Chapter 1313 Deal Done

When it comes to territorial issues, East Africa has always liked to adopt the method of extermination to eliminate local hidden dangers.

Moreover, East Africa has long been unhappy with the Horn of Africa. A large number of Somali subjugation parties fled to the Horn of Africa, and due to the British occupation of this area, it was difficult for East Africa to take action. Now Ernst will naturally not miss this opportunity.

Of course, Ernst also had other considerations in wiping out the remaining Somali forces in the Horn of Africa, which was to completely clear out the black forces in Northeast Africa.

The Somali region is different from the Abyssinian Empire. The Abyssinian Empire is a mixed race, while the Somali region is purely black, but they believe in Arabic religion.

Black people believe in Arabic religion and are hostile to East Africa. It can be said that they have violated East Africa's taboos in all aspects. The remaining Somali forces in the Horn of Africa have long been noted in the East African government's notebooks.

Today, the black people in the Horn of Africa are the only pure black forces bordering East Africa. Therefore, acquiring the Horn of Africa and eliminating the local Arab black forces are worthy of East Africa's action.

Of course, the Horn of Africa is only an issue in this round of negotiations between East Africa and the UK, so Ernst only expressed East Africa's attitude.

Ambassador Thomson said: "The Horn of Africa is one of our British sincerity, and the next exchange of interests between us and East Africa involves the issue of the Indian colonies that East Africa obtained from France."

"The empire is willing to exchange Socotra Islands, Chagos Islands, and Gwadar for three East African colonial strongholds on the Indian Peninsula."

As soon as this statement came out, it immediately caused a commotion in East Africa. Senior East African officials began to whisper among themselves, and Ernst's face became serious.

This time the United Kingdom has thrown out a big bait. Whether it is the Socotra Islands or the Chagos Islands, they are extremely attractive to East Africa.

As for Gwadar, this place is worth savoring, because Gwadar is the territory of Oman, but this area is an enclave of Oman and was located in Pakistan in the previous life.

East African Defense Minister Pripyat said: "Your country is indeed sincere, but Gwadar is the territory of Oman, which means that the only areas where your country actually trades with us are the Socotra Islands and Chagos." Islands.”

"But in my personal opinion, the value of these two areas is much lower than our three East African colonies in India."

Although the three colonies in India obtained by East Africa from France were small in area, they had completely different meanings in terms of value.

The main reason is that India played a huge role in the rise of Britain, and even now India has become an important support for the survival of British hegemony.

Pripyat said this, of course, to raise the price of East Africa in the Indian colonies.

Ernst also added at this time: "Yes, India is an important market. Although the Socotra Islands and Chagos Islands have certain strategic value, they obviously cannot be compared with India."

Here Ernst secretly changed a concept and equated the three colonial strongholds in India with India. However, this was exactly what the British were worried about.

Thomson explained: "Everyone, let's not mention the strategic value of Socotra Islands and Chagos Islands. Let's take your country's three colonies in India as an example."

"These three colonies are very small in area and do not have much practical significance to your country. Therefore, we, the British Empire, come with full sincerity. If your price is too outrageous, we are willing to give up this negotiation."

Ernst said: "Why not, Ambassador Thomson, for us in East Africa, the value of the Chagos Islands is not as good as the Seychelles. If your country is willing to replace the Chagos Islands with the Seychelles, we can naturally Withdraw from India.”

Thomson directly refused: "This is impossible. The Seychelles is also an important part of the British Empire's global interests, so it is impossible for us to exchange the Seychelles."

The UK is naturally very aware of the importance of the Seychelles to East Africa. The reason why it chose the Chagos Islands to trade with East Africa is because the Chagos Islands are far less important than the Seychelles.

Although the Chagos Islands are located in the middle of the Indian Ocean, their role for the United Kingdom is now of little importance. This is mainly due to the changes in the geopolitics of the Indian Ocean caused by the rise of East Africa and the impact of today's advances in ship technology.

In the past, ships crossing the ocean needed to stop frequently to replenish supplies and supplies due to technical reasons. For example, the United Kingdom and France have set up many coaling stations overseas.

As the name suggests, a coaling station is a place where coal is added to ships when they dock. After all, the mainstream power for ships today is steam engines.

In the previous Russo-Japanese War, Russia lacked overseas colonies, so its warships had to carry a large amount of coal, which had a great impact on the war.

With the advancement of ship technology, today's ships are faster, sail farther, and take less time. This greatly saves the consumption of energy and material supplies, so some important places in the past appear less important. important.

The Chagos Islands fall into this category, and although the Chagos Islands are in the center of the Indian Ocean, they are not on the main trade route of the Indian Ocean.

At the same time, its natural conditions are far less superior than those of Seychelles. Of course, the British government obviously also intends to use Seychelles to check and balance East Africa.

After all, why does East Africa want the Seychelles? The British government knows very well that the Seychelles involves the security of the east coast of East Africa, so the Seychelles must not be easily given to East Africa.

After hearing Thomson's clean and neat refusal, Ernst thought for a moment and said, "If that's the case, we can't agree to use the Indian colony to make this deal with your country."

"If we can only get the Chagos Archipelago and the Socotra Archipelago, then we can trade two of the Indian colonies to your country at most."

In this way, East Africa still has a colonial outpost in India that can be used to make a fuss.

Thomson reminded: "There are three pieces, including Gwadar. I still hope that your country can accept our approach."

Ernst said: "Gwadar does not have much practical significance for our East Africa, and Gwadar is Omani territory, so it cannot be used as a bargaining chip for negotiations between the two countries."

Gwadar is really not attractive to East Africa. After all, its conditions are still relatively poor. Although it is close to the Persian Gulf, if East Africa wants to intervene in the Persian Gulf region, there are many options, not Gwadar.

Thomson saw Ernst's insistence, and he said: "In this case, I can only ask for instructions from the country first, and then negotiate with your country."

East Africa's demands are not something that Thomson can decide personally. After all, he is just a mouthpiece for the London government.

Therefore, the negotiations fell into a deadlock that day, and the most critical issues were the Seychelles issue and the Indian issue.

London quickly responded that the Seychelles must continue to be controlled by the UK. As for East Africa's unwillingness to trade the Indian colonies completely, it would be acceptable to take back two pieces first.

So, the next day, the focus of the negotiations between the East African government and the UK shifted to which two Indian colonies East Africa would trade with the UK.

In the end, East Africa decided to only keep the Indian colony of Kaligar, and exchange territory with the UK for Pondicherry and Yanan.

The disputed area of ​​Gwadar was negotiated by the British government and Oman, and finally handed over by the UK to East Africa.

Although Gwadar is an enclave of Oman, Oman's rule here is completely nominal, so the handover between the three countries is very smooth.

The reason why Britain gave Gwadar to East Africa was actually to provide East Africa with a springboard to enter Central Asia. Gwadar was historically the seaport of Afghanistan, and beyond Afghanistan was the Central Asian region controlled by Russia, which actually included northern Afghanistan and was also Russia's sphere of influence.