One day in 1987, Prince Sultan of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia disguised himself as an ordinary person and quietly arrived in Hong Kong with two entourage.
In order to prevent the voices of the two sides from being eavesdropped, Sultan randomly found a hotel on the street of Hong Kong and chose a private room and made an appointment with the Chinese people.
In the box of the hotel, the Chinese personnel took out a highly classified military document from the briefcase in their hands and handed it to Sultan for reading.
At the same time that Sultan took the documents, the Chinese personnel took out a large black umbrella and propped it on Sultan's head to prevent the documents in Sultan's hand from being detected by two entourages or possible cameras.
This confidential document is a document on the technology and equipment of China's Dongfeng-3 missile, and Sultan's visit is to discuss the purchase of missiles with the Chinese side.
Not long ago, Saudi Arabia wanted to buy missiles from the United States, but was refused, and later Saudi Arabia expressed its intention to buy missiles to China, so there was a secret meeting in Hong Kong.
The meeting went well, and the Chinese side expressed its willingness to give the DF-3 missile** to Saudi Arabia, and soon after, Saudi Arabia directly paid $3.5 billion in cash to China to purchase 35 DF-3 surface-to-surface medium-range missiles.
After the international community learned of this news, some people said that Saudi Arabia was "stupid with a lot of money" and spent too much money, because the production cost of the DF-3 missile was far less than $100 million.
But the Saudis said that they did not buy a loss, but made a big profit, why is this?
Why did the meeting between China and Saudi Arabia take place in secret?
This question still has to be asked to the then Saudi King Shahed.
As the king of the super-wealthy Saudi kingdom, Shahed naturally has a huge amount of wealth, but he still often has a headache about one thing.
Although Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the Middle East, its military strength is not very strong, because it occupies a lot of oil resources, so it often attracts harassment and attacks from other relatively poor countries.
Among the countries that covet Saudi Arabia's oil resources, Israel and Iran in particular have the most conflicts with Saudi Arabia.
Although Israel is a small country, it has the support of the Americans behind it and often receives military assistance from the United States, so Saudi Arabia has always been afraid of Israel, a small country.
Israel has seen the weakness of Saudi Arabia's military and has often blatantly sent planes to roar through Saudi Arabia, as if it were in a no-man's land, without paying any attention to the Saudi army.
Saudi King Shahed is angry about this, but often feels powerless about it.
As the saying goes, if you are not afraid of thieves, you are afraid of thieves, and Saudi Arabia's wealth has always been eyeing other countries.
For a country like Iran, its mentality towards Saudi Arabia is that it is barefoot and not afraid to wear shoes, and even if it is earned, there is nothing to lose if it can't be grabbed, so the Iranian Navy directly and blatantly robbed Saudi cruise ships.
Therefore, for Saudi Arabia, it is a very important thing to have a strong military ** to deter those surrounding countries that are eyeing each other.
Although Saudi Arabia has purchased some fighter jets from France, it is only a drop in the bucket for the country's military strength.
Saudi King Shahed thought about it and thought that buying large ** such as missiles was a good way to quickly raise a country's military strength to a higher level.
They first set their sights on the United StatesKing Shahed first asked Saudi Ambassador to the United States Bandar to contact the US side.
At that time, the United States had the world's largest steel production, and the country could not use up the annual production of **, so selling arms to foreign countries has always been one of the channels for the United States to make money.
Bandar originally thought that the United States would not refuse this business that came to his door, but what he did not expect was that the United States would not sell missiles to Saudi Arabia, because considering that Israel, Saudi Arabia's enemy, is an ally of the United States, and if it sells missiles to Saudi Arabia, it will not be able to account for its ally Israel.
The Saudi side pursued it with all its might, kept making concessions, and told the United States that it was willing to buy only one small American missile at a higher price, but the United States remained unmoved and categorically refused.
