Chapter 692: Running in both directions
The position of National Security Advisor is not an official employee, but a personal assistant hired by the president.
So the specific role and influence it can exert depends entirely on the individual.
And Sandy Berg is one of those who is relatively influential.
So after he mediated in the middle, Albright did not continue to struggle with the WTO issue.
But the problem just raised by the latter still needs to be solved.
The influence of the euro is really too great. To put it bluntly, everyone in the world except the United States is happy to see the euro successfully challenge the hegemony of the US dollar.
Although for most third world countries, the image of Europe is not as good as that of the United States.
But having a choice is better than having no choice.
So even if the American people today are as high-minded as the sky, they still know that a little favor alone may not make China change its position.
Carrots and sticks, the stick can be used but cannot be left out.
Under normal circumstances, the best and most convenient method is naturally economic means.
However, Rubin's statement just now has blocked this road again.
As a result, the huge Oval Office fell into a slightly abrupt silence.
It’s not that everyone can’t think of other methods, but that the remaining method is obvious but full of risks.
No one wants to be the first to suggest something.
Even Secretary of Defense William Cohen.
"Since economic means cannot be used...then the only remaining option is military means..."
In the end, Albright continued to display his war-crazy personality.
Rubin did not take a position this time.
As the finance minister, he has neither the say nor responsibility in this matter.
In fact, Rubin even held a noncommittal attitude towards the Allied operation itself.
It’s not that he has a good heart.
Just as a veteran cadre who is about to enter the revolving door smoothly, I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself.
Tired.
"But the other party is a nuclear country after all?"
Seeing Rubin lowering his eyes and saying nothing, Sandy Berg had to step out and act as a brake pad.
"Of course it is impossible to start a direct war. As long as the Chinese people know how powerful we are at the critical moment..."
"In this case, let the Joint Chiefs of Staff come up with a suitable one. plan, but the Allied operation is currently at a critical moment, and the effect achieved by air strikes alone is lower than expected, so... it is best not to open another battlefield. "
"But... the limits of the operation are. What?”
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Henry Shelton originally thought that his affairs today had nothing to do with the army, so he had been eating melon nearby. Unexpectedly, he went round and round, and finally failed to eat the melon, and the blame fell on his head:
"Military operations need to set clear starting and ending lines. To be honest, even the current Allied operations have violated this principle..."
This question is of course impossible. Someone responded.
After all, just half an hour ago, no one thought that today’s matter would be related to military operations...
……
Let’s go back to China.
Obviously, the European Aerospace Group's delegation is here for pure business negotiations, so it is impossible for China to come up and wait for the entire official delegation.
The food looks too ugly.
We are all decent people, and we still have to go through the cutscenes. Therefore, after Chang Haonan received the call from Ding Gaoheng, he stayed in the capital for a few more days.
Theoretically, the visit to the Torch Group was not included in the other party's itinerary this time.
But the actual situation is not easy to say.
In this era when flying from foreign countries to China, no matter where the final destination is, you basically have to land in Beijing, Shanghai or Hong Kong Island.
Since this delegation from Europe came with the idea of building a plank road openly and secretly visiting Chencang, the first place to stay would naturally be the capital.
Huaxia also knew that the other party had the purpose of negotiating with itself, but it was hard to explain clearly, so in order to create opportunities, various retreats were arranged for the first three days of the entire trip.
Under such a two-way rush, the two sides naturally quickly caught up and each offered their own prices.
The EU hopes that China will switch at least 70% of its trade with Europe to be settled in euros. In exchange, they are willing to give up on the European Aerospace Group’s move to move some of the Airbus A320 and 330 aircraft parts production lines out of the EU. Compensatory taxation——
Originally Airbus was going to transfer some of its suppliers to China, which would lead to a reduction of jobs in the EU, so some of the preferential policies granted to them in the past would be cancelled. This money would have to be Make up.
The more production capacity is transferred, the more back taxes, in fact, fines will be paid.
It is regarded as a restriction of industrial protection.
But now, I won’t accept the money.
In other words, it allows or encourages Airbus to transfer its suppliers to China.
After all, the latter has huge advantages in production capacity and cost on the premise that product quality meets standards.
As for Huaxia, although Chang Haonan did not directly participate in the negotiations, he still explained his attitude towards the aviation industrial park through a direct report to Tianting.
When we first planned to undertake the transfer of the European aviation industry, the ultimate goal was to build an "Asian Final Assembly Center" in China.
It is to sell Airbus to Asia, at least the aircraft in East Asia and Southeast Asia, of course, mainly the two models A320 and A330, and send them all to China for final assembly of large components.
Of course, at this time two years ago, China was still not sure about "producing a mainline passenger aircraft in accordance with the latest European industrial standards."
Although Huaxia had assembled some MD82s at that time, they were all produced according to the technical requirements of the mid-1980s.
At the turn of the century, not to mention Europe, even China cannot meet its own standards.
That’s why we plan to proceed step by step. We will first produce some non-core parts with relatively low technical requirements in China. After the production capacity reaches the requirements, we will then consider the final assembly.
However, at that time, even Chang Haonan himself did not expect that he and the entire Chinese aviation industry could be so powerful. In the following two years, it would develop to the point where it could directly guide Europeans in the design of aircraft.
Although the level of production is still a little worse, it has achieved a considerable leap through several projects, especially the production of C808 passenger aircraft.
In this case, the Europeans are still only willing to provide part of the parts production line as a condition, which really seems not sincere enough.
After all, giving a platform to the euro is risky.
In addition to the reciprocal conditions proposed by the financial field, such as signing a RMB-Euro fixed-term swap agreement at a more favorable exchange rate, at least more eloquence must be opened at the industrial level.
For example, more production processes involving core components, such as automatic carbon fiber laying to produce wings, are introduced into the country.
Or start implementing the Asian assembly center in advance.
In short, the euro has become the virtue it is now. It would be good if you can find someone to stand up for it, and the conditions must be stricter.
Originally, Chang Haonan thought that although this set of boxing combinations could not be regarded as taking advantage of others' danger, at least it was a bit like adding insult to injury.
Even if we can negotiate, there will still be a stalemate for a while.
But soon, the American sent an assist.
On a certain morning in mid-April, the euro fell below 1.0100 at the opening.
This means that there is basically only the last tremor left before the critical node of 1:1.
Please do not mention relevant historical events directly in the comment area. The risk is very high and may easily lead to additional review. It is not easy to publish these chapters in full...
(End of this chapter)