The C919 special plane landed lightly at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. Originally, Qi Yiming could have chosen to take an American Airlines Boeing 747 across the Pacific. However, due to various considerations, he still only chose the narrow-body mainline passenger plane. C919 is used as a travel tool.
The first, of course, is that his little girlfriend Jiang Huayan serves on the plane. During the long journey, Qi Yiming can also enjoy a little happiness. The second reason is that the C919 is a large aircraft "Made in China", and large aircraft absolutely represent a country's industrial strength and technological level. Showing this is very beneficial to this trip to the United States.
Qi Yiming visited the United States in an unofficial capacity. In fact, he did not have any formal official title. But the fact that he took a small diplomatic and business team to visit the United States on a special plane reflects the uniqueness of this young Chinese.
Because the United States was required to keep a low profile in advance, there were no large numbers of reporters at the airport. Qi Yiming came to the United States in the name of informal business and trade cooperation and exchanges. At the same time, he also privately informed the U.S. government (equivalent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) that he had a big business to discuss with Grumman.
In line with the principle of doing more things at once, Qi Yiming is also responsible for part of the task of attracting FDI and industrial transfer to the United States this time. Of course, the main operation is to discuss an intentional thing and exchange bilateral attitudes first. The specific details will be entered later, so Qi Yiming does not have to worry about wasting time on business negotiations that are not his main business.
Even if it is an informal visit, the United States still attaches great importance to it. Although it is not enough to live directly in the state guesthouse, it still chooses to rent a rather luxurious small manor for the Chinese delegation, which is actually only a dozen people in number. .
There was no specific itinerary arranged for the visit, at least on the surface, there was no specific itinerary for Qi Yiming. The schedule sent by China to the United States only contains a few dry meetings, and it seems that there will be no special results. Of course the Americans know that this so-called business delegation is mainly to cover up their main purpose.
An official from the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs approached Qi Yiming politely. Although the entire delegation was headed by someone else, everyone could clearly see that this young-looking man was the one who got off the plane. Guy-based. Everyone in the delegation was carrying a suitcase, except this one who was empty-handed. In addition, looking at the attire, half of the Chinese delegation wore rustic suits and the other half were Chinese tunic suits. Only this one was particularly conspicuous in his casual suit. From the perspective of this era, his suit was extremely fashionable. When he was at the airport, a customs official couldn't help but ask him where he bought his suit.
The official's name is Sackford, and he is not very old. He looks to be less than forty years old. This phenomenon is not surprising in the West. In Europe, ministerial officials in their thirties are everywhere in later generations. On the contrary, in Asian countries Even for officials at the director level, it is difficult for those under 40 years old to get along.
"Mr. Qi, I have specially read your group's itinerary and found that except for the first business meeting, you have no other arrangements. Is there anything you need our help with?"
Qi Yiming felt that this American official was like a restaurant boy. He smiled and asked, "Have the people from Grumman arrived? I hope to have a closed-door meeting with them tonight."
The first business meeting is scheduled for tomorrow. Today is mainly to give the Chinese representatives a break. Seeing that the real talker was so eager to meet with people from Grumman, Sackford knew that this matter might be really big.
"I would like to ask you, this time you named someone from Grumman to meet, saying that you have a big deal, but we don't know yet what business you have to discuss with Grumman, so the Grumman representative is quite anxious. , they are not prepared at all. Now that you have set foot on American soil, can you tell Grumman and us what exactly you want to talk to Grumman about?¡±
Qi Yiming smiled brightly and said a few words: "F-14."
Sackford's eyes jumped when he heard this. He didn't expect that the Chinese would actually target the United States' main fighter aircraft. However, he was just an ordinary diplomat. He was only responsible for liaising with Chinese personnel and was not involved in any major issues, so He could only reply to this information to Kenneth Dahm, the US Deputy Secretary of State who was waiting for the news.
In the Deputy Secretary of State's office, Grumman CEO John Billworth, who was already a little anxious, finally saw someone handing a note to the Deputy Secretary of State, and couldn't help but ask: "Sir, there is a result. What do the Chinese want from us? Is it really a big deal?¡±
"Three questions in a row, Bierworth asked them like a barrage of questions, without any trace of??'s age does not match. Grumman has not been doing too well in recent years. As a large defense contractor that mainly develops military aircraft, Grumman was overjoyed when the U.S. Navy first promised to order 700 F-14 Tomcats, but then the U.S. Navy The Navy reduced the number to 300 aircraft. Grumman was almost unable to recover from rising costs and was limited by price-fixed contracts. It was Iran that loaned them a sum of money, which finally rescued Grumman from its predicament.
