Chapter 1996 Global Submarine Cable Communication Project
In the large-scale and far-reaching imperial meeting, in order to continue to develop the empire's economy and improve people's living standards, the Holy Emperor formally approved the "Global Economic Development Plan" strategy submitted by the cabinet.
In order to cooperate with this global economic development plan, Emperor Sheng subsequently formally approved the plan submitted by the cabinet to upgrade several overseas territories into provinces.
This plan is mainly aimed at areas where the localization of the population has been completed, the local people are all subjects of the empire, and there are no other problems. In fact, to put it bluntly, it is targeted at North America.
Therefore North America will be divided into seven provinces.
At the same time, titles with clear distinctions such as homeland, overseas homeland, overseas territories, and overseas colonies are abolished.
It was changed to a provincial highway, a state capital directly under the jurisdiction of the cabinet, etc.
This means that politically, the seven provinces of America are equated with several provinces of the mainland.
Although the Import and Export Committee is still there, it is directly stipulated that the scope of management of the Import and Export Committee is limited to the import and export trade between the empire and indigenous countries, and it has no right to interfere with the internal trade of the empire.
However, the empire quietly established a new independent agency called the 'National Defense Control Committee. The responsibility of this agency is to control personnel, technology, equipment, raw materials, etc. that affect the empire's national defense security.
At the same time, it is stipulated that any research and production involving guns or even cold weapons or other industries that have an important impact on national defense must obtain approval from the National Defense Control Commission before they can obtain a national defense license and engage in the national defense industry.
This is all on the surface, but the real trick is that to open any type of business in the Tang Empire, you actually need a special license.
If you want to mine, you need a mining license. If you want to set up a steel plant, you also need a license to smelt steel. The same is true for many other industries.
However, the Ministry of Commerce has been very strict on the issuance of licenses for some strategic industries for many years. Now, except for state-owned or imperial-owned enterprises, it is basically impossible for private enterprises to obtain licenses for strategic industries.
Even the Ministry of Agriculture came to join in the fun, saying that for the food security of the people of the empire, mining, oil extraction and industrial production must not occupy farmland or cause pollution, and all manufacturing companies must obtain environmental permits from the agency.
In short, the Tang Empire now recognizes that the seven American provinces are part of the mainland. It will also open up railways, restrict some industrial products, and even allow the opening of some light industry factories. However, the empire's economic development plan clearly includes the Americas and other regions.
Positioned as a strategic granary.
The core will be to develop mechanized agriculture instead of building factories.
Even if you plan to build one, the authorities won't approve it.
In addition, there are seven provinces in America, and the elimination of the American Affairs Office directly means that America will not be a whole in the future.
This is very important. In the past, when people talked about the localization of America, they were talking about the entire America. Now, Li Xuan has directly abolished the American Affairs Office, and the word America will become history.
All the above restrictions have only one core purpose, which is to prevent industrialization in overseas areas!
Overseas territories can use trains, cars and all other products of the industrial age!
But you absolutely cannot have the ability to manufacture trains, cars, and various mechanical products.
In economic integration, the most important thing is the division of labor!
The division of labor in the local area is the industrial production base, while the overseas territories are the agricultural production base and resource production base.
Many of the above-mentioned major policies actually have nothing to do with ordinary people. Many people don't even care much about the overseas localization that cabinet bosses worry about every day.
They are more concerned about their own actual interests.
Especially the tens of millions of immigrants in the Americas, what do they care about?
They don't care if there are steel plants, machinery plants, shipyards, ordnance factories in America.
What they care about is what price they can buy this year's grain, and whether the products they consume daily, such as textiles and other things, are cheaper or more expensive.
To put it bluntly, they care more about their own lives!
It was Li Xuan who truly met the needs of ordinary immigrants in these overseas territories.
Price issues are now more affected by freight costs, so overseas railways can be built and coal production can be expanded to reduce coal prices.
And encourage locals to import various agricultural products and mineral products from overseas regions.
Li Xuan wants overseas immigrants to enjoy the same standard of living that local people can enjoy.
And when the needs of ordinary overseas immigrants are solved, the remaining small group of dignitaries, businessmen and the like who immigrated overseas are just clowns. If it doesn't work, there will still be Hantong.
The Tang Empire, which had been established for decades, had never relied on powerful people or businessmen, but on the broad masses of the people, especially the lowest peasant class!
Of course, many of the above measures are temporary measures, because Li Xuan knows, and other important ministers also know, that it is impossible to continue to be so restrictive.
The development of industry and even heavy industry in overseas areas is an inevitable trend of historical development and will not change just because of changes in manpower.
What the empire can do now is to delay this progress and wait for the success of economic integration before doing this.
If that doesn't work, let's use the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises to invest in opening a few steel plants or something like that.
In short, don’t count on private capital.
How should I put it? In response to potential betrayals in overseas areas, the empire's top officials took great pains and initially adopted forceful suppression.
Now I find that I can't suppress it anymore, so I turned it into economic kidnapping, and then focused on restrictions.
If you still can't hold it down in the future, let go bit by bit.
The best outcome that the empire's high-level officials hope for is that when they are completely liberalized, these overseas territories will be completely integrated with the mainland.
It's not easy to completely integrate the homeland and overseas territories.
Distance is a flaw!
Separated by the Pacific Ocean, no matter how many methods are used, it is difficult to completely eliminate the barriers caused by this distance.
For this reason, what Li Xuan hopes for is various new technologies.
For example, continue to develop the shipping industry, further increase shipping speed and reduce shipping costs.
Another very important thing is communication!
One of the more important prerequisites for the empire to engage in economic integration is that after years of hard work, the Tang Empire has completed the laying of the Pacific Ocean Cable.
Among them, the core strategic project, the Pacific Cable Project, was officially laid in the first half of this year, and the Nanyang submarine cable system was completed before that.
The Indian Ocean Cable Project, the Mediterranean Cable Project, and the upcoming Atlantic Cable Project are currently under construction.
It is conservatively estimated that Datang’s global undersea communication network will take shape in two years at most!