industrial overlord

Chapter 706 European Debt Crisis

The European economy has gradually declined since the 90s.After entering the new century, the decline became more obvious.Regarding the decline of Europe, there are different opinions. Some people think that it is because the United States suppressed it out of fear of the European Union;

The ancients in China said that one is born in sorrow and one dies in peace, which makes sense.Relying on the technological advantages and capital advantages left by their ancestors, Europeans live a very prosperous life. Without the pressure to survive, decline is inevitable.

In real history, since the outbreak of the subprime mortgage crisis in 2008, European countries such as Iceland, Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Ireland have encountered financial crises one after another, causing the European Union to almost disband.In the parallel world that Lin Zhenhua experienced, the European debt crisis came earlier.

"Zhenhua, the Portuguese government has asked us for help, hoping that we can purchase at least 100 billion euros of Portuguese national bonds to help Portugal overcome its current financial difficulties. What do you think about this?"

In an open-air cafe on the streets of Lisbon, Huang Gang and Lin Zhenhua sat opposite each other, each holding a small cup of coffee, chatting relaxedly.Looking at their laid-back looks, it didn't look like they were talking about such a big deal at all.

"It's only been a few short years, and Europe has declined to this point." Lin Zhenhua said sadly, "I remember the first time I came to Europe, I was like a countryman entering a city, and all I saw were imperialism. Prosperous. But now why do I feel that Lisbon is not as good as our Xunyang?"

"Haha, Zhenhua, you are too conceited, aren't you?" Huang Gang laughed, "No matter what, they have hundreds of years of cultural background, and you actually say that they are not as good as your Xunyang?"

Lin Zhenhua curled his lips and said: "It's only a few hundred years old, do you know how beautiful our Xunyang was in the Three Kingdoms?"

"Uh uh..." Huang Gang had nothing to say. It was really not a good topic to talk about the cultural heritage in Europe. When the Chinese created brilliant culture, the ancestors of Europeans were still picking fruits from trees to satisfy their hunger.

Lin Zhenhua said that Lisbon is not as good as Xunyang, and there is some truth to it.The prosperity of Western countries only happened in the last century. The last round of urban construction climax was after World War II, and it has been five or sixty years so far.Since then, there have been few large-scale developments in European cities. There are far more old buildings in the streets than new buildings. Elegance and nostalgia are enough, but modernization is far behind.

In contrast to China, since the reform and opening up, the economy has grown rapidly, especially in the past 10 years. Large-scale real estate development has driven the development of various cities. High-rise buildings have sprung up like mushrooms after rain. The architectural style of the city does seem to be closer to the times.

Thirty years ago, when Chinese went abroad, they were always impressed by how magnificent their buildings were.But now, it is the turn of foreigners to praise Chinese architecture. This is why Lin Zhenhua said that Lisbon is not as good as Xunyang.

Huang Gang often goes abroad, and he is not surprised by this kind of change. Hearing what Lin Zhenhua said now, he felt a little bit sad, and he said with a smile: "Zhenhua, if you want to talk about the decline of Europe, you have a part in it. These In [-], how much business did you, Hanhua Heavy Industries, take away from European companies?"

Lin Zhenhua said: "It's not just our heavy industry. Our light industry's encroachment on Europe should not be ignored. This time, I have opened my eyes in Spain. A 30-year-old farmer in southern Zhejiang can make top-notch products." A business worth tens of millions of euros. Just such a group of farmers has brought down the Spanish shoe industry."

Huang Gang said: "I already know about Elche. How to properly handle the relationship with counterparts in the host country and local residents in transnational operations is a very important new topic for us. In this regard, you The experience of dealing with the strike at the Mutong Iron Mine is worth learning for the majority of domestic enterprises.”

Lin Zhenhua said modestly: "The experience of Mutong Iron Mine is not applicable everywhere. In this regard, we are still exploring. However, I believe that the rise of any country will not be smooth and smooth, no It is impossible to have a conflict. I hope that when the country encounters such a thing, it will not blindly blame our own enterprises, and should have a little spirit of protecting the calf.”

