Chapter 951: Bankruptcy of Ideas
Of course, the so-called international morality is worthless in the eyes of all countries. Since the United States and Spain have declared war on each other, there is no problem if they don't talk about the Philippines earlier, even if they really hit the Spanish mainland.
But now that there are East African and French platforms, Spain really took advantage of this to negotiate with the United States on the Philippines issue, and the United States naturally cannot spit out the Philippines again.
The final result of the compromise between the two sides was that the United States purchased the Philippines. The amount was the same as in history, which was still 20 million US dollars. However, compared with history, the United States absolutely suffered a loss this time. On the one hand, the losses in this war were greater; On the one hand, the Philippine island of Mindanao has been sold to East Africa, so the United States spent the same price and could only get two-thirds of the Philippines.
And Spain felt even more aggrieved. If it had known this earlier, it would have been better to package up the entire Philippines and sell it to Germany before the war began. Twenty million US dollars is not a low price, but Germany will definitely give more. The most important thing is What is most important is that the country's navy will not be completely wiped out.
Don't look at the fact that the Philippine Navy was not strong before, but now the Spanish Navy has directly developed faults. Even if the former Philippine Navy is placed in Spain now, it can at least maintain a decent face for the navy in terms of total tonnage.
……
The first town.
“As for the results of the Spanish-American War, the two countries formally signed an agreement on the 19th of this month. The United States acquired colonies such as Cuba and the Philippines. As far as we know, the United Kingdom and Germany also Benefited from the war, some of the islands in the eastern Philippines fell into German hands. "
In fact, this was not the first time that Germany had done this. For example, the Nauru Island in the Pacific that Ernst coveted was Germany's previous one. Taken from Spain in 1888.
In fact, Ernst already regretted it. If he had known that it was so easy to buy land from Spain, he should have grabbed more islands in the Pacific.
But this also gave Ernst a reminder. Now that the Spanish train is gone, there is still a Netherlands in Southeast Asia. The Netherlands has a lot of land in its hands, especially Kalimantan. Taking advantage of this time, the United States With the remaining power of the war with Spain, a deal might be possible.
What does the Spanish-American War have to do with East Africa purchasing territory from the Netherlands! In fact, it has a lot to do with it. The Spanish-American War once again showed the world's jungle laws to those small countries. A great power like Spain would be beaten by a more powerful country, let alone a "small" country like the Netherlands.
Of course, although the Netherlands is small, it is not a weak country. In every aspect, it is much stronger than the half-dead Portugal. Otherwise, it would not be possible to hold a large territory of the Dutch East Indies.
As for why Ernst focused on the territory of Kalimantan held by the Netherlands, it was naturally because of the resources on the island.
The Lanfang Overseas Province in East Africa is actually an area with relatively scarce resources, while Sarawak, Brunei, and the North Borneo Territory in the northern British sphere of influence are rich in oil and gas resources. It is naturally impossible for East Africa to take advantage of the British.
The territory of Kalimantan controlled by the Netherlands not only has oil, but also a large amount of coal and other resources. The coal resources in southern Kalimantan alone accounted for 60% of Indonesia in the previous life. At the same time, Kalimantan The oil field in the east of Dan Island was also one of the three major oil and gas areas in Indonesia in the past (the other two were Java Island and Sumatra Island).
Furthermore, Kalimantan has a low level of civilization and is far less important to the Netherlands than Java and Sumatra. Among the Dutch East Indies, Java is the absolute core and Sumatra is part of the Strait of Malacca. .
So Kalimantan, which borders East Africa and the United Kingdom, is like a hot potato to the Netherlands.
Thinking of this, Ernst immediately asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to negotiate with the Netherlands. With the experience of Mindanao, it would be best if the southern and eastern parts of Kalimantan could be acquired through peaceful means. If not, then so be it. It's not a serious problem. Anyway, according to the national strength of the Netherlands, sooner or later it will withdraw from the East Indies.
Soon, East Africa received feedback on its test of the Dutch government. The two sides did not reach an initial consensus. The main reason was that the Netherlands itself was relatively wealthy and smart, so the asking price was also high. The Netherlands has a strong business culture, so when the East African government proposed to purchase the island of Kalimantan, the Dutch immediately began to calculate the purpose of East Africa.
This is also easy to guess. East Africa already has Lanfang Overseas Province on the island of Kalimantan, so according to Dutch speculation, East Africa wants to expand the scope of Lanfang Overseas Province.
In recent years, East Africa's expansion in the Southeast Asia region has not been slow. Especially after acquiring Mindanao, it has become one of the few colonial powers in the Southeast Asia region.
Mindanao and Kalimantan are across the sea, and by controlling the eastern part of Kalimantan, East Africa can connect the two colonies into one.
So the reason why East Africa wants to buy Kalimantan is reasonable and sufficient. However, from the perspective of the Netherlands, Kalimantan is equally important to the country. This is the second largest colony of the Netherlands.
The first one is Sumatra. Sumatra has an area of more than 400,000 people, while the Dutch Kalimantan has an area of more than 400,000 people, which is only a little less than Sumatra Island.
The island of Kalimantan has an area of more than 700,000. Because of the British and East Africa, it is not entirely occupied by the Netherlands. Otherwise, the Dutch island of Kalimantan would probably be the largest colony of the Netherlands.
In fact, Kalimantan is the largest island in Asia and ranks third in the world, second only to Greenland and New Guinea.
New Guinea also has a Dutch colony, but like Kalimantan, New Guinea is also divided into three parts, belonging to the Netherlands, Britain and Germany.
The Dutch colony on Kalimantan covers an area of more than 400,000 square kilometers, which is four times that of Mindanao. In the eyes of the Dutch, Kalimantan is no less important than the Philippines, so they directly asked for two billion rhine dong, which is almost twice the price of the United States "purchasing" the Philippines. After all, Dutch Kalimantan is indeed twice the size of the Philippines in terms of area (excluding Mindanao).
It is naturally impossible for East Africa to accept this offer. With so much money, East Africa can build its own navy and seize all the Kalimantan Island.
The Netherlands is not in a hurry. In their opinion, East Africa needs the Netherlands, so it is best to accept this offer. If the Netherlands does not accept the offer, it is not necessary to sell it.
“If we really spend 200 million Rhine guilders to buy Kalimantan from the Dutch, that would be a real international joke. Kalimantan’s climate conditions are slightly better than Alaska’s, and its population is not that large. , the Dutch really dare to ask for a price," Ernst said to his subordinates.
Nowadays, money is spent everywhere in East Africa, so Ernst expected that a "bad place" like Kalimantan would be best spent on a few million dollars. Ernst felt like he was losing tens of millions of dollars.
After all, buying it will not immediately increase the national strength of East Africa. Ernst is only planning for East Africa's future, and Kalimantan is not a must-buy.
According to the historical process of the previous life, as long as East Africa seizes the opportunity, Kalimantan will still fall into the hands of East Africa in a few decades at most. Even if Japan, the Nanyang spoiler, does not exist, East Africa's national strength will be enough at that time. The Dutch got out of Southeast Asia in disgrace.
This test also dispelled Ernst's enthusiasm for messing around. The situation in Mindanao and Alaska cannot be easily copied. It is most cost-effective to spend more money to improve the strength of East Africa.
(End of this chapter)