Chapter 172: The idea of a sovereign wealth fund

If what he said before only surprised Zhou Ming, then Yang Dingguo's words at this moment completely left Zhou Ming at a loss. ☆→,

before Zhou Ming could voice his doubts, Yang Dingguo said again, 'I also listened to your speech at the National People's Congress. I feel sorry for what happened to you abroad, and I know that you went to our consulate in Northern Russia because of something.'

Yang Dingguo sighed and said, 'In the past, due to some historical and other reasons, our exchanges with the world were too limited, and we were too poor and backward. That's why those foreigners looked down on us so much, laughed at you for not understanding finance and the economy, and deliberately caused trouble for your Cherv Market. It even developed to the point where they banded together to bully you.'

Yang Dingguo paused for a moment before continuing, 'But it is precisely because of these reasons that we need reform and opening up even more. We need to get this finance class right, and we need people like you, Zhou Ming, to help this country grow together. I believe that what you have experienced will eventually pass!'

Zhou Ming was dumbfounded as he listened to Yang Dingguo's words. He finally understood why Yang Dingguo had asked him to come: it was neither because of the foreign Chinese ** nor because he had helped his classmates in the finance class establish the correct values, but simply because he had expressed his feelings about Northern Russia.

'You don't need to be so surprised. If the finance class is the hope of the country's future and the focus of training, then you, the class teacher, are the focus of the focus. Therefore, it is only right that the country values you.'

Yang Dingguo continued, 'And in the past, we only knew that you had made a hundred billion dollars in Northern Russia, but we forgot the conditions under which you created this miracle. As you said, Zhou Ming, they all think that we are a bunch of barbarians and rascals who live off the land and only know how to use an abacus to calculate other people's wealth. Or they think that we can't even count from one to nine because we don't have enough to eat, and they don't think that we know anything about finance.'

Yang Dingguo took a deep breath as he continued: 'These words are a disgrace to us, but you, Zhou Ming, have accomplished opening an account and competing head-on with the Americans on the financial battlefield under such conditions. This is extraordinary, a miracle that cannot be described in words.'

'In the past, the country neglected these matters, so you have silently endured them abroad. But please believe that the motherland will definitely be your strong backing in the future!' Yang Dingguo said.

Zhou Ming felt a little embarrassed in the face of Yang Dingguo's praise and assurances, for the simple reason that what he had said and what Yang Dingguo understood were fundamentally two different things.

As a leader who had come from the old society and had also studied abroad, he knew that the status of Chinese people abroad was very low, and naturally believed that the situation was the same as in the past. He thought that he had been subjected to all kinds of difficulties and humiliation by the United States and the Soviet Union in Northern Russia.

But that was not the case. From the beginning, he went over there as a partner in the Tower Project, and was directly involved in the decisive events of the collapse of the Soviet Union. He met directly with the current President of Northern Russia. Of course, because of this incident, he was later excluded from the Tower Project. The person in charge at the time in Northern Russia, Davie, also mocked him, but that was about it. It did not reach the level of humiliation a hundred years ago.

Later, I used the Cherv Market to obtain a large amount of rubles, forcing the North Russian government to cooperate with the Dota Project to forcibly replace the new rubles.

It can be said that from that time on, I was already one of the three pillars of the North Russian economy. Under these conditions, the proud Americans would only face their opponents squarely, so how could there be humiliation?

Needless to say, in the end, through cooperation with Meta, the United States's top financial warfare expert, I successfully negotiated a deal with the North Russian government to obtain a piece of oil field in Siberia. I even tricked the other party in this deal. Mr. Meta moved into the manor arranged by the consulate. This financial warfare expert, who had never served anyone but the President of the United States, was at peace there, manipulating 100 billion dollars.

From these circumstances, it seems that he had a hard time in Northern Russia for a while, but it wasn't as humiliating as Yang Dingguo thought.

As for the things I said in the lecture hall, I only said them to inspire my classmates' patriotic enthusiasm, but who knew that this reached the ears of Old Yang, and he actually believed it, and for this matter, he even called me into Zhongnanhai the first time.

This is really a bit of a laugh, and Zhou Ming wanted to explain, but in the face of such sincere concern from Old Yang, Zhou Ming really didn't know how to start. And it seemed that if the truth came out, it would also be very embarrassing for Old Yang. Therefore, after thinking about it, it was better to shamelessly accept this concern.

But he was right about one thing: he had indeed earned the attention of a national leader like Yang by making a crazy 100 billion US dollars in Northern Russia. Although he couldn't get his hands on that 100 billion yet, and still had to split the money with the Northern Russian tycoons, it was still a huge fortune. Even 20 years later, it was still a fortune that a national leader couldn't help but pay attention to, let alone now.

