Chapter 1080 A Happy Autumn

The submarine competition between the major countries in the world is more intense than ever. After the construction of the Astute-class nuclear submarine by the United States, Russia could not sit still.

As early as five years ago, the Northern Shipyard in Severodvinsk, Russia, held a keel laying ceremony for the fourth-generation Russian nuclear submarine, the Yuri Dolgoruky.

However, the fate of the new generation of Russian nuclear submarines seems to be doomed to be uneven. Due to bad weather, the actual time of the keel laying ceremony was a full week later than the originally selected auspicious day. The dignitaries who were originally scheduled to attend the ceremony, Andrei Kokokin, the first deputy minister of the Russian Defense Ministry, Moscow Mayor Luzhkov, and Chubais, director of the presidential office, did not attend the ceremony.

For Moscow Mayor Luzhkov, the construction of the fourth-generation nuclear submarine has a special meaning, because the name of the submarine Yuri Dolgoruky comes from Prince Dolgoruky of the city of Moscow, and the city of Moscow promised that if the Russian federal government's funding cannot be in place in time, the Moscow municipal government will bear the wages of shipyard workers and future new submarine officers and soldiers.

This promise sounds strange, but in fact, there was such a tradition during the Soviet Patriotic War. Factory workers, urban residents, and civil servants could adopt a tank or an airplane. These weapons and equipment given to the Soviet Red Army to fight bloody battles on the front line would also be named after individuals, units or cities.

According to the plan, the Yuri Dolgoruky should be put into service this year.

However, it encountered the first hurdle as soon as it started construction. The Russian Navy decided to replace other missiles originally designed with more advanced round hammer missiles. This means that the Rubin Central Design Bureau must redesign the armament system and the space on the boat. Therefore, the construction of the submarine had to slow down.

What's more terrible is that the round hammer missile failed to hit the target during the three test launches. This made all parties full of doubts about this type of missile, which once again delayed the construction of the submarine.

By the millennium, due to the failure of the federal government to allocate funds in time, the Moscow city government was unable to bear the huge construction costs in addition to paying workers' wages, and the construction of the Yuri Dolgoruky almost came to a standstill. At this time, the Russian Ministry of Defense issued a disappointing news that if no more money could be obtained, the time for the submarine to be launched might be delayed to the next year or four years. In the following period, the construction funds were gradually in place, and the progress of submarine construction was not optimistic.

This year, because the British Royal Navy began to build the Astute-class nuclear submarine, the Russian Navy specifically took inventory of its underwater nuclear forces. The results were very shocking. At present, only 25 nuclear submarines in Russia can still be in service, carrying 2,200 nuclear warheads, far below the national strategic needs.

At this time, officials of the Russian State Duma Defense Budget Appropriations Committee told the Navy in an official tone that there was no money anyway, which put the construction of the Yuri Dolgoruky in trouble.

Recently,

Russian President Putin learned about the construction difficulties of the Yuri Dolgoruky at a high-level government meeting. He was very angry and immediately stated that even if the Kremlin was sold, a new generation of nuclear submarines must be built in time because it was related to Russia's future.

Under the urging of President Putin, the construction funding for the Yuri Dolgoruky was soon in place, and the construction of the second new strategic nuclear missile submarine also started.

President Putin personally asked about the progress of submarine construction from time to time, raised the wages of workers at the Northern Shipyard, and sent congratulatory messages on holidays, which greatly improved the morale of the workers.

After all these twists and turns. The construction speed of Russia's new generation of nuclear submarines has reached ten times that of the past few years.

"So, people's subjective initiative is very important. Things that could not be done in the past ten years, or now can be done in one year, are not wishful thinking. The key is whether everyone can let go and do it." Fan Wubing further expressed to Fan Heng.

Fan Heng thought for a moment and said, "Since you are so interested, I might as well mention this matter at an appropriate time to see what other people think, and then make plans."

This year has been a disaster for Americans. The incident, the Enron and WorldCom scandals, and the aftermath of the Nasdaq stock market crash have suddenly made the diplomatic politics and domestic economy of the world's largest country turbulent.

At the same time. Far away in China, however, a completely different scene is presented. Several major and far-reaching events are also taking place here, but they are much more festive and bright.

On July 13, at 22:00 Beijing time, the host city of the 2012 Olympic Games, which has attracted much attention, was finally announced at the 112th General Assembly of the International Olympic Committee in Moscow. Beijing, China, Toronto, Canada, Paris, France and Istanbul, Turkey entered the final competition.

