Chapter 1289 Eastern-French relations rely on Britain

Faced with Ambassador Thomson's pointed gesture, Freer easily understood the other meaning of Ambassador Thomson's words.

That is, after the war, France and East Africa reached a tacit understanding to jointly deal with the pressure from Britain and the United States. After all, Britain and the United States are both Anglo-Saxon countries, and the two countries have a wide range of cooperation space.

Britain is still the world hegemon, with fertile and large colonies such as India, Canada, and Australia, and it controls the world's financial hegemony and has accumulated science and technology and experience for a hundred years. The United States has a strong industrial base and just lacks Britain's raw materials, markets and technology.

In this case, France naturally has to be wary of the British. After all, Britain and France have been enemies for hundreds of years, but the Germans have only diverted their attention in recent years.

Looking at the powers other than the Allies, Russia's future is currently unclear, Spain's role is limited, and the United States and Japan are relatively close to Britain.

France is also worried that it will be isolated in the future, so France needs to find a suitable partner to stabilize France's international status and voice after the war.

Of course, all this is based on the premise that France is a victorious country. If France fails in World War I, these issues will not need to be considered by Thomson and other French high-level officials.

Following Thomson's words, Freer also began to think about the possibility of cooperation between East Africa and the French.

In fact, in addition to the fact that East Africa is a German country, East Africa and France do have a good basis for cooperation.

Although France has always been suppressed by the British, it is second only to Britain in all aspects. For example, in the financial field, France is the strongest country except Britain.

Before World War I, France was called "usury imperialism". The French, who hold a lot of wealth, invested heavily all over the world, and its scale was second only to Britain.

The largest investors in France are Russia and East Africa. Before the outbreak of the war, East Africa received far more loans from France than other countries.

This situation is mainly caused by the national conditions of France and East Africa.

French industrial capital is relatively backward among the great powers, especially after the Lorraine and Alsace industrial areas in the northeast were taken away by Germany, which further promoted the development of French financial capital.

After all, the cost of investing in local industry is too high, and France's fertility rate has always remained at a low level. In addition, the living standards of the French people are relatively high compared to other countries. At this time, the number of French workers has long lagged behind other powerful countries.

Since modern times, France has been the second most powerful country in Europe after Britain, and has accumulated a lot of social wealth. In the case of poor investment in its own country, investing overseas has naturally become the first choice for French capital.

And unlike Britain's enthusiasm for productive investment, France is keen on issuing public debt to other countries, many of which are usurious. Most of the loans issued by France to Russia are of this type.

Although such loans are difficult to repay, Russia, a weak link in imperialism, obviously has no better choice, so the two countries are also like Zhou Yu fighting Huang Gai, one willing to fight and the other willing to be beaten.

In addition to Russia, there are many countries that have borrowed such loans from France, which is also the source of the name of "usurious imperialism".

And the interest of France's loans to East Africa is relatively far lower than that of France's loans to Russia and other countries.

Because when East Africa borrowed money on a large scale, the scale of its industry was already considerable, and its economy was on an upward trend, so East Africa had the right to bargain.

Although lending to East Africa would not yield as much as other countries, the East African government had drawn such a big pie at the time, and the debt market of billions of Rhine guilders was so attractive that no country could resist it.

Moreover, East Africa's international credit has always been good. Unlike Russia, East Africa has no record of default. Due to various reasons, East Africa received a lot of investment from France at that time.

Although most of East Africa's debt to France has been repaid, this does not mean that the transaction between the two countries has ended. After all, East Africa has exported industrial products and war materials, and those French businessmen who invested in East Africa and the French government have indeed gained a lot of benefits.

If France wins the war in the future, France will definitely be able to eat a lot of benefits, and East Africa, a country that has already had a cooperation experience, will definitely become a hot spot for French financial investment again.

This is similar to the British's enthusiasm for investing in American industry in the past.

Furthermore, France, as the second largest empire in European history after Britain, has a strong influence in the world second only to Britain.

France and its colonies are also one of the world's largest suppliers and markets for raw materials, both of which are currently lacking in East Africa.

Although the development of French industry in recent years has not been satisfactory, they have international connections and channels second only to Britain, such as the typical industry of luxury goods.

France has long been a benchmark for world luxury goods. Through cultural exports and packaging, France has a profound influence in the field of high-end goods and artworks.

This is obviously also what East Africa lacks. Even though East Africa played an important role in the Second Industrial Revolution, East African industrial products, especially consumer goods, lack historical heritage and cultural blessing.

If East Africa wants to get involved in high-end consumer goods or cultural goods, using French channels is a good choice.

In addition, although France has not made much progress in industry among the great powers, it has profound advantages in technology and academic fields and has always been one of the academic exchange centers in Europe.

For example, the Curies, one of the pioneers in the study of radioactive materials, show that France is still forward-looking and has profound accumulation in the academic field and scientific research.

In addition, France has technological advantages in traditional fields, and East Africa also has urgent needs. East Africa basically missed the era of the first industrial revolution, so it has deficiencies in machine tools, basic physics, chemistry, steam engine technology, mathematics and many other aspects.

These, in turn, happen to be the advantages of a first-mover country like France. It is impossible for East Africa to surpass these countries with centuries of accumulation and experience in all aspects through decades of efforts.

With this calculation, Freer is more interested in the cooperation mentioned by Thomson, and he doesn't mind selling the French a good deal.

Freer said: "We in East Africa are certainly happy to cooperate with France in international affairs in the future and work together for world peace. We also hope to further strengthen cooperation between the two countries in the fields of economy, culture, scientific research and technology, colonies, etc."

"As Ambassador Thomson said, there is a lot of room for cooperation between the two countries, especially in the face of Anglo-Saxon hegemony. We in East Africa respect your interests."

The friendly relationship between East Africa and France is all due to pulling down Britain. After all, the two countries have similar emotions and historical origins when facing Britain.

The French used to be enemies with Britain, but now they have to stand together to deal with the threat of Germany. East Africa also fought with Britain because of southern Africa in the past, and the relationship has eased in recent years.

But in the final analysis, East Africa and France still have more disgust and vigilance against Britain, so pulling down the British is the catalyst for the rapid rapprochement between East Africa and France.

Although Ambassador Thomson did not obtain the commitment of the East African government, he had a good harvest by hearing these words from Freer, which at least showed that there was still room for cooperation between East Africa and France.

After all, if even East African high-level officials like Freer showed indifference or disgust towards his attitude, then France would be in real danger.

Now Freer could communicate with him in a friendly manner, which to a certain extent showed that East Africa would not be able to join the war for the time being, and naturally would not join the Allied camp.

So in order to continue to win over East Africa and let it stand idly by in the war, Ambassador Thomson decided to give East Africa some practical "sweets" first.