Back in 1978, I was admitted to Northwestern Polytechnical University.

Chapter 16 Qin Liang, come work at our Factory 132!

The first arms sale target was Egypt, and the first batch of equipment sold was J-7 fighter jets. History has proven these facts. Qin Liang only brought up this project to speed up the process.

The Camp David Accords won't be signed until September of this year, but many rounds of peace talks have already taken place. Egypt's actions are seen as a betrayal by the surrounding Arab countries! In their eyes, Sadat is no longer their brother.

This isn't a big deal. Egypt is an African country anyway, so it can stop associating with these Middle Eastern brothers in the future. However, offending the big brother, the Soviet Union, would be a much bigger problem!

For years, Egypt had been a close ally of the Soviet Union, and their equipment consisted entirely of Soviet-made goods. However, after signing the peace agreement, they completely broke ties with the Soviet Union!
Although the United States could provide Egypt with equipment, in terms of aircraft, Egypt received 45 Phantom fighter jets in 78 after the signing of the peace agreement in 79. However, the Egyptian Air Force, which was used to Soviet equipment, had a lot of trouble with the sophisticated American aircraft. In the years that followed, the operational availability of these aircraft was quite low!
It was under these circumstances that Egypt turned to the East for help. Sadat's aide personally traveled to the East to request... military aid.

Your average GDP is $1,000 per person, while ours is less than $300 per person. How dare you ask us for military aid?

After countless negotiations, Egypt finally agreed to the purchase request, albeit at a very low price, practically a giveaway. Even so, it was a good start. What about other countries wanting military aid? How would we explain that to Egypt? We had to treat everyone equally!
Thus, the door to arms sales was officially opened, and all customers had to pay to buy them. Especially in the 1980s, when two Middle Eastern neighbors were fighting and urgently needed weapons, our Eastern military industry seized the opportunity and rapidly developed and expanded...

Now that Qin Liang had shared his analysis, Tu Lao nodded repeatedly. Indeed, this analysis was reasonable and logical; using Egypt as a breakthrough point could really work!

"Of course, we can't rush things. I estimate that in six months at most, Egypt will take the initiative to request military aid. At that time, we can go with the flow and start the arms sales. Right now, what we need to do is mainly preparatory work, such as drafting aircraft export contracts..."

Old Tu was taken aback: "Our country has a Ministry of Foreign Trade, right? Why don't we just contact them for the export contract?"

"Of course not. If we go through them, will the money even get to us? Without money, how can we do research and development?"

"That……"

"Our aviation sector needs to establish its own import and export company so that we can take the initiative. Mr. Tu, think about it, will those people help us then? We still have to rely on ourselves for this kind of thing!"

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, developing foreign trade was an important task. In 52, the original Ministry of Trade was abolished and replaced by the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Foreign Trade, abbreviated as the Ministry of Foreign Trade.

All of the country's exports were handled through this department, which wielded immense power, and the foreign exchange earned from their exports was allocated centrally by the state. Under the planned economy, all of this was perfectly acceptable.

However, to develop a market economy, we must be independent and autonomous, and each enterprise must have its own import and export rights!
Of course, to truly achieve this goal, we have to wait until after joining the WTO. If Factory 132 were to operate independently now, it would face resistance from everyone. However, it is still possible for the aviation industry system to establish its own dedicated import and export company.

Historically, on January 21, 1979, when Egypt requested military aid aircraft, the China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corporation (CATIC) was officially established. This can be seen as keeping pace with the times. A year later, the renowned Norinco Corporation was officially established to sell ground weapons. In 1984, the famous Poly Technologies Inc. was established... Originally, only the Ministry of Foreign Trade could handle import and export. Now, seeing domestic industrial systems going independent, how could the powerful figures who once held power be happy? It would be good enough if they didn't create obstacles; help? What a joke!
It's better to rely on yourself than on others!
"Also, we need to build good relationships with the shipping companies now, because transportation will be a problem later, and we need to find out the freight rates. If there's an opportunity, we should also exchange some foreign currency..."

Preparing at the last minute will be very rushed and you'll run into all sorts of obstacles. It's better to do all the preparations now!
Egypt wants military aid? No way! We have to buy it! Negotiate a contract? Here it is, this is our standard export contract! Transportation? No problem, we'll handle that, we'll factor in the shipping costs into the price…

We need to demonstrate our professionalism then!
As for foreign exchange... Although we earn foreign exchange, this contract negotiation might require a business trip to Egypt. If the Ministry of Foreign Trade doesn't provide foreign exchange, how can we go? This is a small matter, and there's no need to complain to our superiors.

"By the way, our Factory 132 could also be renamed, for example, Chengdu Aircraft Company, abbreviated as Chengfei. When negotiating cooperation with external parties, the factory shouldn't be the main entity; it should be a company. Of course, this would just be a shell company..."

Old Tu nodded repeatedly. He had never considered these things before; after all, as an engineer, his mind was always preoccupied with technical issues. Now, Qin Liang had listed out all the potential problems and resolved them within the next few months, which broadened his horizons.

Factory 132 lacks technical personnel, but even more so, it lacks people who understand market economics! Qin Liang is definitely a talent for market economics!

"Qin Liang, would you like to work at our Factory 132?" Old Tu glanced warily at the other people walking nearby. "You'll be in charge of coordinating the relationships for our double-delta wing J-7 fighter jets, and you'll be in charge of selling the planes in the future..."

"Ahem, Lao Tu, this is going too far!" Director Luo, who was walking ahead, suddenly turned around and said, "Qin Liang is from Northwestern Polytechnical University! He has to complete his studies at Northwestern Polytechnical University, and his job assignment after graduation is also decided by the school. What do you mean by poaching someone from our school now?"

Old Tu chuckled awkwardly, "Old Luo, Qin Liang will still be affiliated with Northwestern Polytechnical University for now. We just need him to start working as soon as possible. Our Factory 132 urgently needs someone with his talent. Letting him come to our factory early is like an internship..."

"no!"

Director Luo, Professor Sha, and Professor Liu all spoke in unison.

Are you kidding me? Qin Liang is highly sought after by professors and departments all over our school. We wouldn't let him go to the factory if he didn't contribute to our school for a few years! We're bringing him here now to pave the way for his future job, not to start working right now!

Which domestic aviation company wouldn't want a talent like that? When the time comes, your Factory 132 will be begging Northwestern Polytechnical University to assign Qin Liang to you!

(End of this chapter)