Chapter 577

Margaret is considering the pros and cons of this.

The Yinglian economy is under great pressure now, and economic reform is a major matter weighing on her head.

She intends to draw resources from Gangdao to aid the privatization of Yinglian state-owned enterprises.

But now she has another option before her.

That is to move backward production capacity to Daxia.

Or simply sell it to Daxia and then have Daxia do contract manufacturing for her.

Heavy assets have low profit and high risk; light assets have high profit and low risk.

They really don't need to hold too many heavy assets; going light is more conducive to their quickly improving the economic environment.

Moreover, the Damaoxiong is already showing signs of exhaustion; they also don't need to keep so many non-value-creating enterprises.

However, she still has many worries in her heart, and these worries must be voiced so as to avoid some risks.

"Daxia's market and processing services are indeed excellent resources, but Daxia is not yet a member of the World Trade Organization."

"The more we invest, the greater the possibility of being kidnapped by them."

"Their Te Qu indeed has import-export tariff preferences, but to enter their domestic market we need to establish a joint venture with them."

"It is not yet a free market there; cooperating with them entails a large cost."

"Using Gangdao as a link with Daxia will indeed facilitate our gaining an advantage ahead of other countries."

"But it will also further bind us to Daxia."

"Being too intimate with Daxia, I think, is unwise."

The Queen, however, does not think so; she was captivated by the talk of Youde Yinglian's resurgence.

If it can be realized, the layout would have Commonwealth member states providing resources, Daxia providing labor, and Yinglian providing technology.

Those Commonwealth states that have already broken free from Yinglian control will, in this trade system, be able to return to their embrace once again.

With the support of the entire trade system, making Yinglian great again would not seem so impossible.

"If we completely lose the Commonwealth, we will be just a small island nation in Europe."

"Faced with the rise of various countries in Europe, we may gradually decline into a marginal small state."

"The harm of a balancing strategy is also great; we cannot always hope they remain divided and hostile."

"The Commonwealth and the Treaty Organization are uniting them into one."

"What will we be then?"

"What say do we still have?"

"The best possible outcome might be to become Yingjiang's lackey, used by it to contain Europe."

"Now there is an opportunity for us to regain Yinglian's glory, with Daxia helping us rise again."

"How can we give up?"

"Yingjiang is merely a cheap‑snatching dog; what right does it have to make us its dog?"

"Daxia is our opportunity; we must seize it."

"Having Gangdao as this link, what further progress could we make?"

"Margaret (that is Thatcher's surname, calling her that is fine), you should consider the future of our Yinglian, not your position."

"If Daxia's market is not free, we should find ways to make it free; since Daxia is not a WTO member, we will sign a bilateral trade agreement."

"If the product is destined for other countries, we can use Gangdao for entrepôt trade."

"There are many methods, but opportunities are few."

Margaret heard the Queen's firm resolve.

For these decades, they have maintained friendly cooperation with Daxia, precisely to take revenge on Yingjiang.

Now, using the Gangdao negotiation opportunity to advance further—what could be wrong with that? The fate of Yinglian lies in their own hands.

"Your Majesty the Queen, if so, I will give it my all."

"However, contacting the various federations still requires your effort; my prestige is too small."

The Queen, seeing Margaret's assent, directly responded with high spirits.

"No problem, this is beneficial to both sides; I believe Daxia will also be willing."

Other federations, deeply infiltrated by Yingjiang, this plan can deepen Yinglian's ties with each member state and vie for their own little brothers.

(Li Changjiang can directly go to Canada to invest; many people from Gangdao emigrate to Australia; the fundamental reason is that the Commonwealth member states and Yinglian still have deep ties, with strong consistency in policy, business, and economy; having Yinglian identity opens the doors to other Commonwealth states, all the way until Britain becomes America's dog, after which other states become America's lackeys.)

After Yinglian overnight changed its policy toward Daxia, Youde also altered its negotiating attitude.

Faced with the sudden change in Youde, many people found it hard to adapt and accept, always sensing a conspiracy; some thought of Yang Qing.

And there is Yang Qing's remark, waiting for good news.

Comrade Xi Xian, upon hearing the news, had someone summon Yang Qing again.

He was very curious what Yang Qing had actually said, which caused Yinglian to change its attitude overnight.

Yang Qing came here for the third time; already several people were waiting for him in the room.

Yang Qing humbly greeted each one; facing the curiosity of the bigwigs, Yang Qing did not directly explain their doubts, but instead spoke of another matter.

"The polar bear has only a few years left to live."

Yang Qing's remark shocked them even more than Youde's affair.

"How could that be possible?"

No one would believe such a colossus would collapse.

Comrade Xi Xian suppressed his inner shock and asked humbly.

"How did you determine that?"

Yang Qing did not speak vaguely.

The era of the dollar crisis has completely passed, and the pattern of petrodollars has formed.

The dollar has not weakened at all; on the contrary, it has become increasingly strong.

With the dollar strong, Yingjiang naturally becomes even stronger.

On the contrary, Damaoxiong itself has fallen into crisis, and the drawbacks of the planned economy are killing it.

Put nicely, the planned economy optimizes resource allocation; put bluntly, it is rule by man, and manpower struggles to truly solve supply-demand relations—only following the Dao and nature is the right path.

Besides corruption, don't glare at me.

Absolute power means absolute corruption.

Just think: these days, even buying something requires connections, big factories have to entertain guests—who in this mix do you claim is clean? Do you even believe it yourself?

We are like this, Damaoxiong even more so, and even more severely.

Preliminary estimates show that at least thirty percent of Damaoxiong's national wealth has been embezzled by these people.

Their faith is collapsing.

A Damaoxiong that has lost popular support and faith will inevitably fall.

Furthermore, if we add Yingjiang's Star Wars plan.

Damaoxiong needs to devote more resources to its military competition.

Preliminary estimates indicate that it must spend thirty percent of national wealth each year.

Adding the thirty percent lost to corruption brings the total to nearly seventy percent, leaving only thirty percent to sustain livelihoods.

For the people of Damaoxiong, life will only get harder, and their sense of national identity will keep deteriorating.

We can carry out agricultural reform, but they cannot. We succeed because agricultural mechanization is underdeveloped; most places still rely on people digging for food in the soil, and dividing the land can quickly boost productivity.

But they cannot; they have nearly completed agricultural mechanization, and if they divide the land, productivity will not increase but will actually decline.

Moreover, Damaoxiong's farmers already enjoy good welfare—who would want to return to scratching a living from the soil?

Without reform, society pours vast resources into the military and corruption, and livelihoods will only worsen.

Reform— the lower ranks resist change, while reforming upward threatens the interests of the mid- and high-level elite, who hold power, wealth, and guns; resistance is immense short of a coup.

Now Yingjiang still holds the lifeline of oil.

He only needs to suppress oil prices to raise grain prices.

That would greatly accelerate the timing of Damaoxiong's collapse.

Damaoxiong is almost at a dead end; unless someone can take extreme measures to overthrow it, replace seventy percent of officials, and remake heaven and earth, collapse is already inevitable.