Zhou supports this plan, so you support it too?"

Gao Fan shook his head and said, "No. It's because I insisted on this plan that Aunt Zhou insisted on it."

"Such a thing is true?" Xu Ying became interested.

Previously, Xu Ying had never discussed this issue with Gao Fan, so she didn't know Gao Fan's stance. She had spoken with Zhou Xiaoyun a few times and knew that Zhou Xiaoyun favored the 1830 plan. At the same time, she also knew that Gao Fan and Zhou Xiaoyun had a good relationship, so she assumed that Gao Fan might have been influenced by Zhou Xiaoyun.

But who would have thought that Gao Fan would shamelessly claim that Zhou Xiaoyun was influenced by him.

Gao Fan said, "Actually, the reason is very simple. I have studied the patterns of how the country has done things since the founding of New China, and I found that since the Soviet Union withdrew its experts in the late 50s, our country has paid special attention to one issue..."

"what is the problem?"

"Autonomous and controllable".

"Autonomous and controllable?"

"Yes. In the first half of the 50s, our country relied on Soviet aid to build a large number of industrial projects. At that time, we wholeheartedly believed that we could rely on such a big tree as the Soviet Union. But in the late 50s, the Soviet Union suddenly withdrew its experts, catching us off guard. Many projects were forced to stop production, causing great losses. Since then, our country has suffered from PTSD caused by being held back by the Soviet Union."

What the hell is PTSD?

Xu Ying and Gao Yiping were both a bit confused. Both of them worked in the chemical industry, where various English abbreviations were very common, but they didn't seem to have heard of PTSD.

“Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,” Gao Fan explained with a smile. He was not stingy in sharing some popular memes from later generations with people of this era. “Simply put, it means once bitten by a snake, twice shy.”

“Go on,” Xu Ying said, noting down the term PTSD, thinking she might need it someday. Gao Fan said, “In the 1970s, we implemented the 43 Program and introduced a batch of technologies. From the 1980s to the present, we have been carrying out reform and opening up, introducing advanced foreign technologies, and also allowing foreign businesses to make direct investments in China. But no matter how open we are, we always have one principle: to ensure that we can survive if foreign countries suddenly and completely decouple from us. That’s what we call self-reliance and controllability.”

Gao Yiping thought for a moment and said, "Isn't it rather extreme for foreign countries to suddenly and completely decouple from us? It shouldn't happen in today's world. Just like a few years ago, foreign countries imposed sanctions on us and interrupted a lot of technological cooperation, but foreign trade did not stop, and the trade volume even increased."

Xu Ying also said, "I've heard some experts analyze this issue. They believe that as China's participation in the international economy deepens, we and foreign countries have formed a 'you in me, and I in you' pattern. In this pattern, if foreign countries completely cut off their ties with us, they themselves would suffer huge losses. No country with even a little rationality would do that."

Gao Fan laughed and said, "Aunt Xu also said that this is a rational country, but what if we encounter someone who is irrational?"

“You’re just arguing for the sake of arguing,” Gao Yiping said. “National affairs are not child’s play. If it were some small country in the Pacific, it would be understandable for them to act out of spite. But how could a major power like the United States treat economic cooperation as a trivial matter?”

Sigh, Lao Gao is still too young.

Gao Fan sighed inwardly for his father.

When Dad turns 80, he'll see what it means to govern a great nation like it's child's play. That guy across the ocean… he imposes tariffs with nothing but empty words, even spouting off a 245% tariff rate. The University of Tokyo originally planned reciprocal retaliation, but faced with this situation, they're too lazy to follow suit; they simply can't afford the embarrassment.

There's no way to talk about this now, and no one would believe it anyway. Gao Fan could only put it another way:
"We're not talking about a complete decoupling, but what if the other side threatens to decouple? Will we give in, or will we stand up to them?"

Neither Xu Ying nor Gao Yiping answered; instead, they fell into deep thought.

They lived through the period of decoupling between the Soviet Union and China, belonging to the generation that suffered from PTSD due to being held back by the Soviet Union. However, with the continuous strengthening of Sino-foreign economic and trade cooperation in recent years, some of them have forgotten the pain once the wounds have healed.

As Gao Fan continued to hypothesize about a decoupling between China and the rest of the world, they began to imagine such a scenario in their minds:

If one day, due to certain events, Western countries suddenly join forces to impose a blockade on China and demand that China make certain concessions, how will China respond?

If China's lifeline is in the hands of others, and they can easily overwhelm you with a little effort, then you will have no choice but to concede, even if you don't want to.

After a long silence, Xu Ying said softly:

"As the old saying goes, peace is achieved through struggle, but lost through compromise. If one day foreign countries try to force us to make concessions by decoupling, we will have no choice but to fight back with our lives. If we compromise, we will never be able to stand up again."

“That’s right,” Gao Fan said. “To fight, we must first ensure our own survival. This requires us to be self-reliant and controllable in areas that are related to the national economy and people’s livelihood. Fertilizer is such an area. In this area, we absolutely cannot allow any link to be controlled by others. Because such a link can become a noose that others use to strangle us at critical moments.”

"I understand, you mean natural gas."

Xu Ying understood what Gao Fan meant and nodded emphatically.

(End of this chapter)