In the early 1980s, the southern African africa Zambia ordered a batch of J-6 fighter jets from my country.
The two countries, which had close contacts, quickly reached a deal and signed a purchase contract.
However, When our country delivered the fighter plane to Zambia, the other party suddenly turned against him and refused to pay the next final payment . Why is this?
Faced with this situation, the Chinese government did not press against Zambia step by step like Western countries , but cleverly responded to the other party's debt-behind the debt. In the end, my country received another 200 million arms sales orders.
So, how did China cleverly resolve Zambia's debt-behind?
potential arms sales target - Zambia
On January 2, 1978, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China passed a resolution: originally free foreign military aid was changed to three forms: charging, bartering, and free aid . my country's foreign military trade export has entered a new stage since then.
Before this, China has adhered to the principle of providing free military assistance to Asia, Africa and Latin America Agencies since its founding.
For more than 20 years, my country has provided more than 1,000 aircraft to North Korea, Vietnam, Albania , Pakistan , Egypt , Zambia and other countries, and has even helped a few countries deploy coastal defense missiles, air-to-air missiles , and other tank vehicles, armored vehicles , guns and ammunition.
China's free military assistance to backward and underdeveloped countries and regions fully reflects its responsibility and responsibility as a world power.
With the development of the economy and technological progress of various countries, many countries have gradually escaped from poverty and backwardness, and per capita GDP is even higher than China.
At the same time, the years of free foreign aid have consumed a large amount of my country's military supplies and national financial resources.
Under the background of reform and opening up , my country's requirements for fiscal capacity have been further improved.
Comprehensive reasons from all parties, Comrade Deng Xiaoping finally made a decision to change the original free military aid policy.
Immediately afterwards, China's aviation technology import and export company came into being.
In May of the same year, AVIC signed the first arms sales contract with Egyptian Air Force . sold 44 J-6 fighter jets, 6 J-6 fighter jets, and 220 turbojet engines for US$167 million. is China's first arms sales order.
In fact, before conducting military trade with Egypt, Zambia was also the military sales target of AVIC.
At that time, China's aviation weapons did not have a technical advantage in the international market, so they could only place the target customer group on developing countries.
Egypt and Zambia not only meet this condition, but also have good friends with China. They also need enough armed forces to defend themselves due to internal and external situations.
Therefore, after its establishment, AVIC has been seeking military transactions with Egypt and Zambia.
However, during this period, Egypt happened to ask our country for help, hoping that China would send personnel to help repair the fighter damaged in the Middle East War not long ago. AVIC took this opportunity to launch this arms sales with Egypt.
Facts have proved that the market direction we are looking for is not wrong. Not only is the successful completion of the first arms sales between and Egypt, the potential customer Zambia also came to us quickly.
Zambia is a landlocked country located in southern and central Africa. Before the 19th century, it was ruled by local African tribes and established kingdoms such as Luba and Ronda.
Starting from the 19th century, with the invasion of European colonists, the native peoples lost their dominance over the Zambian region.
911, the British South African Company controlled the vast South Asian region including Zambia and Zimbabwe , and named it "Northern Rhodesia Protected Land"
. In the decades afterwards, North Rhodesia went through merger and separation with South Rhodesia, and finally achieved internal autonomy in 964.
On October 24 of the same year, Hanbia Republic was born, and KaundaHandahHandahHancl2 served as the first president.
Zambia was in a very difficult situation during this period because the three surrounding neighbors were still under the rule of European powers.
At the critical moment, China took the initiative to extend a helping hand to it.
After receiving the plane, it is dependent on the debt
China and Zambia established diplomatic relations on October 29, 1964. At this time, it was only 5 days before the founding of the Republic of Zambia.
Zambia is the first country in China to establish diplomatic relations in South Africa. President Kaunda also has very close contacts with Chinese leaders. He once claimed: "China is a friend that can be trusted around the clock."
This is true. After the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Zambia, they launched all-round cooperation.
