The mainland has always been a country that pays attention to "being kind to others", and has always followed this basic principle of mutual benefit and win-win results when communicating with other countries, but although we do not have the heart to harm others, we cannot prevent some countries from using various means to curb the rise of the mainland.
For example, when the mainland conducts trade with other countries, it is based on the principle of equality and mutual benefit, fair trade, and the quality of the mainland's export products is also guaranteed, but there are often people who stir up trouble and damage the reputation of mainland products.
Some small countries, under the pressure of various pressures, have also made some moves that harm the interests of the mainland, so what is their "end"?
A small South American country that has suffered losses in arms sales?
There is a country in South America called Ecuador, which is located between Colombia and Peru, and it is a small country with a weak industrial base but can still make some money by selling oil.
Historically, Ecuador was also inhabited by Indians, but after the Discovery of the New World, the Indians here were also slaughtered and colonized by European colonists.
In the time that followed, Ecuador tried to resist colonial rule, but the road to their independence was very tortuous.
Ecuador first declared its independence in 1809, but was soon suppressed by the Spanish government, and later Ecuador joined Colombia, knowing that the Republic of Ecuador was established in 1830, and the country's independence was truly achieved.
However, after independence, Ecuador's political situation was turbulent, with frequent government changes, slow economic development, and people's lives were more difficult, until the 1970s, Ecuador's political situation gradually stabilized.
After the situation in the country has stabilized, one of the most important things for Ecuador is, of course, to develop its economy.
Because ecuador in the Americas, Ecuador inevitably maintains close economic ties with the United States, most of Ecuador's capital and technology come from the United States, and 60% of its oil is also exported to the United States, but despite this, Ecuador has suffered a lot of losses from the United States.
It all started with Ecuador buying American weapons.
Since the 1970s, Ecuador has been developing its economy while buying weapons and equipment to develop its national defense forces, and their preferred choice is, of course, the United States.
After all, the United States has close ties with Ecuador and advanced weapons and equipment.
However, Ecuador soon discovered that a deal with the United States was not too cost-effective.
On the one hand, although the weapons and equipment sold by the United States are relatively advanced, the price is also very high, and the cost of purchasing weapons is also a huge burden for Ecuador, which is not in a good economic situation.
On the other hand, the operation of U.S. armament weapons is still very difficult, and it requires professionals to carry out "training guidance" before they can be used smoothly, so Ecuador has to pay a large amount of "training fees" to hire U.S. consultants after purchasing weapons, which increases the economic burden of the country.
In addition, the maintenance cost of U.S. weapons and equipment is also a huge expense, and in the long run, Ecuador will inevitably want to seek some "cost-effective" weapons and equipment.
After all, for such a small country, the most advanced equipment cannot be bought or bought, and can only pay attention to "cost performance" in a "second-class" manner.
It is only because European allies "dare not" compete with the United States for business, the former Soviet Union is crumbling and self-conscious, Ecuador has not been able to find a suitable seller for a long time, until after entering the 21st century, the development of China's military industry has allowed Ecuador to see a new choice.
Buying a continental radar, saying that there is a "quality problem"?
In 2008, the EMB-314 Super Toucan light attack aircraft of the Colombian Air Force invaded Ecuadorian airspace and attacked a FARC base in the country, much to Ecuador's displeasure and unease.
They believe that it is obviously not conducive to national security to "invade" their airspace so easily, so they proposed a radar "emergency procurement plan" that plans to deploy radar to detect foreign military aircraft early and defend their airspace.
At that time, coinciding with the rapid development of China's military industry, the Chinese military industry of "cheap and beautiful" quickly attracted ecuador's attention.
In October 2008, Ecuador signed a contract with China Electronics Technology Group for the purchase of two radars, the YLC-18 and YLC-2V radars, which were active equipment on the mainland at that time.
Public information shows that YLC-18 is a highly maneuverable medium-range low-altitude three-coordinate radar that can detect some low-altitude or ultra-low-altitude targets.
In simple terms, it can detect targets such as fighter jets and cruise missiles, can be used for low- and medium-altitude vigilance, and can also be used to indicate targets.
The YLC-2V is a medium- and long-range guidance radar that can be quickly deployed, which can provide comprehensive intelligence of large-scale air targets, excellent combat performance, anti-jamming and anti-destruction capabilities, and in the situation at that time, it is very likely to become the main battle guidance and vigilance radar in the new century.
