The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 678 Thailand’s Ambition

Liu Tao will try his best to get whatever the Thai military wants to purchase.

Now that Thailand is rich, it wants to strengthen its military. Liu Tao can understand this. After all, Thailand wants to be the leader of ASEAN.

On August 1967-8, 7, the foreign ministers of Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines and the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia held a meeting in Bangkok and issued the Bangkok Declaration (Declaration of the Establishment of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations), officially announcing the establishment of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Under the promotion of Liu Tao, in addition to the original five ASEAN member states, namely Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia have successively joined, and Brunei also joined ASEAN in 1984. That is to say, ASEAN now has 9 member states.

Now all we need is South Vietnam to form the ten ASEAN countries!

The establishment of ASEAN was actually influenced by the European Community, which hoped to coordinate all parties through this regional economic organization, resolve their differences and avoid the outbreak of war. It first achieved close economic cooperation, then promoted close political cooperation and frequent cultural exchanges, and ultimately achieved regional integration.

This is a good attempt, but it is extremely difficult to actually realize it!
Thailand is currently one of the best developed countries in ASEAN, with the largest GDP and the largest military strength. It is seeking to become the leader of ASEAN. If it can be achieved, Thailand's international status and voice will be greatly enhanced.

In fact, the formation of regional economic groups is not just a game for these regions. The United States has realized that it can no longer compete with its opponents alone as it did before because of the development of the world situation. The United States must create regional economic groups with itself as the core that can compete with other economic groups and economic powers to consolidate its position in the world economy.

The United States therefore has tremendous motivation and enthusiasm for establishing a free trade zone and is now actively promoting the North American Free Trade Area among the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Liu Tao also has a strong motivation to promote the development of ASEAN, because as China develops, the market here is very important and can become a back garden in time.

As for Thailand's dream of becoming the leader of ASEAN, Liu Tao just found it funny in his heart and was not optimistic about it, because Thailand's economic strength, military strength, culture, etc. were not enough to allow it to reach that step.

Thailand itself has complex internal forces and huge contradictions, and is actually a powder keg.

After World War II, Thailand became the United States' main military ally in Southeast Asia, but the United States' strength has declined greatly in recent years. The power struggle in Thailand is very fierce, and the forces of all parties are complicated. Some are determined to cling to the United States, while others have other ideas. According to Liu Tao's intelligence, a military coup may happen next year.

The Thai military has enormous power and influence.

Then in recent years, those wealthy Chinese and overseas Chinese families have established their own armed forces for self-protection.

There are also other big families and big forces that have their own armed forces.

Liu Tao knew Thailand’s plan. If Thailand couldn’t buy it from him, it would go to the United States or other European countries to buy it.

If you have the money and don't want to make it, you're a bastard. Liu Tao will naturally not turn away the business.

"We have heard that the Thai military may not only want frigates and destroyers, they want to buy aircraft carriers," said the military official in charge of the matter.

"Aircraft carrier? Are the Thais crazy? Although Thailand's economic development has been good in recent years, it is simply unrealistic to own an aircraft carrier." Liu Tao frowned, thinking that the Thais were daydreaming.

Aircraft carriers are very expensive to build, and their operating and maintenance costs are not low either.

Liu Tao understood Thailand's desire to expand its naval power. After all, pirates were rampant near their coasts, and their relationship with South Vietnam was not harmonious, which made them more eager to improve the strength of their navy.

But an aircraft carrier is something that Thailand cannot touch.

"They don't want medium-sized or large aircraft carriers. They want light aircraft carriers of 10,000 to 20,000 tons," explained the military official in charge.

Liu Tao raised his eyebrows, "Light aircraft carrier?" The concept of light aircraft carrier was invented by the British. Since World War II, especially after losing control of the Suez Canal, Britain's national strength has declined greatly, and it can no longer afford the construction and use costs of medium-sized and large aircraft carriers. Therefore, the British came up with light aircraft carriers. Light aircraft carriers are also aircraft carriers, thus maintaining the glory of the British Royal Navy.

But in Liu Tao's opinion, this is just a fig leaf of the British Royal Navy.

If the tonnage of a light aircraft carrier is too small, the number of carrier-based aircraft will be greatly limited, and other equipment will be restricted accordingly. The most important indicator of an aircraft carrier is the number of carrier-based aircraft.

The limited number of carrier-based aircraft means that the advantages of aircraft carriers are limited.

"Even if it is a light aircraft carrier, the cost is not cheap. If the Thais want to buy it, not counting the carrier-based aircraft, it will probably cost 2.5 billion US dollars! Adding the carrier-based aircraft, they will have to pay at least 3 billion US dollars!" Liu Tao said.

Thailand is a big country in Southeast Asia, but it is nothing in the world. Liu Tao does not believe that Thailand is willing to pay 3 billion US dollars.

Of course, it’s not that the cost of building a light aircraft carrier is really that high, but the profit from warship trade is already very high.

Just like Panshan Group's Type 052 destroyer, they dared to offer a sky-high price of US$15 billion, but countries like Saudi Arabia were still eager to pay for it.

Because of the advanced warships, Europe, the United States and the Soviet Union would not be willing to sell them!
If you want to buy it, you naturally have to spend money.

"By the way, did they come here on a special plane?" Liu Tao asked.

"No, their navy visited us, and then they took the high-speed rail from Pengcheng and arrived in Beijing at night," said the military official in charge of this matter.

Liu Tao nodded slightly. Now China likes to arrange for foreign friends to take the 'Beijing-Kowloon High-Speed ​​Railway' to let them experience China's high-speed railway.

This trick was learned from the Japanese.

For visiting dignitaries, the Japanese always like to arrange for them to take the Shinkansen to showcase Japan's high technology and the power of Japan's high-speed rail.

China is following suit, and it is estimated that in a few years it will surpass its predecessor!
"I will think carefully about what you said!" Liu Tao said.

The two sides chatted about some more things, and Liu Tao had a rough idea in his mind, so he left and returned to the courtyard.

After returning to the courtyard, Liu Tao entered the study and began to make preparations.

This kind of purchase order will not be small. Once it is completed, it will be a large order, which is worth his careful preparation.

Liu Tao made a phone call and asked the test flight team to fly a J-10 fighter and a J-11 fighter to the Beijing Air Force Base. He also called the person in charge of the air force base to arrange the types of military aircraft to be displayed to the Thai military tomorrow.

Even J-5 and J-6 fighter jets were arranged.

现在华夏空军，可是还有大量歼5、歼6战斗机在服役，随着歼7改、歼8改批量生产服役，以及歼10、歼11战斗机即将服役，这些歼5、歼6战斗机退役已经进入倒计时。

Naturally, we have to make good use of its final value.

Although the J-5 and J-6 fighter jets are outdated, it does not mean they are incapable of killing people. Thailand and its surrounding areas can still exert their strength. Not to mention that the J-5 and J-6 can also be used as training aircraft and for performances. They are not really scrap metal.

(End of this chapter)