China actively supports the political independence of the Zambian government, opposes the blockade and control of it by Western colonists, and has sent it a large amount of assistance in military, economic and other aspects.
In addition, China has also undertaken more than 60 infrastructure projects in Zambia, including roads, textile factories, flour mills, water supply plants, hospitals, schools, etc.
Of course, the best testimony to the friendship between China and Zachary is the world-famous " Tanzania-Zambia Railway ".
Zambia is located in the inland of South Africa. Although there are many copper ore in in China, it is difficult for the lack of sea outlets, and the export of copper mining industry is greatly restricted.
When it was first colonized by British, developed road transport tools were still supporting the development of copper mining, but since the British left, Zambia's copper mining collection and export trade had once stagnated.
For Zambia at that time, it was particularly important that had a railway connecting Zambia to the estuary of the Indian Ocean .
For this reason, Zambia has applied for the assistance of World Bank to World Bank , hoping to get support from governments around the world, but unfortunately it was rejected.
Zambia asked to come to the Soviet Union again, hoping that the Soviet Union would help build a railway, but was rejected again.
After learning about Zambia's plight, China immediately discussed the Tanzania-Zambia railway planning.
Comrades from the Foreign Economic Commission reported to Premier Zhou that China's national strength will probably be very difficult to build the Tanzania-Zambia railway. But Prime Minister Zhou still decided to support Zambia out of humanitarian assistance to Zambia and the need for the New China to break diplomatic isolation at that time.
He said: "Compared with the money we spend, the political and military significance of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway is more important."
In this way, the mighty Chinese railway construction engineering team set off.
htmlIn 16 years, more than 50,000 people from China Railway First Bureau to 5th Bureau, China Railway Electrical and Chemical Bureau , and China Railway Construction Group participated in the construction of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway.
In July 1976, between the mountains and ridges of Zambia and Tanzania , a railway trunk line suddenly appeared across Tanzania, Zambia, Congo , and Angola . After the completion of the Tanzania-Zambia railway, became the main transportation route for the export of Zambia copper mines. At the same time, countless towns have been established along the route. greatly promoted the economic development of in Zambia.
Since then, China and Zambia have become increasingly deeper, and the Tanzania-Zambia Railway has become a monument to the brotherly friendship between China and Zambia.
is also because of this. When Zambia had the demand for military trade imports, it immediately thought of China, and their purchasing target was China's most advanced J-6 fighter jet at that time.
J-6 is a single-seat twin-engine supersonic jet fighter produced by Shenyang aircraft manufacturing company modeled after the Soviet MiG-19 fighter jet and independently manufactured . is also my country's first supersonic fighter.
In various exercises and actual combat, the J-6 shot down more than 20 fighter jets of various types, including F-104, F-4C, and F-4B with performance far above the J-6.
It can be said that the J-6 has a very glorious battle history.
Zambia also took a fancy to the excellent performance and impressive results of the J-6 fighter jet, so it was only in 1980 that it was determined to buy from China.
Considering the economic situation in Zambia, my country gave the other party the biggest discount in this arms sale. China sold 12 J-6 fighter jets to Zambia at the price of .7 million US dollars.
Moreover, as long as the party pays a prepayment of 1.54 million yuan, China can deliver all the aircraft first, and the remaining remaining payment can be paid after receiving the aircraft.
But unexpectedly, Zambia failed China's kindness, and after receiving the plane, he turned around and began to pay his debts.
When The Chinese government delivered 12 fighter jets to Zambia, has not waited for the other party's final payment of US$8 million.
Seeing that the specified loan time had passed, Zambia never moved.
As a last resort, China had to send personnel to collect money, but it got an infuriating news from the Zambian government.
Zambia's side said: Not long ago, the Zambian Ministry of Defense experienced a fire, and the purchase and sales contract signed with China was burned out. doesn’t even have a contract, so what is the final payment?
The other party's reply naturally aroused the anger of the whole AVIC, which was obviously just trying to betray the debt.
