First, modern warfare is about national strength
The actual situation of the recent Russian-Ukrainian conflict shows that without money, the country cannot afford even a decent war.
Online analysis of Articles on Russia's war spending has been numerous, the most outrageous of which is that British "experts" said that Russia sent 200,000 troops to fight, and the daily cost was extremely staggering, estimated at 20 billion US dollars / day.
According to the British, it only takes 3 days for Russia to almost wipe out the defense budget for the whole of 2020 ($61.7 billion), which is obviously an exaggeration.
But, after all, war is a real cost, a tank costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, a missile costs close to a million dollars, not to mention the gasoline, bullets and shells that are consumed in large quantities every day.
Compared with this kind of combat hard consumption, the food that soldiers eat every day, the military clothes and shoes consumed, the bedding of tents and other supplies are simply not worth mentioning.
Western military commentators say that even at a minimum, Russia will spend $1.5 billion a day on military spending in the operation, equivalent to $45 billion a month.
Such consumption is indeed very frightening, because Russia's GDP for the whole of 2021 is only $1.77 trillion, the government revenue is only $330 billion, and if the conflict continues for a year, it will consume one-third of Russia's annual GDP and 163% of fiscal revenue.
Russian armored forces
Of course, some people have said that don't look at the military expenditure, Russia's indirect consumption in this conflict is far more than the military expenditure.
On the international front, including $2.6 trillion in overseas assets frozen by the West, $550 billion in annual foreign trade losses, and $400 billion in borrowings forced to be returned by the West (deducted directly from $2.6 trillion in assets).
Of course, the West is an out-and-out robber who pursues double standards, shouting "the sanctity and inviolability of property rights" on the one hand, but on the other hand, they are skillfully robbing and robbing other people's property, stealing it openly and secretly.
The dollar rose sharply against the Russian ruble from 84.3 rubles per dollar on February 24 to 138.25 rubles per dollar on March 7, and although the exchange rate has corrected in recent days, it is still at 103 rubles per dollar, which is equivalent to a 22% depreciation of the ruble.
The rapid depreciation of the ruble also resulted in the Russian government losing more than $100 billion in the settlement process.
On the domestic front, the Russian stock market RTS plunged continuously when the Russian-Ukrainian conflict broke out, resulting in a market value loss of more than $600 billion and had to suspend trading on February 28.
Adding up these astronomical versions of losses, it has exceeded $3.3 trillion, or Russia's GDP for almost 2 years.
Of course, these are only short-term losses that we can see, and if the conflict between the two sides continues, the losses will be further expanded, and the living standards of the Russian people will be more affected.
Never in history has there been such a lewd and cowardly political group as the U.S.-led Western camp that would be perverted and twisted to the point of sanctioning even cats, dogs, and trees on the other side.
The United States has only invested $763 billion in Iraq for seven years, and $2.6 trillion in direct and indirect costs in Afghanistan for 20 years.
Under the crazy intervention and sanctions of the United States-led West, Russia fought in Ukraine for less than a month, and the war losses on the book have exceeded the consumption of the two wars launched by the United States!
Russian cats have all been sanctioned by the West
In their view, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is nothing more than an infighting between the former Soviet union members, no matter how they fight, the losses are "outsiders", the greater the loss, the more beneficial to them.
As for Ukraine, it is nothing more than a pawn in its hand, and such a chess piece is broken today and will be there again in the future.
When NATO-backed right-wing extremists have put their bayonets under their noses, is it war or is it a compromise? Knowing that the war would be a heavy loss, Russia chose the former without hesitation.
That's because Russian policymakers believe that the interests of national security far outweigh economic gains and losses.
Second, the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea: Wise Decisions That Far Exceed Economic Considerations
On June 25, 1950, the Korean War broke out.
The outbreak of the Korean War was the result of the long-term armed provocations of the Us-backed Syngman Rhee regime in South Korea against Kim Il Sung's North Korean regime and the deliberate creation of friction near the "38th Line." In essence, it was a reflection of the global hegemony of the two superpowers of the United States and the Soviet Union.