In a moment of silence. IOC President Samaranch announced the final selected city. He only said one word in a powerful voice: Know it all! Thousands of miles away, the land of China was suddenly ablaze with fireworks. Beijing invested 280 billion yuan in infrastructure and venue construction. …

On October 7, the Chinese men's football team defeated Oman 1-0 at the Wulihe Stadium in Shenyang and made it to the World Cup finals. It was another sleepless night of great joy. Football is China's number one sport. The men's football team's qualification has realized the Chinese people's dream of "breaking out of Asia and going to the world" for many years, and is considered one of the symbolic events of China's rise.

November 10 is another historic moment.

This afternoon, at the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization held in Doha, Qatar, the participating countries reviewed and adopted China's decision to join the WTO by consensus. The Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation of China signed the protocol on behalf of the Chinese government.

one. After months, China will officially become a member of the World Trade Organization.

The successful bid for the Olympics, the qualification of the men's football team, and the entry into the WTO, this series of great events were squeezed into four years, giving the Chinese people a feeling of "great rise" at the beginning of the new century, an unprecedented excitement, happiness and satisfaction. feel. It is precisely because of this that the saying "It is the Chinese New Year" has spread like wildfire.

Just before and after China joined the "O", predicting the future and direction of China became the hottest topic in the global economic circle.

Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry mentioned in a white paper for the first time that China has become the world's factory. In products such as color TVs, washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioners, microwave ovens, and motorcycles, China's manufacturing has ranked first in the world's market share. one. Economists further believe that Chinese companies will embark on a journey to conquer the world just like Japan did in the 1980s.

Related to this, the China threat theory has also quietly emerged.

Of course, voices completely different from the above-mentioned views have also appeared.

Some scholars predict that with the increasing opening of the market and the influx of multinational capital, the already shaky state-owned economic system will be vulnerable, and those old and lack of vitality state-owned enterprises will soon be driven out of the market, which will affect the Chinese economy. macroeconomic stability and sustained development.

An American lawyer named Gordon Chang also published a book "China is About to Collapse", claiming that China's economic prosperity is false. Under the strong impact after China's accession, China's current political and economic system can only persist at best. Five years.

Investment bank Salomon Smith Barney predicts that 40 million people will be unemployed in the first five years of China's accession to the EU, and severe employment pressure will sooner or later crush the country.

Similar arguments also believe that China's economic growth model characterized by high input and low output and its development model based on cheap labor and huge energy consumption are entering a dead end. China has maintained this trend for nearly two decades. high growth will be unsustainable.

Regarding this, Hui Qi once asked Fan Wubing what he thought?

"The Chinese themselves don't understand things about China, so how can foreigners understand them?" Fan Wubing said with a smile.

"What does this mean?" Zhang Qi felt a little confused and didn't understand what Fan Wubing really meant.

Fan Wubing explained, "The reason is very simple. We do not have a mature reference plan for our development. Deng Gong once said it before when he was still alive. When you cross the river by feeling for the stones, go over where the water is shallow, and where the water is deep Just avoid it, we are not stubborn, we will only move forward in one direction, things are always changing. "

Speaking of this, Fan Wubing also felt a little emotional. "The Chinese people are still heavily influenced by the idea of ​​moderation in their bones, so you don't expect foreigners' principles to influence the Chinese people. Even if we cross the river by feeling for the stones, we will know where the water is deep and where the water is shallow. It’s untouchable, no one would be stupid enough to drown in the mud like people from other counties.”

"Oh, that's right." Cui Qi understood what Fan Wubing meant.

China's political system is special, so it ensures the continuity of policies. At the same time, the special nature of China's political system also ensures that the government can correct problems promptly and effectively when problems arise. This creates a problem that foreigners cannot see. The results are clear, so their predictions are always wildly wrong.

As long as you don't get involved, don't actually go into China, and just analyze the situation in China through some information and data concocted by some international news media from an unobjective standpoint, the conclusions you draw will naturally be very absurd.

In fact, in recent decades, many foreigners have tried to predict China's development, but without exception, no one can predict it successfully. This is a reflection of the unpredictability of a special country's development. .

"If economists can predict the development trend, then do I still need to be reborn?" Fan Wubing felt a little dismissive of this in his heart.