"We are already doing this." Huang Gang said, "After the Elche shoe burning incident this time, not to mention other departments, our National Development and Reform Commission has negotiated with the Spanish government several times, asking them to protect the rights and interests of Chinese businessmen." Legal rights and interests are not infringed. Our chief executive directly called the Spanish Prime Minister and threatened that we would reconsider the issue of economic and trade cooperation with Spain."

"Haha, it's really a bit of an imperialist style." Lin Zhenhua laughed, "Finally it's our turn to threaten others."

Huang Gang waved his hand, signaling to Lin Zhenhua not to publicize the matter. After all, this is a private communication between the governments. If it is made public, the Spanish government will inevitably fail to step down, and naturally it will be inconvenient to take care of the Chinese side.Things in the world are like this, if you get a bargain, you have to keep silent, otherwise no one will cooperate with you in the future.

"The Spanish government needs our support in many areas, such as financial support, trade issues, and Chinese-funded enterprises investing in Spain. In short, they all hope to get more money from China and help them solve their immediate difficulties. .Now the whole world is counting on their fingers, and the richest is China." Huang Gang said in a low voice.

"If you have money, don't use it indiscriminately." Lin Zhenhua muttered, "Huang Gang, what happened to Portugal this time?"

Hearing Lin Zhenhua returned to the topic, Huang Gang also put away his smile and said: "Portugal is the poorest country in Western Europe. In the past 30 years, Portugal's fiscal budget has never been balanced, and it has to borrow money every year to survive. Currently, Portugal’s government debt has reached more than 80% of GDP, and the country’s external debt is more than twice its GDP. If it weren’t for the fact that it is a European country with such a financial and external debt situation, the country would have gone bankrupt long ago.”

"Oh, the landlord's family has no food left. I think back then, when Prince Henry led a thousand-boat race and started the European voyage, what a sight it was. Who would have thought that Portugal would end up where it is today." Lin Zhenhua clicked his tongue. , feel sad for the ancients.

Huang Gang is usually not as free as Lin Zhenhua, so naturally he doesn't have so many petty bourgeois complexes. Although he can't be said to be busy with daily affairs, he has also taken on dozens of jobs, big and small. Like today, he can sit under the sun and drink some coffee. Time, is very rare.He didn't answer Lin Zhenhua's words, but continued to speak on his own:
"Last week, Fitch International Credit Ratings just downgraded Portugal's sovereign credit rating from AA- to A+, with a negative outlook, which made it more difficult for Portugal to issue new government bonds. Portugal's domestic banks are already weak Then buy new national bonds, so the Portuguese government is now looking for alms, and the greatest hope is pinned on us, China.”

"What are our plans?" Lin Zhenhua asked.In fact, he asked more questions. He already knew that Huang Gang came to Portugal this time with officials from the Central Bank of China and the Ministry of Finance. He definitely planned to provide some financial assistance to Portugal. The only thing that has not been resolved now is the method of assistance. This is why Huang Gang invited Lin Zhenhua to Portugal to discuss together.

Huang Gang said: "The general principle of our country is that we are willing to pay some money. After all, our foreign exchange reserves have grown too fast these years, and we need a place to use them. In our foreign exchange reserves, the proportion of US bonds is too large. Certain risks. We hope to diversify the risks and transfer some European bonds.”

"The risk of European debt is probably higher than that of U.S. debt?" Lin Zhenhua said. Although he is an industrialist, he has been exposed to it over the years and knows a little bit about finance.Hanhua is now rich in financial resources and abundant cash flow, and Xiang Zhe has been thinking all day about making financial investments to find a way out for the company's funds.

Huang Gang agreed with Lin Zhenhua's statement. He said: "This is the difficulty we are facing now. European debts do have great risks, especially for these small countries in Europe. When they are really in debt, they dare to tear up It’s shameless to declare financial bankruptcy. At that time, the bonds in our hands may really become a piece of waste paper.”

"I think this possibility is very high." Lin Zhenhua nodded.

