Chapter 33 The Butterfly flaps its wings

"Brother Cai, are you very busy these days?"

After lunch, it has always been a time for several people to communicate with each other alone or multiple people. Zhao Guodong knew that he also needed to explain some problems to Cai Zhengyang. Cai Zhengyang obviously saw that the relationship between him and Liu Ruotong was somewhat subtle. How could the other half have to go on a mission to stay abroad when they were newlywed? There is no explanation except to explain the relationship between the two.

Zhao Guodong's preemptive move made Cai Zhengyang want to ask him alone what happened between him and Liu Ruotong, and he was unwilling to make the atmosphere too tense. After all, Zhao Guodong is also about to be thirty years old. Just as Xiong Zhenglin said, he is also a mature and rational man. He should have his own opinions and judgments on any problem. The opinions imposed by others may not be of great effect.

"Well, I'm a little busy. If you want to say it, all of them have to do with what you mentioned. The two suggestions I put forward to the State Council have been adopted. One is to strengthen all-round cooperation with Central Asian countries in energy, encourage and expand investment in Central Asia, especially energy investment, including at the national level and the private level, comprehensively deepen political and economic and trade ties with the five Central Asian countries, expand and deepen China's influence in Central Asia, and use the current political and economic vacuum period in Central Asia to expand my country's political and economic existence in Central Asia."

When talking about his work, Cai Zhengyang was immediately excited and even temporarily put aside the question he wanted to ask Zhao Guodong.

"The other is to take advantage of the current sluggish international crude oil prices to further promote my country's state-owned energy companies to go global, strengthen external mergers, and acquire strategic assets. At the same time, they are planning to establish national strategic crude oil reserves in my country."

Zhao Guodong smiled slightly, and history finally changed slightly under the wings of his butterfly.

In fact, Zhao Guodong has been spared no effort to do a job, which is to instill some things brought from later memories. Although he himself is unable to change some facts, he can influence it through some other methods, such as Cai Zhengyang instilling forward-looking national energy strategic policies and instilling the rational use of foreign exchange reserves into Lei Xiangdong. These have begun to have some effect.

Just when mainstream economists are glad that it was the abundant national foreign exchange reserves that ensured that China helped Hong Kong resist the Asian financial crisis, Lei Xiangdong did the opposite and frequently published articles to remind China that the continuous growth of foreign exchange reserves will certainly help strengthen China's resistance to external financial storms, but it also needs to consider the rationality and balance of the foreign exchange reserve strategy. This seems a bit out of place in the hymns, but it has also attracted the attention of some knowledgeable people and the central government.

Lei Xiangdong analyzed the current composition of China's foreign exchange reserves and future policies in several articles. At the same time, he also combined the possible threats that international financial strategies, especially the United States, may pose to China's foreign exchange reserves, and put forward suggestions on diversification and strategic resource utilization. This article is said to have been submitted to the highest level through financial internal references, which has also caused considerable controversy.

However, one thing is certain that the possible impact of the continuous growth of foreign exchange reserves has attracted the attention of the central government's senior management, and Lei Xiangdong's diversification and strategic resource utilization strategies proposed by the changes in foreign exchange reserves have also received support from some economists, and the senior management is also evaluating the feasibility and reliability of Lei Xiangdong's views.

Cai Zhengyang's proposal to go global to merge and acquire strategic assets is just in line with Lei Xiangdong's view, and the national senior management also responded positively to this. Sinopec, which has completed strategic integration, has also begun to take the first step, especially as the cooperation mechanism of Shanghai's five countries is becoming increasingly mature, it is even more extraordinary.

"Brother Cai, the sluggish oil price will not last too long. Due to the rapid economic growth, especially the expansion of the scale of manufacturing, the people's living standards are constantly improving, and the demand for energy, especially oil and natural gas will also increase significantly. my country's oil and gas imports will increase at a very high rate. If we make arrangements early, we will definitely be controlled by others in the future." Zhao Guodong took a deep breath. He knew that Cai Zhengyang is now quite appreciated by Premier Hong, and many views can be directly heard. If Cai Zhengyang can be persuaded to accept his views, it may help the country avoid many detours in this area in the future.