However, Grumman¡¯s F-14¡¯s performance in the export market has always been inferior to its main competitor in the Air Force, the F-15 Eagle. McDonnell Douglas's F-15 defeated the F-14 successively and won two major orders from Japan and Israel. The total number of F-15s added up to nearly 300 was exported. The U.S. Air Force itself is a major orderer. The first two types of F-15 are the A\/B and C\/D series. The U.S. Air Force purchased nearly a thousand aircraft in total. In the late 1980s, the dual-mission aircraft multi-purpose F-15 After the -15E was launched, the F-14 could only be more miserable compared to it.
"It's the F-14, those Chinese want the F-14!" Damm said incredulously.
As a result, when Dam handed over the note, Bierworth's breathing became heavier. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Compared with the small countries of Japan and Israel, the communist China, which has a vast territory, a large population, and millions of troops, can Become a huge orderer. This is not the world after the 1990s. The honeymoon period between China and the United States is still not over. China has received a lot of benefits from the United States, and the United States once wanted to give China the F-16. Arming China to fight against the Soviet Union was once a very marketable idea in academic circles. With its large population base, abundant resources, and good population quality, as long as the United States gave a little guidance, it could create an ally that could involve the Soviet Union's millions of troops and provide the United States with Provide guarantee for the strategy of containing the Soviet Union from both sides.
Of course, this was just one of the views at the time. Some people have been exaggerating since that time, thinking that cultivating China might be a bigger mistake than cultivating the Soviet Union during World War II. The reality of later generations also confirmed this to a certain extent.
But no matter what, the current China is closer to Yingjiang than the Mao Xiong. Although the legendary 16th NATO country is more of a joke, when China sent troops to Vietnam in 1979, it was simply handed over to the US imperialism. Certificate of submission. Since then, Americans have been extremely enthusiastic about guiding China in various fields, including peaceful evolution.
Bierworth asked quickly: "Didn't the Chinese reveal how many F-14s they planned to buy? They said it was a big deal, so there must be at least dozens of them!" Bierworth said excitedly. Waving his hand, this was a moment of pride for him. Although the F-14 could beat the F-15 to ashes, it has been repeatedly frustrated in the export market, and Grumman's life is not so easy. If it can be sold to A batch of Chinese F-14s means that a large amount of cash will flow into Grumman. At the same time, this is also a very good advertising effect. No matter what China is, it is one of the top five gangsters in the United Nations, and it is also a major country in East Asia. With this kind of advertising, Bierworth firmly believes that the future development of the F-14 will become brighter.
Dam frowned and said: "I think the feasibility of this matter is still debatable. After all, China is still a red country. Although the relationship with us has been good over the years, there should be a question mark as to whether it is trustworthy. ¡±
Bierworth was not surprised by Dam's reaction, but he rolled his eyes and said: "I think it is indeed the case. Well, it is better to submit this case to Congress and let this group of congressmen decide. Now please bear with me." I venture that I still need to make some preparations for bargaining with the Chinese.¡±
After saying that, he bowed slightly and left the office of Mr. Under Secretary of State.
Does anyone in the government have doubts about selling military weapons to China?
There is no problem with this at all. The United States has never been the government that has the final say on these issues. This "evil capitalist country" is a typical Big-money-rules-everything (money rules everything), especially the power of these defense contractors, which cannot be underestimated. Everyone around the world knows that the proliferation of guns in the United States is a bad thing. In addition to dozens of shootings every year, gun violence will harm the people of this country at any time. However, from the founding of the country in the 18th century to the 21st century, there is still no president who can change this. In this situation, guns are like the unbeatable Xiao Qiang, living happily on the land of the United States.
Large military-industrial companies like Grumman have a huge government relations department, and what they do is nothing more than relying on money and beautiful women to do public relations work for important government officials. Usually they will spend a lot of effort to support those representatives and senators who take office in the mid-term elections, because it usually involves national military procurement and military exports, and it is not particularly related to the government level. If this sales plan fails to pass, it will be Congress. The old man made the final decision. Of course, public relations for the president is also very necessary, because such high-level politicians can usually become super salesmen for military industrial companies.
Anyway, CEO Billworth is now determined. If the Chinese business is too tempting for Grumman to refuse, then he will not hesitate to use all political resources to push the government and Congress to pass the arms sales.