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Chapter 724: Chapter 627: Mianbiao’s Five-Year Plan (Subscribe!) _1
Three topics have passed.
The whole meeting is virtually halfway through.
There are three more, but those who are in charge of the remaining three topics feel that it’s going to last until it gets dark in the afternoon.
Because the fourth topic is a proposal submitted by the ’Myanmar Economic Development Committee’ supervised by Ling, after Ling’s approval, it’s a nearly two-hundred-page proposal.
Truthfully.
When they first got this report, they were also dumbfounded.
Wow, just reading this stuff would take a whole day, right?
But this report would not have come up without Lang Cai’s approval, otherwise, it wouldn’t be directly in front of them, each of them looking at Ling with some resentment, the meaning was very clear: can’t you be less trouble.
There are six main topics in total today.
Aside from the first topic of Kundun being promoted to Special Deputy Leader of Myanmar, they found that the remaining five are all related to Ling, which is a bit headache-inducing. Fortunately, they don’t have much work, Myanmar, the country is just so big, the economic scale can be described as ’hehe’.
This fourth topic.
It’s this copy of the "Five-Year Plan for Economic Development of Myanmar" outline in front of everyone.
At first glance at this title, they thought they had read it wrong, such a grand title, such important content, they didn’t receive any news from their respective departments.
This should be a development plan collated by each department, but it was completely taken over by the ’Myanmar Economic Development Committee’, and they weren’t even notified.
This is really out of line.
Even though Ling’s content is quite good, very comprehensive, and supported by detailed data, they still want to hear what Ling has to say, and Lang Cai’s attitude. That’s the key, what they think isn’t that important.
Lang Cai took a sip of tea and started the ’hearing’ phase.
"Deputy Leader Ling, this thick document is really inconvenient for everyone to read, please briefly introduce it so that everyone here can have a general understanding." Lang Cai said to Ling.
"Okay."
Ling stood up after speaking.
Looking around, everyone knew that Ling was about to start his impromptu speech again.
"Gentlemen, may we each perform our duty well and accordingly. Since I have been in charge of the ’Myanmar Economic Development Committee’, I have kept my job in mind, focusing on developing Myanmar’s economy.
In order to manage this department better, I made a special effort to understand the state of various industries in Myanmar.
Truth be told, it pain me, it pains me very much. 𝘯𝑜𝑣𝑝𝑢𝘣.𝑐𝑜𝑚
What have we been doing these years? Playing house? Just look at Myanmar’s current economic data, honestly, I don’t know if Myanmar has a future, hope, or chance to become a powerful country with these figures.
In today’s society, a country is still relying on agriculture and selling natural resources as its main source of income, isn’t this a shame? Just look at our neighbor Huaxia and Thailand on the east, what do we have?
We have nothing, do we want to leave this mess for the next generation to solve? Let them pursue the world’s mainstream steps again? Let Myanmar become a marginal country?
The data in here compares Myanmar with other developing countries, which is just shocking. " Ling said with deep anguish, taking a pause to let the people below digest what he was saying.
At this point, many people below were at their wits’ end.
Many were angry, questioning how a newcomer like you could question our achievements over so many years, but looking at the data comparisons in their hands, the huge gap was irrefutable.
Let’s not talk about distant places.
Let’s talk about our neighbor, Thailand.
Thailand’s rank in the world is quite low, but your Myanmar GDP is only one-fourteenth of Thailand’s, one-thirteenth of Huaxia Hong Kong’s, and even Vietnam is nearly five times that of Myanmar.
What does this mean?
It’s already at a rage-inducing level.
Even Myanmar’s GDP is only slightly higher than that of Huaxia’s Macau, but it’s really just a little bit higher, with a little bit of effort, Myanmar will be overtaken by Macau, which is just a city.
This is a slap in the face.
It’s not just a slap in the face.
It is a piercing contempt, Ling had mentioned this issue last time, saying they can’t provide a future, and therefore refused to fully transfer the territorial management rights. But this time, the data was truly in front of everyone.
The cold numbers.
Are irrefutable.
"For this reason, I had the Myanmar Economic Development Committee prepare this development outline, I know this does not follow the process, but honestly, I am impatient, and I don’t want to wait a year or more for you guys to come up with this thing, so I just took over, I hope you all understand."
At this, Ling bowed, which made everyone feel a little better. Although Ling was a little impatient, his attitude allowed them to save face.
Standing up again, Ling continued to speak:
"This is how this report came about, please forgive the heart that wants Myanmar to become stronger. This report includes the development outlines of all sectors in Myanmar, with the aim of striving to...
Double Myanmar’s GDP within five years, surpassing 50 billion US dollars, even higher, while undertaking large-scale infrastructure construction investment, improving transportation methods such as highways, railways, airplanes.
Implement a more inclusive general education system, improve the quality of the people of Myanmar, lay the foundation for future development and take-off of Myanmar, improve the establishment of the basic industrial system, improve agricultural scientific standardization planting...."
Ling’s improvisational speech once again shocked everyone present, including Kundun who previously thought Ling was just lucky, but seeing him for the first time kindled his passion for talent.
