Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 1388 Double Standard

Liberia does not dare to reject the United States, nor does it dare to make Southern Africa its enemy.

After the United States abolished slavery, it sent a large number of free blacks back to Africa. This is how Liberia came into being. To put it bluntly, this is a group of people abandoned by the United States. It doesn’t matter how loyal Liberians are to the United States, it’s just the situation.

Looking at the map, you can see that Côte d’Ivoire in the east of Liberia and Guinea in the north are French colonies, and Sierra Leone in the west is a British protectorate. Liberia is about 7500 kilometers away from the continental United States, so Liberia dares not reject the Americans or provoke the United Kingdom. Man, like a mouse in a bellows, suffers from both ends.

While Agent Brad was waiting for an opportunity to act, James Payne, a senior manager of Nyasaland, came to the Liberian Presidential Palace as scheduled to discuss a business with President Charles King.

Don't be surprised, in Africa, Nyasaland has this capability.

"Our Nyasaland company wants to make some investments in Liberia, mine mines, forest resources, and set up some rubber plantations. Your Excellency, you know that we need a lot of natural rubber in southern Africa." James Payne calmly said, He was not restrained because of Charles King's identity.

"Of course, Mr. Payne, we welcome all investments, as long as they are beneficial to Liberia." Charles King's expression was not relaxed. He knew the background of Nyasaland Corporation and the energy of Nyasaland Corporation.

A long time ago, Nyasaland’s influence has gone out of the southern African country and began to radiate to the surrounding areas of southern Africa.

Different from ordinary commercial enterprises, Nyasaland Company has a complex background and powerful strength, and can even mobilize mercenaries from the umbrella company at any time.

Therefore, the introduction of Nyasaland's investment is a double-edged sword. It may bring benefits to Liberia, but it may also have adverse effects on Liberia.

The point is, even if Nyasaland’s investment does not bring benefits to Liberia, once Nyasaland enters Liberia, it will be even more difficult to expel Nyasaland. This is how easy it is to ask God It's hard to send God off.

"We hope to have the same rights and status as Firestone, but our Nyasaland company is different from Firestone. We will not wantonly abuse our rights and hurt the feelings of Liberians. A win-win situation is our goal." Purpose.” James Payne had something to say, Firestone Company is an American company, and its status in Liberia is like a country within a country.

Two years ago, Firestone entered Liberia and expanded aggressively in Liberia. Now it has established several rubber plantations in Liberia and employs Liberians to work in the plantations.

It sounds good, but in fact, Firestone’s actions are disgraceful. The company colluded with political leaders from all over Liberia, confiscated all the land of the freemen and turned them into plantations, drove the freemen to work in the plantations, and the plantation workers were punished. To the cruel treatment of the Firestone Company, life is extremely miserable, and the income is pitifully small.

In order to obtain more cheap Liberian workers, Firestone Company has set up a special labor bureau in Monrovia and branch offices in various places. Every time these workers are transported into the rubber plantation, Firestone Company will donate to the local labor force. The Chief and the Bureau of Labor each pay a penny a day.

One cent is roughly equivalent to 0.5 pence.

Fawalt employs African workers from around southern Africa, and the marginal cost paid is about one pound per month.

Converted to about 8p a day.

Calculated in this way, the cost of acquiring African-American workers for Fawalt is about 8 times that of Firestone.

The cost of the African-American workers employed by Fawalt Company is already low enough. Unexpectedly, the cost of Firestone Company is actually lower than that of Fawalt Company. Compared with Firestone Company, Henry is simply a great benevolent person.

"Mr. Payne, I don't understand your words—" Charles Jin pretended to be confused. If the news about Firestone Company got out, it would cause a major earthquake in Liberia's political circle.

Although Liberia is an African country, it regards the United States as the standard everywhere and advertises itself as a democratic country.

It is hard to imagine that the Firestone Company is actually a system of universal suffrage.

Of course, the "universal suffrage" here is in quotation marks. Two years ago, Charles King was elected president and claimed to have received 234000 votes.

The ridiculous thing is that there were only 15000 people in Liberia eligible to vote at that time.

Oh, democracy.

"Your Excellency, you don't need to understand too much. You just need to know that our Nyasaland Company is different from Firestone Company. From the standpoint of Liberia, you must also hope that Firestone Company can have a Competitors, so that Liberia will gain greater benefits." James Payne was extremely powerful, if he dared to speak to Roque like this, he would be sunk into Lake Niassa in minutes.