"It is the best time to go global to acquire and merge some excellent assets, especially in the current situation where the five Central Asian countries and Russia are facing serious economic crises. If our country increases investment in these countries, including energy and infrastructure, and can also provide government loans to the five Central Asian countries from a strategic level, it will greatly help our country expand its influence in the Central Asian region. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Cai Zhengyang nodded slightly, "I also know that this is a rare opportunity. I have participated in these two ministerial meetings of the member states of the Shanghai Five-Country Mechanism. Energy cooperation is the focus. Russia's strength is now recession sharply and it is no longer able to interfere in Central Asia at the economic level. I am actively promoting the entry of CNPC and Sinopec into Kazakhstan investment and Turkmenistan, but the scale has not yet been determined. It is estimated that it will become clear after the official establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization this year."

"The Shanghai Cooperation Organization will be officially established this year?" Zhao Guodong was surprised, "Turkmenistan is also going to join?"

In Zhao Guodong's later memories, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was established in the first half of the year of the 9/11 incident in the United States, probably in 2001. Turkmenistan did not join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization because it was a neutral country. Could it be that its promotion from all aspects can really change history?

"I think there is this trend. Since last year, our cooperation level with the five Central Asian countries has reached a relatively good level. Several projects in Kazakhstan are progressing smoothly. There are also two projects in Uzbekistan in full swing and interacting with Russia. However, so far, our cooperation with the Central Asian region is mainly in energy projects. Premier Hong is not very satisfied with the current situation. He hopes that more companies in our country can go out to Central Asian countries, especially encourage private enterprises to boldly go out to engage in economic, trade and investment."

Cai Zhengyang is quite proud that promoting Sinopec and PetroChina into Central Asia was his most proud work since he took office as Minister of Energy, especially entering the oil and gas exploration and collection field of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, which has caused panic among the multinational companies of some Western countries. The Shanghai five-country mechanism is becoming increasingly close in the energy field, and close cooperation in energy has in turn promoted the political interaction at the five-country Shanghai countries, which has been staying in the superficial field, finally making substantial progress.

"Turkmenistan has not yet joined this mechanism. It is a permanent neutral country and is unlikely to break this boundary. However, the other four Central Asian countries are very interested. We also advocated and clearly proposed the idea of ​​rebuilding the Silk Road, which has also won unanimous approval from the Central Asian countries." Cai Zhengyang added.

"What about Russia?" Zhao Guodong asked curiously.

"Russia's attitude seems to be a little vague and contradictory, and the signals sent are also unclear, but this cannot affect the overall situation." Cai Zhengyang smiled and said, "This is understandable. On the one hand, Russia also hopes to strengthen economic and trade cooperation with them, but they are worried about our vigorous development of cooperation with the five Central Asian countries, and are worried that our influence will penetrate into Central Asia and take away their backyard, which is also closely related to Russia's current domestic economic recession."

"If China wants to rise, it must seize this opportunity to expand its influence to Central Asia, the heart of Eurasia, and it is also one of the largest energy treasures in the future. Especially this energy supply line on the land can greatly avoid the throat parts of our offshore energy supply channel that are easily manipulated, such as the Strait of Malacca, to ensure our energy security." Zhao Guodong strengthened his tone, "As my country's economic strength continues to increase, it will definitely attract hostility from anti-China forces, especially the United States. They will definitely suppress us at all levels, use their financial strength, military strength and geographical location advantages to try every means to curb our development. Energy security will be the most important aspect. We must be fully prepared and strategically foresighted, and we must prepare for the future. This is our responsibility!"

Cai Zhengyang seemed to feel the strong sense of crisis in Zhao Guodong's words and nodded silently.

Zhao Guodong's strategic forward-looking vision is indeed extraordinary. Sometimes he doubts how Zhao Guodong can think of these things so far and deep.

For example, the issue of the cooperation mechanism of Shanghai's five countries is closely linked to energy cooperation. When he was still the deputy director of the State Economic and Trade Commission more than two years ago, he mentioned this issue to himself accurately and solemnly. Facts have proved that his judgments and speculations are all accurate.

The natural gas crisis between Turkmenistan and Russia, the tendency of independence and autonomy of Kazakhstan, the relationship formed in this special environment between the five Central Asian countries and Russia, and the opportunities facing China, Cai Zhengyang has arranged for the experts and scholars in the Ministry to carefully study these issues in accordance with the direction proposed by Zhao Guodong, and also conducted a special study through the expert groups of other ministries and commissions and the Academy of Social Sciences.
Chapter completed!