Chapter 678 Thailand’s Ambition

For anything the Thai military wants to purchase, Liu Tao will try his best to get it.

Now that Thailand has money, it wants to strengthen its military strength, which Liu Tao can understand, after all, Thailand wants to be the leader of ASEAN.

On August 7-8, 1967, the foreign ministers of Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines and the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia held a meeting in Bangkok and issued the Bangkok Declaration (Declaration of the Establishment of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations), officially announcing the establishment of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Under the promotion of Liu Tao, in addition to the five countries of Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia at the beginning, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia have joined ASEAN successively, and Brunei also joined ASEAN in 1984, which means that ASEAN now has 9 member states.

Now only South Vietnam is missing to form the ten countries of ASEAN!

The establishment of ASEAN was actually established under the influence of the European Community. It hopes to coordinate all parties through this regional economic organization, resolve differences between each other, avoid the outbreak of war, first through close economic cooperation, and then promote close political cooperation and frequent cultural exchanges, and finally achieve regional integration.

This is a good attempt, but it is extremely difficult to truly realize it!

Thailand is currently one of the best developed countries in ASEAN, with the largest GDP and the largest military power. It is seeking to become the leader of ASEAN. If it can be achieved, Thailand's international status and voice will be greatly enhanced.

In fact, the formation of regional economic groups is not only played by these regions. The United States has some unfavorable situations due to the development of the world situation, making the United States realize that it is no longer possible to compete with its opponents alone as before. The United States must create a regional economic group with itself as the core that can compete with other economic groups and economic powers to consolidate the United States' world economic status.

Therefore, the United States has great motivation and enthusiasm for establishing a free trade zone, and is now actively promoting the North American Free Trade Zone between the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Liu Tao also has a strong motivation to promote the development of ASEAN, because with the development of China, the market here is very important, and it can become a back garden at that time.

As for Thailand's dream of becoming the leader of ASEAN, Liu Tao just laughed in his heart, and was not optimistic about it, because Thailand's economic strength, military strength, culture, etc. are not enough to allow it to go that far.

Thailand itself has a complex internal power structure and huge contradictions. It is actually a powder keg.

After World War II, Thailand became the main military ally of the United States in Southeast Asia. However, the United States has declined greatly in recent years. The power struggle in Thailand is very fierce. The forces of all parties are complex. Some firmly cling to the United States, while others have other ideas. According to Liu Tao's intelligence, I am afraid that a military coup will happen next year.

The Thai military has enormous power and influence.

Then in recent years, those wealthy Chinese and overseas Chinese families have established their own armed forces for self-protection.

There are other big families and big forces, which also have their own armed forces.

Liu Tao knows Thailand's plan. If he can't buy it here, Thailand will go to the United States to buy it, and go to European countries to buy it.

Liu Tao will naturally not turn away business if he doesn't make money.

"We have learned that the Thai military may not only want frigates and destroyers, they want to buy aircraft carriers." The person in charge of the military said.

"Aircraft carrier? Are the Thais crazy? Although Thailand's economy has developed well in recent years, it is not realistic to have an aircraft carrier." Liu Tao frowned, thinking that the Thais were just daydreaming.

Aircraft carriers are very expensive to build, and the cost of use and maintenance is not low.

Liu Tao understands Thailand's desire to expand its naval power. After all, pirates are rampant near their coasts, and the relationship with South Vietnam is not harmonious, which makes them more eager to improve the strength of the navy.

But aircraft carriers are not something Thailand can touch.

"Not medium-sized or large aircraft carriers, they want light aircraft carriers of 10,000 to 20,000 tons." The person in charge of the military explained.

Liu Tao raised his eyebrows, "Light aircraft carrier?"

The concept of light aircraft carriers was created by the British. Since World War II, especially after losing control of the Suez Canal, Britain's national strength has declined greatly, and it can no longer afford the construction and use costs of medium-sized and large aircraft carriers. Therefore, the British have developed light aircraft carriers, which are also aircraft carriers, thus maintaining the glory of the British Royal Navy.

But in Liu Tao's view, this is just a fig leaf for the British Royal Navy.

The tonnage of light aircraft carriers is too small, and the number of carrier-based aircraft will be greatly limited, and other equipment will be limited accordingly. The most important indicator of an aircraft carrier is the number of carrier-based aircraft.

The limited number of carrier-based aircraft means that the advantages of aircraft carriers are limited.

"Even if it is a light aircraft carrier, the cost is not cheap. If the Thais want to buy it, it may cost 2.5 billion US dollars, not including carrier-based aircraft! In addition to carrier-based aircraft, they have to pay at least 3 billion US dollars!" Liu Tao said.

Thailand is a big country in Southeast Asia, but it is nothing in the world. Liu Tao does not believe that Thailand is willing to pay 3 billion US dollars.

Of course, it is not that the cost of building a light aircraft carrier is really that high, but the profit of warship trade is very high.

Just like the Type 052 destroyer of Panshan Group, it dares to offer a sky-high price of 1.5 billion US dollars, and Saudi Arabia and other countries are still eager to pay for it.

Because advanced warships, Europe, America and the Soviet Union will not be willing to sell!

If you want to buy, you have to spend money.

"By the way, did they come here by special plane?" Liu Tao asked.

"No, their navy visited us, and then they took the high-speed rail in Pengcheng and arrived in Beijing at night." The person in charge of the military said.

Liu Tao nodded slightly. Now China likes to arrange for foreign friends to take the "Beijing-Kowloon High-speed Railway" to let them experience China's high-speed rail.

This trick was learned from the Japanese.

The Japanese always like to arrange for visiting dignitaries to take the Shinkansen to show Japan's high technology and the power of Japan's high-speed rail.

China is following suit, and it is estimated that it will be better than the master in a few years!

"I will think about what you said!" Liu Tao said.

The two sides talked about some things again, and Liu Tao had a rough idea in his mind, so he left and returned to the courtyard.

Back to the courtyard, Liu Tao entered the study and began to prepare.

This kind of purchase order will not be small. Once it is completed, it will be a big order, which is worth his careful preparation.

Liu Tao made a phone call and asked the test flight team to drive a J-10 fighter and a J-11 fighter to the Beijing Air Force Base. He also called the head of the Air Force Base to arrange the types of military aircraft to be shown to the Thai military tomorrow.

Even the J-5 and J-6 fighters were arranged.

Now the Chinese Air Force still has a large number of J-5 and J-6 fighters in service. With the mass production and service of the J-7 and J-8 modified, and the J-10 and J-11 fighters about to be put into service, the retirement of these J-5 and J-6 fighters has entered the countdown.

Naturally, it must be used to its last value.

Although the J-5 and J-6 fighters are outdated, it does not mean that they cannot kill people. Thailand and the surrounding areas can still exert their strength, not to mention that the J-5 and J-6 can also be used as trainers and performances, not really become scrap metal.