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"I'd rather lay off 9,000 jobs than work with China." ”
In 2020, British aviation giant Rolls-Royce resolutely stated that it would not share technology with China, despite the difficulties it was facing.
Their refusal forced the company, which is a leader in European space, to lay off a large number of employees and sell its assets to barely survive several years of epidemic life.
Why is he unwilling to achieve a win-win situation with China, and will he regret it now?
Layoffs for a chance to live
When it comes to the British Rolls-Royce company, many people will not know the origin of this company, you must know that the world-famous luxury cars Rolls-Royce and Bentley are owned by Rolls-Royce, and later because of the company's changes, the company had to split to barely keep it.
Rolls-Royce has always been known around the world as Europe's largest aero engine, but when it was on the rise, a global pandemic shattered the situation. Under its influence, the world's aviation industry has suffered an unprecedented blow, and Rolls-Royce, as an aviation giant, is also not escaped.
In 2020 alone, he lost 5.38 billion pounds, which undoubtedly directly hurt his main artery, and the devastated Rolls-Royce wanted to ask for help internationally, at this time, China reached out to him, and said that it could cooperate with him to share technology to achieve a win-win situation and take him out of the trough.
You must know that the number of China's 1.4 billion people, the market is not to be underestimated, with the Chinese market alone, there are many companies want to take a piece of the pie in China, and at that time China's aviation industry was also developing rapidly, if the cooperation will be guaranteed to make a profit.
But lured by such favorable conditions, Rollo reacted coldly, saying that he would rather lay off 9,000 people than cooperate with China.
At that time, Rolls-Royce was short of funds, and its prospects were poor, so naturally few people wanted to invest, and his stock plummeted, at most 8% in a day. He also rejected China, the only one who came to help, and in order to protect himself, he had to choose to lay off employees.
Rolls-Royce has a total of 52,000 employees worldwide, and it will lay off at least 9,000 people just to survive this crisis, directly laying off 17.3% of the workforce.
However, it also obtained some funds, which is estimated to save 1.3 billion pounds a year, which is also a small part of the funding gap, and his move has directly caused nearly 10,000 people to lose their jobs, which has already caused many people to be dissatisfied.
However, this is not the first time that Rolls-Royce has made a living by cutting itself.
Once an aviation giant
Founded in 1906, Rolls-Royce began to research gas turbine technology at an early age and became the largest aero generator company in Europe.
In 1960, Rolls-Royce had become the most influential airline and had successfully mastered the technology of aircraft engines, but at that time, it was difficult to survive in the market, research was blocked, the market was narrow, and the survival of Rolls-Royce was becoming more and more difficult, and the funds invested in it were basically lost.
Rolls-Royce, which had no profit income, was once classified as a state-owned enterprise, and in order to survive, he split his Rolls-Royce and Bentley from the company and split them into airlines and car companies.
In addition to this, Rolls-Royce also sold a part of the company to barely survive, and Rolls-Royce, who did not have so much business, continued to focus on research on aero engines, and in the 80s, Rolls-Royce, which had some funds, went back from state to private.
Why would Rolls-Royce, who had already suffered this catastrophe, refuse China's help? In fact, the reason is very simple, it is nothing more than someone who is in the way.
As we all know, China and the United States have always competed for hegemony with each other, and in the field of science, the United States has always suppressed China, blockade technology and other means are all used on China, and as an ally of the United States, Britain naturally has to refuse China's request for technical help.
On the one hand, there is a Chinese market with superior conditions, and on the other hand, there is coercion and temptation from the United States, how to think that Rolls-Roy, who does not want to offend on both sides, still chose to stand in the camp of the United States and refused to provide technology sharing to China.
But his actions did not get any substantial help, but because of the large amount of layoffs caused him to survive, on the surface Rolls-Royce firmly his position, in fact, he has long been completely controlled by Britain and the United States, becoming a tool to sanction China,
With the continuous intervention of the United States, Rolls-Royce is destined to have no hope of cooperation with China, and can only rely on the only remaining technology in his hand to compete with other peer companies.
