Chapter 1084 Confidence
The British government soon authorized Russell, the current ambassador to East Africa, to negotiate with the East African government. The two countries exchanged views on stability issues in the Indian Ocean and South Atlantic regions.
In fact, East Africa's current diplomatic and military activities in South America are not deliberately targeting the United Kingdom. The fundamental reason is that to meet the needs of its own industrial development, it has to be more proactive in relevant areas.
Ernst bluntly said to Russell: "Our current political and diplomatic activities in East Africa are carried out based on the development and national conditions of our country. Compared with the United Kingdom, East Africa is a weak and poor country. That’s why we need to participate more in international trade to pave the way for the development of East Africa.”
The implication is that East Africa cannot stop its current overseas diplomatic and military activities. After all, this is driven by East Africa’s national interests.
There was nothing Russell could do about Ernst's excuse. To put it bluntly, Ernst's humility and peaceful dialogue with him were already considered a good result. After all, it was the British government that had requests from East Africa. .
He said: "Your Highness, our United Kingdom has always been a peace-loving country and has a relatively 'friendly' attitude towards East Africa. However, the behavior of the East African government is definitely not what you said. The Persian Gulf and South America is the core interest of the empire, and East Africa's actions have undoubtedly caused substantial harm to our country's interests."
Ernst naturally could not admit it. He said: "East Africa's interests in the Persian Gulf and South America. All activities are legal and just, I We in East Africa also have huge interests in these two regions, so Ambassador Russell is too worried.”
In fact, in the final analysis, East Africa’s actions in the Persian Gulf and South America are to take food from the British tiger’s mouth, and the British are interested in both. The control of this region is also relatively weak. Even in the Persian Gulf region, the United Kingdom only protects its own interests by supporting puppet regimes. Of course, the United Kingdom itself also has a strong military presence in the Persian Gulf region, so the little tricks in East Africa will definitely not work in the short term. play a role.
South America obviously does not have this problem. Although South American countries are economically poor, they are still relatively independent. Even if they have political tendencies, they will focus on their own countries, which means they have more win-win value, so East Africa The current diplomatic attitude towards South America is relatively friendly. As for the behavior of the East African Navy, it is to endorse this round of diplomatic activities.
Compared with South America, East Africa's behavior towards the Persian Gulf region is obviously much excessive. It can be said that East Africa is importing war to the Persian Gulf coast. Although the effect is not significant under the suppression of the British, East Africa is the first in the world. Countries mainly in the southern hemisphere challenge Britain's regional hegemony.
So from the perspective of Ernst and Russell, the Persian Gulf is regarded by both countries as their core interests, and the competition between the two countries in South America is more of an economic competition.
And this kind of economic competition is not too prominent. East Africa is developing the market in South America. There is no problem with this objective fact. However, the competition between East Africa and the United Kingdom in the international market for industrial products is not fierce. The categories of industrial products that countries mainly trade do not overlap.
Take East Africa's two advantageous export categories of automobiles and electric products. East Africa's competitors in the international market have never been the United Kingdom, but the United States and Germany.
The UK’s advantages are concentrated in the field of light industry. The most typical one is the British cotton textile industry. Although East Africa is a big country in the textile industry, the East African cotton textile industry still mainly meets the needs of the domestic market. This is reflected in other This is especially true in the field of light industry. Many light industrial products in East Africa have no international competitiveness at all.
On the contrary, the United States and Germany are Britain's main competitors in industry, especially Germany. Germany is equivalent to the competition between the Far Eastern Empire and American industry in the previous life, and continues to attack Britain in the field of mid-to-high-end light industrial products.
If the Far Eastern Empire had maintained low-end industrial production, the United States would be happy to see the results. However, once the Far Eastern Empire touched on mid- to high-end industrial production, the United States would change its face.
This is also the main reason for the biggest industrial conflict between Germany and the United Kingdom. As for East Africa, it has not yet reached this stage of development. Currently, East African light industry does not have this capability. As for the American light industry, it is also relatively developed, but the quality of American industry is far inferior to that of Germany. , so the threat to Britain is not as straightforward as that of Germany. The relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom today is similar to the relationship between the Far Eastern Empire and the United States in the early 21st century. American industry is relatively low-end compared to the United Kingdom, and the United Kingdom has a large amount of industrial investment in the United States. This has also led to the United Kingdom being wary of the development of the United States.
Looking at East Africa, it is different. In addition to domestic capital, East Africa’s economic development dividends have almost all contributed to Germany, Austria, France and other countries. However, because of its own diplomatic relations with East Africa, the United Kingdom The reason is that if you don’t participate, you won’t get much benefit.
Therefore, the British government first takes East Africa as a breakthrough point. In the final analysis, it is still trying to pick the weak. On the one hand, East Africa's own strength is still far behind that of the United States and Germany. On the other hand, East Africa and the United Kingdom have almost no interests bound together. The United Kingdom does not need to be like Treat East Africa the same as the United States.
Russell: "The competition between East Africa and the empire is not beneficial, especially the expansion of the East African navy, which has broken the regional balance. If the red line of the empire is touched, then we will never sit idly by. ”
What Russell said now truly reflects the style of the British Empire as the most powerful country in the contemporary world. It can also be said that Russell is threatening East Africa.
Of course, this threat is not painful to Ernst. If it was more than ten years ago, Ernst might have given in due to the limitation of national power, but now the strong national power of East Africa has given Ernst had the confidence to refuse.
Ernst: "Ambassador Russell, although East Africa is poor and weak, it is definitely not a small country that can be exploited by others. Twenty years ago, East Africa could win in South Africa. Twenty years later, East Africa is fearless in the world. If any country threatens, going against East Africa means going against one-twentieth of the world’s population, and more than 100 million people in East Africa will not agree.”
Ernst felt very uplifted when he said these words, and when he thought about it carefully, the South African War was already twenty years ago. At that time, East Africa dared to compete with the two world powers, Britain and Portugal, as well as those with incomparable strength. The weak Boers fought the war, and now East Africa was even less afraid of war.
If he were facing a small country, Russell might still have such face, but facing a big country like East Africa, and a big country that is outside the British system, Russell had to calm down.
After calming down, Russell asked: "Your Highness, there is actually no need for conflict between East Africa and the Empire. We can give benefits to East Africa to a certain extent, and East Africa should also do something for regional peace. To make a certain contribution, especially the development of the navy, it should be within a reasonable framework. As for other aspects, it can be resolved through negotiation. I believe A mutually satisfactory result will be reached between the empire and East Africa.”
In the end, Russell still gave East Africa due respect based on its strength and status. After all, East Africa was not like Russia, and Britain could support Germany. , the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Far Eastern Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and even Japan came to suppress Russia's development. If they wanted to trap East Africa, Britain could only do it themselves.
But as Ernst said, behind East Africa stands one-twentieth of the world's population. Russell did not believe that East Africa would be as easy to capture as India. In fact, during the South African War, Britain It has defined East Africa as "African Prussia" and is positive about East Africa's war capabilities.
Now twenty years have passed, even if the combat effectiveness of the East African army has declined, East Africa's industrial capabilities and war potential are not the same. At this time, a conflict with East Africa in the Indian Ocean will only benefit the Germans. There is no doubt that if East Africa and the United Kingdom If a war breaks out, Germany will definitely stab Britain in the back.
(End of this chapter)