"India!" The moment the name was heard, the influential figures present were all bewildered. Had the United States weakened to the point of being replaced by such a country?
Had the world weakened to such an absurd degree?
However, a few people present showed excited expressions, and their skin tones were more or less tinted with curry.
"Mr. Bick, are you intentionally trying to liven up the atmosphere?" someone couldn't help but quip.
"Mr. Bick, I know your mother is from India, and your main market is in India, but please do not let these factors interfere with our normal judgment, especially when it comes to making correct judgments for all the distinguished parents here!" someone immediately began to attack.
"This has nothing to do with my mother. My father is American, so I will always be American!" Mr. Bick stated firmly.
There was nothing wrong with that. Mr. Bick's current main job was Lockheed Martin's business in the East.
As is well known, Lockheed Martin is a massive military-industrial complex. In addition to primarily supplying the US military, they have a vast global sales network, selling a large quantity of various weapons.
However, doing business in Asia, this "monster room," was significantly more difficult.
Because the business environment in Asia was extremely polarized. Either it was a major power, but these major powers all had their own military production lines and rarely purchased Lockheed Martin's products.
And under the pressure of the major powers, other countries were basically small, resigned countries with almost no territorial defense needs, as they couldn't defend themselves anyway. It was better to just lie flat and gamble that you wouldn't dare to invade me directly.
Under these circumstances, Lockheed Martin's business development was very difficult. But after Mr. Bick took over the work, he brought about a completely new change to the entire business.
He led his team to diligently engage the Indian market, ultimately achieving great success in the Indian market, securing 40% of India's orders and bringing in over thirty billion US dollars in military orders for Lockheed Martin annually.
This, on the surface, didn't seem to prove how much Mr. Bick loved America. Instead, it seemed to show his great love for India, as he procured a large amount of high-end equipment for India.
But the problem was, according to Lockheed Martin's most classified reports, the net profit from these annual military orders exceeding 30 billion US dollars was over 25 billion US dollars, and this was after deducting nearly 2 billion US dollars in public relations expenses.
If such a person didn't love America, then no one truly loved America.
"Mr. Bick, please elaborate on your thoughts!" a man who looked the youngest, no older than twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, said from the center of the venue.
However, despite his youth, he was the patriarch of the Rockefeller consortium. The Rockefeller family had long been in a state of not being very prosperous.
It wasn't that the Rockefeller family couldn't have children, but that too many people in the Rockefeller family had died, leading to the popular saying of the "Rockefeller family curse."
It was said that when the Rockefeller family rose to prominence, they had shed too much blood, resulting in many members of the family dying tragically in every generation.
In the classic film "Final Destination" series, there was a scene of death that occurred at a racetrack, with a chain of racing accidents leading to a tragedy where a large number of spectators died.
This was actually adapted from a real historical event, in which two members of the Rockefeller family died tragically.
But this was not the worst. The worst was the previous generation's Rockefeller family member, Michael Rockefeller. He was a person who inherently loved adventure, often venturing deep into Africa, tropical rainforests, and other remote, dangerous places to explore, while also taking various photographs.
In the end, Mr. Michael met his demise. While adventuring in New Guinea, the bamboo raft he was traveling on capsized, and he disappeared in New Guinea. Even though the Rockefeller family mobilized vast resources to search for him, there was no result.
After all, no matter how many US dollars the Rockefeller family possessed, the cannibals there did not understand the value of US dollars.
That's right, New Guinea was an untouched area inhabited by cannibals. In fact, several years later, another group of people set foot on this land, and through communication with the local tribes, they learned that they had eaten a white person four years ago.
Then, this group of people also received relics of this white person from 15 indigenous people, and all of them belonged to Michael Rockefeller, clearly, this heir of the "mantis" Rockefeller family had become a feast for the cannibals.
In the United States, the Rockefeller family is considered an unlucky family alongside the Kennedy family. Of course, this does not prevent the Rockefeller family from accumulating wealth at a rapid pace.
However, the fact that the main lineage of the Rockefeller family is sparsely populated cannot be changed. Therefore, it is understandable that the current patriarch of the Rockefeller family is a young man who is less than 30 years old.
Clearly, this young man is more interested in India.
Since the patriarch of the Rockefeller family had spoken, no one dared to dampen his enthusiasm, and Mr. Bick became very excited and began to articulate his viewpoint. "Many people might think that China is the country most likely to replace us in the future. But they haven't realized that present-day India is actually China of 20 years ago, and China's path has reached its end!"
"Unfortunately, although I didn't have the chance to attend this gathering 20 years ago, I was still in university at the time. However, my father attended this gathering and enthusiastically shared his experiences and all the interesting things that happened during the meeting."
"At that time, Russia had just been divided, and another question was being discussed: who could become the next Russia."
"Many countries were discussed, but China's name was never mentioned from beginning to end. My father did not mention this country at that time either. Because in everyone's eyes back then, it was also a country that was bound to collapse sooner or later, a country that could never become our opponent."
"But now, 20 years later, almost all of you present have implicitly acknowledged its existence and threat."
"If I had mentioned China's name at a banquet 20 years ago, it would have had the same effect as me mentioning India here now. Countless people would have jumped out to mock me, thinking I was telling a joke," Bick said.
"India is not comparable to China. India can never become China! This country is fundamentally incapable of becoming strong!" someone couldn't help but retort.
"People 20 years ago viewed China in the same way!" Mr. Bick said with a smile. "Then let's make a comparison now to see if there are gaps and similarities between China of 20 years ago and present-day India in some key aspects!"
"Chinese people like to talk about favorable timing, geographical advantages, and human harmony, believing these are the key three elements for the success of any endeavor. So let's examine and analyze these two countries from these three elements!"
"First, let's discuss the most basic and intuitive geographical advantage."
"Whether a country has development potential primarily depends on its territory and resources. This is a boundary that no country can cross. Only by possessing sufficient territory and resources can a country have a strong foundation; otherwise, everything is an illusion."
"For example, a few centuries ago, the European powers, although their territories appeared small, actually possessed vast colonies overseas, enabling them to continuously extract resources from abroad. This was the fundamental reason for their rise to power."
"An opposite example is Fusang (Japan). Although they did everything to the extreme, they lacked vast territories to exploit, which ultimately led them to take risks by attacking China and Southeast Asia to expand their resources and territory. Unfortunately, they encountered us and suffered a crushing defeat under the overwhelming resource advantage."
"This point applies to both India and China. China's territory is the third largest in the world, at 9.6 million square kilometers. India's territory is the seventh largest in the world, at 3 million square kilometers. Although it is more than two-thirds less than China, if these territories are carefully distinguished, it will be found that China's true core territory and essence are actually within the areas traditionally controlled by the Han ethnic group, and this portion of the area is actually only slightly larger than India."
"The other territories, although vast, are very scarce in resources and difficult to exploit."
"Secondly, there is the issue of terrain. China's territory is the largest, but its terrain is mountainous, desert-like, with much water and various hilly areas, making it actually very difficult to develop."
"In contrast, India can be called a divinely chosen land. The vast majority of its land is plains, and its climate is humid and warm. Rice can be harvested four seasons a year, which is something China cannot envy!"
"Therefore, I believe that geographically, India actually has an advantage over China. This is the most fundamental basis for India's rise. India has already won one round!"