The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

After attending the commendation meeting, Liu Tao set off for Ho Chi Minh City.

Ho Chi Minh City is located in the northeast of the Mekong Delta, on the right bank of the Saigon River, a tributary of the Dong Nai River, 80 kilometers from the estuary. It covers an area of ​​2090 square kilometers and has a population of about 1200 million. It is the capital of Annam and the largest port city and economic center of Annam. It is both the most populous city and the largest economic city.

This time he came to attend the ASEAN 10+1 meeting and the groundbreaking ceremony of the Pan-Asia Railway East Line.

According to the strategic plan, the Pan-Asian Railway East Line, Central Line and West Line will be formed in the Southeast Asian Peninsula, and the final intersection will be in Bangkok, Thailand. The East Line will form Kunming-Nockey Xi-Hekou-Longyuan-Donghe-Da Nang-Quangyi-Khanh Loc-Tuy Hoa-Van Ye-Ninh Hoa-Yenqing-Heyan-Phuoc Min-Lei Giang-Hamjin-Long Li-Ho Chi Minh City-Vinglong-Phnom Penh-Kampong Thanh-Pursat-Battambang-Lak Sai Kepong-Sa Kaeo-Kabin Buri-Chachoengsao-Bangkok, running through China, Annan, Cambodia and Thailand.

The Kunshi-Donghe section has already been completed, and the Donghe-Bangkok section to be built this time is 2000 kilometers long, with one dedicated freight line and the other dedicated passenger line. Both adopt double-track railway design and are designed according to the railway trunk line standards.

Originally, the East Line was in the planning and design stage and was not expected to start construction until 2013.

However, due to the economic crisis, the construction was started ahead of schedule, and a groundbreaking ceremony was held during the ASEAN 10+1 meeting as a landmark project for China-ASEAN economic integration.

This time, China High-speed Railway will be responsible for funding, planning, design, construction and operation.

Not only that, in order to save the economic crisis and promote regional economic integration, the Pan-Asia Railway West Line, Pan-Asia Railway Central Line and Malay Peninsula Railway will also be launched.

The Pan-Asia Railway West Line refers to Kunming-Dali-Myitkyina-Mandalay-Naypyidaw-Yangon-Bangkok. Currently, the Kunming-Mandalay line has been completed, and the one to be started is Mandalay-Naypyidaw-Yangon-Bangkok, with a total length of 1400 kilometers. It also adopts a double-track railway design and is designed according to the standards of railway trunk lines.

The middle section of the Pan-Asia Railway runs from Kunming to Yuxi, Pu'er, Xishuangbanna, Vientiane, Khon Kaen, Khotan and Bangkok. The Kunming-Vientiane section has already been completed and put into operation. The Vientiane-Khon Kaen-Khotan-Bangkok section, which is about to start construction, is 590 kilometers long.

The Malay Peninsula extension runs from Bangkok-Prachuab-Kuala Lumpur-Singapore, with a total length of 1850 kilometers!

With railways as the center and highways, national roads and provincial roads as the backbone and branches, it constitutes the transportation hub of the entire Southeast Peninsula, forming a transportation network and thus achieving regional economic integration.

At that time, all parties reached a consensus to realize China-ASEAN economic integration in 2010, and now it is in the acceleration stage!
The current international situation is changing rapidly and is full of uncertainties, but there are some certainties.

For example, economic integration!

Before this, through several years of hard work, we have already built power integration, communication integration, etc., and now we are working on transportation integration!

And this is real integration, not just integration promoted in words.

A large amount of funds were invested in the entire Southeast Peninsula.

The funds that the entire Southeast Peninsula will receive in the future will far exceed the investment it has received in the past few hundred years.

Military integration is also taking place simultaneously.

The same set of standards has been implemented for several years!
This is Liu Tao's first time to arrive in Ho Chi Minh City. Annan has made great efforts and tried his best to host the summit.

A large number of scholars, a large number of business owners and senior managers, and a large number of media reporters came to Ho Chi Minh City.

The entire summit will last for a week, and the topics will cover politics, economy, culture, military, science and technology, society, education, health, environment, energy, transportation and more.

Compared with the 10+1 summit of that year, the topics of today's summit are broader and more in-depth.

Although the 10+3 summit, namely the ASEAN + China, Japan and South Korea summit, is also being held, this summit is far less popular than the 10+1 summit.

After arriving in Ho Chi Minh City, Liu Tao took a good look around the city. In addition to attending the opening and closing ceremonies, he also attended some important meetings.

There are not many public schedules, but there are many private arrangements. Although private meetings will not be reported, they are undoubtedly more important and more related to interests.

If you want development, you will naturally have to pay a price.

There is gain in loss, it has been like this since ancient times.

In the 30 years since China's reform and opening up, it has achieved remarkable development results that have attracted worldwide attention and has been praised as a world development miracle. However, China has also paid a huge price. Countless Chinese people have worked hard and struggled diligently. Even now, there are still farmers over 60 years old working on construction sites, moving bricks, cement, and tying steel bars.

China's annual investment in environmental governance is increasing, as these are caused by environmental pollution and soil erosion during the development process.

Even in recent years, measures such as returning farmland to forests, returning farmland to grassland, and returning farmland to lakes are all aimed at repairing the damaged ecosystem and working hard to maintain harmonious development between man and nature.

It is impossible for ASEAN to achieve integration without paying a price.

In this process, various forces are competing with each other, each wanting to gain greater benefits for themselves.

Liu Tao needs everyone to abide by a rule: state-owned enterprises that are related to the economic lifeline remain nationalized!

In the overall economic and social structure, state-owned enterprises shoulder the economic lifeline of the national economy, national security, and many political and social responsibilities.

This is the unique attribute of state-owned enterprises. First and foremost, they are enterprises, but they are not the same as ordinary enterprises.

This is also the reason why, up to now, railways, highways, electricity, etc. are dominated by state-owned enterprises, not private enterprises.

Of course, the market is big enough and the cake is big enough, so there is room for everyone to eat. The only difference is the size of the cake you eat.

Sharing the cake is a kind of ability.

Everyone hopes that their share of the cake is bigger, and everyone always complains that their share of the cake is too small.

This requires someone to share the cake and make everyone happy.

And Liu Tao played such a role.

Panshan Group sold a large number of arms to the UK, including a Type 001 light aircraft carrier and a Type 002 medium aircraft carrier, both of which are currently in service with the Chinese Navy. This was the result of negotiations between the two sides, with each side gaining and losing, and it was also a statement of attitude to the outside world.

The same is true for this summit.

As a major measure to deal with the current crisis, promoting regional economic integration is not only a short-term response to the economic crisis, but also a mid- to long-term plan.

In fact, China’s capital and production capacity need to have a place to go.

ASEAN is one of the best choices.

The whole regional economy is being integrated. If there is any disturbance in the future, it will be easy to build a wall. Even if it is just inside the wall, it can safely survive the crisis and remain invincible. (End of this chapter)