African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1091 Britain chooses to give in

The collapse of the Soviet Union in the past was, to a certain extent, due to the arrogance of the leadership in the middle and late stages, especially the propaganda level, which set the people's psychological expectations of national development too high, so that the entire country found it difficult to accept when their dreams were shattered.

In fact, the Soviet leadership was in a difficult situation, being held up by the low-end propaganda machine they had built themselves. In fact, even at the end of the Soviet Union, its domestic economic situation was not as bad as imagined. At least compared with the vast majority of Asian, African and Latin American countries, the Soviet Union, whose national system had not collapsed, was still far ahead of other regions in all aspects.

Therefore, Ernst naturally "fully" learned from the Soviet Union's experience and lessons, and cooled down his own people in a timely manner. If the people of East Africa were cultivated to have a "saint" mentality, then the impeccable shortcomings of East Africa would be too numerous to list.

……

London
British Prime Minister Asquith: "This is a message from Ambassador Russell from the Rhine. It turns out that East Africans are a bit greedy!"

The attitude of the East African government is indeed a bit bad for the UK. If we put aside other factors, it would be difficult for the UK to actively open up part of the market. What's more, the East African government has also implicitly expressed its desire to obtain a piece of land from the UK's sphere of influence in the Indian Ocean.

This is a situation that has almost never occurred in the UK's history in recent decades. The reason I say "almost" is that there are countries that are worse than East Africa, such as Germany and Russia.

Of course, East Africa feels aggrieved about the "slander" by the British government. After all, it is difficult for Britain to accept East Africa's demands. Only East Africa is willing to negotiate with Britain for such unreasonable demands as restricting the development of its own navy. Therefore, it is reasonable for East Africa to ask for some benefits from the British government.

After all, the UK had made similar suggestions to Germany before, but Germany did not give the UK any good face at all, making the British government look like a clown.

Finance Minister George said: "The East African government's demands may seem a bit greedy, but we must also consider it seriously. After all, if we do not take the initiative to cooperate with East Africa, they will also use other means to achieve their goals."

"For example, at the market level, we have been imposing sanctions on East Africa in the past, but with little effect. Moreover, as East African national strength continues to rise, they will take the initiative to expand their trade borders."

"For example, the operations in East Africa, the Persian Gulf and South America are all accompanied by military activities. If we continue to choose confrontation, the result will definitely be a lose-lose situation for both sides."

"But East Africa is not a small country. They can definitely afford to fight with us, but we cannot devote all our energy to competing with East Africa in the Indian Ocean or the South Atlantic."

Asquith sighed and said, "This is also what I am worried about. If the East African government is a country like Germany that is not easily persuaded, then we will be in trouble in the Indian Ocean and South Atlantic regions. However, the East African government is obviously more rational than the German government. They have expressed their willingness to negotiate with the Empire, but their demands are too high."

It can be said that the British government has extremely complicated feelings about the current state of the East African government. If the East African government does not choose to negotiate, Britain will definitely be anxious. After all, Britain does not have the energy to fight with East Africa at this stage. However, the East African government expressed its willingness to negotiate, and the British government still felt very uncomfortable, because the East African government wanted too much...

In fact, the East African government does not ask for much. As George just said, if the British government does not give it, can East Africa not get it? In terms of market acquisition, the East African government is actually in dynamic competition with the UK.

After all, the South American market is mainly influenced by the UK, rather than being the British's private domain or back garden. The UK cannot have the final say, and East Africa, with its own geographical and size advantages, can compete fairly with the UK in the South American market.

East Africa is close to South America, and its industry ranks third in the world. Although the British economy is strong, its industry can only rank behind East Africa.

This means that East Africa is not afraid of any competition from Britain in South America, even if Britain can influence the governments of South American countries. After all, the East African Navy is not just for show. East Africa may have respect for a big country like Britain, but it will have to change its attitude towards South American countries. After all, East Africa is not a good person, but a member of the imperialist powers. So here, it comes back to the naval issue. If the East African Navy exceeds the expectations of the British government, it will be no less important to the British government than the situation in the Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic getting out of control.

The British government did not have the ability, energy or courage to launch another large-scale war in East Africa similar to the South African War to interrupt East Africa's development momentum.

Therefore, for the current British government, if it can reach some exchange of interests with the East African government, so that the East African navy is restricted within a "reasonable range", it would be the best result.

This is actually similar to how Britain in the past used the Washington Naval Treaty to check and balance the development of the navies of the United States and other countries.

In its previous life, Britain was actually a beneficiary of the Washington Naval Treaty. After all, after the end of World War I, the United States had in fact become the most powerful country in the world in all aspects, but the Washington Naval Treaty limited the US Navy to within the scope acceptable to the British government.

So after thinking it over again and again, Asquith gritted his teeth and said, "We can agree to the reasonable demands of the East African government. Of course, the premise is that it is within our acceptable range. At this stage, it is impossible for us to go to Africa to cause trouble for East Africa. After we get out of Europe, we will take back what we lost."

It would certainly not be possible to reject East Africa’s “goodwill”. Now Britain simply could not extricate itself from the European situation, so Asquith decided to make temporary concessions to East Africa.

Of course, as the world hegemon, Britain is certainly not afraid of East Africa. As for Asquith himself, the decision he has made now is just to pretend to be friendly with East Africa. After the empire solves the problems in Europe, it will definitely make East Africa pay back all the money it has eaten with interest.

Asquith said: "The East African government must limit its navy to our requirements before we can make concessions on related issues. When the situation in Europe stabilizes, we will use various means to make the East African government understand that the benefits of the empire are not so easy to obtain."

George also agreed with the Prime Minister's statement that a temporary conflict with East Africa would certainly not be good for the Ministry of Finance, not to mention the impact on other departments.

The two-power standard alone has turned the Imperial Royal Navy into a money-eating beast that is difficult to fill. If it wants to devote more energy to the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, it is impossible to really come up with a "three-power" standard.

Asquith went on to say, "The government must come up with a reliable plan. Although we have to give up markets and land, that is up to us. We must not undermine the overall strategic layout and core interests of the empire."

George said: "Don't worry, Prime Minister. In fact, it is relatively easy to meet the requirements of the East African government. The competition between our industry and the East African industry is not fierce. At least at the current stage, East Africa is not our main competitor in the international market. On the contrary, the harm from East Africa is not as great as that from the United States, Germany and France."

"So we can make some detailed divisions in the open market to avoid competition with East African products. East Africa's light industrial production has always been East Africa's shortcoming, and this is also the Empire's strength. As long as East Africa does not involve our core interests, it will not have much impact on our country. On the contrary, it will make the United States and Germany compete more fiercely with East Africa."

Asquith also agreed with this point. East Africa's performance in the international market, especially in light industrial products, was indeed not very outstanding. It could even be said that its performance was poor and there were no products that were worth showing off. This area was, in fact, Britain's strong point.

Asquith said: "As for the East African government's request for land, we must also consider it carefully. The Empire has a vast territory and sphere of influence. It is not too difficult to select the least useful land in the Indian Ocean region and give it to East Africa."

(End of this chapter)