Since 2018, China has been constantly suppressed by the technology and resource barriers of the United Kingdom and the United States, but this cannot overwhelm China's determination to become strong, and China's independent development determines that China no longer relies on others.
China's independent research and development has been successful
In the continuous attempts and progress of the mainland for space flight, in 2019 the C919 officially announced the success of the sea trial, and in 2022, the Civil Aviation Administration of the mainland issued a certificate of conformity to the C919 of COMAC, that is, the mainland successfully developed the jet trunk airliner.
In other words, Britain and the United States tried to curb the mainland's aerospace industry by controlling Rolls-Royce's cooperation with the mainland, but their idea ultimately failed, and they forced the mainland to embark on a new path of independent research and development step by step, in other words, their oppression gave the mainland scientific researchers the determination and perseverance to build their own aviation generators.
You must know that China, which has always believed in independence and self-determination, will absolutely not allow itself to have its weakness exposed in front of other countries, and the United States' calculations have failed, but on the contrary, it has helped the mainland.
China has also successfully occupied a place in the aviation field, and China has officially become the only country after the United States, Britain and Russia to have and master the independent research and development capabilities of turbofan engines.
Continental expects that by 2030, it will be able to achieve completely independent research and development of aircraft engines, which can say goodbye to the use of foreign parts and become the top priority of Continental.
The self-inflicted Rolls-Royce company
In order to echo the technological suppression of China by the United States, but also to protect its own technological core, Rolls-Royce, who has lost the big market of China, has obviously fallen from the status of the European space leader, even if it is still developing, but its prospects are not as good as before.
Not only did it lay off 9,000 employees, but it also sold off a piece of the company, leaving only enough money to make ends meet, and now the market is getting bigger and bigger, and it has owners who are more and more likely to compete with strong rivals.
The two companies of Electric and Pratt & Whitney have been living in the shadow of Rollo, and after Rollo's power was suppressed, these two companies began to show up, and it would be difficult for him to return to the top status.
If Rolls-Royce wants to reintegrate into the market, then he will have to spend more on his own equipment, and that huge amount of money makes it difficult for Rolls-Royce.
Whether or not he will be able to overcome this difficulty lies in whether he can get rid of the coercion and temptation of the United States in all aspects and realize cooperation and exchanges in an open and win-win way, so that he can have a chance to pass the difficulty.
Rolls-Royce is definitely not the first or last company to be used by the United States to attack China, but he believes that no obstruction can stop the upward momentum of a country, and in this process of globalization, mutual benefit and win-win is the latest development concept.
In 2022, Rolls-Royce finally established a joint venture with Rolls-Royce, and in 2023, the Civil Aviation of China and Rolls-Royce discussed the construction of a factory in Beijing, which will be put into operation in 2026, in addition, until March 12, Cui Xiaosong, deputy director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, met with Rob Watson, president of Rolls-Royce, in Beijing, and the two sides discussed some matters to strengthen cooperation and exchanged views.
Rob Watson said in the conversation that Rolls-Royce will attach great importance to China's civil aviation market and will work together to help China's civil aviation develop more high-quality.
We believe that such cooperation will be able to realize the interests of common development and truly achieve a new situation of mutual benefit and win-win results.
Key Sources:
The original article was published on May 20, 2020 on the global network on the "Express! Foreign media: British aircraft engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce announced 9,000 layoffs".
The original article was published on CCTV on May 22, 2020 on "Affected by the epidemic, Rolls-Royce in the UK will lay off at least 9,000 employees".
This article was originally published on China Daily.com on July 29, 2020 on "23 airlines around the world collapsed, and the aviation industry struggled to get out of the haze of the new crown".
This article was originally published in The Paper on March 12, 2024 on "Cui Xiaofeng, Deputy Director General of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, met with Rob Watson, President of Civil Aviation of Rolls-Royce".