the other side.
Locke had just taken the position of Minister of Commerce, and everything here seemed novel to him.
After all, this is the first time he has held such an important position, and it is also the first time he has undertaken "strategic" policy formulation.
Yes, his rise to power was not accidental. In fact, the term of the previous Minister of Commerce was not over yet. The reason why we had to break the rules and let him take office in advance had only one purpose:
Use any means necessary to curb the development of the East.
This may sound contradictory, because in the past ten or even twenty years, the persona he has established has been to "promote friendly exchanges between the two countries" and "promote economic cooperation between the two countries." However, in the eyes of some Chinese people, In his eyes, he is also a model of successful Chinese people.
Some people even regard him as the "savior" of overseas Chinese, because after he entered politics, he continued to speak out for Asians and made a lot of efforts to promote the introduction of policies to improve the living conditions of Chinese Americans.
This brought him an excellent reputation.
However, all this is just an illusion after all.
All the "friendly appearances" are just his disguises, and it is precisely because of these disguises that Congress regards him as the most suitable person to implement policies.
In the office, Locke held the latest collected reports in his hand, frowned slightly, and asked the assistant beside him:
"From the data point of view, the other country's GDP growth rate has been above 20% every year in the past five years. Is this data real? Or to be more direct, how much water is there?"
After hearing his words, the assistant was slightly stunned, and then said:
"There should be no problem with the data - if there is any moisture"
"According to our judgment, their economic growth rate should be more than 20%."
"?? What do you mean? Are you saying that the 20% figure is conservative??"
Locke was shocked. He stared at the assistant opposite, waiting for his explanation.
This can't help but surprise him. You must know that for a large country, a GDP growth rate of more than 5% is considered very fast, but to achieve a growth rate of more than 10%, it must have a very strong special driving force. .
For example, oil, epoch-making new technologies, or certain overheated and bubble industry economies.
But it is obvious that the opponent does not meet any of the above conditions.
Looking at Locke's expression, the assistant nodded and then replied:
"Yes, if we look at GDP alone, the 20% figure is accurate."
"But if we combine the other party's overseas investment and some overseas resource income that is not included in the statistics, I am afraid that this number will reach at least 30%."
"After all, their core strategic layout in the past two years has been overseas, especially in Africa."
"They have invested a lot of upfront costs, and the harvest is about to come."
Locke breathed a long sigh of relief. After a moment of silence, he spoke:
"Understand the source of power? Where does the power for such rapid development come from?"
"How far the motivation lies, the expansion of military power is part of it, and a more stable external environment provides them with more opportunities."
"The second is technological development. You should know this without me telling you. Their military technology has led to the leapfrog development of civilian technology. Under the coordination of their so-called 'Civil Development Office', the economic benefits have been realized quickly, and even many Technologies are beginning to seize the market that originally belonged to us.”
"In this case, there is a problem if their development is not fast."
"Understood, then the content of our work at this stage will be very clear."
"We must take action - including the May Meeting and the Corner Tower, everything they did was in the wrong direction!"
"Military affairs and competition for overseas spheres of influence are all measures to treat the symptoms rather than the root cause."
"If we want to truly take back what belongs to us, if we want to truly bring them down, there is only one way to do it: destroy their engines!"
"Money and resources are all feasible means."
"Didn't they use the economic crisis to deal with us before? We should treat others the way they want."
Hearing his words, the assistant nodded solemnly.
"That's what Congress wants to do, and they have a clear strategy for that."
"But they responded too slowly."
Locke sighed.
"If the time could be advanced to three years ago, I think there is still a lot we can do."
"But now, all we have left are the most extreme measures."
"You mean, trade restrictions?"
"Trade, Finance."
Having said this, Locke paused for a moment, and then continued:
"We need to join forces with OFAC and first enforce relatively strict financial restrictions on them."
"After the first phase is completed and the other party's economic feedback data is obtained, further new actions can be taken."
"Similarly, the list of several flagship companies and scientific research institutions, led by our Ministry of Commerce, must also be carried out as soon as possible."
"Understood, where to start?"
"Semiconductors, materials, new energy."
Locke replied without hesitation.
"In the semiconductor field, they are already trying to attack our position, and this momentum must be extinguished in the shortest possible time."
"Especially the photolithography machine project that Shanghai Microelectronics is taking the lead in, I will not allow it to be born in this world."
"In addition, we must also pay attention to several materials research institutions."
"The metallic hydrogen project being discussed recently is a typical example. Let our think tanks analyze it. I don't believe that there are no weak points in such a complex project. As long as that weak point is broken, their entire project will definitely be destroyed. At a standstill.”
“As for new energy – my suggestion is to focus on wind power, lithium batteries and photovoltaics.”
"Our monopoly on fossil energy must continue, at least until we enter the next energy era."
The assistant wrote down what he said one by one. After confirming that everything was correct, he smiled and said:
"These strategies are almost identical to those proposed by congressional staff."
"Now I understand why they let you take office early. Your vision is indeed worthy of this position."
Locke smiled and nodded noncommittally.
He knew very well that his assistant was not just an ordinary assistant - in fact, he also assumed some "supervision" responsibilities.
If the strategy I have formulated has any tendency to favor China, I am afraid that my position will no longer be able to be maintained.
"But I'm curious, do you really not have any blood identity with them in your heart?"
"After all, your parents were not born in the United States. It should be said that you are not 100% American."
"This has nothing to do with blood. I will prove my loyalty to this country."
Locke put down the materials in his hand and leaned back slightly.
"Human nature is to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages. There is a Chinese proverb that says, people go to higher places."
