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The most important thing in doing business is integrity. As the saying goes, Taoists cannot stand without trust, but now in the international community, there are some countries that often do ridiculous things that go against their word.
In 2018, Italy, which unilaterally tore up hundreds of billions of contracts in China, is a typical representative. Why does Italy tear up orders? What did tear up the order bring to Italy?
Italy, this country can be regarded as a classic fence-breasted man, with both sides.
Although it was once an old imperialist country, its ancestors were once rich. When fights in and fights in , I took sides many times with the situation, and I had already left a reputation as a fence-branded man in the world.
It can be said that Italy is romantic, but dishonesty is really dishonest. And this time, the tens of billions of contracts that tore up in China seemed to be something they could do.
So what kind of contract is this? Why do Italians terminate their contract with China? Is it because of Chinese people that are not good?
This contract between Chinese companies and Italy is a business about high-speed rail.
After World War II, no new economic industry was created because the original economic system was destroyed.
Compared with other European countries, Italy is already a bit out of the way in the high-tech industry. The industries that the entire country can achieve are the clothing industry that has accumulated reputation for many years and the wine industry with a long history.
At the beginning, Italians still rely on their old capital and think they are living a good life. But over time, the surrounding European countries are getting better and better. Even those countries that they once looked down upon were better in Asia or South American countries than in Italy.
The Italians were a little panicked and found that besides red wine and fashion, they also had to develop their economy well.
As the saying goes, if you want to be rich, you must first build a road. Italy, which had been shipping back then, naturally knew the importance of transportation. So seeing neighboring countries develop so well, I want to find a country with better economy and develop together. France, which borders Italy, is the first choice.
Although France and Italy were also rivals during World War II. But after so many years, there are not so many grudges between the two countries, and they are preparing to discuss cooperation under the framework of EU .
France is not only economically developed, but also a five permanent member, and its political status is also excellent. So in 2002, Italy and France agreed to build a road together.
At that time, high-speed rail had become popular, so Italians wanted to do the Iran-French high-speed rail. According to the design, this high-speed rail will be connected from the Lyon in France to the Turin in Italy, and will also directly cross the natural barrier of the Alps. After the project was decided, the French were very pragmatic. They just finished discussing the specific details and went straight to construction.
France is in full swing. According to statistics, it is on average 20 meters to pave the road forward in a day, but Italy is slowing down and delaying time in various ways.
It was not until eleven years after the start of construction in France, that is, in 2013, that Italy began to officially prepare for construction.
It was time for construction, and the Italians were no longer able to do it. Although his ancestors were generous, in the 21st century, the Italians who had been lying flat for too long had no ability to build high-speed rail. After having no choice, I had to ask for foreign aid from outside, thinking that foreign countries would help me repair it.
At that time, the two countries that were more powerful in high-speed rail were China and Japan. As a veteran high-speed rail power, Japan has long occupied a high position in the international high-speed rail market, and the high-speed rails in many countries are built by Japan.
However, at that time, China also developed on the road of first introducing and then R&D. The domestic high-speed railways were developing rapidly, and China's high-speed railways were gradually moving to the world.
Knowing that Italy is going to build a high-speed rail, China and Japan have provided construction plans. The two countries' solutions were placed on the table of the Italian government, and the representatives of the two countries were also in fierce competition with the Italian representatives.
At the beginning, both countries' plans were rejected. Because the SARS-France high-speed railway requires a medium-speed railway, both sides need to change the plan.
After China figured out Italy's needs, it quickly made changes and lowered costs. Although Japan has also changed the design of the plan, Japan's plan not only has higher prices, but also has a much longer construction period than China's.
plus the high-speed rail has to pass through the Alps, so the construction of the project is still a bit difficult, and Japan also has some concerns and requires more money.
At that time, China had the experience of building Qinghai-Tibet Railway , and was also called infrastructure madman, so the project was handed over to China.
So China and Italy negotiated a contract, with a total of 270 kilometers of high-speed rail, a designed speed of 220 kilometers per hour, and a liquidated damages of up to 7 billion yuan, and are expected to be completed in 2025.
Watch the contract negotiations go so smoothly, the construction should be very convenient. But who knew that the construction road was not only extremely difficult and long, but not long after, the Italians actually tore up the contract directly.
At the first three months after the contracts between the two sides were signed, our country started to work hard. Italy also looks very enthusiastic, as if it is determined to finish the project quickly.
But if you really think that you start working, the unreliable attributes of Italians are coming. Just a week after the groundbreaking construction started, the project stopped.
The reason given by Italy is actually the issue of land acquisition, and some administrative licenses have not been approved.
When Chinese companies saw this, they actually had such a thing? Such a major event as high-speed rail construction has not even solved the problem of land acquisition. There is no way, so wait and let the Italian government go to talk.
But this Italian is not happy. Although the high-speed rail is completed, it can make them more convenient for travel and drive the national economic development.
Italians are very happy to know the economic benefits behind this, but they are not happy to think of this to use their own home. Either add more money or give it to you no matter how hard you are.
After several negotiations, those land owners around the high-speed rail have raised the price to more than four or five times the usual price. Therefore, the Italian government has also been questioned by the masses and the government's support rate continues to decline.
On the other hand, since the government cannot spend so much money to acquire land, the project has fallen into a state of stagnation.
Taking advantage of the growing calls for opposition to this railway in China, the Italian opposition party relied on the grounds that it stopped building roads and incited populist forces in Italy, thus increasing support.
In June 2018, the new Italian cabinet formed to rule. The new cabinet is mainly populist parties and conservative forces. Because the railway had been shelved for a while and the land price had not been negotiated. The domestic road construction support rate in Italy has also dropped to only 55%.