So, before that, the friendship between China and Zachan was so good, Why did Zambia fail to let China down on its trust and goodwill?
What will China deal with this situation?
cleverly responded and got a big order
In fact, the reason why Zambia chose to be liable is inseparable from the deteriorating economic situation of their country.
Zambia's economic structure was deformed in the past, and agriculture was underdeveloped and industry had no foundation. The main source of economic resources was copper mine collection and export.
Although Zambia has taken a series of measures to change its economic structure and strengthen its infrastructure, it has never achieved significant results, and the copper mine economy remains almost all its economic source.
This deformed economy will undoubtedly bring many problems, , such as economic instability.
Especially before the 1970s, Zambia's copper mineral production was seriously unstable, which led to its national economy always being in a state of ups and downs.
Entering the 1970s, Zambia's annual copper production stabilized at around 700,000 tons. Although 's output was controlled, the international copper price was not controlled by Zambia.
Since 1964, copper prices in the international market have been hovering between 700-1300 kwacha.
htmlIn the 1970s, the economic crisis broke out in Western countries, and a large amount of copper metals were accumulated. The copper price fell again and again, and Zambia's national economy immediately fell into a huge crisis.It is precisely because of the sustained economic recession that the Zambian government did not have enough fiscal expenditure to pay the J-6 fighter account , so it chose to bet on the debt at the end of the road.
Of course, The Zambian government dares to treat China like this, which is inseparable from the selfless help I have provided to it over the years.
Because Zambia repays accounts to Western countries every year far exceeding US$8 million, The inability to repay China may be just an act of "bullying honest people".
However, no matter what the situation is, it is absolutely impossible to lose money.
So, after learning about the situation, AVIC immediately sent deputy general manager Wang Dawei
to Zambia, vowing to recover the final payment.Considering the economic situation in Zambia, Wang Dawei proposed a compromise solution, that is, Zambia can delay the repayment period, and there is no need to repay the loan at a fixed amount every year. as long as it acknowledges the debt and continues to return it, is acceptable to China.
schemes fully take into account Zambia's economic distress. In this way, Zambia will not be able to pay any more. After all, it will continue to deal with China in the future.
is like this, the final model of the 12 J-6 fighter jets of was not paid off until 1992.
AVIC's approach to the handling of debt-behind debt deeply touched the Zambians, thus laying a trust foundation for subsequent large orders worth US$200 million.
992, Zambia asked China for purchase of the Y-12 aircraft, and the commander of the Zambian Air Force came to China in person to conduct procurement negotiations.
Finally, China provided Zambia with two Y-12 aircraft.
In 1994, China officially delivered the aircraft to Zambia, but Zambia, which was deeply in a fiscal crisis, once again defaulted. They did not have enough fiscal expenditure to pay the final payment.
Based on the principle that all visitors are customers, China not only did not ask for money, but still insisted on providing after-sales service for Good Luck-12. This move once again deeply touched the Zambian government.
So, after the fiscal crisis passed, Zambia quickly delivered the final payment to China.
After that, China and ZTE also had transactions of two other Y-12 and 8 K8 trainers .
Although during each arms sales, the two parties always have differences on various issues such as advance payment and repayment period, they reached a cooperation without exception.
So far, China's arms sales volume with Zambia has also reached an astonishing US$200 million.
In 2008, Zambia paid off all the arms sales debts, and they did not let China down.
Conclusion
Originally, two countries with close relationships almost parted ways because of the 8 million arms sales final payment.
Fortunately, at the critical moment, China AVIC came up with a solution that Zambia could not refuse, which not only ensured the recovery of the final payment, but also understood Zambia's difficulties to the greatest extent.
Zambia did not disappoint China's trust. The purchase of batches of military trade materials and the return of debts were returned. China exchanged sincerity for Zambia's sincerity.
Today, China has become the world's second largest arms sales power. This is not only a reflection of China's growth in military strength and technological progress, but also the result of China's always upholding the principle of mutual trust and mutual understanding of foreign trade.