After hitting a wall with the United States, Saudi Arabia has put its hopes on ChinaAt that time, China's economy was not rich, but it had enough missiles in the army, and there were no diplomatic relations with Israel, and Shahed thought that China would be willing to send missiles to Saudi Arabia.
Bandar, who was already physically and mentally exhausted from running around in the United States, had not yet taken a good rest when he received another order from Saudi King Shahed: to express his intention to buy from China, and if necessary, to personally go to China for negotiations.
At that time, China and Saudi Arabia had not yet established formal diplomatic relations, and could only get in touch with China through a third country.
To his great joy, after receiving the letter, China immediately replied that there was a possibility of cooperation and invited Bandar to come to China for further talks.
A few days later, China *** welcomed a group of special guests, who wore white robes, white hats, high nose bridges, and went straight to the point when talking to *** reception staff:
"Can you sell us missiles? ”
The Chinese side is also very refreshing:
"We can have in-depth discussions about related matters. ”Bandar clapped his hands with joy and immediately expressed his joy by hugging the Chinese people, a middle-aged man from a country of implicit Islamic culture, whose face showed childlike joy when he realized that his motherland was strong and promising.
After some negotiations, China and Saudi Arabia formally reached a cooperation intention, and China is willing to give Saudi Arabia a number of large-scale projects, but the specific ones need to be further agreed.
So soon after, Cao Dechuan, deputy director of the equipment department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, led a team to visit Saudi Arabia secretly.
In order to be able to buy the most suitable military ** from China, Saudi King Shahed personally came forward to meet with Cao Dechuan, while listening to Cao Dechuan introduce several kinds of ** to Saudi Arabia one by one, while thinking about which one is more suitable to buy.
Shahed thought that in the midst of the troubled war situation in the Middle East, theoretically any country could become an enemy of Saudi Arabia in the futureThey simply bought a missile that could cover all countries in the Middle East, and after many discussions, the DF-3 missile became their first choice.
The DF-3 missile is a surface-to-surface medium-range missile with a range of 2,500 kilometers, and if it is installed in Saudi Arabia, it can hit any country in the Middle East.
Once the object to be purchased is determined, then it is time to negotiate the price, although Saudi Arabia is an extremely rich country, but it will not buy things without negotiating the price.
In order to further finalize the price and some other details, King Shahed specially sent Prince Sultan, who had experience in military research and trading, to bring people to China.
In order to reduce unnecessary trouble, China did not announce the news of Saudi Prince Sultan's visit to China at that time, and all the reception work was carried out as low-key as possible, but it was always hospitable.
In addition to good food and accommodation, the Chinese side also arranged tours for Prince Sultan and his entourage, dressed them as ordinary tourists, and took them to the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and Xiangshan and other places.
Although the personnel of the two countries get along well, at the negotiating table, the interests that should be fought for by their countries should still be actively pursued.
In order to express our sincerity in the course of the talks, China also specially arranged for Sultan and his entourage to visit the DF-3 missile launch base.
At the same time, negotiations on the purchase of Dongfeng-3 missiles have been in full swing, and as the detailed rules are gradually agreed, the two sides have gradually discussed the final result.
After some tortuous negotiations, the two countries finally reached an agreement, China will give Saudi Arabia 35 DF-3 missiles for 100 million US dollars, including various supporting equipment for the missiles.
In addition, in order to show friendship and sincerity, China also gave a missile to Saudi Arabia.
The ** of 100 million US dollars a missile is not easy to obtain, just like many sales and sales transactions, in the early stage of negotiations, Saudi Arabia as a buyer tried to lower the price, China as a seller as much as possible to raise the price, and then the two sides gradually let their respective intentions ** close to each other in continuous negotiations.
This transaction is an extremely rare opportunity for both buyers and sellers.
China has missiles to ** and has met Saudi Arabia, a rich buyer, not to mention that it can be paid directly in cash.
You must know that China's foreign exchange reserves were only about $2 billion at that time, and it was a good thing that this transaction could get $3.5 billion in income, so China naturally tried to facilitate this deal.