Cool.
Really cool.
Kundun was convinced.
The others had been convinced long before.
For an hour and a half straight.
Ling swiftly ran through the material they were supposed to review in a day. The people who heard him felt as if they were inebriated, noting that if such expectations were truly met, Myanmar’s standing in Southeast Asia would become incomparable to what it was.
Infected by Ling’s certainty, they thought the feasibility of this report was pronounced.
But the crux of the matter wasn’t whether they agreed or not.
Nor was it about whether Lang Cai agreed or not, but about the money implicated behind all of this. They privately recognised that Huaxia was fond of using such developmental plans, but that required national effort and a large amount of money.
Something that couldn’t be achieved just with words.
"...Thank you, my presentation is over." Ling finally concluded, taking a sip of water.
It was silent in the conference room.
Those wanting to object didn’t dare to speak. With Ling’s eloquence, he could render anyone speechless in just a few sentences. It was best not to embarrass oneself by stepping up. Their gazes shifted towards Lang Cai. After all, they had no authority to make decisions.
Kan Qin’s face showed excitement. He wished to share his support but hesitated as Lang Cai hadn’t made his stand. Ling’s plan catered directly to what he desired. As a pragmatist, he had been wanting to do so but lacked the power and resources. Dealing with the matter of money was enough to defeat him.
But now, with Ling stepping forward, it felt as if he had found a teammate. He knew that Ling would not arbitrarily take aim and definitely had solutions squared away before daring to present this report in such a high-profile conference.
With that thought in mind...
Kan Qin’s eyes were filled with hope when he glanced at Ling.
With everyone’s attention on him, Lang Cai felt immense pressure. He gave a bitter smile; he had discussed this issue with Ling before the meeting. Although it may not follow norms, the future described in this report was too compelling.
He, too, desired a stronger Myanmar.
Upon first seeing the data comparison within, he had been silent for a good half hour. Eventually, he made the resolute decision to propose this report. Perhaps, before his retirement, it was time for him to do something drastic.
The reality was that his conservative developmental policy was outdated. His direction was wrong, and the data in his hands was the price he had to pay. The standard of living for the people hadn’t improved much in the past decade.
"Hiss.... Huh...."
Lang Cai took a deep breath.
"I assume everyone has keenly paid attention to Deputy Leader Ling’s plan for the future. To be honest, I am very intrigued. As a leader, I have been very incompetent over these years. All our neighbours have surpassed us, and it has reached a stage where I bear a huge responsibility." Lang Cai expressed guilt.
"No, it’s our mistake."
"You’ve already tried your best."
"..."
Voices of comforting words arose. Lang Cai’s attitude startled them, hinting that they knew he was captivated by this report.
With a raise of his hand, Lang Cai silenced the room. He turned to Ling and said, "Don’t try to placate me. I can recognise that. Deputy Leader Ling, you should know how much money it would take, right?"
The statement seemed quite redundant as the report had detailed the amount of investment required – a primary concern for all of them. For the state of Myanmar, it was an astronomical figure.
Three hundred and seventy billion dollars.
The total cost of the overall plan equalled this figure, which was almost three times Myanmar’s current GDP. It was not just crazy but an unfathomable number.
There was a detailed list included.
Every item was traceable.
The investment in infrastructure made up more than a third of the total. To be frank, Myanmar couldn’t afford such a large sum of money, not even a fifth of it.
"I know financial issues in this report are a big problem. Myanmar can’t possibly start printing more money crazily right away. That would cause serious inflation domestically, and the currency held by the public would depreciate considerably.
So my plan is similar to the one adopted by Huaxia: first, open up the market to attract large amounts of foreign investment and technology, thereby resolving part of the financial and technical difficulties. Second, we can take out loans. Third, initiate urbanisation to a certain extent, enabling the rural workforce to transform into industrial personnel and strengthen the economy," Ling proposed.
This was the ’prescription’ Tang Qing had prepared for Myanmar.
A gradual progression.
The first solution – foreign capital and technology – would resolve the issue of employment. With job opportunities, attractive benefits could be offered, thereby persuading Myanmar to start printing more money later.
The second solution was a hidden thunder beneath the surface – loans.
The third solution simply served to persuade Myanmar to start printing more money.
For such an expansive plan to be executed, Myanmar would need to start the money printing machine – a necessity that couldn’t be solely resolved by loans and foreign capital.
Once they begin to print more money...
The Myanmar Kyat would depreciate; inflation within Myanmar was inevitable. The way to address it was through the disparity between industrial and agricultural prices: by increasing the income of those who transitioned into industrial workers used to balance the immense inflation caused.
This was one of the methods adopted by Huaxia in the past.
Food is the god of the masses.
Food and agricultural prices must not be tampered with – they are the foundation of a nation’s stability. However, if a country wants to develop a non-agricultural economy, they must print a large amount of money, while the high revenue from industries balances low agricultural income.
Urbanisation creates high non-agricultural incomes.
This technique helps to mitigate, to some extent, the undesirable effects brought about by inflation because of the excessive printing of money.
Although it cannot completely eliminate them, it can still prevent the economy from collapsing.
