African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 1060 Active Foreign Policy

This kind of push and pull will definitely not produce results in a short time. However, East Africa's approach has allowed Tsarist Russia to take advantage of it. There is no way to do this. After all, there is still Britain between East Africa and Tsarist Russia.

Tsarist Russia was definitely not willing to compromise with Britain. Without the disastrous defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, Russia would never have been willing to give in to Britain.

But the emergence of East Africa has given Russia a chance to breathe. Now in the Middle East and Central Asia, as long as Russia can absorb its own sphere of influence in the north, and then wait for the competition between East Africa and the United Kingdom, the Russian government also believes that its national strength can be improved to a certain extent during this period. recover.

"Don't be too anxious about our activities in the Middle East and Central Asia. After all, this place does not belong to our sphere of influence. The role of temporary intervention is mainly to pave the way for the future." Ernst said to the intelligence and diplomatic departments. officials said.

Britain has accumulated advantages in the Middle East and Central Asia for hundreds of years. Under normal circumstances, as long as there is no direct war, it is almost impossible to eliminate British influence in East Africa.

"The layout of the Middle East and Central Asia is a long-term task. Our purpose is to build up our own advantages bit by bit. When the UK has an unexpected event, we can easily take over the UK's influence in the region."

…

Far Eastern Empire.

As the power struggle within the ancient empire became increasingly severe, East Africa had to make corresponding changes to ensure East Africa's interests in the Far Eastern Empire.

Abetz, the Consulate General of East Africa in Jiaozhou, said: "Today's politics in the Far East are becoming more and more complex. In order to ensure that our interests lie in the political turmoil, we must support the relevant political forces, especially the local forces in the Huaihai Economic Zone that cooperate with us. , increase their voice.”

The arrival of the 20th century has further accelerated the decline of the power of the central government of the Far Eastern Empire. This political change can easily allow other forces to take advantage of it, and the first country in East Africa to guard against is Japan.

With the little friction between Britain and East Africa in the Middle East and Central Asia, Japan, the British pawn, was once again pulled out by Britain to cause trouble for East Africa.

This is more attractive to Japan. If it can be replaced by East Africa, it will greatly alleviate the current economic pressure on Japan.

Of course, the Japanese will not easily bite the pie painted by the British. Having just experienced the losses of the Russo-Japanese War, Japan's situation is no better than that of Russia. And as Russia retreats, Japan can play more roles in Northeast Asia. .

And completely offending East Africa is not something Japan can consider. Even if the Japanese navy has an advantage over the current East African navy, as long as Japan continues to do business with Europe, East Africa will have ways to cause trouble to Japan. Of course, the price may be that East Africa is also squeezed out. Far East.

Therefore, both Japan and East Africa have concerns. Japan cannot be easily pulled out by Britain to become a strong man, and Japan can also be seen in the conflict between East Africa and Britain. In Japan's view, if Britain and East Africa can both lose, then the Far East Empire can compete with Japan. There is only one America.

Therefore, of course, we must always be vigilant about Japan and East Africa. Consul General Abetz said to his subordinates: "Especially in Jiaozhou and the region, we must strictly monitor the forces related to Japan. If it is confirmed that they are involved with Japan, , we must strictly crack down to prevent Japan from infiltrating the Huaihai Economic Zone through various forms.”

Year-round dealings with Japan have enabled East African intelligence agencies to gain a lot of practical experience. The more they fight Japan, the more East African security agencies understand Japan's methods.

This has been reflected in the Russo-Japanese War. Japan is far stronger than Russia in intelligence work. Through business personnel, various forms of associations, and diplomats, Japan has weaved an effective intelligence in Northeast Asia. Network, which laid the information foundation for defeating Russia, so East Africa naturally has to guard against Japan doing this in the Huaihai Economic Zone.

Moreover, East Africa is no better than Russia. Russia has a strong military power in the Far East Empire. Even if it retreats to the north, it will still have a chance to make a comeback. However, the Huaihai Economic Zone in East Africa can only be regarded as a semi-economic colony.

There is nothing that can be done about this. As a semi-industrial country, East Africa has a natural advantage in trade with the Far Eastern Empire. As long as there is trade between the two sides, East Africa will definitely take advantage. Moreover, if the Far Eastern Empire wants to develop, it cannot break away from this form of trade. The semi-economic colony also makes East Africa's control over the Huaihai Economic Zone very weak, which also makes East Africa can only ensure East Africa's potential sphere of influence by strengthening cooperation with local forces.

And this kind of local force has a lot of initiative. For example, they can bypass and cooperate with British and Japanese capital in exchange for greater benefits. Such blind forces are naturally the target of severe crackdowns in East Africa. In particular, forces in contact with Japan are the targets of strict surveillance in East Africa.

"At the same time, according to the orders of the central government, as long as the upper-level legal government of the Far Eastern Empire still exists, our people should not interfere in the internal power struggle in the Far Eastern Empire." Abetz warned.

Even if the Qing government is finished, the north will not be divided into several local political factions like the south. After all, there is a high probability that the Beiyang government will take over the country's power, even if it is only in name. East Africa's attitude is neutral.

1908 was obviously a troubled year for East Africa. On the one hand, with the end of the Russo-Japanese War, the attention of countries around the world, especially the United Kingdom, began to turn to other regions, which naturally included East Africa. Any opportunity to dismantle East Africa would The UK cannot let it go.

On the other hand, as East Africa's industrialization develops, its demand for overseas markets is also increasing, which requires East Africa to start to adopt a more proactive foreign policy again and pave the way for East Africa's industrial exports.

Under this situation, East Africa mainly focuses on the three main markets of Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia, and the Far East, while vigorously developing the South American market. As for West Africa, there are too many European countries, and it is not within the scope of East Africa for the time being.

Therefore, in 1908, East Africa's foreign policy obviously turned proactive, increasing its influence in many hot spots and consolidating its basic base.

In the global market, the markets of Central and Eastern Europe and the Far East are the most important to East Africa, so they cannot be missed. The markets of the Middle East, Central Asia, and South America are in the development stage, which is also a manifestation of East Africa's expansion of its trade scope.

The intuitive manifestation is that the export volume of East African industrial products has increased, and with East Africa as the core, it has conquered territory within the global market, further intensifying the competitive pressure on the economies of various countries around the world.

At the same time, diplomatic activities in East Africa have become more frequent, especially in South America and the Middle East, with direct dialogue with high-level governments of local countries and regions to achieve relevant cooperation.

Of course, as a major power, East Africa will also use intimidation, threats and other methods. However, due to its limited naval capabilities, it can only have a certain effect on the countries surrounding East Africa for the time being.

Therefore, compared to other major powers, East Africa is relatively amiable. This is not an exception in the world. For example, the situation in the United States and the Austro-Hungarian Empire is similar.

What the three countries have in common is that their influence on countries outside the region is restricted by the rules of the game and the international system established by Britain and France, and thus cannot be used effectively.

Unlike Germany and Russia, the military strength of the two countries is recognized as relatively strong, so they have a relatively high say in the international community. The military strength of other countries, especially East Africa, is most easily questioned.

Of course, the military strength here refers more to each country's judgment of combat effectiveness. At least European countries tend to belittle the military of non-European countries. For example, the military strength of the United States is easily ignored. This is still the case when the U.S. Navy is relatively powerful. situation.

At present, the naval strength of East Africa cannot be compared with the top countries. Although East Africa has the number of dreadnoughts in the world second only to the United Kingdom, the gap in other warships is too big. It only relies on two dreadnoughts and one quasi-dreadnought. Ships cannot offset this gap for the time being.

(End of chapter)