The C919 plane landed lightly at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, and Qi Yiming could have chosen to take an American Airlines Boeing 747 across the Pacific Ocean, but for many reasons, he still only chose the C919 of the narrow-body trunk airliner as a means of travel.

The first is, of course, the little girlfriend Jiang Huayan serving on the plane, and during the long-distance trip, Qi Yiming can also enjoy a little joy by the way. The second reason is that the C919 is a "made in China" large aircraft, and the large aircraft absolutely represents a country's industrial strength and scientific and technological level, showing this is very conducive to this trip to the United States.

Qi Yiming was visiting the United States in an unofficial capacity, and in fact he did not have the slightest official title. But from his visit to the United States on a special plane with a small diplomatic and business team, it itself reflects the uniqueness of this young Chinese.

Because the US side was asked in advance to keep a low profile, there were no large numbers of reporters at the airport. Qi Yiming came to the United States in the name of informal commercial trade cooperation and exchanges, and he also privately sent a note to the United States (equivalent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) that he had a big business to negotiate with Grumman.

In line with the principle of doing more things at a time, Qi Yiming is also burdened with part of the task of pulling FDI and industrial transfer to the United States this time, of course, the main operation is to talk about an intentional thing, first exchange bilateral attitudes, and then enter the specific details, so Qi Yiming does not have to worry about wasting time on business negotiations that are not his main business.

Even if it is an unofficial visit, the US side still attaches great importance to it, and although it is not enough to live directly in the state guesthouse, it still chooses to charter a rather luxurious small manor house for the Chinese delegation, which is actually only a dozen people.

There was no specific itinerary for the visit, at least on the surface, there was no specific itinerary for Qi Yiming. The schedule sent by the Chinese side to the US side is only a few dry meetings, and it seems that there will be no special results. The Americans, of course, know that this so-called business delegation is mainly to cover up their main purpose.

An official from the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs politely approached Qi Yiming, and although the head of the entire delegation was different, everyone could clearly see that this very young-looking guy was the main one when he got off the plane. Everyone in the delegation was carrying a suitcase, but this one was empty-handed. In addition, looking at the dress, half of the Chinese delegation wore rustic suits, and the other half were tunics, and only this one was particularly conspicuous - a casual suit. In the eyes of this era, his suit is simply trendy, and when he was at the airport, a customs official couldn't help but ask where he bought his suit from.

The official's name is Shackford, and he is not very old, he looks less than 40 years old, this phenomenon is not surprising in the West, and in Europe in later generations, ministerial-level officials in their thirties are everywhere, but in Asian countries, even officials at the level of officials, it is difficult to mix in under the age of 40.

"Mr. Qi, I have specially read the itinerary of your group and found that you have not arranged any other time except for the first business meeting, do you need our help?"

Qi Yiming felt that this American official was like a restaurant boy, and he didn't feel it, and asked, "Have the people from Grumman Company arrived?" I hope to be able to have a closed-door meeting with them tonight. ”

The first business meeting is scheduled for tomorrow, and today is mainly to leave a time for the Chinese delegates to rest and buffer. Seeing that the real man was in such a hurry to meet with the Grumman Company, Sackford knew that the matter might be really big.

"I take the liberty of asking you, this time you want to meet with the people of Grumman by name, saying that there is a big business, but we don't know what business you can talk to Grumman, so the representatives of Grumman are quite anxious, they are not prepared at all, now that you have set foot on the land of America, can you tell Grumman and us, what do you want to talk about with Grumman?"

Qi Yiming smiled brightly on his face, and said a few words: "F-14." ”

Thackford was shocked when he heard this, but he didn't expect the Chinese to actually hit the head of the main US fighter, but he was just an ordinary diplomatic official, only responsible for contacting Chinese personnel, and did not participate in any major issues, so he could only reply this information to US Deputy Secretary of State Kenneth, who was waiting for news? Damm.

In the office of the Deputy Secretary of State, the already somewhat agitated CEO of Grumman, John Brown? Bilworth finally saw someone hand a note to Mr. Deputy Secretary of State, and couldn't help asking, "Sir, is there a result?" What do the Chinese want from us? Is it really big business? ”

Three questions in a row, Bilvos asked them like a cannon, which did not correspond to his age in the slightest. As a large defense contractor focusing on the development of military aircraft, the U.S. Navy first promised to order 700 F-14 Tomcats, which made Grumman overjoyed, but then the U.S. Navy reduced the number to 300. Rising costs and limited by price-fixing contracts made it almost impossible for Grumman to come to an end, and it was Iran that borrowed a sum of money from them to finally save Grumman's predicament.

