In 1958, less than ten years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and when everything was waiting to be done, something very unusual happened. This year, Sino-Soviet relations deteriorated sharply due to differences in ideology and military issues. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, China owed the Soviet Union an arms debt of 8.6 billion. So how does New China pay off this debt?
htmlThe composition of the 58.6 billion arms debt When the Korean War broke out, in order to keep the enemy out of the country, New China chose to send volunteers to support North Korea, and launched a arduous war that lasted for three years.
We need to know that the consumption of military expenditures by war is staggering. However, China's industrial base at that time was basically zero, and the military industry was relatively backward. There are still problems in the new China to ensure that the people of the whole country have enough food. Under such circumstances, Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou decided to turn to the socialist big brother, the Soviet Union, for help.
In fact, the Soviet Union was also very annoyed at the situation of the Korean War. At this time, the North Korean regime was crumbling, and the Soviet Union urgently needed someone to send troops to North Korea to block the pace of the United Nations army's advance northward.
The Soviet Union did not want to send troops to aid itself. On the one hand, the consumption of human and material resources in the war was inevitable. On the other hand, a direct war with the United States could lead to another world war. After weighing the pros and cons of , the Soviet Union decided to give some weapons to China for free, but most of the weapons still require China to spend money to buy them.
The Chinese side wanted to buy weapons through lease, but was rejected by the Soviet Union. In the end, the two sides agreed that the war materials before October 19, 11950 will be calculated at full price, and the materials after that will be settled at half price. During the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, the Soviet Union trained first-generation jet fighter pilots for China, and provided China with equipment for 60 infantry divisions and 23 air force divisions, ranging from light weapons to heavy weapons.
Of course, the military expenditure for the war is also staggering, with a total of 3 billion yuan, or about US$1.3 billion. The above is the first part of the 8.6 billion military expenditure. In fact, however, the Soviet army at that time was already equipped with advanced weapons such as the AK47 automatic rifle. The Chinese Volunteers are provided with many old weapons from World War II, and even many weapons have been repaired and sprayed with new paint.
htmlThe second part of the 08.6 billion military spending goes back to a series of Sino-Soviet economic treaties signed in the context of Sino-Soviet friendship. At that time, the Soviet Union, which was in the honeymoon period of Sino-Soviet relations, provided China with a large number of automobiles, planes, mechanical equipment and other various construction aids.
However, after the Sino-Soviet friendly relationship broke down, these so-called aid materials and assistance technologies turned into real debts, which the Soviet Union demanded to repay in full.
In addition, due to the Soviet Union's request to withdraw all Chinese aid experts, China, with the technical help of the Soviet Union, was forced to terminate 257 ongoing scientific and technological contracts, including nuclear weapons research. The Soviet Union's unilateral breach of the contract only needs to withdraw the technicians and scientists sent to China. However, for China, the investment in this area has already been launched, and the project that has been abandoned by the way means that it may be "lost."
There is another 980 million military expenditures. It should be mentioned that in 1955, the Soviet Union returned the Port of Lushun to China. However, a large number of equipment and weapons stranded in the Port of Lushun were packaged and sold to China due to the inconvenience of carrying and transportation. , converted to 980 million.
Friends who are familiar with China's modern history know that the so-called cannibalism and soft-handedness mean that China often owes foreign debts in modern times. When it owes foreign debts, many things are controlled by others.
The Soviet Union's creditor's rights to China at that time had a faint intention of putting pressure on China. Adhering to the independent new China, the national self-esteem is very strong, and we do not want to do this. However, how to repay the debts of the poor and poor New China has become a difficult problem that needs to be solved urgently.
How to repay the debt
Although more than half a century has passed, it must be said that the way and process of China's repayment of the Soviet Union's foreign debts was amazing. China is a credible power, defaulting on debts is intolerable, and at the Central Conference in 1960, Chairman Mao decided to repay the debts as soon as possible. When the debt was repaid, China was going through three years of natural disasters, and the survival of its people was still insufficient. Paying off the debt would be even worse.
However, inspired by the spirit of not fighting for steamed bread, China tightened its belt and began the difficult road to repay its debts. So, is there any rumor in history that the Soviet Union forced debts from China?
Judging from the current public information, there is not a word about debt forcing, that is to say, at least we have not seen the Soviet Union openly forcing China to pay its debts.
But in fact, this is easy to understand. After all, both sides were in the socialist camp. Although they were in a state of opposition in a certain sense, even if they could not get along closely with each other, there was no need to do such a thing and let the capitalist camp Watch a joke. Moreover, under normal circumstances, the debt itself is not repayable upon borrowing, and has a certain ductility in time.
