African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1086: France as the Bottom Line
The game of details with the British government must naturally be handed over to a professional team. Ernst cannot reach a deal with the UK based on his personal likes and dislikes. Moreover, since it concerns the East African economy, the reshaping of the diplomatic circle must also be cautious.

Of course, British Ambassador Russell also thought so. Although he promised Ernst some general conditions, the final decision was made by the London government, and he also had to prepare for the next round of negotiations.

The two men, each with their own ulterior motives, hastily ended the meeting. Ernst convened a meeting of government officials, and Russell had to go back to report to London.

……

In the conference room.

Ernst shared details of his conversations with Russell with government officials.

"This time the British government does want to exchange some interests with us. What do you think of the British government's proposal?" Ernst asked.

Siwei Te was the first to speak: "Britain's request is nothing more than to restrict the expansion of our navy. From this point of view, it can be seen that Britain is now facing tremendous pressure in terms of navy. However, we certainly cannot restrict the development of our navy. After all, when other countries in the world are engaged in naval competition, we go against the trend. The final result will inevitably lead to our country being at a disadvantage in international competition."

Military strength is the foundation of East Africa's independence. The East African navy has experienced a long period of suppression, and there is a large gap in scale between it and other world powers. It is now far behind Britain, the United States, Germany and France. Even Japan, a small East Asian country in the eyes of the East African government, is suppressing East Africa in terms of navy. This is obviously unacceptable to East Africa.

Although the Austro-Hungarian Navy was even ranked behind East Africa, with a navy size of only more than 200,000 tons, only about half of East Africa, and ranked seventh in the world, the Austro-Hungarian Navy was positioned as a regional navy and could not even leave the Adriatic Sea.

East Africa is not a natural maritime country like the Austro-Hungarian Empire. East Africa has a long coastline and a vast territorial waters that need to be guarded by the navy. At the same time, East Africa's external trade also relies on the ocean. This is completely different from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Although the ocean is very important for the Austro-Hungarian Empire's foreign trade, it is not overly dependent on it because the Austro-Hungarian Empire is located in the inland center of Europe. In the Austro-Hungarian Empire's foreign trade, the main market is Central and Eastern Europe, followed by the Italian Peninsula and the Ottoman Empire, all of which can be achieved through land.

Although East Africa also borders many countries and colonies, the economic conditions of these countries and colonies are difficult to describe. The only ones worthy of East Africa's attention are the Abyssinian Empire and Egypt.

Although Egypt is a large country, it belongs to the British sphere of influence. And because the land route is blocked by the Sahara Desert, the trade between East Africa and Egypt is mainly completed through the Red Sea and Mediterranean routes.

In other words, if all the colonies and countries around East Africa were put together, the market size would be less than 20 million, not to mention that those colonies were economically controlled by their colonial masters.

In this way, the bulk of East Africa's foreign trade will be carried out outside the African continent, and a strong naval force will inevitably be needed to safeguard East Africa's interests.

In this regard, Ernst explained: "Building a strong navy has always been an important goal of our country, and this naval force must be able to deter other countries. Of course, we have not yet considered doing it all at once. In this case, there is room for flexibility in the size of our navy, and this flexibility is our bargaining chip in negotiations with the UK."

The East African Navy does have a lot of room for flexibility. Although Ernst told Russell before that he had no intention of competing with the Royal Navy for the world's number one position, assuming that the total tonnage of the Royal Navy is 2 million tons and the East African Navy is 1.99 million tons, then the Royal Navy is still number one in the world. But is this what the British want!
Of course, this is a bit exaggerated. No country, including East Africa itself, would think that East Africa would build a navy according to this idea, but whether or not they want to and whether or not they have the ability to do so are two different things. From an economic perspective, the United States and Germany can certainly do it. As the world's number one economic power, the United States can theoretically build a powerful naval force that exceeds the Royal Navy. Although Germany is not as economically advanced as the United States, its industrial strength is sufficient to support Germany in doing so.

Merkel: "I think if our navy wants to ensure our economic interests, then the overall strength should at least reach the level of France. The total tonnage of the French navy is over 800,000 tons, while the United States and Germany are about the same level, so 800,000 tons is our bottom line."

Bruce, the current Navy Commander-in-Chief, retorted: "It is far from enough. 800,000 tons is only the standard for the current world naval powers. If it does not exceed 800,000 tons, it is embarrassing to call itself a world naval power. Moreover, 800,000 tons is far from the upper limit of the navies of the United States, Germany and France. These countries are actively expanding their armaments. In a few years, more than one country in the world will have a navy exceeding the million-ton level. So conservatively speaking, our navy's goal should at least exceed one million tons."

Against the backdrop of naval military competition, the current naval strength of various countries is far from reaching its upper limit. As a result, East Africa cannot use current standards to measure the development of the navies of other countries in the world.

Bruce went on to say, "And as a country with two oceans, East Africa actually has much more power than that. In addition to the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, East Africa also has huge interests in the Pacific Ocean. So from a realistic perspective, our navy should be above the German and French navies. So the current tonnage of the navy is far from enough, even if it reaches the level of France and Germany."

In fact, Bruce underestimated France a little. When discussing the world's naval power, France definitely plays an important role. To some extent, the French Navy is the second most powerful executive force in the world's navy after the United Kingdom.

As the world's second largest colonial power after Britain, the French Navy is responsible for areas second only to Britain. French colonies exist in areas such as the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, the South American waters, the West African waters, the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, the Far East waters, the waters east of Madagascar, the South China Sea, and even India.

So based on France's actual needs, France should theoretically be equipped with the world's second most powerful navy, but this cost is unaffordable given France's economic situation.

Take Germany for example. Although Germany has acquired some overseas colonies over the years, most of them can be ignored. Even if they are considerable in area, most of them are located in remote corners that no one cares about, such as some of Germany's colonies in the Pacific. To put it bluntly, even Australia, a prisoner exile place, can be easily controlled by Germany.

As for Germany's High Seas Fleet, its capabilities have always been compressed by Britain to the Baltic Sea. However, if Germany only wants to play a role in the Baltic Sea, then it naturally does not need the existence of a High Seas Fleet, which is a waste of effort.

However, relying on its strong industrial power, Germany built a naval force that is stronger than France and posed a huge threat to Britain, so naval power does not simply consider the needs of its own navy.

Take the current East African economy for example. The size of East Africa's economy ranks fourth in the world, after the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom. When discussing industrial strength, East Africa ranks third in the world, only after the United States and Germany. Considering East Africa's demand for the navy, economic conditions, and industrial capacity, the size of East Africa's navy should rank second to fourth.

Siwei Te said: "So from the perspective of economy and demand, our navy should at least not be weaker than France in theory. We should use the French navy as a reference to formulate a basic strategy suitable for the development of our navy."

The reason why France was chosen as a reference is actually because the French Navy can be seen as the bottom line of the navies of the world's current powers.

(End of this chapter)