The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 176 Liu Tao: I love making friends

In the afternoon.

Liu Tao received a phone call and drove out with his guards.

"Mr. Hassan, who is this?" Liu Tao was a little surprised to see a strange Arab.

Hassan is the head of the Syrian Embassy in China.

In addition to the first cooperation, the two parties cooperated again later, but the orders from Syria were not large.

Hassan introduced with a smile: "This is Hadi, the head of the Libyan Embassy in China."

"Hadadi asked me to make friends with you this time." Hassan explained the purpose of meeting Liu Tao.

Liu Tao looked at the middle-aged man with some surprise. It turned out that he was from Libya.

Unlike Syria, which established diplomatic relations with China in 1956, Libya is a country that established diplomatic relations with China relatively late. The two sides only established diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level two years ago.

At this time, Libya, because of its abundant oil resources and the sharp rise in oil prices, became extremely rich.

Although Libya has a total population of only 300 million, its area is as high as 176 million square kilometers. In 1969, the "Free Officers" organization headed by Gaddafi launched the September Revolution, overthrew the Idris Dynasty, and established the Libyan Arab Republic. Gaddafi was a man sent from heaven, extremely strong, and very tough. In the second year after overthrowing Idris, he announced the recovery of the military base set up by the United States near Tripoli, the capital of Libya. The relationship between the two sides deteriorated. Just this year, the United States even closed its embassy in Libya.

Libya has a large land area, but more than 95% of the country is desert and semi-desert. With a population of 300 million and 176 million square kilometers of land, it seems sparsely populated. However, Libya's proven oil and natural gas reserves rank first in Africa, at 211.88 billion barrels and 1 trillion cubic meters, respectively.

Among them, the proven oil reserves of 211.88 billion barrels ranked tenth in the world, nearly 133.29 billion barrels more than China's proven oil reserves of 80 billion barrels. The proven natural gas reserves of 1 trillion cubic meters also ranked tenth in the world, which is also much more than China.

As a major oil-producing country, Libya made a fortune. After all, Gaddafi was a tough guy. After establishing his regime, he implemented a single state-owned economy. All the oil in the country was owned by the state, which made Libya's income soar like a rocket.

Libya's GDP is now as high as 330 billion US dollars, and its per capita GDP is as high as 1.1 US dollars, which is 56 times that of China now. It is no exaggeration to say that Libya is the richest country in Africa and is also a developed country in the eyes of many people.

Libya's relations with European and American countries were not good. Apart from taking back the US military base in 1970, when the US was mired in the Vietnam War, Gaddafi felt that the opportunity could not be missed and decisively announced in 1973 that the shares of American oil companies would be nationalized.

The most outrageous thing is that not a single penny was compensated to the other party and it was all confiscated.

The Americans naturally wanted to retaliate, but they were helpless. Deep in the quagmire of the Vietnam War, the domestic economy was weak, and they were unable to open a second battlefield in North Africa. In recent years, the Americans have been licking their wounds and recovering. In addition, Libya was considered a younger brother of the Soviet Union. If they acted rashly against Libya, it would lead to unpredictable reactions from the Soviet Union.

Liu Tao was surprised that the other party wanted to meet him. You know, Libya is a younger brother of the Soviet Union, and everyone knows the current relationship between China and the Soviet Union.

"Mr. Liu, nice to meet you. Hassan is my friend. I asked him to help me with this connection. Please forgive me." Hadi said with a smile, "I hope to make friends with you and establish a friendship between us."

Liu Tao smiled and said, "Mr. Hardy, nice to meet you. I love making friends the most." Although he said this, Liu Tao felt more and more confused.

Libya’s relations with the United States are very bad now, but its relations with China are also average, and there have even been unpleasant experiences between the two countries in the past.

In the 1960s, China reached an aid agreement with Tanzania to help them build railways, etc., and the domestic conditions in Tanzania gradually improved. Last year, Uganda attacked Tanzania to solve its domestic crisis, but was quickly repelled. In desperation, it asked Kadazo for help. Since Kadazo has always wanted to be the big brother of Africa, he naturally agreed to Uganda's request for help and intervened in the Uganda-Tanzania war, but he still lost in the end. Kadazo cursed the rabbit a lot during this period.

After some pleasantries, Hadi explained his purpose - to purchase a batch of arms!
Liu Tao was even more surprised.

要知道利比亚从‘九一革命’后便开始实行义务兵和职员表相结合的兵役制，服役期2年，所以别看利比亚总人口也就300万，但是绝对是武德充沛，军队可不弱，三军总兵力6.5万人，准军事力量‘人民武装’5万人。陆军3.5万人，拥有各种坦克2950辆、装甲车2160辆、各种火炮1690门，编有1个坦克师、38个坦克营、2个机械化步兵师、50个机械化步兵营、1个国家警卫旅、41个炮兵营、12个空投突击营、6个地空导弹旅。

The Navy has 8000 personnel (including the Coast Guard) and is equipped with submarines, frigates, coastal defense ships, anti-submarine speedboats, patrol boats, mine warfare boats, support ships and helicopters.

空军约2.2万人(包括防空部队)，拥有作战飞机513架、武装直升机54架、教练机89架，编有1个轰炸机中队、9个战斗机中队、7个地面攻击战斗机中队、1个平叛机中队、1个侦察机中队、2个运输机中队。

The Libyan army at this time was an armed force that could not be underestimated in Africa, known as the "African Lion". The Libyan army was well-equipped and could definitely be called an elite force.

If we only look at the data on paper, Libya's armed forces are even superior to China's.

Because Libya's tanks and armored vehicles are more advanced than China's, and its aircraft are also more advanced than China's.

Some military magazines in the world rank Libya ahead of China in military power rankings.

Liu Tao was thinking in his mind and began to analyze.

"It seems that Libya suffered heavy losses from its involvement in the Ukrainian-Tajik War last year and its intervention in the Chadian civil war this year!" Liu Tao thought to himself.

This was the biggest possibility he could think of.

"Who cares? They've come to place an order. As an arms dealer, how can I open my door without doing business?" Liu Tao said to himself, having already decided to take the deal.

Although the relationship between the two sides is not very harmonious, diplomatic relations are diplomatic relations and business is business, and business can still continue.

"Purchasing arms is no problem. I wonder which types you want to purchase? How many do you want to purchase?" Liu Tao said with a bright smile on his face. "Of course I have to remind Hadi, my friend, that I do not attach any conditions to my business, but you must pay half of the deposit first, and the balance must be paid off when the goods are delivered before loading. You can use your own merchant ships to load the goods, or you can ask other freight companies to load the goods. If you find our shipping company, it is also possible, but you have to pay the freight yourself."

Liu Tao explained his business rules first, so that Hardy would not be confused and act recklessly.

(End of this chapter)