Some analysts believe that Ecuador is indeed looking at the mainland's hot products in the international market at that time, which is convenient to deploy and cost-effective, and because the huge achievements in the mainland's air defense radar technology are obvious to all, it is obviously extremely cost-effective to buy the mainland's radar.
According to the contract signed by the two sides, public information shows that the total price of this contract is as high as 60 million US dollars, and the Chinese side will be responsible for the supply, installation and commissioning of radar.
Originally, the transaction between the two sides went well, and during 2010-2011, the Chinese side provided Ecuador with a total of 4 sets of radars, and Ecuador also planned to complete the deployment of radars in 2012.
But unexpectedly, in 2013, Ecuador suddenly proposed that the mainland's radar "does not work properly", demanding that the contract be cancelled and recovering the $36 million already paid, while Ecuador also proposed $9 million in compensation.
Russian media reports show that by May 2013, China's technology group had returned $36 million and $3 million in advances to Ecuador, totaling $39 million.
Of course, it was impossible to compensate for the loss, and in the end the matter was hastily ended with a mainland refund.
By October 2014, Ecuador had said it was ready to buy new radars to "replace" radars imported from China that were "not working properly," but Ecuador's defense minister was reluctant to say which country they intended to buy radars or whether they had "listened" to the advice of which country to cancel China's contract.
So, is it really because the mainland's radar "can't work"? The problem is clearly not so simple.
The quality of mainland radar is obvious to all, the mainland is the world's largest producer and exporter of radar equipment, as early as 2003 has been sold to many countries around the world, Myanmar, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and other South Asian countries have purchased the mainland radar.
Moreover, Venezuela, which is also in the Americas, is also a customer of continental radar, and no customer has ever "complained" about the quality of continental radar.
Some unconfirmed information shows that Ecuador rejected the offer of mainland technicians to go to repair and maintenance, and directly asked for the contract to be cancelled, saying that there was no catnip in it, and it was obviously unlikely.
In addition, some people said that in fact, the radar performance provided by China fully meets the requirements of the contract, but the contract also stipulates that the mainland should complete some specific "data link integration", which involves the relevant data of the "super toucan".
When the mainland asked Brazil, the producer of such an attack aircraft, for information, the Brazilian side refused to provide it on the grounds of "involving American technology", resulting in the mainland being unable to complete the integration of the data link.
At the time, Ecuador had procured 18 "supertolls," and Brazil's refusal to allow the mainland to provide data was unjustifiable.
Ecuador took this opportunity to accuse the mainland of failing to complete the contract, and seized the radar, and also demanded a refund from the mainland, which has also become the "material" for foreign media to take advantage of the opportunity to hype and smear us.
There are still multiple transactions afterwards
To some extent, the mainland may also be because it sees that there are people behind Ecuador who are stirring up the storm, and it will "happily" cancel the contract and not entangle with Ecuador.
After all, at that time, the national strength of the mainland was not too strong, rather than tangling with Ecuador, which clearly wanted to play a trick and "extort", it was better to bury its head in development and use strength to reverse the reputation of the product.
In fact, later events have also proved that there is no problem with mainland products.
Some reports show that after Ecuador took down the mainland's radar, although it claimed that they would buy other countries' radars, in fact, they have been using the mainland's products so far, if the mainland's radar is really "unusable", how did they use it today?
Moreover, even after the cancellation of the radar contract, Ecuador has made many transactions with the mainland, if the mainland's products have "quality problems", why should Ecuador continue to buy mainland products?
In 2015, Jane's Defense weekly reported that Ecuador had received 709 logistics vehicles from the mainland, which were imported from Sinotruk and cost Ecuador $81 million.
In August 2016, Ecuador signed a memorandum of understanding with the mainland on cooperation in the defense industry, aiming to strengthen military-industrial ties between the two sides.
Although the two sides did not disclose the specific contents of the memorandum, Ecuador just showed $9.2 million worth of Chinese donations, including 10,000 improved Chinese-made AK-47 assault rifles and other military supplies such as related ammunition, as well as three patrol boats, diesel generators and other supplies.