So in July of that year, Italy directly stopped the construction of the Italian section of the railway. After the construction was stopped, my country's construction team felt something was wrong and there would be no trouble.
As expected, these projects were soon stopped by populist . The contract signed with China was also directly and unilaterally torn apart by Italy.
The then Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte When facing China's questioning, the reason given was that there were many difficulties in the construction of this high-speed rail. Instead of failing at that time, it is better to stop the loss in time and stop work directly now.
The Italian government's direct behavior made the Chinese a little confused. How could they still play this trick?
Although China has not officially started to build anything, the exploration, plans and design we have done are already our real efforts.
Giuseppe Conte
We have been busy for so many years, and now we say that we won’t repair it, so who can accept it?
Giuseppe also knew that it was difficult to explain in China, so he thought of a reason seriously, saying that it was because he wanted to cross the Alps and said that the high-speed rail would affect the environment, so he did not repair .
This is really a big deal. Passing from the Alps, this design was discussed with France a few years ago. Why did you talk about environmental issues at this time?
Moreover, the plan proposed by our country has also considered environmental issues and has also been reviewed by Italy. If you hadn't nodded, how could we have directly constructed it?
Since you don’t want to repair it, you will be compensated for the penalty. But unexpectedly, the Westerner who always boasted about the spirit of contract actually refused to pay.
Italy did not expect that because of the suspension of this project, he actually offended more than China.
In fact, the reason for Italy's undoing a railway contract cannot be that simple.
First of all, we need to know why Italians oppose this high-speed rail, is it really just because of the environment and high land prices?
In fact, this has a lot to do with the fact that the railway was built by the Chinese.
As a Western country, Italy's image in the minds of ordinary people has always been negatively promoted by Western media.
In recent years, with the rise of China, China has gradually been hostile to Western countries, and China's rise has also made ordinary civilians feel psychologically unbalanced. So in their hearts, they are very willing to accept Western propaganda on China.
Especially in recent years, due to the domestic economic downturn, many countries including Italy, conservative and populist forces have been rising, which is extremely unfavorable for international exchanges.
Those conservative and populist parties have attracted attention by attacking foreign countries, especially China, and gained public support.
So we can see that before the Italian conservative and populist government came to power, they frantically attacked the high-speed rail that communicated with the outside world, and also attacked the people who repaired the high-speed rail.
Compared with Japan, China's bid is not high. This was originally a good thing and cheap thing, but under the long-term stigmatization of Western countries, many people think that China's bid is so low because of the poor quality.
Little did they know that with years of development, China's high-speed rail has been ahead of the whole world in all directions, but the arrogant Westerners are unwilling to admit it.
Under the incitement of populism, the Italian people wore tinted glasses to look at the high-speed rail.
And like the Western countries led by the United States, they also felt threatened when they saw China conducting construction in Italy, intervening in the economic system of the Western world, and beginning to interfere in infrastructure construction.
View Italian populism has been aroused, and those media have become more and more serious about politicizing high-speed rail . The construction of this high-speed rail is even openly called it a new type of colonization of China.
Some naive Italian people couldn't help but fool them, and they really thought that China not only built high-speed rail, but also built military base in Italy.
This is obviously a very absurd lie, but it is very useful in Western countries where political correctness is paramount. Therefore, Italy's domestic support for this high-speed rail continues to decline. After the public sentiment was incited, Italian politicians began to cater to the masses for their political interests and performed clowns.
Faced with this stigma, China still chooses to focus on peace and thinks that doing business is more important. However, the Italians refused to agree. Not only did they press forward step by step, they asked China to provide technology and jobs, and they looked like a promiscuous businessman.
But even so, Italy still changed its mind and directly unilaterally tore up the agreement with China. He said directly that this road will not be built.
China has no choice, so it depends on the treaty and it will be a loss. is the 7 billion penalty, which Italy has not settled until now, but has become a new financial burden for Italy's already poor government. This behavior in Italy is a very simple businessman in the current Venice .
After tore up the treaty with China, he saw that the Italians were so untrustworthy that many Chinese companies chose to leave, which in a sense further aggravated Italy's economic distress, which was his own fault.
What Italy did not expect was that after this wave of operations, he offended not only China, but also good friends in the EU were not happy either.
First of all, it is France. Once the Italians break the contract, the French are stupid. I have worked hard to spend money to build high-speed rail since 2002. It has been more than ten years since I have been working hard, and it is almost done. If you say you don’t have to repair it, then what’s the matter with my investment?
, represented by this railway, the relationship between France and Italy also fell to a low point after 2018. Even in 2019, French President Macron recalled the ambassador to Italy, which was a very serious diplomatic incident. It was the first time that recalled the ambassador after the end of World War II.
In addition to France, the EU is also somewhat dissatisfied with Italy's approach. After all, the EU has also invested a lot of money in this project.
The EU threatens Italy. If it does not continue to repair, then it will spit out all the money it had invested in before. Now, Italy's relations with the EU have also become staggered.
Italy, which has problems with domestic economic and livelihood, relied on the EU, but was operated by them in a daze, and a wave of opposition to the EU broke out in China. Recently, Italy's conservative parties have even set off a Brexit trend.
Italy's change of power, although in many cases, it can benefit itself. But in the long run, it is still the credibility of one's own country.
people do not stand without trust. If a country does not have credibility, how can it stand in the world?
Now Italy is unemployment, refugee pressure, and populism is rising. Although it is a developed country, how it should develop in the future has become a mystery, and all of this is just the result of their own fault.
All we can do is respect the blessings and get the 7 billion liquidated damages they owe.
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