Secondly, on the Soviet side, after Khrushchev came to power, the relationship between the Soviet Union and the United States was also in a state of tension. Economic and military aid. Even in February 1961, Khrushchev held a meeting and expressed his willingness to help China get rid of the current economic difficulties. The aid included 500,000 tons of Cuban sugar and 1 million tons of grain.
But the Chinese government is unwilling to sacrifice principles and positions at the expense of petty profits. Also unwilling to owe the Soviet Union's debts and "human feelings" , in March 1961, the Soviet Union proposed that China could pay it off in 5 years without interest. But soon, China and the Soviet Union intensified their differences and contradictions in some international political views, and Sino-Soviet relations once again entered a freezing point.
In fact, in the 1950s, China's economy was still dominated by agriculture. Compared with industry, the biggest disadvantage of agriculture was the low added value of profits. China could not produce industrial products to repay the Soviet Union's debts. Agricultural products can be used. The government controls the prices of agricultural products and plans to distribute them.
In addition to ensuring the needs of industrial production, China's advantageous agricultural products are used to repay debts. In fact, the agricultural production capacity of the Soviet Union itself is not very favorable due to the influence of the cold climate in the region, and China's proposal to repay its debts with agricultural products is also acceptable.
Therefore, when China repays the Soviet Union's debt, it must first use agricultural products with comparative advantages such as pigs, eggs, and apples. For example, in the case of Henan, a major grain and pig production province, during the most difficult three-year natural disaster period, the Zhengzhou Meat Union Plant killed an average of 5,000 pigs per day in the quarter before winter. Due to the repayment of the arrears, the self-produced pork in Zhengzhou did not enter the market.
But the Soviet Union did not fully accept Chinese agricultural products. They also have strict quality management standards in place, refusing to accept agricultural products that they deem substandard. At that time, the price of China's primary industry was low, and people could not get enough to eat. It was undoubtedly very painful to pay for the most scarce agricultural products at that time. At that time, paying off debts with a large amount of agricultural products was paying off with the blood and sweat of the Chinese people.
In contrast, the former Soviet Union sold industrial products to China with high added value. Moreover, it is naturally very uneconomical for China to use low-value-added agricultural products to pay off high-value-added military debts. How pays off debt needs to change, so what to do?
After negotiating with the Soviet government, China began to use its own minerals to repay its debts. In fact, China is one of the countries with the best natural resource endowments in the world. rich minerals.
At the beginning of the founding of New China, China's industry has not yet developed. Many resources are not used efficiently. Even if some valuable mineral resources are discovered, it will not help China's economic development and national defense construction, and the Soviet Union has a huge demand for China's mineral resources.
In order to pay off the foreign debts of the Soviet Union earlier, Xinjiang Cocoto Sea Mine area was shouldering the heavy burden of China's debt repayment at that time. Under the personal leadership of the director of metallurgy in Xinjiang Autonomous Region, the mighty Cocoto Sea Mine was launched. Rare metal mining battle. The environment here is very harsh, the temperature in winter is basically around minus 40 degrees, and the thermal protection measures and labor protection at that time are far less than now.
In that era of selfless dedication, countless people dedicate their youth to the hard work and life in the frontier. They brave the wind and snow, eat bran and swallow vegetables, and blast one by one bit by bit.The Keketuohai mining area has contributed greatly to China's repayment of the Soviet Union's debt. Public statistics show that 835% of China's total debt to the Soviet Union at that time was repaid through the minerals in the Cocoto Sea.
8.6 billion in debt may seem insignificant in the eyes of China with its huge economy. But in the 1950s and 1960s, 8.6 billion was absolutely astronomical. We Chinese have never lacked wisdom. The leaders at that time decided to use minerals to replace agricultural products to repay the debt, which greatly eased the pressure on China to repay the debt at that time. It has saved a lot of more urgently needed agricultural products for China, and put these agricultural products into the lives of the domestic people, meeting the more urgent living needs of the people to a certain extent. After these efforts, China finally fully paid off the Soviet Union's foreign debt in 1965.
In the process of repaying its debts, China has paid a heavy price, but in return, it has truly embarked on the road of independence and self-reliance. It now appears that China's non-alignment policy is very correct. This policy can prevent China from choosing a marginal position in the complex international environment, reducing the possibility of large-scale wars, and also enabling China to gain international prestige and respect, and gain extremely valuable political influence. Real independence has become the basis for China's peaceful rise.