The United States and the Soviet Union may have long expected the outbreak of this war, but the military conflict at their own doorstep is obviously not long established, and new China, which is in ruins and in urgent need of peaceful nation rejuvenation, does not want to see.
On the eve of the Korean War, the leaders of the new China, headed by Chairman Mao, made active efforts to postpone the arrival of this unfavorable outcome. When the United Nations army crossed the "38th Line" and occupied Pyongyang, the United States had already played the cards in front of the new China.
The most immediate question facing Chairman Mao was: What are we going to fight the Americans? As a far-sighted politician and military figure who has struggled with the Kuomintang reactionaries and Japanese imperialism for 22 years, he naturally understands that one of the most basic and important factors affecting the outcome of a war is economic strength.
In June 1946, Chiang Kai-shek launched an all-out attack on the Liberated Areas, the Liberation War broke out, and in the first year of the war, the Kuomintang troops were fierce, capturing Zhangjiakou, Linyi, Shenyang, Changchun and other large cities in the Liberated Areas, and even Yan'an was occupied.
Chairman Mao was on his way to northern Shaanxi
Although the Kuomintang army suffered heavy losses and losses under the continuous blows of the People's Liberation Army, because the war was always carried out in the Liberated Areas, the economy of the Liberated Areas was greatly damaged, and the resources of soldiers and resources were exhausted, almost to the point of being unsustainable.
Under such unfavorable circumstances, Chairman Mao made the wise decision of Liu Deng, Chen Su, and Chen Xie to advance into the Central Plains and direct the war to the Kuomintang region, and from August 1947, when Liu Deng's army advanced into Dabie Mountain to September 1948, when the Northeast Field Army launched the Liaoshen Campaign, it took only one year to achieve a fundamental reversal of the situation in the War of Liberation.
Therefore, the war is fought with money, food, and ammunition, not to mention that the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea means that the army will go on an expedition of thousands of miles, and if there is not enough logistical support, there will be no need to fight even a battle.
Some leading comrades of the Northeast Bureau are worried that once a direct conflict breaks out with the United States, the entire northeast will be destroyed, and our losses will be even greater.
Take a look at the U.S. Strategic Air Force! Beginning in November 1944, the U.S. strategic bombing of Japan lasted for nine months, and the overwhelming number of U.S. aircraft bombed 96 Japanese cities, killing and injuring more than 580,000 Japanese, and turning 24% of Japan's urban area into ashes.
At that time, the United States had the largest and most experienced air power in the world, and its bombers were equipped: B-17 "Flying Fortress", B-24 "Liberator", B-29 "Super Air Fortress"... Which one is not fierce? Which one is not murderous?
The air defense forces that can be organized in the northeast will certainly not be stronger than japan in 1945, but the northeast was the only region in New China at that time with a complete industrial system, and if it was blown up by the United States, some of the family foundations that had been hard-won would be destroyed.
Not to mention that bombers taking off from U.S. bases in Japan and from U.S. aircraft carriers in the East China Sea can drop bombs in shanghai, Tianjin, Beijing, Nanjing, and other large cities in less than a few hours, and possibly even use atomic bombs against China.
And the United States is the world's strongest economic power of the country, the most important thing is money, in 1950, the general budget of the United States was 66.1 billion US dollars, at that time, 1 US dollar was equivalent to 0.88 grams of gold, 10 million US dollars can arm the Kuomintang 6 US ordnance army!
When the US military landed at Inchon, it was less than a year after the founding of New China, and there were still many places in the country that were fighting wars, and even a decent financial budget had not yet been put forward. In 1950, the central government's fiscal revenue was only 6.2 billion yuan (old renminbi), which was about 3.4% of that of the US government at the current exchange rate.
Moreover, judging from the scale of the Korean War, if at least 300,000-500,000 people were to be dispatched to resist US aggression and aid Korea, and no one knew how long the war would be fought, the 500,000 troops would have been fighting in Korea for a long time, and the logistical burden would be very heavy, enough to hollow out all the family funds that New China had little money for.
In the beginning, the logistics of the volunteer army could only rely on people to carry horses
Moreover, to confront the mighty U.S. army, it was not enough to rely on our millet plus rifles alone, and it was certain to import aircraft, artillery and tanks from the Soviet Union to strengthen the combat capability of the volunteer army.
