Chapter 951 The idea failed

Of course, the so-called international morality is worthless in the eyes of all countries. Since the United States has declared war on Spain, it would not have been a problem if it had not mentioned the Philippines earlier. Even if it really attacked the Spanish mainland, there would be no problem.

However, now that East Africa and France are on the platform, Spain really holds on to this point and negotiates with the United States on the issue of the Philippines, and the United States naturally cannot spit out the Philippines again.

The final result of the compromise between the two sides is that the United States purchased the Philippines. The amount is still 20 million US dollars, the same as in history. However, compared with history, the United States is definitely losing blood this time. On the one hand, the losses in this war are greater. On the other hand, the Philippines' Mindanao Island has been sold to East Africa, so the United States spent the same price and can only get two-thirds of the Philippines.

And Spain felt even more wronged. If it had known this earlier, it would have been better to sell the entire Philippines to Germany before the war. 20 million US dollars is not a low price, but Germany definitely gave more. The most important thing is that the country's navy will not be completely wiped out.

Don't look at the fact that the Philippine Navy was not strong before, but now the Spanish Navy is equivalent to a direct fault. Even if the previous Philippine Navy is placed in Spain now, it can at least maintain a decent navy in terms of total tonnage.

…

The first town city.

"Regarding the results of the Spanish-American War, the two countries formally signed an agreement on the 19th of this month. The United States obtained colonies such as Cuba and the Philippines. As far as we know, Britain and Germany also benefited from this war, and some islands in the east of the Philippines fell into the hands of Germany."

In fact, this is not the first time that Germany has done this. For example, the Nauru Island in the Pacific Ocean that Ernst coveted was taken from Spain by Germany in 1888.

In fact, Ernst has regretted it. If he had known that it would be so easy to buy land from Spain, he should have grabbed more islands in the Pacific.

However, this also gave Ernst a reminder that now that the Spanish train is gone, there is still a Netherlands in the South Pacific. The Netherlands has a lot of land, especially Kalimantan Island. Taking advantage of the residual power of this war between the United States and Spain, maybe a deal can be reached.

What does the Spanish-American War have to do with East Africa buying territory from the Netherlands! In fact, it has a lot of relationship. The Spanish-American War once again showed the world's jungle law to those small countries. Powers like Spain will be beaten up by more powerful countries, let alone a "small" country like the Netherlands.

Of course, although the Netherlands is small, it is not a weak country. In all aspects, it is much stronger than the half-dead Portugal, otherwise it would not be possible to hold a large territory in the Dutch East Indies.

And why Ernst focused on the territory of Kalimantan in the hands of the Netherlands? It was naturally for the resources on the island.

The Lanfang Overseas Province in East Africa is actually a resource-scarce area, while Sarawak, Brunei, and North Borneo, which are in the British sphere of influence in the north, have rich oil and gas resources. East Africa naturally cannot take advantage of Britain.

The territory of Kalimantan controlled by the Netherlands has not only oil, but also a large amount of coal and other resources. The coal resources in the south of Kalimantan alone account for 60% of Indonesia in the previous life. At the same time, the oil field in the east of Kalimantan is also one of the three major oil and gas areas in Indonesia in the previous life (the other two are Java and Sumatra).

Moreover, the civilization level of Kalimantan is low, and its importance to the Netherlands is far less than that of Java and Sumatra. In the Dutch East Indies, Java is the absolute core, and Sumatra is part of the Strait of Malacca.

Therefore, Kalimantan, which borders East Africa and the United Kingdom at the same time, is like a hot potato for the Netherlands.

Thinking of this, Ernst immediately asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to negotiate with the Netherlands. With the precedent of Mindanao, if the southern and eastern parts of Kalimantan can be obtained through peaceful means, it would be the best. If not, it would not be a big deal. Anyway, according to the national strength of the Netherlands, it will withdraw from the East Indies sooner or later.

Soon, East Africa's probing of the Dutch government received feedback, and the two sides did not reach a preliminary consensus. The main reason was that the Netherlands itself was relatively wealthy and shrewd, so the price was high.

The Dutch business culture is strong, so when the East African government proposed to buy Kalimantan, the Dutch immediately began to calculate East Africa's purpose.

This is also easy to guess. East Africa already has the Lan Fang Overseas Province on Kalimantan Island, so according to the Dutch speculation, East Africa wants to expand the scope of the Lan Fang Overseas Province.

In recent years, East Africa's expansion speed in the Southeast Asia region has not been slow, especially after acquiring Mindanao Island, it is also one of the most powerful colonial powers in the Southeast Asia region.

Mindanao Island and Kalimantan Island are across the sea from each other. If East Africa controls the eastern part of Kalimantan Island, it can connect the two colonies into one.

So the reason why East Africa wants to buy Kalimantan Island is reasonable and sufficient, but in the eyes of the Netherlands, Kalimantan Island is equally important to the country. It is the second largest colony of the Netherlands.

The first is also Sumatra Island. Sumatra Island has an area of ​​more than 400,000 square kilometers, and the area of ​​Dutch Kalimantan Island is also more than 400,000 square kilometers, only slightly less than Sumatra Island.

The area of ​​Kalimantan Island is more than 700,000 square kilometers. Because of the United Kingdom and East Africa, it is not entirely occupied by the Netherlands. Otherwise, Dutch Kalimantan Island is probably the largest colony of the Netherlands.

In fact, Kalimantan is the largest island in Asia and ranks third in the world, after Greenland and New Guinea.

New Guinea also had Dutch colonies, but like Kalimantan, New Guinea was divided into three parts, belonging to the Netherlands, Britain and Germany.

The Dutch colony on Kalimantan was more than 400,000 square kilometers, which was four times that of Mindanao. In the eyes of the Dutch, Kalimantan was no less important than the Philippines, so they directly asked for 200 million Rhine guilders, which was almost twice the price of the United States "buying" the Philippines. After all, in terms of area, Dutch Kalimantan was indeed twice the size of the Philippines (excluding Mindanao).

East Africa naturally could not accept this offer. With so much money, East Africa could build its own navy and take over all of Kalimantan.

The Netherlands was not in a hurry. In their view, East Africa needed the Netherlands, so it would be best if they could accept this offer. If they did not accept it, the Netherlands could simply not sell it.

"If we really spend 200 million Rhine guilders to buy Kalimantan from the Dutch, it would be a real international joke. The climate conditions in Kalimantan are only slightly better than Alaska, and the population is not large. The Dutch dare to ask for a high price." Ernst said to his subordinates.

Nowadays, East Africa spends money everywhere, so Ernst expects that a "bad land" like Kalimantan Island would cost only a few million dollars at best. If it exceeds 10 million US dollars, Ernst will feel that he is losing money.

After all, buying it will not immediately increase East Africa's national strength. Ernst is just planning for East Africa in the future, and Kalimantan Island is not a must.

According to the historical process of the previous life, as long as East Africa seizes the opportunity, Kalimantan Island will still fall into the hands of East Africa in a few decades at most. Even if there is no Japan, the troublemaker in the South Seas, the national strength of East Africa at that time will be enough to make the Dutch get out of the South Seas in disgrace.

This attempt also discouraged Ernst's enthusiasm for messing around. The situation in Mindanao and Alaska cannot be easily replicated. It is most cost-effective to spend more money to enhance the strength of East Africa.