"Since I have chosen the high place, I must resolutely give up the low place."
A few days later, the first round of suppression began quietly.
Different from the suppression launched during previous economic crises, this time it is not the use of typical economic means such as tax increases and antitrust investigations, but the most direct trade restrictions based on the principle of long-arm jurisdiction and the "American" factor.
To explain it in the simplest way, the solution is:
As long as a certain product contains more than 20% American elements, it is not allowed to be exported to specific companies.
The list of these specific companies is the so-called entity list.
Companies included in the entity list will not be able to obtain the required technical equipment normally, and any attempts to circumvent controls will also be deemed as fraud, which will trigger an escalation of the incident and directly add them to the rejection list, thus losing the final "application license" "Opportunity.
As soon as the news came out, the entire international public opinion was in an uproar.
No one could have predicted this move by the United States. After all, even in the most tense moments before, they had not shown any tendency to initiate trade measures.
At this point in time in 2008, world economic integration was the mainstream. When all countries were busy lowering trade barriers and saving the declining domestic economy, you actually wanted to engage in trade protection?
Every economy active in this market is confused.
The Ministry of Commerce did not know how many inquiries it received via email, but the answers they gave were all official and perfunctory:
This time the list only targets a few companies that pose potential threats to national security and will not be expanded or affect economic cooperation with other economies.
However, even such a reply is enough to make other economies feel relieved.
Because at least the attitude is very clear:
This matter has nothing to do with anyone else.
In this case, there is no need to fight for or mediate.
The only thing we can do is to regard this batch of entity lists as a signal that the crisis has begun and prepare in advance in other areas.
Chengdu, in the office.
Chen Nian looked at the report in front of him and said to Chen Guo:
"Look at what these companies have chosen. The attack scope is quite precise in the semiconductor field. Microelectronics, SMIC, ZTE, and Huawei have directly killed an entire industry chain."
“In the field of materials, all companies that have previously participated in large-tow carbon fiber have been recruited, and 17 companies were recruited at one time.”
"In addition, several titanium alloy manufacturers have also been targeted. This is obviously aimed at the aviation industry."
"There are several photovoltaic and lithium battery companies, but they don't seem to be very powerful?"
"I don't understand this heavy elm liquid. Is it for metallic hydrogen? But the problem is that there are more than one hydraulic manufacturers."
Hearing Chen Nian's words, Chen Guo nodded solemnly, and then replied:
"Yes, this operation is different from what we have encountered before."
"If it was a face-to-face strike before, this time it's a surgical precision strike."
"Especially in the semiconductor field, if we hadn't made a good layout in advance, the entire industry chain would have been killed by the Entity List."
"At that time, we will have no choice but to sell our interests in exchange for the right to survive."
Chen Nian sighed softly. The term "exchanging the right to survive" was not unfamiliar to him.
In his previous life, even 10 years later, even if China's development is far from what it is now in 2008, some companies still can only grovel and offer what is theirs if they want to survive. Interests.
This is the power of technological hegemony.
In modern society, it will not bring any smoke, but it will cause more harm than any kind of war.
We always say that when the last resort comes, the worst case scenario is to turn the table over.
But what does last resort mean?
Under what circumstances do we have no choice?
No one can accurately judge this.
So usually, the process becomes like boiling a frog in warm water. Slowly, you get used to it and lose the ability to resist.
Thinking of this, Chen Nian said:
"We absolutely cannot do any kind of quid pro quo."
"As the United States often says, they will not negotiate with terrorists."
"The same goes for us, and we will not negotiate with them, an economic terrorist."
"Since they want to engage in trade protectionism and since they want to launch a trade war, let's fight it to the end."
"I don't believe it. With so many new technologies and so many scientific researchers, can't we survive several rounds of suppression by them?"
A smile appeared on Chen Guo's face, and then he said:
"You really need to have such ambition."
"Originally, I came to you today just to tell you that the seriousness of this incident is actually not as high as most people imagine."
"It is true that we may encounter some difficulties in the future, but these difficulties will only remain at the level of 'unsmoothness' and cannot shake the foundation of our technology."
"So, just take it slow. We can't mess up the situation on our own."
Chen Nian hummed, and after a moment of silence, he suddenly said:
"But I still get angry when I think about it."
"What the hell, Locke just came up, right? Is he that impatient?"
"How did you know it was him?"
Chen Guo asked curiously.
In fact, Locke played the role of the legendary "red face" in this operation. He even gave public speeches on multiple occasions, saying that he would "promote the lifting of the suppression after finding out the truth." This also won him Many Chinese people support us.
Of course, Chinese officials would not believe his nonsense. What was strange to Chen Guo was that Chen Nian had no contact with him, but why did he have such explicit contempt for him?
Facing Chen Guo's question, Chen Nian rolled his eyes and said:
"False friends will always understand you better than sincere enemies. The only one who can do such a thing is a devil like him."
"Just wait, one day I will catch him and let him properly recognize his ancestors."
Chen Guo shook her head in confusion. He had long been used to Chen Nian's "childishness" that appeared from time to time.
It's normal to be angry. If he really doesn't have emotions at any time, he's in big trouble.
After a moment of pause, he spoke to comfort:
"There is no need to disrupt our arrangements because of such a villain."
"The economic side has begun to introduce response strategies. What we have to do now is to implement the metallic hydrogen project as soon as possible."
"The other party's intention this time is still very obvious - although the new energy sector is the least suppressed, according to the judgment of superiors, this is their real purpose."
"The energy landscape is about to undergo a new change, and we must be prepared."
(End of chapter)