Therefore, if from the economic point of view, it is simply not feasible to send troops to Korea, the funds of the first new China cannot keep up, the second war is too expensive, there is a risk of dragging down the already fragile national economy, and the third may destroy its own family foundation.
But Chairman Mao knew that America's ambitions did not stop at all on the Korean Peninsula. On August 24, 5 batches of 13 American bombers bombed Andong (Dandong), and the war was still going on in Korea, and the Americans had already dropped bombs on the heads of Chinese people!
If the U.S. military and the South Korean puppet regime are allowed to occupy the Korean Peninsula in their entirety, they will be able to station troops on the doorstep of China, send planes to harass us every day, drop bombs, and launch an invasion of the northeast at any time as long as they are ready.
Now that the US fleet has invaded the Taiwan Strait and interfered in the situation in Vietnam, as long as the situation changes, they will stick a knife in our heads from the northeast, a knife from Taiwan in our waist, and a knife in the Adochina Peninsula in our feet, so that we cannot take care of each other head and tail.
At that time, the newborn people's power will face the crisis of life and death, and countless heroic martyrs will throw their heads and spill their blood in exchange for the people's country and mountains may be destroyed.
Moreover, if most of our national defense forces and economic resources are tied down by the United States in the northeast and coastal areas for a long time, how many resources can we have left to build a country, develop the economy, and improve people's livelihood? Not to mention the use of ports to develop foreign trade and the introduction of advanced foreign technology and resources.
This account cannot be calculated by spending billions, billions of dollars, or blowing up several cities.
When making the decision to resist US aggression and aid Korea, Chairman Mao's words were very loud and clear, and they are still deafening and deafening to this day:
If I were to talk about the reasons for peacebuilding, I could say that there are a hundred thousand reasons, but these hundred and a thousand reasons cannot withstand the six big words, that is, "we cannot ignore them." If ignored, US imperialism will inevitably advance to the ground and follow the old path of Japan's aggression against China, even more fiercely than Japan.
As the commander of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Mr. Peng's heart is more straightforward:
"It is necessary to send troops to aid the DPRK, and if it is broken, it is equivalent to a few years of late victory in the War of Liberation." If the US military is placed on the banks of the Yalu River and Taiwan, it can find excuses at any time if it wants to launch a war of aggression. ”
Because although US imperialism is a paper tiger, it wants to eat people, and it is certainly difficult for New China to concentrate on economic construction!
The volunteers celebrated the victory
Third, Chinese people are the most powerful patrons in the world
When deciding to resist US aggression and aid Korea, New China did not have many planes and tanks, no decent warships, and still less money, and Chairman Mao had already thought very thoroughly: To win this difficult war, the country can only rely on the strength of the people.
Facts have proved that the expenditure of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea was staggering: from its entry into the DPRK in October 1950 to the armistice of the Korean War in July 1953, New China spent a total of 6.25 billion yuan on military expenses, which was exactly equivalent to the total revenue of the central government in 1950.
In addition, we owe 3 billion yuan in debt for the import of weapons and equipment to the Soviet Union.
However, when the people of the whole country mobilized for the purpose of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea, these expenses became a minor problem.
Since 1951, when the Chinese People's General Association for Resistance Against US Aggression and Aid Korea issued a call to "donate aircraft cannons," more than 500 million Chinese people have enthusiastically taken action, donating nearly 557 million yuan in just one year, and can buy 3,710 fighter jets, which is 3 times the number of aircraft of the US Air Force in Korea!
In that year, whether it was an entertainer or an ordinary worker, a monk or a sports athlete, from the white-haired old man to the elementary school students and middle school students, the people of the whole country were proud to support the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, 4 rounds of upsurges were launched throughout the country to enlist in the army, millions of young people joined the People's Liberation Army and the Volunteer Army, and during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, more than 1 million people in Zhejiang Province alone signed up to join the army. ”
The people of Northeast China, who played a decisive role in the victory of the Northeast Field Army during the War of Liberation, once again displayed great strength in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
According to statistics, during the Period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, more than 600,000 people participated in the transport, medical, and other front-line teams in the whole northeast, and with the addition of granaries, hospitals, and arsenals throughout the northeast, the northeast became the most stable rear area of the volunteer army.