As if to prove Zhou Ming's thoughts, Yang Dingguo said to him, 'If you act, you can earn the entire national income of the country for one year. If you are an official within the system, I will definitely cultivate you to be the future finance minister or central bank governor. It is not an exaggeration to say that you are a national talent!'

Zhou Ming took a deep breath. Even though he had overestimated himself since his rebirth, he never imagined that Old Yang would give him such a high evaluation.

The term 'national talent' may have been overused in later novels, but in the present, especially here with Yang Dingguo as the leader of the country, it is still a very rare word.

Facing Yang's expectant gaze, Zhou Ming was embarrassed and scratched his head, saying, 'Yang, the biggest strength I have is in business and management. If I were to formulate fiscal or monetary policies and argue with other institutions, I'm afraid I would make a mess of things. In contrast, if I were really allowed to get my hands dirty, I think a sovereign wealth fund would be a better fit for me.'

Yang Dingguo's eyes lit up at Zhou Ming's words: 'Sovereign wealth fund, what's that?'

'I think you should know what a private fund company is, Mr Yang?'

Zhou Ming asked. Yang Dingguo nodded and said he knew. Zhou Ming continued, 'A sovereign fund is actually the opposite of a private fund. They are both fund investments, but the difference is that the source of funding has changed from private to state. The state can use foreign exchange reserves, fiscal revenue, and even resource revenue as investments for sovereign funds.'

'I see. But we are now at a critical juncture of integrating into the world economic system. Thanks to our reforms, the economic blockade imposed on us by Western countries has loosened somewhat. If we set up a sovereign fund, won't the Western countries be on their guard against us again?' Yang Dingguo asked.

Zhou Ming shook his head and replied, 'No, sovereign funds are still relatively new, but many countries around the world have already begun experimenting with them to increase their own national revenue.'

Zhou Ming thought for a moment and then said, 'If I remember correctly, the world's first sovereign fund was the investment bureau established by the West Asian country of Kuwait in 1953 using its oil export revenues. A more famous one was the sovereign fund established by the Western Pacific island country in 1956. Due to the small size of this island country, it only has guano resources. After the guano resources are exhausted, it can only rely on the income from the sovereign fund.'

'The most successful sovereign fund should be Singapore's sovereign fund in 1974. This sovereign fund invested 70 million US dollars at the beginning of its establishment. Now, fifteen years have passed, and this fund has increased its value tenfold through various investments.' Zhou Ming said, 'It is precisely because of the success of the fund that more and larger enterprises will enter this fund this year, taking this fund to the next level. Singapore will also benefit from this fund, using the income it brings to take its own country's development to the next level.'

Finally, Zhou Ming added, 'Benefiting from the success of sovereign funds in Singapore and West Asian countries, the United States also established several sovereign funds in the 1970s.'

Yang Dingguo let out a sigh of relief when he heard this. Since the United States, the leader of the Western world, could establish sovereign funds, there was naturally no need to worry about any diplomatic pressure if China established a sovereign fund.

However, although this was the idea, Yang Dingguo still asked, 'Do you really think we need to establish a sovereign fund?'

Zhou Ming nodded and said, 'It is definitely necessary. After all, with a sovereign fund, we can attack globally and acquire resource companies or very important strategic companies in other countries, and then complete our global economic deployment through these investments.'

'Just like this time with Northern Russia, if Northern Russia had this sovereign fund, then if the United States launched a financial war against it, it could counterattack, right?' Yang Dingguo asked.

'That's one way to put it, but I think the biggest effect of sovereign wealth funds is that they make the US afraid of launching a financial war,' Zhou Ming said.

Yang Dingguo clapped happily: 'Genius! Zhou Ming, you are truly a genius in economics. Your ideas are truly amazing. I am so glad that such a genius as you was born on Chinese soil, and still in this era of world change. Truly God blesses my China!'

Zhou Ming himself felt a little embarrassed at the title of genius. After all, the reason he knew all this was just a memory from his previous life. If he was really that genius, he wouldn't have lived such a useless life in his previous life. Could it be that it was true that one only knew how to live after one had died?

Zhou Ming laughed bitterly to himself, threw all this nonsense out of his mind, and said, 'Yang Lao, but it's still too early to say all this. After all, we still have too few financial talents, and hastily establishing a sovereign fund will only cause unnecessary losses.'

Yang Dingguo nodded and said, 'That's right, which is why we need the students in the finance class. This important task is entrusted to you, Comrade Zhou Ming. You are the future hope of the country!'