However, Grumman's F-14 has not performed as well as its main competitor in the Air Force, the F-15 Hawk, in the export market. McDonnell Douglas's F-15s defeated the F-14 and captured two large orders from Japan and Israel, with a total of nearly 300 F-15s sold out. The U.S. Air Force itself is a big orderer, the first two types of F-15 are the A/B and C/D series, the U.S. Air Force has purchased nearly 1,000 aircraft in total, and after the multi-purpose F-15E dual-mission aircraft was launched in the late eighties, the F-14 can only be more miserable compared to it.

"It's the F-14, those Chinese want the F-14!" Dam said incredulously.

As a result, Darm handed over the note, and Bilworth's breathing became heavy, this is a golden opportunity, compared to the small countries of Japan and Israel, the vast territory, the population of communism, the army of millions, can become a huge orderer. At this time, it is not the world after the 90s, the honeymoon period between China and the United States is still not over, China has received a lot of benefits from the United States, and the United States once wanted to stuff the F-16 to China. Arming China against the Soviet Union used to be a very marketable viewpoint in academic circles, with a huge population base, abundant resources, and a good quality of the population, as long as the United States enlightened a little, it could create an ally that could involve the Soviet Union's million-strong army, and provide a guarantee for the United States' strategy of pinning down the Soviet Union on both sides.

Of course, this was only one of the views of the time, and some people from that time ago exaggerated the ***** that it might be a bigger mistake to raise China than the Soviet Union during World War II. The realities of later generations have also confirmed this to a certain extent.

But in any case, the current Celestial Empire is closer to Eagle Sauce than Mao Xiong, and although the legendary 16th NATO country is more of a joke, China's dispatch of troops to Vietnam in 1979 is simply a letter of surrender to the US imperialists. Since then, the Americans have begun with great zealous to intend to direct China in various areas, well, including peaceful evolution.

Bilworth hurriedly asked: "Didn't the Chinese disclose how many F-14s they were ready to buy?" They say it's a big deal, so at least there are dozens of them! Bilworth waved excitedly, this is a moment for him to raise his eyebrows, although the F-14 can beat the F-15 to the ground, but in the export market repeatedly frustrated, and Grumman's life is not so good, if you can sell a batch of F-14 to China, it means that a large amount of cash will pour into Grumman, and this is still a very good advertising effect. No matter how the Celestial Empire is, it is one of the five hooligans of the United Nations, and it is a big country in East Asia, and Bilworth firmly believes that the future development of the F-14 will become brighter.

Damm frowned and said: "I think the feasibility of this matter is still debatable, after all, China is still a red country, although the relationship with us has been good over the years, but whether it is trustworthy should be a question mark." ”

Bilworth was not surprised by Dam's reaction, but he rolled his eyes and said, "I think it is true, well, it is better to submit this case to Congress, let this group of legislators decide, now please allow me to be presumptuous, I still need to make some preparations for bargaining with the Chinese." ”

With that, he bowed slightly, and left the office of Mr. Deputy Secretary of State.

Is there anyone in the government who has doubts about the sale of Chinese military weapons?

There is no problem at all, and the United States has never been the government's say on these issues. This "evil capitalist state" is a typical big-money-rules-everything, and the strength of these defense contractors in particular should not be underestimated. People all over the world know that the proliferation of guns in the United States is a bad thing, in addition to dozens of shootings every year, gun violence will hurt the people of this country at any time, from the founding of the country in the 18th century to the 21st century, there is still no president who can change this situation, guns are like Xiao Qiang who can't be killed, living happily on the land of America.

A large military enterprise like Grumman has a huge government relations department, and what it does is nothing more than rely on money and beautiful women to do public relations work for government officials. Usually they will spend a lot of effort to support those congressmen and senators who take office in the midterm elections, because it generally involves national military procurement and export of military products, and it is not particularly related to the government level. Of course, the public relations president is also quite necessary, because such high-level politicians are generally able to become super salesmen of the military-industrial complex.

Anyway, now CEO Bilworth has made up his mind that if the Chinese deal is so tempting that Grumman cannot refuse, then he will not hesitate to use all his political resources to push the government and Congress to pass the arms sale.