The rise of great powers: starting from military industry

Prince Sultan nodded.

He certainly knew about the situation in Iraq.

Even with the most optimistic estimate, it would take Iraq about 20 years to rebuild.

At least during the 20 years of reconstruction, Iraq was unable to launch a war.

Although Iraq's army of 1.2 million was still nearly one million, the navy and air force were completely wiped out, the army was severely damaged, and a large number of weapons and equipment were lost.

A lot of Iraq's arsenals were destroyed.

It is not easy to replenish the army's equipment, rebuild the navy and air force, and build arsenals to replenish the arsenals to the pre-war level. It takes a long time to prepare and costs a lot of money.

It can be said that in the short term, Iraq is not Saudi Arabia's enemy. On the contrary, Iraq needs Saudi Arabia.

"This time, Europe and the United States have frozen Iraq's assets. This is also a big warning for us. In the future, we need to transfer some of our assets in Europe and the United States to China." King Fahd said in a deep voice, "We should be careful when buying U.S. debt. Who knows if the Americans can pay it back? If they can't, they might cheat."

Saudi Arabia used to buy U.S. debt or invest in American companies.

But now it seems that there is a great risk in doing so.

Now that European and American countries can freeze a large amount of Iraq's assets, can't they freeze Saudi assets in the future?

Saudi Arabia has much more assets in Europe and the United States than Iraq.

King Fahd has realized that eggs have to be placed in multiple baskets.

"Your Majesty is wise. Our asset investment in China is growing very fast, unlike in Europe and the United States, where there is always negative growth." Prince Sultan praised, "China is developing very fast now. They are very short of funds there. We often only need to pay a small amount of money to obtain a large number of shares."

Saudi Arabia actually has a lot of assets in China, such as in Hong Kong and in the mainland.

But compared with Saudi Arabia's assets in Europe and the United States, it is not worth mentioning.

"China's national strength has improved rapidly. Now it has become a force that the world cannot ignore. Moreover, China's oil imports have grown very fast. This is also our important customer market. We cannot rely on the United States and Europe for the market!" King Fahd said, "We have suffered a great loss in this regard this time. We must learn a lesson."

Why did the international oil price fall instead of rising after Iraq was unable to export oil?

It is because the Americans used this as a condition to force Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other oil-producing countries.

If they do not agree to the American conditions, the Americans will not withdraw from the Gulf, and even threaten to freeze their assets in Europe and the United States to compensate the losses of Americans and Europeans in this Gulf War.

With no choice, and in order to spend money to avoid disaster, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other countries can only pinch their noses and accept it.

But Saudi Arabia and other countries increased their oil supply, and the Soviet Union was not happy. During this period, it has criticized OPEC.

OPEC (OPEC), also known as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is an international organization established by oil-producing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America to coordinate the oil policies of member countries and oppose the exploitation and control of Western oil monopoly capital. It was established in 1960. Its purpose is to coordinate and unify the oil policies of member countries and safeguard their respective and common interests.

In theory, after the Gulf War, as Iraq's oil fields were hit, it was impossible to export oil. That is to say, Iraq alone exported at least 3 million barrels of oil less per day. In the absence of oil supply in the market, oil prices should remain at a relatively high level.

However, Saudi Arabia and other countries, facing the pressure of the United States, could only reluctantly agree.

Prince Sultan said: "We should increase investment in China. If possible, we can take this opportunity to develop our oil industry, more processing oil, rather than just exporting crude oil!"

Although oil is mainly used as fuel and gasoline, it is also the raw material for many chemical industrial products, such as solutions, fertilizers, pesticides and plastics.

Whether it is processing oil into finished oil for export or developing the chemical industry, it can create more jobs and earn more profits for Saudi Arabia.

In the entire Middle East, the industrial base of Saudi Arabia and other countries is actually very weak, far from being an industrial country. They buy all the weapons and ammunition they need.

Even Iraq, once the world's third largest military power, has a very weak military industry, and weapons, equipment and ammunition are mostly purchased.

Even in terms of maintenance, Iraq alone cannot do anything.

"Europe and the United States do not want us to achieve industrialization, but there is hope in China!" King Fahd nodded.

He had been to China and knew something about China.

Although China still has many shortcomings and is relatively weak compared to the Soviet Union and the United States, it has initially achieved industrialization and is now making great strides on the road to industrialization. It is estimated that it will not take many years to become a modern industrialized country.

Even though Fahd is old, he is not ignorant of China's weapons and equipment.

Otherwise, Saudi Arabia would not import so many weapons, equipment and ammunition.

Although Saudi Arabia is somewhat flat, it does not mean that Saudi Arabia does not have an industrial heart.

Because Saudi Arabia also knows that oil can only make Saudi Arabia rich, but it cannot make Saudi Arabia strong. Only industrialization can make Saudi Arabia strong.

"Find a time to visit China again and discuss the number of students we send to study in China, and appropriately increase the number of students going to study in China!" King Fahd said: "We Arabs and Chinese have dealt with each other thousands of years ago. In the future, we must learn to deal with them and strengthen our exchanges."

King Fahd has a wise look in his eyes.

The Arabs have ruled the vast land of the Middle East for more than a thousand years. At that time, the Arabs established a powerful Arab Empire, with its territory starting from the Indus River Basin and the Pamir Plateau in the east, bordering the Tang Dynasty of China, the Atlantic Ocean in the west, the Sultanate of Mozambique in the south and the Caucasus Mountains in the north, forming a great empire spanning Asia, Africa and Europe, with a territory of 13.4 million square kilometers.

The Arab civilization once stood at the top of the world.

It was only when the West opened the Age of Exploration that the Arab civilization gradually fell behind the Western Christian civilization, and later gradually became a colony.

But now, Arab civilization is rising again. With the help of oil, if the Arab world can be integrated, it will form a civilization as powerful as the Arab Empire.

The Chinese civilization, which is also prosperous with Arab civilization, is now on the right track. Strengthening exchanges between the two sides is very important for Saudi Arabia's future.

Saudi Arabia, as a weak country with abundant oil, naturally has its own wisdom for survival.

That is the sense of historical scrutiny!