African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1095: The Treaty of Reconciliation between Britain and the East

Of course, Russell was still very happy at this time. Using the Pirate Coast as a bargaining chip, Russell was not afraid that East Africa would ask for too much, but he was afraid that East Africa would look down on the Pirate Coast.

Russell's mentality is actually consistent with that of the East African officials. The British government knows better than the East African officials how much the Pirate Coast is worth. The reason why the British government directly chose the Pirate Coast as a bargaining chip is essentially that the Pirate Coast is the least valuable in the eyes of the British government.

Although the British government is the suzerain of many tribes on the Pirate Coast, it has no governance over the area. Currently, the Pirate Coast is also known as the "Truce States."

The Truce States can also be called the League of Truce Nations. This alliance was promoted by Britain in the early 19th century in order to consolidate regional stability and curb the development of piracy in the Persian Gulf.

After all, after Britain gained dominance in the Persian Gulf region, the main trade business in the Persian Gulf was mainly undertaken by British merchant ships, and the rampant piracy activities in the Pirate Coast area actually had a negative impact on British interests. After all, pirates were essentially the main source of income for many tribes in the Pirate Coast at that time.

If the local political structure was not stabilized, Britain would not be able to find the criminals to punish, so Britain forcibly unified the large and small tribes on the Pirate Coast into a political force, so that the British government could also find the person in charge behind the Persian Gulf pirates, thus avoiding the situation where its merchant ships had nowhere to seek justice after being looted.

This political force is the "Truce States", which is equivalent to the predecessor of the UAE in the past life and is a transitional form of semi-state regime.

This also shows that Britain's early colonization of the Pirate Coast was actually a kind of "justice". Although it was essentially to safeguard its own interests, it did greatly improve the safety of the Persian Gulf routes.

Of course, this has resulted in the fact that Britain's local investment has exceeded its returns, so the British government has no psychological burden at all in throwing this "burden" to East Africa.

Russell suppressed his joy and said to Freer, "If East Africa wants to bring the entire Pirate Coast into its sphere of influence, then there is no problem, provided that the East African Navy must be reduced to a range that we in the UK consider reasonable."

The topic eventually returned to the naval issue. For the British government, as long as the East African government controls the navy within any reasonable range of the UK, the Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic will not become East Africa's backyard in a short period of time.

What Britain lacks most now is time and energy, so the best result would be to stabilize East Africa in a short period of time.

The Indian Ocean is regarded as a core interest by East African governments, and so is Britain. After all, since the independence of the United States, Britain has shifted almost all of its overseas investments to its Indian colonies.

Freer said: "In terms of naval size, I still want to emphasize that the conditions given by the United Kingdom are too harsh. Even if there is a deal on the Pirate Coast as a basis, we cannot accept the conditions originally proposed by your country."

The barren land like the Pirate Coast cannot buy off the East African government. It is like Britain asking Germany to limit its high seas fleet in exchange for its Nigerian colony. The German government would never agree to this. After all, what Germany wants is all of Britain's overseas territories.

Russell was prepared for Freer's words. After all, he did not think that East Africa would accept Britain's conditions just by relying on the "barren land" of the Pirate Coast.

Russell said, "We can discuss the naval issue slowly. Since East Africa cannot accept our British proposal, and we cannot accept your naval development plan, how about a compromise?"

Freer did not directly refute Russell's proposal, so Russell continued: "Our initial plan was 500,000 tons, and East Africa's requirement is to catch up with the navies of the United States, Germany, France and other countries, so it must be at least 800,000 tons."

"So as a compromise, the East African Navy only needs to limit its total tonnage to less than 650,000 tons. This will ensure that the East African Navy does not lag behind other countries' navies too much, and is above the Japanese Navy. At the same time, it is sufficient to support the East African Navy in maintaining its own interests."

In Russell's opinion, 650,000 tons is enough for East Africa to maintain its status as a great navy, just between Japan and France. The East African navy is enough to be ranked among the top five in the world. Of course, this is what it says on the surface, but it lacks a premise, that is, the navies of other countries no longer develop.

Freer naturally noticed this, so he said to Russell: "This is impossible. While our East African navy is developing, the navies of other countries in the world are also developing vigorously. Take the Japanese navy for example. Their naval tonnage increases by at least tens of thousands of tons every year. In four or five years, won't the Japanese navy also exceed 650,000 tons or even more?"

"Similarly, the annual growth of the navies of countries like the United States, Germany, France, and your country is much more exaggerated than that of Japan. Currently, the naval tonnage of the United States, Germany, and France is over 800,000 tons. In a few years, I'm afraid that 1 million tons will be the bottom line. Therefore, 650,000 tons is simply not enough to meet the needs of our navy in the context of the naval arms race."

As Freer finished speaking, the negotiations reached a deadlock again. Russell could only take a step back: "In this case, let's change the plan. It will not be based entirely on fixed naval tonnage, but on a proportional basis."

"First of all, the East African Navy must not exceed the French Navy. Let's set a foundation. The total tonnage of the French Navy is now more than 800,000 tons. The East African Navy only needs to reach 80% of the French Navy. We use the French Navy as a reference. In the next ten years, the East African Navy cannot exceed this standard."

The French Navy is the least powerful in the second echelon, so Russell believes that using the French Navy as a standard and according to the current development situation of the French Navy, the French Navy will not be able to compete with Britain, the United States, and Germany for a long time, so using the French Navy as a reference is quite beneficial for Britain.

Freer was not in a hurry to refuse. After thinking it over again and again, he thought that this plan was still good. After all, 80% of the French Navy was enough to support France's status as a great power in East Africa. Of course, there were some details that Freer thought were unreasonable.

He said: "First of all, we cannot accept 10 years, at most five years. After all, if something unexpected happens to the French Navy in the future, it will become a shackle for the development of our navy."

"Secondly, we also require that we cannot just use France as a reference. We also have requirements for the countries behind us. For example, the Japanese Navy cannot exceed that of East Africa. If the Japanese Navy exceeds that of East Africa, then we will re-formulate the naval development plan."

Russell did not think the second point mentioned by Freer was a big problem. After all, the overly powerful Japanese navy was indeed a huge threat to Britain.

Of course, Russell still didn't agree with the first point mentioned by Freer, so Russell continued to bargain with Freer.

……

After two months of negotiation, East Africa and Britain finally reached the Anglo-Eastern Reconciliation Treaty in March 1911.

First, Britain and East Africa will achieve political reconciliation to promote the development of diplomatic relations between the two countries, and the two countries will lift mutual economic sanctions and deepen economic cooperation between the two countries.

Secondly, the British government offered some overseas markets and the Pirate Coast (UAE) in exchange for a non-aggressive expansion of the East African Navy over the next five years. The East African Navy should be maintained at 1911% of the size of the French Navy, based on the size of the French Navy in , which means that the current total tonnage of the East African Navy should not exceed tons.

If the total tonnage of the French Navy exceeds 800,000 tons in the future, the East African government can adjust the size of its own navy under British supervision. At the same time, the total tonnage of the East African Navy should not be lower than that of the Japanese Navy.

Through this negotiation, both East Africa and the British government got results that they considered to be relatively satisfactory. Of course, the East African side was mainly satisfied with Ernst, after all, it didn't take much effort to obtain a stable oil and gas resource base, so that East Africa's shortcomings in energy issues in the future would no longer exist.

(End of this chapter)