Chapter 1084 Confidence

The British government soon authorized Russell, the current ambassador to East Africa, to negotiate with the East African government, and 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 national development conditions of our country. Compared with the United Kingdom, East Africa is a weak and poor country, so we need more Participate in international trade and pave the way for East Africa’s development.”

The implication is that it is impossible for East Africa to 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 its attitude towards East Africa is relatively 'friendly'. However, the behavior of the East African government is definitely not what you said. The Persian Gulf and South America are the core of the empire. interests, East Africa’s actions have undoubtedly caused substantial harm to our country’s interests.”

Ernst was naturally unable to admit it. He said: "Any activities in East Africa in the Persian Gulf and South America are legal and just. 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 seize food from the British tiger's mouth, and the British control of the two regions is relatively weak. Even in the Persian Gulf region, the British only protect its own interests by supporting puppet regimes. Of course, , Britain itself also has a strong military presence in the Persian Gulf region, so the little trick in East Africa will definitely not be effective in a short time.

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 leanings, they will focus on their own countries. This means that they are more valuable to win over. Therefore, East Africa’s current diplomacy towards South America The attitude 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.

Therefore, 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.

Moreover, this kind of economic competition is not too prominent. East Africa is developing its 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. It is mainly the industrial products that the two countries mainly trade. The categories do not overlap.

Take East Africa's automobiles and electric products, these two advantageous export categories, 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 example is the British cotton textile industry. Although East Africa is a big country in the textile industry, the cotton textile industry in East Africa still mainly meets the needs of the domestic market. This is reflected in other light industrial fields. Many light industrial commodities in East Africa are simply not internationally competitive.

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 have been happy to see the results. But once the Far Eastern Empire touched on mid- to high-end industrial production, the United States would have changed 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 developed to this stage. Currently, the 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, thus posing a threat to the United Kingdom. Not as straightforward as Germany.

Today, the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom is similar to the relationship between the Far Eastern Empire and the United States in the early 21st century. The United States' 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 caused the United Kingdom to be wary of the development of the United States.

On the other hand, things are different in East Africa. In addition to domestic capital, almost all of the economic development dividends in East Africa have been contributed to Germany, Austria, France and other countries. However, the United Kingdom did not participate due to its own diplomatic reasons with East Africa, but did not receive much benefit. .

Therefore, the British government first takes East Africa as a breakthrough point. In the final analysis, it is still a case of picking 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: "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 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 were more than ten years ago, Ernst might have given in due to the limitation of national power. However, the strong national power of East Africa now gives Ernst 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 not afraid of threats from any country in the world. And 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 be able to maintain such dignity, but facing a big country like East Africa that was 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 make certain contributions to regional peace, especially The development of the navy should be within a reasonable framework. As for other aspects, it can be resolved through negotiation. I believe that the empire and East Africa will reach a mutually satisfactory result. "

In the end, Russell still gave East Africa the respect it deserved based on its strength and status. After all, East Africa was not like Russia. Britain could suppress Russia's development by supporting Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Far East Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and even Japan. If you live in East Africa, you can only do it yourself in the UK.

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 control as India. In fact, during the South African War, the British had already defined East Africa as " "African Prussia" still expressed affirmation of 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.