The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

The National Day in 2004 was quite lively.

The 55th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China happens to fall on the fifth day of the lunar calendar, and although it is called a small celebration, the celebrations in all walks of life are actually quite significant.

Guizhou Aircraft Industry Group held a ceremony to celebrate the rollout of the domestically-produced C919 medium-range narrow-body trunk aircraft before National Day as a gift to the country.

This means that China's aviation industry has been further improved.

This naturally caused a heated discussion.

Also before National Day, the West-East Gas Transmission Project and the West-East Oil Transmission Project were completed and officially put into operation.

The West-East Gas Transmission Project is China's longest and largest gas pipeline, starting from Lunnan in the Tarim Basin in the west and ending in Shanghai in the east. The entire line is controlled automatically, and the gas supply covers the Central Plains, East China, and the Yangtze River Delta. It runs through nine provinces and regions from east to west, with a total length of 9 kilometers. The annual pipeline gas transmission capacity is 4200 billion cubic meters, of which 600 billion cubic meters are supplied annually by the Lunnan Oilfield in the Tarim Basin and 300 billion cubic meters are supplied annually by the five Stan countries in Central Asia.

The West-East Gas Transmission Project is invested and operated by China National Petroleum Corporation. The completion of this century-long project will promote cities in nine provinces to use natural gas instead of coal as fuel.

From the West-East Gas Transmission Project, the main natural gas pipeline, to the supporting branch pipelines to various cities, China National Petroleum Corporation has invested a total of more than 6000 billion yuan.

The "West-to-East Oil Transmission" project is also a century-long project, consisting of two lines, the West Line and the North Line.

The western route is to transport oil from the five Stan countries in Central Asia through oil pipelines to China's own "West Oil East Transmission" project, and then transport it to various provinces and cities through oil pipelines.

The northern route is to transport oil from the Arctic Bear territory to Heilongjiang Province, and then transport it to the south along the "North Oil South Transmission" project oil pipeline.

One is the western route, which transports natural gas and oil from the five Central Asian countries to the Western Regions Province through natural gas pipelines and oil pipelines, connects to the natural gas pipeline of China's own West-East Gas Transmission Project and the oil pipeline of the West-East Oil Transmission Plant, and transports them to various provinces and cities through natural gas pipelines and oil pipelines.

One is the northern route, which transports gas from Polar Bear to Heilongjiang Province, and then transports it to the south along the natural gas pipeline of the "North Gas to South Transmission" project and the oil pipeline of the "North Oil to South Transmission" project. Polar Bear's natural gas supplies the entire three northeastern provinces and North China. The total length of the oil pipeline is 6371 kilometers, and the natural gas pipeline is 6371 kilometers.

The entire project, including supporting projects, has a total investment of 5500 billion yuan.

A large part of the money earned by China National Petroleum Corporation in recent years has been invested in these two century projects.

These two century projects can import 600 billion cubic meters of natural gas and 1.5 million tons of oil every year.

Russia has made huge profits from these two century-old projects, occupying a large market share of China's natural gas and oil imports, while the five Stan countries in Central Asia can only make a small share.

Every field is paying tribute to National Day.

When the National Day atmosphere faded and it was November, four rounds of peace talks had been held and good news kept coming out. The Iraq War was over and the dawn of peace had arrived. However, during the fifth round of peace talks, the negotiations between the two sides broke down because they could not accept the war reparations demands put forward by the United States.

The Americans expressed regret over the breakdown of the peace talks.

George Walker, who was re-elected with a narrow margin, said in a televised speech that since Iraq rejected the goodwill of the Americans, the Americans would use their powerful military force to end the war as quickly as possible.

Just as George Walker finished his televised speech, the joint forces, which had been accumulating for two months, launched a powerful attack.

During these two months, the United States mobilized more air forces from various military bases around the world to the battlefield in Iraq and mobilized more troops to make up for the losses.

At the same time, a large amount of supplies and weapons and equipment were mobilized.

Moreover, the Americans did their utmost to block Iraq's access to weapons.

A large number of Tomahawk cruise missiles attacked Iraq, and at the same time, the Joint Forces Air Force launched a large-scale air strike against Iraq. On the ground, a powerful tank and armored group, led by the US ace troops, attacked the northern Iraqi forces with the cooperation of the Air Force.

Faced with the sudden outbreak of war and the powerful and sharp attack of the joint forces, the Iraqi troops were stunned.

Not only in the northern part of Iraq, but also in the south of Iraq, the Americans used unmanned boats to break through the minefields set up by the Iraqis, and then cooperated with minesweepers to clear the mines.

When the Iraq War reignited, a landing operation was launched from the Persian Gulf.

More than 10 Joint Force Marines, with the support of carrier-based aircraft, launched a landing operation from the Persian Gulf.

Because Iraq's elite troops were transferred to the north, although the southern theater also had more than 30 troops, it had no elite troops and could not stop the joint forces at all.

Iraqi naval ships were all destroyed.

The Marines continued to land and expand the occupied area.

The Iraqi army showed no signs of fighting against the Marines.

Saddam had to transfer troops from other directions in an attempt to block the landing of the joint forces.

The entire Iraqi command system suddenly became chaotic and the command was in disarray.

In just one month, Iraq's northern and southern theaters were successively defeated by the joint forces.

Faced with the joint forces that had absolute air superiority, Iraq's tank and armored forces were like targets, constantly being canned, making it difficult for them to play to their strengths.

On Christmas Day, the coalition forces occupied Baghdad, and the US Marines used a tank repair vehicle to pull down the statue of Saddam. This scene became one of the symbols of the Iraq War.

With the exception of the Kurdish mountains and a few other areas, the coalition forces already occupy Iraq.

George Walton delivered a televised speech on Christmas Day, announcing to the entire United States and the world that the joint forces had eliminated Saddam's dictatorship and won the Iraq War. He also stated that the powerful US military is invincible and any force that opposes the United States will ultimately fail.

Liu Tao followed the latest developments of the Iraq War every day. Although he knew that Iraq had a high probability of defeat, he could not help but shake his head when he saw that the Iraqi army, which had more than 300 million regular and reserve troops, was defeated in just two months.

It's unbelievable that the war turned out like this.

He knew that Saddam had not been captured but had escaped.

Even Rashid did not die, but fled to the Kurdish mountains, intending to fight a guerrilla war in the Kurdish mountains.

The mercenaries have already withdrawn from Iraq and are now in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.

Liu Tao couldn't help but feel a headache. If Iraq was occupied by the Americans, it would inevitably trigger a chain reaction.

Saddam set fire to a large number of oil and gas fields and destroyed refineries and oil pipelines. Iraq's oil production and exports would certainly be cut off in the short term. It would take at least three years for the Americans to allow Iraq to continue exporting oil.

However, the impact of this war is very wide-ranging. It remains to be seen whether other Arab countries will defect, or even whether Saudi Arabia will turn back to the United States.

The United States has won the Iraq War and is now in a state of invincibility. Will it take military risks in the Asia-Pacific region? (End of this chapter)