African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1006: Actions of Britain and Japan
Someone has already taken the first step in the field of chemical fibers, and people will continue to make breakthroughs in this field. East Africa currently has a certain level of scientific research capabilities, and as long as it continues to try and make mistakes, it will eventually achieve remarkable results.

Ernst said: "Chemical fibers play a huge role in people's livelihood, military and economic development. In the past, the textile industry used natural fibers as the main raw materials, and cotton, linen, silk and wool dominated the textile industry. Chemical fibers have richer characteristics. As long as technology continues to advance, more possibilities will be created."

The director of the New Frankfurt Chemical Fiber Factory said: "It is indeed as Your Highness said. In the past decade or so, many types of chemical fibers have been produced. Although many technologies are not mature, this also allows us to see the diversity of chemical fibers. With the development of the chemical industry, more products that replace traditional fibers will surely be born in the future society."

In fact, he was not as optimistic as Ernst. After all, the textile industry was too large. As the world's largest industry, it occupied a supporting position in all industrial countries in the world. However, the current scale of chemical fiber production was too small, and it was difficult to imagine replacing traditional fabrics.

Ernst is naturally different. In the past, chemical fibers were very successful, exceeding the output of traditional fabrics and were applied to many fields. Therefore, East Africa must place a heavy bet on this technology tree.

So Ernst said: "We must pay attention to the research and production of chemical fibers, especially your factory, as the first chemical fiber production plant in East Africa, we must accumulate experience and continue to explore."

In fact, there are many chemical fiber factories in the same batch as New Frankfurt, but New Frankfurt has the fastest construction because it is close to Rhine City. Otherwise, it would not have the title of the first chemical fiber factory in East Africa.

During the First Five-Year Plan, East Africa had already begun to attach importance to the development of the chemical industry. Prior to this, East Africa could only focus on the two emerging areas of electricity and internal combustion engines.

Although basic industries such as textiles, steel, coal, and mechanical processing have developed, there is still a gap between China and top industrial countries, and it is easier to achieve results in these areas.

Any industrial country, even one like the Far Eastern Empire where the industry accounts for a very small proportion, or Japan which is short of resources, can achieve results. With sufficient industrial raw materials and population, East Africa has supported these basic industries, but it is slightly lacking in competitiveness in the international market.

However, the development of these basic industries is inevitable regardless of their strength, especially for major countries. In the new century, the focus of East Africa's industry is still not on traditional industrial fields, but on emerging industries such as petroleum and chemicals. At the same time, industries related to electricity and internal combustion engines have begun to generate huge value and flourish.

This does not mean that East Africa's traditional industries cannot be developed. It's just that in a large country like East Africa, the resources obtained are relatively sufficient. It may not be as good as the United States and Germany, but it is still considerable compared with other countries.

This is the positive effect of a country's size on industrial development. Large countries have sufficient resources and population to support more comprehensive industrial development, while many small countries are constrained by the above conditions and can only give up part of their industries.

For example, Japan's steel industry is constrained by the shortage of local coal and iron ore, and its output is pitifully low compared with other industrial and semi-industrial countries. In other words, other countries in the region where Japan is located have weak industrial bases, otherwise it would be difficult to form competitiveness.

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"Your Highness, as far as we know, the Japanese government may have reached some conditions with the UK. The number of Japanese diplomats in London has increased significantly in recent days, and the two countries should have reached an agreement on the Far East issue."

The intelligence agencies in East Africa have always attached great importance to the United Kingdom and Japan. Therefore, when Japan and the United Kingdom interact, East Africa will quickly be able to grasp part of the situation.

"Far East issue! Is the intelligence reliable?" Ernst asked directly.

“Yes, this kind of meeting has a large number of participants, so it is easy for us to get relevant information from within the British government.”

It is relatively easy to get intelligence from Britain. As a "democratic" country, Britain can obtain some political trends of the British government as long as it is willing to spend money or build good relationships with certain government officials. On the contrary, the work of East African intelligence departments in Japan is more difficult, because Japan's intelligence departments developed earlier, but Japan's main focus is on dealing with the Far East Empire and Tsarist Russia, and they also pay attention to the intelligence of Britain and the United States, two countries that have important influence on Japan, so it is difficult to pay too much attention to East Africa.

Although there have been some unpleasant experiences between East Africa and Japan over territorial issues, except for the South Ryukyu Islands, East Africa is unlikely to arouse Japan's interest.

"According to the information we have received, the most likely target of this round of political exchanges between Britain and Japan is Russia. In recent years, the influence of Tsarist Russia in the Far Eastern Empire has been growing, and it has already posed a threat to the potential interests that Britain and Japan see themselves as."

After confirming that Britain and Japan were cooperating and might make big moves, Ernst was basically certain that the British and Japanese governments were targeting Tsarist Russia this time, and even the Anglo-Japanese Alliance Treaty might have been signed.

In recent years, Tsarist Russia has been making increasingly larger moves in the Far East, especially in the 1990s, when the Trans-Siberian Railway officially entered the construction phase. It is now in the final stages and is expected to be completely opened in another two to three years.

It can be said that when the Siberian Railway was opened, the war between Japan and Russia was approaching, and the British government's attitude towards this matter was naturally to ally with Japan to fight against Russia.

As a maritime power, Russia has always been an object of vigilance for Britain. Russia is not comparable to the Russia in the previous life. Its area alone is close to 23 million square kilometers, which is almost one Canada larger than East Africa.

And another important factor that makes Russia more terrifying than East Africa is that it is a European country and occupies a large part of Asian territory.

It is generally believed that the weather in Russia in the past was very bad, mainly in its Asian territories, which were either the arid Central Asia or the freezing Siberia.

However, the climate in the European part of Russia is obviously not like this. In the past, Russia's European area was nearly four million square kilometers, so if you remove those marginal areas, Russia is still a top power in Europe.

The terror of Russia goes far beyond Russia. The Russian territory includes Poland, Ukraine, the three Baltic countries and other regions in the previous life. Including these regions, the European part of Russia is close to 10 million square kilometers.

That is to say, in the whole of Russia, there is at least an area of ​​10 million square kilometers where the climatic conditions are quite good, and the development of industry and agriculture will not be greatly restricted. Although the climatic conditions in other areas are too poor, they can provide Russia with more sufficient resources.

In other words, Eastern Europe at this time was almost entirely occupied by Russia. If the European part of Russia could develop, it would be equivalent to the United States tying up Canada.

The good news is that Russia's industrial base is relatively weak, and the development of some of its European territories is more difficult, and it is naturally subject to joint suppression by other European countries.

It was after the Franco-Prussian War that relations between France and Tsarist Russia eased somewhat, otherwise Russia would have been left alone in Europe.

In fact, Russia's geographical advantages are too great. Whether in military or diplomacy, as long as a breakthrough can be made, it can change the political landscape of Europe. Fortunately, Russia is not very good at military and diplomatic fields, so it can be comprehensively suppressed by the West.

Ernst was not intentionally belittling Russia, but stating objective facts. After all, if any of Russia's military or diplomatic capabilities could reach the level of Germany during the Franco-Prussian War, it would be enough to allow Tsarist Russia to return to the position of "European gendarme".

(End of this chapter)