Chapter 1436 Watergate Incident

"As the first ambassador to China, John's work was quite hard. He worked non-stop after he took office. Now we also understand some situations. In terms of scale, since 1949, they have achieved It is undeniable that China has made great progress. Of course, once the market is opened, nothing will be left, which can be understood as a weaker Soviet Union in all aspects."

A certain big country's ability to collect data has already begun to show impressive results. Of course, it cannot be compared with the Soviet Union, which was the best at collecting data in this era, but from all aspects, it has definitely broken away from the category of a weak country. It can even be said that if it were during the war, it would be a resounding presence.

Its weaknesses are the same as those of the Soviet Union. No one dares to underestimate the total number. If it really opens up to competition, there will be no place to die. The total number in various fields can be equal to that of the UK, but the UK only has a population of 50 million, while a large country The industrial scale of China has to cope with a population of 860 million, maybe 900 million next year.

Alan Wilson raised the diplomatic document in his hand, "I made a prediction. Now they are extremely short of foreign exchange, just like the lack of dollars in Europe after the war. Gentlemen, do you know what this means? Do you know? This will have a negative impact on the pound." What does it mean?"

Like the lack of dollars in post-war Europe? This premise itself is a reminder. In fact, in the first ten years of the Bretton Woods system, European countries faced a dollar shortage.

The super-issuance of the U.S. dollar only happened in the 1960s. During the dollar shortage period, citizens of various European countries worked desperately to earn foreign exchange.

Of course, Britain and France are some exceptions. Although the two countries are also collecting U.S. dollars, they are mainly busy with their own affairs. France is doing business, and Alan Wilson on the British side is exhausting his life's memories at that time, looking for natural resources from all over the world. Backed by pounds sterling, scraping land in the colonies was also part of the quick cash flow.

For other countries, nothing can be gained from their colonies. Moreover, the sun never sets on all countries. The British can scrape off the territory and make the colonies independent, while other countries will scrap their colonies once and then disappear.

So countries naturally work hard to get rich for the sake of US dollars and foreign exchange. Is this kind of relationship between Europe and the United States fair? That's unfair of course, but that's when sweatshop work is required.

As the number of European dollars increases, there is no shortage of dollars on the market. Only when Europe holds dollars does it begin to do something about the Bretton Woods system.

The trade deficit that lasted for more than ten years after the reform and opening up was actually similar to the dollar shortage period in Europe after the war. From a trade perspective, it was a loss, but in order to keep the economy running, we had to endure this unfair trade. Regarding trade, only when there is no shortage of dollars can we have time to think about whether to do something.

Judging from the time, most of the dividends of unfair trade that lasted for more than ten years after the opening up should have been eaten by Japan. Why should Japan?

"Secretary-General, now that Nixon is visiting China, the political obstacles have been lifted." Wick has now been appointed as the Permanent Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is also the Principal Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary.

Now he is the number two person in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and he will become the Permanent Under Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the next step. The joy of promotion has not completely dissipated. After understanding the meaning of supreme authority, Wick directly puffed up his chest proudly and became a good person. Dear, don't let the diplomatic conference turn into a stand-up comedy. Even the supreme authority cannot say everything by itself.

Alan Wilson gave an approving look and said, "Yes, the biggest obstacle is gone. So based on the experience of post-war Europe and the assessment sent by John, from a respectful perspective, I regard them as war fighters." In the future Europe, there will be trade dividends for at least ten years. Calculated on an industrial scale, the value of the pound will be more stable. Everyone knows that the pound, as a recognized strong currency in the world, is not conducive to exports but conducive to imports."

"Faced with the squeeze on the US dollar, we worked hard and with a little luck, we finally managed to maintain the dignity of the British Empire. Even now, with the scale of British industry plus Malaya,

It is also very difficult to support the circulation of the pound area. "

But if you add a big country, this is not a problem. Alan Wilson knows that sooner or later a big country will feel that it is not fair to work hard in exchange for a pile of foreign exchange. In the long run, that is also a problem, but tomorrow I may You know how to eat enough, so you won’t eat today? That was a matter for the future, and he wanted to live a good life today.

"This year and even in the next few years, we have the following goals: maintaining the current circulation of pounds based on Bangladesh's demand, and cracking down on smuggling after Nixon's visit to China. We have allowed smuggling in Hong Kong for many years, and now we should collect some taxes. . Then we are waiting for the start of free trade. I hope both goals can succeed, at least one, but we cannot fail both."

Alan Wilson once again put on a pretentious posture with his fingers crossed and holding his chin, "The potential competitor is Japan. Our advantage is that Malaya is not far away in absolute terms. Hong Kong is even more important. Political obstacles. Political obstacles." Now that it has been lifted, it is time to comprehensively promote economic and trade relations, let MacLehose fully promote entrepot trade, and everything should be centered on this goal."

