Chapter 1123 East African Concerns

Ernst is naturally happy to see the French government's calculations come to fruition. Only when the competition between Germany and France becomes more intense can East Africa take more benefits from both ends.

As for France's tricks, Ernst believes that the impact on Germany is minimal. After all, East Africa is now in a period of rapid expansion of production capacity. Relying on the massive development funds obtained by large loans, all walks of life in East Africa have entered a stage of rapid development.

The so-called big orders from France can only be regarded as drizzle in the eyes of East Africa. After all, East Africa is not as short of money as Russia.

Moreover, Germany's dependence on East Africa far exceeds the expectations of other countries. It is not just a few orders that can affect the trade between Germany and East Africa. For example, cotton, rubber, oil, rare minerals, etc., the trade between East Africa and Germany is very extensive.

Just for cotton, Germany imports up to hundreds of thousands of tons from East Africa every year, and France obviously cannot block the cotton trade between Germany and East Africa by spending money. That would be an astronomical figure.

In the current period of rapid expansion of East African production capacity, other countries cannot influence East Africa's exports to other countries through trade situations, because they simply cannot buy all the goods, but France has no choice.

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France has adopted means of wooing East Africa, and Germany is naturally unwilling to be outdone. After 1913, Germany has spared no effort to win over East Africa.

Germany has always hoped to tie East Africa to the German chariot, but the East African government is not very willing in this regard. This has always been a headache for Germany. In the view of the German government, if East Africa can join forces with Germany, there will be almost no country in the world that can resist this powerful "German Alliance".

Shortly after sending Thomson away, German Ambassador to East Africa Carmon communicated with the East African government almost as usual.

Kamon started by painting a big picture for East Africa: "If East Africa and Germany form an alliance, East Africa will obtain British colonies such as India and Australia, become the hegemon of the Indian Ocean and Africa, and become the world's leading top power. A world order dominated by Germans will also be established all over the world."

It must be said that the conditions offered by the Germans are indeed very tempting. If any of them is achieved, East Africa's national strength will rise to a new height, but whether this cake can be eaten, the East African government obviously has its own ideas.

East African Foreign Minister Freer said: "Although East Africa has always supported Germany, we cannot afford the risk of war, so we can only give Germany all support except war."

For the East African government, Britain is not a paper tiger. As long as the East African royal army arrives, those British colonies can be easily obtained.

East Africa mainly considers two aspects, one is the United States and the other is Russia. Because of the existence of the United States, East Africa is not optimistic about Germany's situation, and Russia and East Africa are worried that the cooperation between East Africa and Germany will allow Britain and Russia to reach certain cooperation in the Indian Ocean.

In the Indian Ocean region, Russia must not be ignored. Russia has always had strong ambitions for the Indian Ocean, and the main reason why Russia has been unable to gain access to the Indian Ocean is the British containment of Russia.

Assuming that East Africa turns against Britain in the Indian Ocean region, Britain may reach a cooperation with Russia to jointly deal with East Africa on the northern shore of the Indian Ocean.

Moreover, Britain controls the three key nodes of the Red Sea, Malacca and the Cape of Good Hope, which controls the main channels for East Africa's foreign trade. As long as Britain dares to give up some interests in the Indian Ocean, it can completely prevent East Africa from expanding outward.

Take the Strait of Malacca as an example. Even if East Africa wants to conquer the Strait of Malacca, it may have to prepare for a long-term war, because Malacca is too far away from East Africa, and Britain can completely rely on terrain and fortifications to deal with East Africa. In addition, Britain can also introduce the power of Japan and the United States to assist Britain in ensuring the safety of this important transportation route.

If Japan or the United States really gets the Strait of Malacca, it will definitely be a heavy blow to East Africa. Not only will it lose overseas territories such as Alaska and Lan Fang, but East Africa may also lose the opportunity to go east to the Pacific Ocean.

The tangled web of international relations has made East Africa cautious. Britain's long-term hegemony has given Britain a lot of initiative. At least in most strategic locations, Britain has the ability to resist. This is not something that East Africa can easily resolve through a few wars. As long as East Africa can be delayed, Britain can use the power of other countries to bankrupt East Africa's ideas.

In the final analysis, the world system established by Britain in the past few hundred years is difficult to break. If a war breaks out, most countries in the world will stand on the side of Britain. This is also the brilliance of British colonization. In almost every region colonized by Britain, Britain has cultivated a large number of compradors and loyal dogs.

So at present, East Africa will never be the first to take action if it cannot guarantee a fatal blow to the world system established by Britain.

Even if East Africa can break this system now, the ultimate beneficiaries may be the United States, Russia, Japan and other countries.

In this case, it is better to let Britain continue to linger and wait until East Africa is fully prepared before striking hard at the British hegemony system.

After all, Britain is already a thing of the past and is declining at a visible rate. East Africa should now use Britain to maintain its system in the Indian Ocean region, slowly infiltrate it, and then take over Britain's legacy after all preparations are completed.

If the order established by Britain in the Indian Ocean suddenly collapses, it will definitely not be a good thing for East Africa. In addition to the possibility of attracting competitors such as the United States, Japan, and Russia, the collapse of the colonial order established by Britain may also suddenly make a large number of countries independent, and it is not easy for East Africa to control these independent countries.

After all, if Britain collapses, East Africa will become one of their biggest threats. In this case, they might as well continue to cooperate with Britain, the United States or Japan. At least these countries are far away, which can give them a sense of security.

In short, East Africa does not want Britain's colonial system in the Indian Ocean to suddenly collapse at this time, just like some European countries in the past did not want the Soviet Union to suddenly disintegrate.

When the Soviet Union existed, they could eat both ends and live very comfortably. Once the Soviet Union disappeared, the United States would dominate.

For example, France, when the Soviet Union existed, France could become a powerful country and even led the establishment of the European Union. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, France's influence dissipated at a visible speed and became the target of the United States. This is also an important reason why France later hoped that the Far East Empire would assume the responsibility of a world pole and confront the United States.

Because of its late establishment, East Africa's international influence has always been very limited. Although East Africa has actively expanded its influence in other countries and regions in recent years, this process still requires a long wait.

For example, along the Persian Gulf coast, East Africa has just obtained the Beibu Gulf territory, and other local forces still follow the lead of Britain. In the Indian Ocean coastal areas such as India and Southeast Asia, East Africa's influence is even weaker.

Therefore, if East Africa wants to gain hegemony in the Indian Ocean, there are many factors to consider, and it is definitely not as easy as Kamon said that a war can solve it.

Of course, the fundamental reason is that East Africa is not optimistic about Germany's victory in Europe, unless Germany defeats the three major powers of Britain, France and Russia at the same time, and can block the United States on the Atlantic coast, but Germany alone obviously cannot achieve this level.

The possibility of Germany's failure in Europe is too great, and if Germany fails, East Africa may face siege from other countries. Although there is no risk of national destruction, the possibility of turning East Africa into a large "North Korea" is still very high, and East Africa now does not want to close its doors to the outside world again.

Ultimately, East Africa is unwilling to take the risk of war. As long as East Africa can remain neutral, it can gain benefits. Normal people know how to choose, and East Africa does not have the gambling nature of countries like Germany and Japan.