In order to better support the soldiers at the front in their fierce attack on US imperialism, the people of the whole country mustered up all their strength and threw themselves into the movement to restore and develop production.
The people of the whole country have enthusiastically donated money to the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea
In 1952, the national GDP reached 67.9 billion yuan, an increase of 62.6% over 1949, and the central government achieved fiscal revenue of 17.394 billion yuan, an increase of 180% over 1950.
In the year after the end of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the GDP of New China grew to 82.4 billion yuan, an increase of 21.3% over 1952, and the first "Five-Year Plan" began with great enthusiasm.
In order to resist the United States and aid Korea, China did pay a huge economic price, but this did not drag Down China, but made us stronger and stronger!
This is the miracle that the people have created to the world after the complete elimination of the "four major families" riding on the heads of the people and the parasites of imperialism Chinese, bureaucratic capitalism, and feudalism.
It can be said that since the opium war in 1840, the people of Chinese have never been as united and energetic as during the Period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
Because everyone knows that if US imperialism occupies Korea, it will soon invade China, and the people of Chinese have just turned over and lived a good life, how can they be humiliated by these robbers again!
In order to destroy the will to fight in the new China, the United States of course carried out a comprehensive "sanction" and blockade of the new China at the same time as the outbreak of the Korean War, but it did not play a role for China, which has always insisted on self-reliance.
In fact, it is not surprising that THE self-proclaimed and militaristic US imperialism lost to the Chinese Volunteer Army in Korea, because they are fighting more than 570 million Chinese with a force of hundreds of thousands of people.
In the later period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the total strength of the volunteer army that entered the war in Korea exceeded 1.3 million, but the logistics were improving day by day, and the soldiers could not only eat hot dishes and hot meals, but also support a large number of tanks, artillery, aircraft, and other powerful advanced weapons and equipment.
We won the war against US imperialism in Korea, and we do not rely on the sky or the ground, and the people are the biggest supporters of the volunteer army and the soldiers of the People's Liberation Army!
As the founding war of New China, the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea created a peaceful situation of general stability in China's periphery for more than 70 years, smashed the conspiracy of the imperialists to create tension at our doorstep and interfere with the independent development of the mainland, and we are still enjoying its blessings to this day.
The people of the motherland warmly welcome the triumph of the volunteer army
IV. Self-Defense and Counterattack Against Vietnam: For the Overall Situation of Reform and Opening Up!
On December 22, 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China made a great decision to implement reform and opening up, but at the same time, the external environment facing New China was still very grim.
Sino-Soviet relations in the north are still tense, and Vietnam, which is supported by the Soviet Union, has constantly provoked by force on the Sino-Vietnamese border, encroaching on the mainland soil, killing and injuring our soldiers and civilians, and dispatching its navy to occupy and occupy our Islands in The Paracel and Nansha Islands, which has seriously affected the stability of Our yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong (Hainan) and other provinces.
As far as Comrade Deng Xiaoping and other leaders of the older generation are concerned, although we have decided to concentrate our energies on economic construction, if we cannot stabilize the frontier, no matter how big the ambition is, it is an empty phrase.
The old problem came again: it cost money to fight a war, but China, which was in ruins at that time, really did not have the financial resources, and once we used force against Vietnam, there was a high risk of armed intervention by the Soviet Union, and the cost of war was even more immeasurable.
At that time, the People's Liberation Army had not experienced a large-scale war for more than 20 years, and in the event of a Counterattack by Vietnam, some parts of the Sino-Vietnamese border might be destroyed, and large-scale conflicts could break out in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Northeast China and other places bordering China and the Soviet Union.
It's really hard to make such a big decision! However, Comrade Deng Xiaoping and Xu Shuai and Ye Shuai, who presided over the work of the Central Military Commission, were both founding fathers who followed Chairman Mao in the revolution for decades and came from the rain of bullets and bullets and the blood of corpses, and they all personally experienced the great feats of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea more than twenty years ago.