Obviously, Ecuador should be satisfied with Chinese products, and their previous behavior of lying and wanting to "white prostitute" and bite back at us is behind the instructions and support of other forces.
As the continent's national power grew, Ecuador also began to work to improve its relations with the mainland. For example, in November 2016, when the head of state of the mainland visited Ecuador, he attached great importance to the first visit of the Chinese head of state to Ecuador since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries 36 years ago.
Correa, then President of Ecuador, broke with his domestic regulations and the president's practice of not going to the airport to greet him, and personally went to the airport to hold a grand welcoming ceremony, showing Ecuador's sincerity in wanting to improve relations with the mainland.
Since then, the exchanges between the two sides have also been relatively close, and now, China is already Ecuador's second largest trading partner, we have also invested in Projects such as the Sinclair Hydropower Station and the Ecuadorian Copper Crown Company in Ecuador, and the two sides have gradually established more mutual trust and friendship, and Ecuador has repeatedly stressed that China's investment and cooperation with Ecuador is completely based on the commercial principle of equality and mutual benefit, and no political conditions are attached.
FTA negotiations are ongoing
After entering 2020, cooperation between China and Ecuador has become closer.
On the one hand, the two sides have carried out a lot of cooperation in the fight against the epidemic, and in 2021, Ecuador also signed a purchase agreement for the new crown vaccine with the mainland Kexing Company to alleviate the shortage of vaccines in Ecuador and strengthen the domestic fight against the epidemic.
In addition, there have been previous reports of "Ecuador frozen white shrimp detected new coronavirus", for the sake of domestic security, the mainland stopped the import of Ecuadorian frozen white shrimp.
However, both sides have taken positive measures in this regard, actively looking for loopholes in the production and import links, and working together to solve the problem, so that Ecuador's white shrimp can resume imports.
On the one hand, this ensures the safety of domestic consumers and the abundance of ingredients, on the other hand, it also avoids the losses suffered by ecuador and maintains the economic and trade relations between the two countries.
In 2022, Ecuadorian President Rermo Lasso Mendoza was also invited to visit the mainland and attended the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics, where he thanked the mainland for its assistance to Ecuador and looked forward to continuing to strengthen relations between the two countries.
On the other hand, Ecuador is one of the first countries to cooperate with China in the construction of the "Belt and Road" in Latin America, and the two countries also issued a joint statement in February 2022 to deepen the "comprehensive strategic partnership" between the two countries.
In the statement, both sides expressed their support for continuing to promote the joint construction of the "Belt and Road", and launched negotiations on the China-Eritrea Free Trade Agreement to promote the establishment of a free trade area in order to promote the sustained and stable development of bilateral trade.
China and Ecuador will also strengthen cooperation in eight areas, including poverty reduction, anti-epidemic, green development and digital economy, and work together to build a "community of common destiny between China and Latin America", indicating that the relationship between China and Ecuador has entered a "new era".
In addition, the mainland has also given Ecuador a lot of help, for example, data show that since the two sides cooperated, China has provided billions of dollars in loans to Ecuador, and Ecuador still has 4.6 billion US dollars outstanding.
Previously, China and Ecuador had agreed to pay off 2 billion of their debts through oil, according to which Ecuador needed to supply 494.8 million barrels of oil to the mainland, and now there are 121 million barrels left.
But in recent times, ecuador has been exacerbated by mudslides that have exacerbated the country's already fragile economic situation, and Ecuador has offered to abandon the "oil debt" agreement so that the country can get more money from the sale of oil for nation-building.
After consideration, the mainland agreed to Ecuador's request, pointing out that if the free trade agreement between the two countries goes smoothly, then the economic and trade relations between the two sides will be further developed, and Ecuador will naturally have more funds to repay its debts.
In fact, this is more beneficial for both sides, because it is a "sustainable development" attitude, after all, according to the agreement, Ecuador's oil can only pay off $2 billion of debt, if we "force the country to the end", then although we can fully recover the 2 billion debt, but what about the debt after that?
Over the years, the mainland's tolerant and generous attitude of thinking of partners everywhere has won us more friends, although some small countries may make some wrong choices under the pressure of large countries, but the mainland has never stopped building a "community with a shared future for mankind", and I believe that more countries will realize this and carry out more active and close cooperation with the mainland.