The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 579: Clear Opposition

"It's completely wrong to build such a large machine without having a clear purpose."

"When China's per capita income reaches that of the United States, it won't be too late to discuss this matter then!" Yang Zhenning said firmly.

The others all looked surprised and couldn't help but talk in low voices.

Among the Chinese people today, only Yang Zhenning has won the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Yang Zhenning's contributions to physics made him a great physicist.

As Yang Zhenning returned to China, rebuilt Southwest Associated University and served as its president, Yang Zhenning's popularity in China grew day by day, and he became a leading figure in the field of physics.

Many people believe that Yang Zhenning would agree to build a large collider, because after the construction of this super collider is completed, it will be of great significance in physics research. At the very least, it can produce some results and publish some papers, which is beneficial to Yang Zhenning.

But they didn't expect that Yang Zhenning would be so opposed to the construction of a large collider.

Everyone at the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences blushed.

It was as if I was hit in the face all of a sudden.

"Comrade Liu Tao, tell me what you think." The leader looked thoughtful, and after a while, he called Liu Tao's name.

The staff handed the microphone to Liu Tao, who took the microphone and said calmly: "I would like to ask the scholars present, who thinks that their attainments in physics are higher than those of Professor Yang Zhenning? If you think that your level is higher than or equal to that of Professor Yang, please raise your hand."

As soon as Liu Tao finished speaking, the conference room fell silent and no one raised their hand.

"Then, I would like to ask another question. Does anyone think that they have reached the level of a world-class scholar in high-energy physics? If so, please raise your hand," Liu Tao asked again.

The conference room remained silent, and no one raised their hand.

Liu Tao frowned slightly. "Then let me ask another question. All the participants present are the pride of China in the field of physics. Is there anyone who has very important and new ideas and has created new and important physical theories? If so, please raise your hands."

This time, no one raised their hand.

Liu Tao sighed in his heart. He was just a third-rate physicist, but his ambition was so huge!
"I would like to ask the comrades from the Ministry of Finance, is the national finance sufficient to allocate 20 billion US dollars for the comrades from the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to try possible mistakes and pay for this mistake?" Liu Tao looked at the leader of the Ministry of Finance.

The Ministry of Finance, which is in charge of the nation's purse, will naturally attend such an important meeting.

The head of the Ministry of Finance quickly shook his head and said, "The national finances are very tight right now, and money is needed everywhere. Where can we get the money to come up with 20 billion US dollars?"

"Leader, I don't think it's appropriate to build a super collider now. Maybe thirty or forty years later, when our country's economic strength is very strong and we have plenty of money, we can spend 20 billion US dollars at any time to build a thing for high-energy physicists to play with. Then we can discuss this matter again." Liu Tao looked at his leader and said, his attitude was very clear.

That's opposition!
Liu Tao feels that instead of investing 200 billion US dollars to build a large collider, it would be more practical to build more high-speed railways, more large reservoirs and hydropower stations, more power stations, and more highways.

Even $200 billion can add thousands of advanced fighter jets to the Air Force, or arm the Navy's three fleets to the teeth, or be enough to build a mechanized army.

China's current annual military budget is only a little over 200 billion from the national treasury. Based on the current exchange rate, billion US dollars is equivalent to more than three years of military budget!

In order to build the economy, the country has emphasized from the very beginning that economic construction is the center. The army needs to be patient and obey the overall situation of the country. The guiding ideology of national defense is "national defense construction must obey economic construction." After three rounds of streamlining the troops, the total number of troops has been reduced from more than 660 million to the current 320 million.

In order to support the economic construction of reform and opening up, the proportion of national defense expenditure has declined significantly. Excluding the factor of rising prices, the annual military expenditure of the state finance for the troops is now even reduced by half compared with the late 70s.

Even the army has been coveting the combined brigade of the Panshan Group Armed Forces Department. It has been a long time since they wanted to transfer the combined brigade into the army and put it under the military's jurisdiction. However, the combined brigade requires huge construction funds, and the amount of money invested is terrifying. The amount of money required for a combined brigade to be invested every year is also terrifying. The army has been afraid to take action and can only think about it occasionally.

Liu Tao didn't believe it, and thought the country was crazy to invest 200 billion US dollars to build a large collider.

That stuff can't be eaten or drunk, and it doesn't contribute anything to the country's economic development. It can't drive the country's economic development. In the final analysis, it's just writing a paper!

What China needs now are tangible benefits that can be seen immediately, because China is extremely poor and its people urgently need to live a good life.

Developing the economy is the overriding priority right now.

If the country is very wealthy in the future and has a lot of money in the treasury, then spending 200 billion US dollars to build a large collider will not be a big deal.

As for now, don't even think about it.

The meeting ended, and there would be no further meetings on the relevant topic for the next ten years.

At noon, the leader personally invited everyone to lunch.

After dinner, taking advantage of his free time, Liu Tao talked to his leader privately about Panshan Group's plan to enter the aviation manufacturing industry.

In front of his leader, Liu Tao was very frank and reported his plans without reservation.

"Since your Panshan Group wants to enter the aviation manufacturing industry, this is a good thing. Competition? State-owned enterprises also need competition. Competition brings vitality." The leader said with a smile: "I have no objection to this matter. I agree that you should do it."

The country attaches great importance to the aviation industry.

This can be seen from the fact that after the country introduced advanced fighter jets such as F-14, F-15, and F-18, it did not give up on improving the domestically produced J-7 fighter jets. It continued to improve the J-7 fighter jets, tap the potential of the J-7 fighter jets, and enhance the combat effectiveness of the J-7 fighter jets.

In addition, the same is true for improving the Y-7 into a civil airliner, and improving the Y-8 into a civil airliner.

It’s just that China’s aviation industry is too weak and its technology is relatively backward, so it cannot support the Y-10 aircraft, so the Y-10 aircraft was discontinued.

Now that Panshan Group wants to restart the Y-10 passenger aircraft project and enter the aviation industry, that is naturally the best thing.

The leaders couldn't help but look forward to it. Could Liu Tao, who was good at creating miracles, create another miracle in the aviation manufacturing industry, promote the development of China's aviation industry, and enable China to have civil airliners, transport aircraft, early warning aircraft, refueling aircraft, and bombers!

Seeing that his leader was in favor of his idea, Liu Tao secretly breathed a sigh of relief. If he could get the leader's support, then the matter would be mostly done.

Next, we need to have a thorough discussion with the Ministry of Aerospace Industry.

As long as the Ministry of Aerospace Industry nods in agreement, then there will be basically no problem with this matter.

This is also the most important thing Liu Tao wants to do when he returns to Beijing this time.

This concerns the interests of Panshan Group, as well as national interests and the development of the entire Chinese aviation industry!

(End of this chapter)