The RAND Corporation headquarters building in Santa Monica, California, was built when the think tank had virtually no reputation. It seems that the founder knew at that time that this think tank with a strong official political and military background would show its prominence in the future.
Grumman Vice President Rodney Spruill and his secretary walked into the RAND Corporation building. As one of the giants of the U.S. military industry, Grumman has established a good customer relationship with Rand and has a lot of cooperation.
A head of the Rand Corporation, Boyce Gassier, enthusiastically invited the Grumman executive into a secret conference room. Because the Rand Corporation often conducts research and reports on sensitive content, the company itself has a large amount of confidential content. In fact, more than half of their research results will not be published publicly, but will flow directly into some government departments and large companies, becoming a reference for their decision-making.
"Welcome, Mr. Vice President. Is there anything I can do for you today?" Gasil said with a smile. Large companies and some purpose-driven foundations are Rand's big funders, especially those with similar personalities. Companies like Lumen. They often have many decisions to make in business or politics, and in order to rationalize these decisions and generate the greatest returns, a detailed and accurate research report is often a necessity for them.
And for a project like this, large companies are willing to spend millions of dollars to buy hundreds or even dozens of pages of printing paper. The most well-known example of the RAND Corporation among Chinese people is the Korean War. At that time, everyone in the United States believed that China, a poor and backward country that had ended its long history of aggression and civil war, had the national strength and determination to send troops to North Korea. However, just a few years after its establishment, the RAND Corporation made the strategic judgment that "China will send troops to North Korea." The Rand Corporation originally hoped to sell the report to the U.S. government for $2 million, but the U.S. government dismissed it. In the end, the facts verified the Rand Corporation's ideas, and the think tank eventually became famous, and eventually grew into one of the most conspicuous think tanks in the world.
Spruill said: "We have a project that needs to be entrusted to your company. This is a public project, and our need is urgent, and the price is easy to negotiate."
¡°Then what kind of project is this project?¡±
Spruill replied: "We need think tanks to conduct an argument to win over China as a helper and check and balance the Soviet Union from the east."
There was a slightly surprised expression on Gasil's face. At first, he only meant that Grumman wanted to do some kind of business service or enterprise diagnosis. After all, Grumman's life is not very good now, but it didn't happen. Thinking that what Grumman wanted was such a thing.
"Can I ask you, what are your company's plans for conducting such a study?"
Spruill was not afraid to tell Rand the inside story. In fact, they also had their own ways to obtain information. "The Chinese have extended an olive branch to our company and hope to purchase our F-14 fighter jets, and they have successfully operated. Iran will exchange all the Tomcats in Iran's hands with some kind of light fighter produced by them, and they will also cooperate with our company on the F-14 improvement and upgrade project and purchase more Tomcats. "
Gasil immediately understood that the export of F-14 was almost the biggest concern of Grumman. Now a country came to the door hoping to purchase F-14, and the quantity may be quite large. It was impossible not to let Grumman, who was struggling to survive, Hope to seize this opportunity.
"So, Mr. Vice President, do you hope that this study we have made will be a favorable conclusion for your arms sales case?" This kind of thing is not uncommon. In order to lobby Congress, the government, and even the general public, many companies will use it. Such authoritative think tanks and scholars express some opinions that are beneficial to themselves.
Rand¡¯s own face is also important. After doing this research, if they find that the manufacturer is bragging and lying, their own brand will be smashed.
Gasil was hesitant. When Spruill saw it, he immediately said: "We don't expect the Rand Corporation to choose a position, but just make a fairly neutral judgment. Describe what conditions China has that deserve our attention and can Being used by us shows that China has slowly moved closer to us in the West, and is gradually conducting economic and trade cooperation in our model, etc. You can then list how the combination of China and the United States can help us maintain strategic advantages and defend the United States. As for the important role, the judgment of feasibility can be put aside.¡±
Gasil understood and said: "So this is a public study of lobbying nature."
"Yes, we do not ask the Rand Corporation to make this proposal to the government, but we must exaggerate the necessity and huge benefits of Sino-US military cooperation as much as possible."
Gasil nodded, absolute credibility and morality do not exist in American society, everything is valuable, not to mention that if it is just an evaluation, Rand Corporation will not suffer too much loss.