"There are also many things that cannot be said directly, but should be done, that is, some restrictions should be lifted from the Paris Coordinating Committee's list. Of course, it should not be too obvious."

Currently, the Bretton Woods system exists in name only. It is just short of a formal meeting to say goodbye to the system. The UK must find the next anchor for the liquidity of the pound.

Whitehall has decided that from the perspective of productivity, Europe is not good anyway, and the UK cannot let any European country endorse itself. Japan's productivity is sufficient, but that is the exclusive domain of the United States. This is actually a choice without any choice. If not a certain big country, who should we look for?

After this meeting, Alan Wilson went to the Ministry of Finance, and after discussing with Frank, he went to No. 10 Downing Street to find the Prime Minister, explaining the latest research results of Whitehall and the fact that the potential enemy in economic and trade is Japan.

"Looking at it this way, should I visit after Nixon?" Harold Wilson said very solemnly after hearing this, "You have also made it very clear about the meaning of economic and trade relations."

"Really? Don't be so anxious. We are not yet sure whether the U.S. policy is coherent. After all, there is some news that Nixon's running mate this time is Rockefeller. In this way, I will talk to the royal family. If Prince Charles can do something for the United Kingdom Contribution? He should also make some contribution."

Alan Wilson put forward his own suggestions, and the Prime Minister nodded in agreement. Indeed, it was not known whether Nixon would be affected by the major adjustments in international relations, and it would be inappropriate for him to be so anxious.

It is difficult for the Cabinet Secretary to directly ask about this matter, but doesn’t he have a good wife? Pamela Mountbatten has such a relationship to discuss with the royal family. If he is rejected, it is better for the Crown Prince to be embarrassed than for the Prime Minister to end up with nothing. The impact of the trip is smaller.

"He doesn't have to do anything, just go there, and the cabinet doesn't expect that big baboon to be able to negotiate anything. Even if Nixon visits China, we have to show that we are a country on the same level as the United States." Alan Wilson, who returned home, Immediately begin to unswervingly implement the instructions of the cabinet... especially the Prime Minister.

"You treat Charles completely as a tool." Pamela Mountbatten curled her lips and pointed out her husband's subtle shortcomings.

"Without me, the House of Lords is just a decoration." Alan Wilson puffed up his chest proudly. The step by step pressure of the House of Lords in the face of the House of Commons is the root cause of the step by step retreat of the aristocracy in the face of the new capitalists in the development of Britain. It is a question of economic strength.

Now that the nobles in the House of Lords have reversed the balance of economic strength, they dare not say that they will counterattack, and they cannot retreat while being sliced ​​into sausages.

At this point, I dare not say that Alan Wilson is a great benefactor to the British aristocracy, but using other words to describe it is not enough to summarize one ten thousandth of his contribution to the aristocracy.

Crown Prince Charles's trip took place several months later. Due to space limitations, it cannot be explained too clearly. At the same time as the Crown Prince's visit, Alan Wilson was at the Royal Armored Research Institute in Chobham.

During the long-term research process, Royal Armor researchers discovered that oxide ceramics have high hardness and wear resistance, high compressive strength and excellent ballistic properties under high stress. They also realized that the ballistic resistance mechanisms of ceramics and metals have great differences. The difference is that metal absorbs the kinetic energy of the projectile due to plastic deformation.

Ceramics absorb the kinetic energy of projectiles due to their rupture. In a series of studies and experiments, it was found that many performance indicators of oxide ceramics have a great impact on the defense effect, such as density and porosity, hardness, Fracture toughness, Young's modulus, sound velocity, mechanical strength, etc.

"It seems that our armor force should also be updated." Alan Wilson commented with a smile. There has always been a quality gap between Western tanks and Soviet tanks.

It's fine if they have a numerical advantage. The numerical advantage also belongs to others. Now the situation has finally been broken in a phased manner.

That night, after leaving the Watergate Building, a staff member at the headquarters of the United States Democratic Party accidentally looked back at his office. He was surprised to find that there were several light beams shaking in the office where the lights had been turned off.

My colleagues have all left, so who comes into the office again, without turning on the lights, but shining a flashlight everywhere? He immediately returned to the Watergate Building and told the security guard about his suspicions. Security personnel immediately searched the room in question and caught five men wearing surgical gloves and acting suspiciously.

One of them, James McCord, claimed to be a former CIA employee. In fact, he was the chief security adviser to the Nixon Presidential Re-election Committee and was ordered to install eavesdropping equipment at the Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate Building.