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- Source/Chief Business Intelligence
- Author/Chief Business Intelligence
Introduction: Recently, a mysterious Pacific island country has become our hot spot.
Finding the Republic of Nauru on a normal-sized map is not an easy task.
Nauru's land area is only 21 square kilometers, and Australia's land area is 366,000 times that of Australia, making it the third smallest country in the world.
Even smaller than it are the Vatican and Monaco.
In the last two years, we have become closer to Nauru, and we have even built a port in Nauru.
Some netizens complained: What is the use of building a port for Nauru? A small island with a population of only 11,000, what will they pay back?
In fact, this is a national key project in Nauru, which is being built by China Harbor Engineering Co., Ltd. and is expected to be completed in 2025.
01. The mainland is an important partner of Nauru
Although in 2022, Nauru's per capita GDP is only 12,040 US dollars, which is even lower than that of the mainland, but the trade volume between the mainland and Nauru is actually increasing year by year.
According to the Consular Service, in 2022, the bilateral trade volume between the mainland and Nauru was $13.193 million.
Among them, the mainland's export quota to Nauru is 13.087 million yuan, and the import value is only 106,000 yuan, which is quite rare.
Some netizens speculated maliciously that the reason for such a high trade surplus was because of the construction of wharves and the import of construction materials and equipment.
But in fact, according to data from the Huajing Industry Research Institute, the terminal started construction in 2019, and the transaction volume suddenly increased in 2021.
It is more likely that the construction of the wharf has deepened China's trade with Nauru and sent Chinese manufacturing to Nauru.
If nothing else, on this island, which is more like a village than a country, there is even a Chinese restaurant, which is quite popular with Nauruans.
According to the consular service network, this country receives about 27 million Australian dollars in Australian aid every year, which is equivalent to about 128 million yuan, or 17.774 million US dollars.
Feelings are borrowed from Nauru to gather Australian wool.
02, success is also bird droppings, defeat is also bird droppings
Now the Chinese look at Nauru as if they are looking at our poor and white African brothers.
But in reality, 50 years ago, Nauru's GDP per capita is not where we are now.
In 1975, Nauru's per capita GDP reached $35,700, making it the second highest per capita GDP in the world, surpassing the United States and Saudi Arabia.
Nauru's wealth code is guano on the island of Nauru.
Nauru is located in the South Pacific Ocean, with few other islands within a radius of several hundred kilometres, and seabirds that migrate across the equator can only rest here.
For millions of years, Nauruans and passing seabirds have coexisted peacefully, and guano on the island has been piled up in mountains, some places as thick as 10 meters, and guano is quite abundant.
The excrement of this animal is rich in phosphorus, which has always played an important role in promoting plant growth.
To put it simply, an entire island is made up of natural fertilizers.
At a time when it was not in line with modern society, because the land was still fertile, at least there was no shortage of coconuts and bananas, and tuna was quite abundant in the sea.
Although the social level is basically at the tribal stage, the property is enough to feed the few islanders, and the happiness index of the islanders is not low when there is no "all evil" trap such as consumerism.
During the Age of Discovery, it was discovered by Europeans, and then guano from the island, commonly known as phosphate rock, was discovered.
When Nauru was not a country, it was occupied by the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and other countries.
After the discovery of Nauru's phosphate, these countries could not afford to spare Nauru, whose phosphate rock production has increased from 300,000 tonnes per year to a maximum of 1.7 million tonnes.
In the 60s of the 20th century, driven by the world trend, the island country officially became independent.
The developed countries that came and went did not educate the indigenous people of this island much.
But under the influence of modern society, Nauru ran from a primitive society to modern society, and if nothing else, I am afraid that they can't even understand whether they have a "surname capital" or a "surname society".
For hundreds of years, the Nauruans had the impression that resources might just be inexhaustible.
After all, at that time, the sky was the quilt, the earth was the seat, the traffic was all by walking, and the call was all by roaring, and the demand for resources was not high, and in their impression, natural resources may be inexhaustible.
But after independence, the Nauruan people finally took over the right to mine phosphate ore, but since then they have begun to exploit on a large scale, according to the information of the consular service, Nauru in the 70s and 80s of the 20th century, the annual output is basically a million tons.
Abandoned mine site in Nauru
Originally, some institutions predicted that Nauru's phosphate ore could be mined for 70 years, but no one expected that it would take Nauru only 20 years to complete this road.
If the Nauruans themselves are "fishing for the best of Nauru's phosphate mining", then half a century ago, the great powers could actually call it "sustainable mining".
After all, Nauru's phosphate ore was discovered in the 90s of the 19th century, about 80 years after Nauru was returned to the Nauruans.
In those 80 years, about one-third of the phosphate rock has been mined by foreigners, and the Nauruans themselves are eight times faster.
It is also because of this exhaustion that Nauru was once one of the richest countries in the world on a per capita basis.
03. 20 years of extreme luxury
Compared with other small countries that "have a lot of talents", Nauru's leadership, which is called a "clear soup master", seems to have achieved common prosperity in fundamentalism.
Nauru was founded in 1968, and by 1970, the Ring Road had been built, and almost every household had two cars, and the villas were allocated according to need.
The allocation of houses and cars directly solves the two major problems of contemporary society.
In addition, water and electricity, medical care, telecommunications, and education are basically handled by the government.
Other daily necessities are also purchased in a unified manner and then sold to Nauruans at very low prices.
In this small island country, there are even 3 radio stations to relieve the boredom of the local people.