Charles King had an ugly expression. If he was a white or a Chinese, he could probably describe it as turning white and then red.

It's a pity that it's not suitable for Charles King. Even if his face is red and feverish, others can't see it.

James Payne is not in a hurry. Firestone earns millions of dollars from Liberia every year, but the Liberian government receives very little. Do you think Charles King has any thoughts?

Of course, the fact that the Liberian government has gained very little does not mean that Charles King himself has gained nothing.

It is a pity that this topic cannot be expanded.

"How much money are you going to invest?" Charles King didn't stay silent for too long.

"The first batch of investment is at least 100 million rand." James Payne smiled. 100 million rand is not much for Nyasaland, but for the Liberian government——

For all of last year, Liberia's government revenue was estimated to have been below 100 million rand.

"Only for buying land?" Charles King was really moved.

"Of course—no——" James Payne is not a philanthropist, and Nyasaland also wants to make profits: "—buying land is only part of it. We also need to exploit mines and forest resources. Our Southern Africa’s demand for high-grade timber There's still a lot of demand."

"Yes, but you must pay taxes in accordance with the regulations—" Charles King's request surprised James Payne. Isn't it natural for companies to pay taxes in accordance with the regulations, and this needs to be emphasized?

But since Charles King brought it up, it is estimated that it really needs to be emphasized.

When James Payne left the Oval Office, he left Charles King a check for ten thousand rand.

Ten thousand rand is more than enough, and this is only the president, and James Payne will spend a lot of money next.

Of course, it wasn't too difficult. James Payne didn't come to Liberia alone. He brought a professional team and mercenaries from the umbrella company with him.

With the promise of Charles King, the Nyasaland Company was very fast. In just one week, it purchased more than [-] acres of land in Buchanan for the construction of rubber plantations.

It is really a rubber plantation, and the operation of Nyasaland is still very law-abiding, unlike some companies in some countries that have no bottom line.

Just when Nyasaland Corporation expanded its territory,

On November 11, a transport ship from the United States suddenly caught fire in the outer port of Monrovia. The fire developed out of control in a short period of time. The captain and crew abandoned the ship and fled. The transport ship sank in the roadway. The transport ships pose a huge threat.

This is not an isolated incident. In the past two weeks, three transport ships have disappeared while crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

In the era without satellites, it was not uncommon for ocean-going cargo ships to have accidents. It should be noted that there are still many merchant ships without radios installed, so in the event of an accident, even a distress signal cannot be sent.

On the 25th, the plantation of the Nyasaland Company in Buchanan was attacked by unknown forces. Fortunately, the mercenaries of the Umbrella Company guarding the plantation were more vigilant, so no major losses were caused. Only two mercenaries were involved in the conflict. Injured, the unknown forces who attacked the plantation suffered heavy losses, and 14 corpses were left at the scene.

A steady stream of news came to Roque. Roque was not in a hurry. There were losses in southern Africa, but it was still within an acceptable range.

"Would you like to send troops to teach the Americans a profound lesson?" Martin couldn't hold his breath. He really didn't know when it would be the end of such a small fight.

Rock shook his head slowly. It is definitely not possible to send troops to participate in this kind of time. The United States and southern Africa are very understanding.

The Federal Government of Southern Africa has confirmed that the fire on Grand Bahama Island was an accident and there were no human factors.

The U.S. government is also investigating the disappearance of transport ships one after another, and the announcement is also an accident. The transport ships have not been attacked in any way.

There are also fights.

On the 27th, a southern African immigrant boat was seized by a US warship in the waters off the east of the Philippines. The reason for the Americans was that they suspected that the immigrant boat was engaged in illegal immigration activities.

Illegal immigration here refers to Americans suspecting that Southern African immigration companies are inciting Filipinos to immigrate to Southern Africa.

Don't forget that population is wealth in this era. Both the United States and southern Africa are vigorously absorbing immigrants, but at the same time they oppose each other's immigration activities, especially the United States, which is very slippery with double standards.

Southern Africa was actually the most opposed to double standards at first.

But since Americans play double standards all day long, Southern Africa has gradually learned double standards. The United States is the largest immigrant country in the world. Is it qualified to restrict the importation of immigrants from other countries?

To Roque's embarrassment, there were indeed some Filipinos on board the immigrant ship seized by the US military, but these Filipinos were not forced to be sent on the immigrant ship, but voluntarily immigrated to southern Africa.

So the question is, is voluntary immigration considered illegal immigration?

It depends on how it is defined.

(End of this chapter)