Time flew by.
In a blink of an eye, a week passed.
August 28th.
Xiao Hong Jing, who had visited Dragon Kingdom for a state visit, returned to Chang'an.
Xiao Yun Hai went to the airport to greet him immediately.
“Dad.”
Seeing Xiao Hong Jing coming down from the plane, Xiao Yun Hai hurried up to greet him.
Xiao Hong Jing nodded slightly, and they didn't talk much, as they were at the airport.
Soon, the long motorcade drove away from the airport.
“Dad, how was it? I saw on the news that the relationship between the two countries has been upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership?”
Before that, Xinhan and Dragon Kingdom's relationship was a comprehensive strategic partnership. While there were only two words difference, the meaning was different, it meant a further deepening of the relationship.
As for why it was not an all-weather strategic partnership like Babayung, it was mainly because the strategic value was different.
After all, Babayung had a unique geographical advantage that Xinhan could not compare to.
However, things were different now. Xinhan, which produced oil, was completely different from Xinhan, which did not produce oil.
Moreover, there were only three countries that have signed comprehensive strategic partnership agreements with Dragon Kingdom, including Xinhan, making it four countries.
Hearing his son's question, Xiao Hong Jing smiled and said, “You saw the news, yeah, it’s just like you thought, Dragon Kingdom will invest 400 million US dollars, and we in Xinhan will invest 500 million US dollars. We will establish an oil refining and chemical company in Lanling, with us holding 60% and Dragon Kingdom holding 40%!
In addition, the two parties will conduct in-depth economic cooperation. Both parties have lifted the tariff barriers for electronic products, agricultural products, medical products and many other industries. In addition, the two parties will implement a one-month visa-free policy for business and tourist travel, facilitating tourism and trade between the two countries.
Apart from that, Dragon Kingdom will also donate an airport to us, yeah, the airport is in Lanling. It’s mainly for the convenience of communication between the two countries. The estimated investment for this airport is 260 million US dollars.
Also, a low-interest loan of 4 billion US dollars has been granted.
“That’s pretty generous. They donated an airport and invested 260 million US dollars. It should be enough to build a 4C-level airport.”
“It seems like things are different when you have oil.”
Xiao Yun Hai said with a smile.
He felt relieved. Now that Dragon Kingdom had invested, he didn’t have to worry about the Americans interfering. Even if they did something, they would just incite unrest domestically or encourage neighboring countries like the Philippines and Java to engage in verbal confrontations. No one would dare to really get involved.
Although the Xinhan military had only 70,000 soldiers, their fighting ability was unmatched by the Philippines and Java.
Their fighting spirit was no less than that of Annan.
Moreover, their military equipment was not bad.
Taking fighter jets as an example, they were one of the few countries in Southeast Asia that had US F16 fighter jets. Although they were old models, they had quite a few, a total of 26 aircraft.
They also had 12 Saab JAS-39 Gripen fighter jets.
7 C-130 Hercules transport planes.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, they had purchased 12 Su-27 fighter jets and 4 Il-76 transport planes from Russia.
Of course, Xinhan could not afford to buy these weapons and equipment, so the royal family subsidized a lot of money for the purchase.
The air force's military strength could be said to be the No.1 in Southeast Asia.
Even Singapore and Thailand couldn’t catch up.
The navy was quite a bit worse.
The army was mainly equipped with British Challenger 2 main battle tanks, Russian T72 tanks and German Leopard 2 tanks.
The T72s were purchased from Ukraine after the Cold War to expand the armored forces, a total of 65 units.
The main force was still the Challenger 2 main battle tank. This British-made main battle tank had 145 units.
Xinhan was able to purchase many Western weapons, largely due to its Cold War alignment and the special circumstances of its founding. The founding king married a British princess, who happened to be the sister of the British Queen.
This led to a natural close relationship between Xinhan and Britain.
When the United States launched the Annan War, Xinhan firmly supported the United States.
So they were able to buy many Western weapons.
So, don’t think that Xinhan is a small country with not much national strength, but their military strength, except for the navy, the air force and army, are top-notch in Southeast Asia.
Hearing his son's teasing, Xiao Hong Jing laughed and said, “I'm relieved that you understand. Remember, don’t be emotional. Countries deal with each other on the basis of interests.”
“As long as you have enough chips in your hand, people will pay attention to you.”
“So, if you want to be respected and valued by other countries, you have to work hard to improve your national strength.”
“Fortunately, heaven has blessed us. We’ve struck oil in Jeddah Bay. This will greatly enhance our national strength.”
“Dad, since we were able to find oil in Jeddah Bay before, I think we should organize another exploration and explore in Brunei Bay.
Brunei found a lot of oil there. There is no reason why we shouldn’t have it here. I suggest that we re-explore the area from Brunei Bay to Chang'an. What if we were wrong in the past? Wouldn't that be missing out on a fortune?”
Xiao Yun Hai took the opportunity to push his father to restart exploration.
This way, he could logically discover the oil he had put in the sea near Jiangdu County.
“Yeah, you’re right. We should restart exploration.”
Xiao Hong Jing agreed.
Before, he might not have had any hope.
But after the re-exploration of Jeddah Bay found oil, he was also a little hopeful.
What if, like Jeddah Bay, we failed to find oil because of equipment, technology and personnel problems?
After all, Brunei, which borders us, has found several oil fields with reserves of over 100 million tons. There’s no reason why there shouldn’t be any oil close to Xinhan.
In his opinion, the area from Brunei Bay to Chang'an is the most likely place to find oil in Xinhan.
Moreover, re-exploration wouldn't cost much.
Especially now, with Jeddah Bay’s offshore oil field bringing in billions of US dollars in revenue.
Therefore, Xiao Hong Jing readily agreed to support Xiao Yun Hai’s proposal to restart exploration.