On top of that, Nauru is also buying luxury hotels among the surrounding "poor brothers", never considering the return on investment.
Nauru's local "five-star hotel" (Nauru's self-styled hotel)
There are no modern docks, there is an international airport, and no matter how many people buy tickets, the flights will fly correctly.
They didn't even think about what to do when they ran out of resources, Nauru invested in a 52-storey building in Melbourne, Australia, which at one point became the largest building in Melbourne.
The purpose of the building was to relocate the whole country to this building after the phosphate mines in Nauru were exhausted.
However, the one-step social welfare also brings with it other social problems.
Because of the transition from primitive societies to affluent societies, the people of Nauruan did not understand the importance of education.
Learning to change my fate? I'm doing well now, why change?
And going to work, such as mining phosphate ore, is largely done by foreign workers, and almost no Nauruans are interested in such tedious and tiring heavy work.
The lack of education means that health awareness is weak, and the abundance of material things makes the Nauruans unable to learn moderation.
Although the Nauruan people are separated from the Chinese by the ocean, they have a common hobby, that is, food.
It's just that the people of Nauru, who have never eaten anything good, in their most glorious time, love to eat in addition to local traditional dishes, but actually curry chicken, pizza and hamburgers.
What's the difference between this and a "food desert"?
It's no wonder that Chinese food is quite popular with locals on the island.
In a person's life, if he only eats, sleeps, sleeps and plays, what is the difference between him and the second senior brother?
According to statistics, at its peak, more than 90% of Nauruans were overweight, and soon, type 2 diabetes was frequent on the island of Nauru, with the highest incidence of 60%.
In addition, because of the serious heavy metal pollution brought to the soil by the large countries regardless of the environment, cancer has also begun to spread widely among the Nauruans.
04. Live on aid
Readers who loved to read "Yilin" or "100,000 Whys" as children may have an impression of Nauru, which seems to be a "heavenly" existence in the descriptions of these articles.
For example, the free medical care, free education, etc. mentioned above, according to the current parlance, this is called "Naobuki".
If it was Nauru in the 20th century, it might be worth bragging about, after all, at that time, Nauru's welfare was really good.
At that time, Nauru's hospitals hired experts from Australia, Cuba, Fiji and other countries to sit here at high salaries.
Nauruan citizens have access to university and study abroad for free, but there are very few Nauruans who can eventually complete their studies.
However, now, Nauru's medical treatment is actually a central hospital with a dozen doctors, but if there is a problem worse than a cold, you may have to go abroad for medical treatment.
Of course, compulsory education is also free, but if you want to go to university, you have to study in Fiji, another island country next door to Oceania.
When they were once wealthy, Nauruans were not environmentally conscious and did not understand the meaning of environmental protection.
Anyway, when it's hot, blow the air conditioner at home, go out and drive a car directly, Nauru has a bad environment, and you can also go to Australia for a vacation.
In the 20 years of luxury, the Nauruans have built beautiful roads and greenery, but other environmental measures are almost non-existent.
Nauru's environmental degradation has led directly to a more extreme climate in Nauru.
Even now, the people of Nauruan seem to be less environmentally conscious, and discarded cars and equipment are piled up directly on the remote mountains.
By 1994, Nauru's phosphate resources began to deplete and Nauru was in a serious financial crisis.
Because of the profligacy of the past, the Nauruan building, which was voted on by the Nauruans, was mortgaged to Australia and never returned.
Nauru's high-priced planes, properties and so on were also lost under the mortgage.
Because during the 20 years of affluence, the education level of Nauruans had barely improved, and industries other than phosphate mines had barely developed, so after the phosphate mines were depleted, Nauru suddenly had no source of income.
Nauru is rich in tuna, but Nauru's biggest income from the fishing industry is the issuance of fishing licenses.
The once destroyed environment has not been improved, and after the resources are depleted, it has not been further destroyed, but it has not been restored, and the development of planting industry is no longer possible.
Nauru is surrounded by the sea, and the trade routes of other countries basically do not pass through Nauru, so there is no "money" for Nauru to develop the maritime industry.
Nauru used to have a trust fund, perhaps because of the poor investment vision or other reasons, from billions of losses to only 30 million.
Nauru, who had no money, finally remembered to dig over the old scores, and sued Australia in 1989 for compensation for Nauru's ecological damage, and finally reached an out-of-court settlement with 107 million Australian dollars in compensation.
Now, Nauru's income is largely dependent on foreign aid, which, of course, comes at a cost.
For example, in 2016, the refugee center in Nauru had quite serious problems for Australia.
For example, Nauru's leaders have made some "anti-heaven" remarks in the international community.
04. Where is Nauru Road?
Looking back now, the trade relationship between the mainland and Nauru seems to be a benign development.
Compared with the "chicken feathers" of other "aid countries", our cooperation with Nauru is actually helping Nauru "make the cake bigger".
After all, "if you want to get rich, you must first build roads", and only by building infrastructure can other industries develop more smoothly.
Because the wharf required the hiring of locals, a significant number of Nauruans learned about architecture.
With the infrastructure in place, Nauru's imports and exports at least do not need to be handed over at sea.
In addition to the terminals, the mainland has also contracted Nauru's photovoltaic power generation and energy storage systems in an attempt to make use of Nauru's abundant solar resources.
"Mutual respect, equality, mutually beneficial cooperation, openness and inclusiveness" is the relationship that can truly bring win-win cooperation.
What do you think about the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Nauru? Feel free to leave your opinions and views in the comment area.
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