The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 636 Business Development Objectives

Indonesia is a hub connecting the Pacific and Indian Oceans and between Asia and Oceania, and is an important channel in and out of China's South China Sea.

In today's global trade, Indonesia's strategic position is of great importance as it has many islands, is far away from the mainland, has rich marine resources, and is located on the central axis between the global energy center Middle East and the global emerging economic zone.

The Soviet Union and the United States once competed in Indonesia, but unfortunately they were suppressed by the military strongman Suharto, who has always held power.

From that time on, Suharto's 'New Order' received support from the US government.

Liu Tao had no way to deal with this kind of military strongman.

Indonesia has rich natural resources, including abundant coal reserves, as well as huge natural gas and oil reserves.

After the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq Ship Raid War, oil from Indonesia became the main source of supply for Singapore refineries.

Panshan Group’s largest business in Indonesia is not investing in minerals, ports, etc., but a security company. It has opened a security company there that specializes in providing security services for wealthy Chinese.

As for the others, they seem out of reach.

Although there are many Chinese people there, they mainly engage in business and are relatively wealthy, but they do not focus on armed forces.

In Liu Tao's opinion, that was undoubtedly equivalent to a child walking on the street with gold bricks in his arms. It was hard to prevent people from committing crimes.

There are about 1200 million Chinese in Indonesia!

Liu Tao looked towards Afghanistan. There was no need to explain the strategic position of Afghanistan. Anyone who wanted to become the world hegemon would want to control this strategic location.

If the Soviet Union controlled Afghanistan, it would not be far from opening up a land route to the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean, which is less than 500 kilometers in a straight line. Once the Soviet Union opened up a land route to the Indian Ocean, the Soviet Navy would become a world-class navy.

If the United States controls Afghanistan, it would be equivalent to controlling the heart of Central Asia.

Afghanistan borders China to the east, Persia to the west, South Asia to the south, and the Soviet Union to the north. It is undoubtedly a place with a flourishing civilization.

In the past, the British Empire sent troops to Afghanistan several times to protect the Queen's crown jewel, India, but unfortunately all ended in failure. The Soviet Union had to pass through Afghanistan to reach the Indian Ocean, so the Soviet Union launched the Afghan War, but ultimately failed.

In the original time and space, the United States fought for 20 years to control this strategic location, but eventually had to withdraw its troops.

Afghanistan is a place with a very important strategic position, but there is no main ethnic group here, so it is difficult to form a strong centralized power. Therefore, chaos and fighting have become the norm, making it more vulnerable to foreign invasion. The invaders are all powerful, but it is difficult to conquer them. They also consume a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources in the use of troops, and then decline. Therefore, it is a veritable "graveyard of empires".

These powerful countries are unable to control this place, so Liu Tao naturally has no way to do so either.

Even the arms business is rarely done.

Afghanistan is also very poor, with many mountains, plateaus and mountains accounting for 4/5 of the country's area, and it is extremely dry, with an arid and semi-arid climate, and agricultural production is not even enough to feed the entire population of Afghanistan. Afghanistan is rich in mineral resources, but it is very difficult to develop them, and transportation is a huge difficulty.

Even Liu Tao could only shake his head after seeing it.

At the very least, with China's current national strength, it is not enough to have much influence here.

Investing in this area is likely to be like throwing meat buns at a dog, and there will be no return.

Looking at Iran and Iraq, with the five permanent members sending escort fleets to the Persian Gulf for escort, the safety of navigation has been greatly improved. Although there are still merchant ships being attacked, the number is far less than before. Liu Tao already has a hunch that the Iran-Iraq War will not last too long, and both sides are beginning to contact and negotiate.

Once conditions acceptable to both sides are reached, the Iran-Iraq War will stop.

However, even if the Iran-Iraq War stops and the two sides sign a peace agreement, both Iraq and Persia will strengthen their military construction to guard against each other so as not to be caught off guard by an attack from the other side.

This means that even if the Iran-Iraq War is over, there will still be orders here in the short term.

Liu Tao looked at Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries. These oil-producing countries have made a lot of money and become rich since the first oil crisis.

Where in the world is the society with the best welfare?
It's not the United States, not Europe, but the major oil-producing countries in the Middle East.

It was only after the outbreak of the "Iraq-Iraq Ship Raid War" that these countries suddenly realized that they were unsafe and needed to increase their military investment. This was also the main reason why Liu Tao won orders in the past year.

Liu Tao touched his chin. There is still great potential to be tapped in these major oil-producing countries in the Middle East.

These Middle Eastern tycoons are not short of money, and the royal life is extremely luxurious.

Although in recent years, in addition to the export of weapons and equipment, and the trade of civilian industrial products, the largest number of Panshan Group here are mercenaries, or security companies.

There are six security companies with a total of 25000 people, all of whom are retired military personnel.

These security companies are doing work on the edge of a knife, which is relatively dangerous, but the pay is also high.

Liu Tao felt it necessary to speed up business development here.

Whether it is military product trade or civilian trade, it is worth increasing business development efforts.

Tanks, armored vehicles, luxury cars, private jets... all of these are absolutely no problem.

If there is any place worth increasing development efforts, it is not Latin America. Latin America is too far away from heaven and too close to the United States. The influence of the United States in Latin America is too great.

Liu Tao stared at Africa.

In recent years, Panshan Group has made considerable efforts in development in Africa and has carried out various cooperation with several friendly countries, including weapons and equipment, military training, military talent training, etc., and of course, also including the construction of railways, roads, mines, etc.

In less than ten years, Tanzania and several other countries have undergone tremendous changes.

However, there is also a big problem in Africa. Europe has a great influence here, and its power is very large. The Soviet Union and the United States also invested a lot of energy here, competing for this place.

There are wars almost every day in Africa, and the chaos and unrest never stop.

In the final analysis, this is a game between three forces.

Many countries seem independent, but in fact they are deeply influenced by their own colonial masters. For example, France has strong power and influence in African countries such as Niger and Côte d'Ivoire. Even the currencies of many countries are issued by French banks. The currencies of these countries are even anchored to the franc. Moreover, these countries must deposit 65% of the deposits they absorb as reserves into the French treasury every year.

(End of this chapter)