For Saudi Arabia, it is not easy to find sellers who have so many good goods and are willing to give them to Saudi Arabia, so although the two countries have bargained in the negotiations, both sides are committed to the goal of promoting the completion of the transaction.
The agreement was officially signed, and the news was immediately transmitted to the Saudi royal family, and King Shahed was overjoyed, and Saudi Arabia finally had its own "Dinghai Shen Needle".
With these missiles, few countries in the Middle East will dare to show their teeth and claws with Saudi Arabia in the future.
In the deal, Saudi Arabia received the coveted ballistic missiles, while China received $3.5 billion in military revenues, a result of the best of both worlds.
At the same time as the signing of the agreement, China and Saudi Arabia jointly announced the news about the deal, which quickly attracted the attitudes and opinions of countries around the world on this matter.
The United States ** exclaimed: "We must not let the Chinese be too poor, otherwise they will dare to sell anything!" ”
Some countriesIt is said that Saudi Arabia's purchase of Dongfeng-3 missiles with such ** is "expensive to buy" and "cheated money", and some people even say that Saudi Arabia is "stupid with many people".
But this is not the case.
If we calculate the economic cost of manufacturing missiles, including the cost of equipment used to launch missiles, the cost of a DF-3 missile is indeed less than 100 million yuan.
However, for the Chinese side, it also includes the cost of technical decryption and technical services, so selling 100 million US dollars is not too high.
And from the Saudi side's point of view, they don't think they're losing money, because so many missiles are not something that money can definitely buyIn their opinion, being able to buy these missiles is already a great thing.
Because for them, these missiles not only mean an increase in the level of equipment, but also peace, which means that a large number of economic losses can be reduced.
In 1987, 35 DF-3 missiles were loaded onto cargo ships from China and sent to Saudi Arabia across the ocean, accompanied by Chinese technicians.
In order to avoid the eyes of other countries, Saudi Arabia has set up a special unit called the "Golden Wheel Project" to be responsible for the construction of the missile base.
Under the guidance of Chinese technicians, Saudi Arabia has its own strategic missile forces, which are smoothly equipped into the troops.
Prince Sultan, who had been in charge of this affairs until then, became the "father of missiles" in the hearts of the Saudi Arabian people.
In the wind-swept Middle East Saudi Arabia, these missiles were loaded onto a launch vehicle with a yellow sand-colored appearance, which became Saudi Arabia's killer weapon in the Middle East desert.
Since then, Saudi Arabia is no longer a piece of fat that other countries can cut and ravage at will, but has become a Middle Eastern power with both abundant resources and strong military strength.
Only a few months after the Dongfeng-3 missile was equipped in Saudi Arabia, the deterrent power of the missile came in handy.
At that time, Iraq's Saddam Hussein regime was frantically expanding abroad, and its armed forces invaded Kuwait on a large scale, and the Kuwaitis were taken by surprise, and the flames of war caused misery in Kuwait.
Kuwait borders Saudi Arabia, if it was in the past, after the Saddam regime took Kuwait, it would have recklessly continued to attack Saudi Arabia, but this time Saddam's armed forces stopped when they invaded the border between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
It turned out that when Saddam Hussein attacked Kuwait, Saudi Arabia vigorously promoted the news on television that it already possessed dozens of Dongfeng missiles.
The large missiles on the TV screen really frightened Saddam's regime, and he immediately ordered the army not to provoke the Saudi border guards.
Since then, in the war-torn Middle East, various countries still frequently fight each other, but no country dares to provoke Saudi Arabia easily.
Saudi Arabia has traded these 35 missiles for more than 30 years of peace, and without these missiles, Saudi Arabia would have suffered far more than $3.5 billion in economic losses due to aggression by other countries.
In this transaction, the ** of the 35 missiles is $3.5 billion, but the value it brings to Saudi Arabia is not known how many times the $3.5 billion.
So for Saudi Arabia, this deal is a very good deal!