He thought for a while and said: "I remember that there are indeed scholars in the company conducting research in this area, but we believe that China will maintain a relatively large degree of independence. First, it is impossible to allow our country to station troops, and second, it will not be completely Standing against the Soviet Union, because it is too dangerous for them. Of course, Sino-US relations are heating up rapidly, and the Soviet Union's power is also declining. If we build a stronger China to a certain extent, our European allies will also face relative pressure. Reduce some."
He spun the pen in his hand and pondered: "I heard that today China's informal delegation has expressed to the federal government that it will significantly open the Chinese market to our business. This is a good signal, and something can be done in this regard. Making a fuss. Our experts do not believe that a country that ultimately relies on a market economy will firmly adhere to the centralized communist model. In other words, we actually have a chance to transform this country into the model of the Republic of China decades ago. . Oh, the Republic of China is currently in Taiwan."
Spruill shook his head and said: "We don't want to worry about these things. We don't care whether China will fade away from its red color. Now everyone can see that this huge country has the potential to develop into a powerful country, but it is too backward now. Especially in terms of armaments, we certainly don¡¯t need to build it into a country that can threaten U.S. interests, but a certain amount of armament is beneficial.¡±
Gasil blinked and teased: "After all, it is a country with more than three million troops, isn't it?"
He immediately added: "We will let the board of directors make an evaluation, but it should not be a big problem. If possible, we will try to make this report available to the public within a week. I think, apart from that, Gru I must be starting to pay attention to Congress."
Spruill said: "It's okay for Congress, but there are some guys in the government who don't know much about current affairs and don't want to see Tomcats painted with red stars. Haha, it's actually an interesting thing to think about."
Gasil echoed: "Yeah, even if they sell it to the Chinese Tomcat, can they still fly this fighter across the Pacific? It's obvious that the Chinese are interested in the Tomcat's beyond-visual-range air combat capabilities. Faced with China is still quite afraid of the Soviet Union¡¯s huge fleet of supersonic bombers in the Far East, so they hope to get powerful F-14 fighters.¡±
Spruill said: "The person in charge of the military industry for CPC revealed to us that the Chinese have also mastered their own medium and long-range air-to-air missiles. They should be able to compete with the Soviet fleet, but But being so passionate about Tomcats is hard to understand.¡±
Gasil complimented: "What is there to understand? What kind of advanced fighter can the Chinese build? It probably just meets the standards. The Tomcat is definitely a powerful fighter that they can't imagine. Since they can't build it themselves, , naturally want to seek help from Grumman. I guess the Chinese must also hope to obtain production lines through large orders. Well, if that is the case, with China¡¯s small foreign exchange reserves, it is almost necessary to sell iron. project.¡±
Spruill said: "China is already planning to open up its economy, and they also have their own advantages. Once the economy takes off, it is estimated that they will surpass Japan. Our company hopes to be more long-term. Since McDonnell Douglas can transfer production lines to Japan , why can¡¯t we Grumman.¡±
"China and Japan are still different. After all, Japan is an ally, and to put it ugly, it is our vassal state. The Seventh Fleet is stationed in Yokosuka, and Japan cannot make any trouble. But China is different, and once China succeeds, It may be much scarier than Japan. Historically, China has led East Asia for a much longer time than Japan. This country also has a history of hegemony, so it is expected that some people will worry that this arms sales case may be expensive. The company still needs to operate for a while, and the cost may be quite large.¡±
Spruill firmly believed: "Our company believes that these are all worthwhile. It will be better if China becomes stronger. They have the money to buy more armaments from us. If that is the case, I believe someone on the board of directors may propose to go to China to develop military equipment." A branch company suggested this.¡±
Gasil joked: "They are really evil capitalists. Wherever there is profit, they will pursue it."
For a moment, both of them burst out laughing in the small conference room.
Grumman's actions have become bigger and more obvious. Within the first week after Qi Yiming arrived in the United States, a total of six retired American generals and well-known scholars expressed their opinions in major newspapers or TV talk shows. The desire to further enhance Sino-US relations, win over China, and arm China against the Soviet Union.