On February 17, 1979, New China concentrated 500,000 troops and launched a self-defense counterattack operation against Vietnam from the directions of Yunnan and Guangxi.
Under the heroic and decisive attack of the vast number of PLA commanders and fighters, the entire self-defense counterattack war was like a thunderous blow, which ended in only one month, and our army basically destroyed the strategic group gathered by Vietnam on its northern border at a relatively small cost, and dealt a heavy blow to the ambitious Vietnamese authorities.
In the one-month battle, our army consumed a total of 23,800 tons of ammunition, 63,300 tons of fuel, more than 3,000 guns, more than 200 guns, and more than 640,000 pieces of various military materials.
After the end of the self-defense counterattack, the militia that participated in the war returned home
In Yunnan and Guangxi provinces, more than 730,000 militia and former civilian workers were dispatched to support the PLA in combat, more than 12,000 militiamen and more than 1,400 militia detachments participated in the battle were honored with battle merits, and 8 militia battalions/companies were awarded honorary titles by the Central Military Commission.
According to incomplete statistics, the total direct material cost of the self-defense counterattack war was 4 billion yuan, accounting for one-fifth of the national defense budget of that year, and the cost of strengthening combat readiness duty on the northern border at the same time as the self-defense counterattack was not taken into account.
If the mainland's 2021 defense budget is taken, the direct expenditure on vietnamese self-defense and counterattack in 1979 is equivalent to about 276 billion yuan or 43.3 billion US dollars today, and if the cost of mobilizing millions of PLA and former personnel is to be included, this figure will be greatly increased.
However, the self-defense counterattack basically laid the foundation for more than 40 years of peace and stability in the southern Xinjiang of the mainland, and in August 1980, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou in Guangdong Province and Xiamen in Fujian Province became the first batch of special economic zones opened to the outside world.
In 1979, the GDP of Guangdong Province was 20.93 billion yuan, and in 1989, ten years after the implementation of reform and opening up, it has increased to 138.14 billion yuan, an increase of 560%.
From 1979 to 1989, the GDP of Guangxi Province grew from 8.46 billion yuan to 38.34 billion yuan, an increase of 353%, while Yunnan Province grew from 7.68 billion yuan to 36.3 billion yuan, an increase of 372%.
In April 1988, Hainan Province and Hainan Special Economic Zone were established, which opened a new window for the mainland to open up to the outside world and further promoted the prosperity and development of the southern coastal areas of the mainland.
We have indeed paid a certain economic price for the vietnamese self-defense counterattack, but the improvement of the people's living standards in the stability of the frontier and the realization of economic growth, the development of science, education, culture and public health, and the great changes in urban infrastructure are far from being comparable to the tens of thousands of tons of ammunition and tens of thousands of tons of gasoline consumed in those years.
The War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea opened up the comprehensive industrialization of New China, and the War of Self-Defense and Counterattack against Vietnam inaugurated the reform and opening up of New China.
Shenzhen today
Historical experience tells us that when it comes to national sovereignty and territorial integrity, the economic account is always a small account, while the long-term development of the entire nation and the overall interests of the country are big accounts.
At a time when the world is facing major changes unprecedented in a century, the Chinese nation is also facing rare historical opportunities and challenges.
The only thing we can believe in is the power of the people, China has 1.4 billion people, even if it is a big problem, divided by 1.4 billion is insignificant.
More than $3.5 trillion? In fact, dividing by 1.4 billion is not much, only equivalent to 16,000 yuan per person.
The industrious and courageous Chinese people spent only ten years to build a dilapidated old China into a new and powerful socialist industrialized country, and it took another 30 years to walk the road taken by the West for 300 years.
Today, China is a huge economy with an annual GDP of more than 10 trillion yuan, with a GDP increase of 3 trillion US dollars a year.
Hundreds of billions, trillions, even if it is ten trillion yuan of expenditure, if it can be exchanged for China's long-term development and the realization of national peace and stability, it will certainly be worth it.
Any just action conducive to safeguarding national sovereignty and unity, national dignity and unity will receive the support and support of the people.
The people are the biggest supporter of the soldiers