Chapter 1292: Indian Issues

Rhine Palace.

As the conversation between Freer and Thomson became public, the East African senior officials present also began heated discussions.

Ernst asked: "What do you think of these four colonies that the French want to hand over to us?"

Finance Minister Rogans said: "The French clearly intend to divert trouble to the east, which may lead to future disputes with the United Kingdom."

"But the French are not generous enough in doing things. Their colonies are really useless. Take the three French colonies in India as an example. They are at most three slightly larger colonial strongholds. They are small in area and Most of the local businesses and factories are owned by French people.”

"It is also impossible for us to use strong measures to deal with these French companies and factories, and if we leave these French companies aside, there will be even fewer places for us to take advantage of."

"At the same time, the security of France's colonies in India is not high. Both the Dutch and the British seized these areas from the French in the past, and finally returned them to France for various reasons."

"And the port conditions here are not very good. Take the local governance and Garigarh. Their ports are built entirely on rivers that lead to the sea. There are no bays. Only Yanam, which is located in the Godavari River delta, has slightly better conditions. "

India's coastline is quite long, even longer than the coastline of East Africa itself. Of course, this is the result of counting Burma, Bangladesh, and Palestine in the previous life.

However, most of India's coastlines are too straight and there are no conditions for port construction. Take the east coast as an example, its straightness is almost as straight as the coast of Somalia in East Africa.

After so many years, East Africa has only built two large ports on the Somali coastline, Mogadishu and Kismayo.

East Africa's infrastructure capabilities obviously far exceed those of India, but it has not built many ports on its own coastline in Somalia.

In addition to Somalia's arid climate, desert coastal areas, small population, and small economic aggregate, the straight coastline is also an important reason why it is difficult for East Africa to develop new ports on the Somali coastline.

This is not to say that East Africa does not attach importance to the Somali coastline. After all, Somalia is the northeastern gateway to East Africa. The East African Navy has always wanted to find an area near the Somali coastline to build a military port.

However, in the absence of ready-made bays and ports, Mogadishu can only be used as a makeshift port. This is also the main reason why Mogadishu has become a dual-use military and civilian port.

The conditions of the Indian coastline are similar to those of the Somali coastline. The only difference is that India's climate, population, and economic size are much stronger than those of Somalia.

However, the development of Mogadishu and Kismayo is mainly based on the Shabelle and Juba rivers, which have considerable economic hinterland. In contrast, India lacks such regional large rivers.

The Godavari River where Yanan is located is in good condition. It is the largest river in central and southern India and reaches almost directly to the west coast of India. However, the shipping conditions are not high.

Originating from the Deccan Plateau, the entire river flows through a large area with large differences, which is similar to the river situation in East Africa. Therefore, it is suitable for the development of hydropower, but not suitable for shipping.

India obviously does not have the ability to manage this river, and the British obviously have no such plan. After all, if investment is to be made, the Gange River Basin and the Bengal region are more valuable.

Ernst also quite agreed with what Logans said: "If there were really no problems in these places, the British would not have allowed the French to control them, and the French would not have willingly handed over these places. to us."

Logans said: "Yes, Your Majesty, according to our investigation, the French government does not pay much attention to this place. At most, it uses these three places as supply points and ship docking points for trade between France and the East."

"The local industry and agriculture are not very developed. Although the French have invested in a number of enterprises, most of them are small in scale and have low technical content. Most of them are mainly engaged in rough processing of agricultural products."

Ernst said: "In this case, do you think the empire should build a colony here?"

Friel said: "Your Majesty, I think we should eat these three colonies of France. Although these three colonies have limited economic and strategic value to us, they are indeed an opportunity for us to penetrate India."

"East Africa and India have relatively frequent trade exchanges, but this cannot change the situation that India is almost completely controlled by the British. Of course, India being a British colony is not something we should worry about."

"What we should be most worried about is India becoming an independent country again, especially during the hundreds of years of British rule over India, its continuous external expansion has resulted in the entire area of ​​India exceeding more than three million square kilometers."

"Needless to say, India's natural conditions, its arable land and resource conditions, are fully capable of supporting it to become a world power."

"Moreover, if India becomes an independent world power, this will pose the greatest threat to East Africa. Although India is much closer to the Far Eastern Empire and Russia than we are, due to the terrain barrier and India's unique geographical location, it will pose a serious threat to East Africa. The empire is the greatest threat.”

Although India is closer to Russia and the Far Eastern Empire, and even directly borders the two countries, or the affiliated forces of the two countries, they are separated by plateaus and mountains, which are still the most dangerous plateaus and mountains in the world.

The Indian territory is directly inserted into the Indian Ocean, which gives India a natural foundation to become a major country in the Indian Ocean. This can be seen from the name of the Indian Ocean.

East Africa, which regards the Indian Ocean as its core interest in marine strategy, obviously cannot allow a powerful country to emerge around the Indian Ocean that can threaten its hegemony in the Indian Ocean.

Although Britain currently has the strength to threaten East Africa in the Indian Ocean, the core of Britain is ultimately its homeland. The British have no intention of developing colonies along the Indian Ocean coast such as India. If the British can maintain their colonial rule in India, then Britain will obviously continue to suppress the development of India.

The problem with India is that the British cannot always maintain their colonial rule in India. As the colonial era enters its final stage, the East African government also has such an understanding.

That is, the cost of colonization of overseas colonies is getting higher and higher. Take India as an example. Although the British want to suppress the development of India, they have to rely on the local Indian princes and nobles or compradors to maintain their rule in India.

In this way, the power held by the local ruling class in India is getting bigger and bigger, and they have obtained technology, industry and military capabilities through cooperation with the British.

This can be seen from the industrial development of India. Although under British rule, India's industry must rely on the British large industrial system to exist, even if it is an incomplete industry, it is still industry.

In the current situation where many countries in the world do not even have industry, India is already much stronger than its neighboring countries if it can master some industries.

In order to reduce costs and risks, British companies will not completely obey the government's arrangements. Take the cotton textile industry as an example. The British government naturally hopes that India will grow cotton and engage in textile production locally.

However, in this way, companies will have to bear more transportation costs, labor costs and risks. After all, the distance from India to the UK is not far. It is obviously unnecessary for many companies to transport cotton to the UK for processing and then ship it back to India for sale.

So over the years, more and more companies have chosen to build textile factories directly in India to produce and sell on the spot.

Moreover, Britain has completed industrialization, and the local labor cost is high. Obviously, the price of Indians is lower, and because it is a colony, there is no need to worry about their riots when exploiting them.

With the activeness of the Labour Party in Europe and the improvement of the thinking of the lower-class people in Europe, workers' strikes, factory riots, and even unrest like Russia to overthrow the current capitalist regime are common.