African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1160 Prime Minister Kuyper

This is extortion! Wilhelmina looked at the shameless man in front of her with a complicated expression. Sure enough, the British Empire and France are now inseparable, so are clowns like East Africa so unscrupulous?
When Wilhelmina was extremely conflicted, Dutch Prime Minister Kuyper could no longer bear it.

Kuyper was actually pro-Allied, which meant that although the Netherlands was neutral in World War I in the past, it was actually leaning towards Germany.

This also meant that although the Netherlands was neutral, it also suffered from the war.

On the one hand, due to the war, almost all the materials in the world poured into Europe, which made the prices of materials such as tea, sugar and rubber in Europe extremely low.

These items are almost the main output of the Dutch colonies. The Dutch colonies are the East Indies and the Antilles in the Caribbean. As tropical regions, they can only produce a limited number of tropical agricultural products.

But the reality is that the British and French colonies and the American countries can almost produce the same type of products. At this time and space, East Africa, a major exporter of tropical agricultural products in the world, was added. Not to mention the Netherlands, even tropical countries such as Brazil felt the deep malice of East Africa, which almost caused a sharp decline in the income from Dutch colonial trade.

On the other hand, in order to win the war, the Allied Powers in the previous life began to ban the import of goods that could be transferred to Germany in the middle and late stages of the war, and the Netherlands became the key. After all, the Netherlands can be said to be the fastest sea route for the Ruhr area of ​​Germany, and a large number of commodities are extremely dependent on transshipment from the Netherlands.

In the later stages of the war, the United States also joined the blockade of the Netherlands and stopped supplying materials such as oil, coal and iron to the Netherlands.

Hundreds of ships carrying food were arrested in English ports, leading to the "Potato Riots" of 1918.

The "Potato Riot" was actually a riot launched by Belgian refugees fleeing to the Netherlands because they could not get enough relief.

In the later stages of the war, nearly 900,000 Belgians fled to the Netherlands, including more than 100,000 Belgian soldiers. Nearly one million war refugees were obviously too much for the Dutch, whose population was only more than six million.

This is also the fundamental reason why Trail proposed to help the Netherlands solve the refugee problem and Wilhelmina agreed without hesitation. Of course, it is only the early stage of the war and the Netherlands' carrying capacity has obviously not reached that level, but hundreds of thousands of refugees are enough to give the Dutch government a headache.

Of course, the final outcome of the war was still beneficial to the Netherlands as a whole. Although there were some twists and turns in the middle, the Netherlands obtained a large amount of real gold and silver from Germany.

The existence of Prime Minister Kuyper is also good news for East Africa. The existence of a pro-German prime minister opens the door for trade between East Africa and Germany.

Kuyper was well aware of the value of the Netherlands to East Africa, so he was completely fearless about Trail's blackmail.

Kuyper said, "Sir Traill, your request is really excessive. You must know that any issue concerning territory touches on the core interests of a country. Although our influence in Kalimantan is not great, Kalimantan is also an inseparable part of the Netherlands."

The so-called weak influence only applies to the two countries, Britain and East Africa, on the island of Kalimantan. Britain occupies the northern part of Kalimantan, while East Africa occupies the western part, and the Netherlands holds East Kalimantan.

The Netherlands is a small country, and its colonial core is mainly Java Island, so the power it can distribute to other islands is very limited. On the other hand, West Kalimantan, which is controlled by East Africa, is indeed the core interest of East Africa in the Southeast Asia region. Its population, military, etc. are much larger than those of Britain and the Netherlands. After all, West Kalimantan has become one of the provinces of East Africa, and it is the only overseas province far away from the mainland. This is different from the two provinces on the island of Madagascar. The two provinces on the island of Madagascar are very close to East Africa and are completely planned as the mainland.

Terrell said, "Prime Minister Kuyper, please don't rush to refuse. Territorial transactions are very common even in Europe, so we in East Africa are definitely trading with the Netherlands in a friendly manner."

"Although Kalimantan is large, its development is limited. East Kalimantan controlled by the Netherlands has almost no economic output. In addition, the Sultanate of Burungan and the Sultanate of Kutai under your country have had disputes with the UK. So from a security perspective, even if our country has no intentions on East Kalimantan, the British will not give up these areas. It is better to sell East Kalimantan to East Africa, so that our East Africa can serve as a buffer zone between the UK and your country."

The Sultanate of Burungan and the Sultanate of Kutai were both regimes in East Kalimantan, which were also the sphere of influence of the Netherlands. The British did have fierce conflicts with the Netherlands during their expansion on the island of Kalimantan in the last century.

The reason for this result is naturally the interference from East Africa. The establishment of East Africa was based on the loss of a large number of British colonies in Africa in the previous life, so Britain's expansion in other regions also appeared to be more ferocious.

Kuyper laughed angrily: "Oh, according to what you said, we should be grateful for East Africa's contribution? And how come Kalimantan has become a buffer zone after being handed over to your country!"

Traill explained: "This is easy to understand. In fact, the Nanyang region can be divided into five major regions. They are Britain, France, East Africa, the Netherlands and the United States in terms of strength."

"Britain's colonies of India and Burma are close to the Nanyang region, and they control the Strait of Malacca. There are also colonies in the south, such as New Guinea and Australia. Most of your colonies are adjacent to Britain. In general, Britain controls the northern part of Nanyang, while your colonies are mainly distributed in the south. If we are sandwiched in East Africa, we can cut off the direct connection between your country and Britain, which is beneficial to both our countries."

As for France and the United States, there is no need to say much. Although the colonies they occupied were relatively rich compared to many areas in Southeast Asia, they were basically unable to achieve the dispersed distribution like Britain, the Netherlands and East Africa, so their influence could not spread.

"Right now, we in East Africa lack East Kalimantan as a strategic fulcrum. If your country trades East Kalimantan to us, then our colonies in East Africa will be able to stretch from west to east, isolating forces such as Britain and the United States from moving southward."

If East Africa occupies Kalimantan Island, it will be able to cooperate with Mindanao, Balabac Island, New Guinea and the Pacific Islands to form the second largest power radiation area in the region after Britain, allowing East Africa's influence in the South Pacific to further increase.

Traill continued, "Of course, your country values ​​practical interests more. We can guarantee some privileges for your citizens in East Kalimantan, and the two countries can jointly develop the East Kalimantan region and share the subsequent benefits. Of course, the territorial sovereignty belongs to East Africa and this is unshakable."

"And we are willing to give your country a fair price to buy the East Kalimantan region, so that your country can get two benefits. As for whether East Kalimantan is still your colony, does it matter?"

"You know, it's hard for your country to defend East Kalimantan alone, and colonial activities have become increasingly difficult in recent years. The cost of colonial rule is rising. With your country's national strength, it's not enough to control Java Island. It's better to enjoy the benefits in the future under the protection of East Africa. We in East Africa already have a plan to develop East Kalimantan, and your country can join in."

As a world power, East Africa's ability to develop East Kalimantan is unquestionable. If it were the Netherlands, it would be very difficult. It would not be developed and there would be independence risks. The Netherlands naturally has no ability to further expand the economic value of East Kalimantan, and it would be difficult to develop even if there are treasures.

Kuyper somewhat agreed with Traill's explanation, but he couldn't make up his mind for the moment. After all, Traill's words sounded good, but it was hard to say what East Africa would do in the end. In that case...

(End of this chapter)