In his impression, Iceland has done such things in later generations, declaring financial bankruptcy, and then holding a referendum to let the people decide whether to repay foreign debts.These debts are nominally owed by several private banks, and these private banks have gone bankrupt, so there is no need to repay the debts.But how can such rhetoric convince the public?After all, the money collected by the bank in those years was squandered by the Icelandic people. If the bank goes bankrupt, there is no need to pay back the money. How can there be such a cheap thing in the world?

But Iceland can do such a thing. They really held a referendum and told the world that the result of our referendum is that we do not agree to repay the money. You can figure it out.

Later, Greece did the same thing. The European Union required the Greek government to reduce expenditure and repay foreign debts as a prerequisite for providing financial assistance.The Greek government did not take this responsibility, so it held a referendum, and then used public opinion as an excuse to reject the EU's request.In fact, putting the matter to a referendum is clearly an attempt to cheat. The government asked the people: Are you willing to suffer for the credit of the country?Can we still expect the people to have a high level of consciousness?
This kind of blatant refusal has happened, and the countries of the world really can't do anything about them. They shouldn't send troops to invade them for billions of euros, right?It is no longer like the 19th century. The thing of breaking open the gates of other countries to grab things is no longer feasible.

The 19th century... Lin Zhenhua's eyes lit up, and he seemed to think of something inspiring.

"In the past, borrowing between countries relied on national credit as a guarantee, but now, these European countries don't even want to lose face. Credit can be thrown into the toilet as toilet paper. This is really a troublesome thing." Huang Gang said depressingly.

Lin Zhenhua smiled and said, "Huang Gang, I recalled some past events. Did you say that the Qing government owed money to foreigners?"

Huang Gang couldn’t help this question. At any rate, he was also a liberal arts student. He said: “Yes, at that time, the Qing government fought against the Western powers. If they were defeated, they had to pay compensation. At first they could afford it, but later they couldn’t afford it. We can only owe it and take the customs tax as collateral...Zhenhua, you don’t mean to say that we also want the Portuguese government to take the tax as collateral, right?”

To say that Huang Gang's reaction was fast enough, he guessed the other party's subtext from one of Lin Zhenhua's questions, but to say that using Portuguese customs taxes as collateral for the loan is a bit over the top.

"Why not?" Lin Zhenhua didn't think there was anything wrong with this matter, "If you want to borrow money, you must have something to pledge, right? You have to pledge something when you go to a pawnshop to borrow money? My suggestion is, take advantage of the Now that European countries are facing a debt crisis, we can seize the opportunity to get some good things. Like technology patents and large enterprises, we can win them all.

As for countries with no technology and no enterprises, sorry, they can only use national rights and interests as collateral.For example, we sent a group of tax officials to Portugal to help them collect taxes, pay back our principal and interest first, and leave the remaining three melons and dates to buy porridge for them. "

Think about it, a group of Chinese tax officials set up cards in Portugal to collect taxes, and then ship the collected money back to China one by one. This is really a very enjoyable thing.But, can the Portuguese stand it?

"You are too ruthless." Huang Gang said with a wry smile, "This is impossible. After all, they are still a sovereign country, and they have entrusted taxation power to you. Let alone whether they can explain to the domestic people, even if we The impression it gives is too bad.”

"It's good to get used to it. It's not like Europeans haven't done this kind of thing before. We just learned from it." Lin Zhenhua said with a smile.

However, Lin Zhenhua also admitted that Huang Gang’s statement is also reasonable. Taxation is a symbol of national sovereignty. Although Europe is facing a crisis, it is still much stronger than the Qing government back then. This kind of direct transfer of sovereignty to others things, at least not yet.As for the future, if European countries are really reduced to the point where there is no rice to cook, maybe there is really any country that will do this.What did the ad say?Everything is possible.

"Don't tell me, the suggestion you made is really inspiring." Huang Gang changed the subject and began to admit Lin Zhenhua's words, "We can't get the right to taxation, what about other rights?"

(End of this chapter)