African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1244: Anglo-French Mediation
The Siamese royal family first sought help from Britain and France to mediate this "misunderstanding". After all, Britain and France had the most profound influence in Siam, and basically Siam's diplomatic affairs could not avoid Britain and France.

On the morning of August 8, King Rama VI invited British envoy Sir Clare and French envoy Keriaba to the Bangkok Royal Palace for exchanges.

King Rama VI told the two what happened, then looked at them and said, "Mr. Ministers, we in Siam have definitely been wronged this time. After all, our country has expressly prohibited the establishment of Chinese education in Siam, but East Africa opened such schools in Bangkok without any prior notice, which led to this accident!"

"This is obviously a trap set for us by the East Africans, and their purpose is very simple, which is to further invade Siam."

Sir Clare asked Rama VI helplessly, "Your Majesty, have you talked to East Africa? What is the attitude of East Africans?"

Since arriving in Siam, Sir Clare has not encountered any good news. First, Britain was at war with the Allies, and the British government gave Clare an important task, which was to ensure the support of Siam's strategic materials for the British mainland.

Siam is the world's second largest rubber producing area after East Africa, and the war caused the international rubber price to soar. Although the price of rubber in East Africa is not expensive, it is obviously more cost-effective than getting some for free from Siam.

After all, Siam has a large population. Although it is only about 90,000, it stands out in the Nanyang region.

You have to know that during this period, there were not many countries in the world with a population of over 10 million. Take Kalimantan for example, the total population was less than 3 million.

And this was the case when Siam had lost nearly half of its territory to Britain and France. The current population size of Siam includes the prosperous Mekong River basin. If it were not for this, it would not be difficult for Siam's population to exceed 10 million.

The land of Siam can be said to be one of the best lands in the entire South Seas region. It has a flat terrain, abundant rainfall, and rich resources, so both Britain and France have great ambitions for Siam.

Britain has made many investments in Siam, among which food and rubber are the top priorities. Siam's climate is very suitable for rubber planting, and its labor costs and organizational capabilities are excellent. It has become one of the largest sources of rubber for Britain.

East Africa cannot compare with this. After all, although East Africa is actively reducing the cost of rubber planting, the labor cost in East Africa still causes rubber planting in East Africa to show a downward trend.

Of course, it is impossible for other parts of the world to surpass East Africa in rubber planting area in a short period of time. After all, except for the disadvantage of high labor costs, rubber planting in East Africa has almost all advantages.

For example, it has the largest planting area in the world, the deepest technological accumulation, the most complete industrial chain, the most advanced tools, government subsidies and protection in East Africa, etc.

You should know that East Africa is the world's largest rubber producer and consumer. Automobiles, electrical appliances, etc. are all big consumers of rubber. Therefore, East Africa can take advantage of this to protect the development of its rubber industry.

However, no matter how good the tools and technology are, they are not as useful as Siam's "cows and horses", which makes Siamese rubber very competitive in recent years, but the scale of planting is too small. One of Claire's tasks is to ensure that these cheap rubbers are smoothly transported to the UK.

Secondly, Claire's mission is to safeguard Britain's interests in Siam. If it were normal, this would be nothing to say, but now that Britain is trapped in the war, Britain's overseas interests are naturally under a more severe test. The threat from East Africa to Siam this time just illustrates this point.

King Rama VI said: "We have had preliminary communication with the East African embassy, ​​but it is clear that they have no sincerity in negotiations."

Sir Clare asked: "What are the requirements of East Africa?"

King Rama VI: "East Africa has three demands. First, we must pay 80 million Rhine guilders to the East African government. Second, we must cede some areas including the southeast of Bangkok as its colony. Third, we must further expand East Africa's privileges in Siam and amend the Bangkok Treaty. We cannot accept any of these three points."

Minister Kliaba, who had remained silent, said: "East Africa has indeed gone too far this time. Eighty million Rhine guilders is an astronomical figure for Siam." You must know that France extorted less than three million francs from Siam back then, and eighty million Rhine guilders is equivalent to sixty million francs. This amount of money is simply unaffordable for Siam, which has a population of only nine million and a very backward economy.

Of course, the amount of compensation France demanded was small back then because France had annexed large tracts of fertile land in the strategic east, and the value of these lands is difficult to assess.

King Rama VI also agreed and said, "Even if Siam is sold, it is probably not worth 80 million Rhine guilders. This shows that the East Africans have no intention of negotiating with us at all."

If it is really possible to acquire Siam for 80 million Rhine guilders, there will definitely be many people in the world willing to do this deal. After all, a lot of money was paid to East Africa to acquire the German and Dutch colonies, and Siam's land is obviously much more valuable than the colonies of the two countries.

So the statement about Rama VI was just an exaggeration. However, Siam is indeed in financial difficulties nowadays. After all, it is often exploited by the great powers. It would be a bad thing to become rich, not to mention that Rama VI's series of reforms also cost money.

Of course, an empty treasury does not mean that the Siamese royal family has no money. The Siamese royal family is a typical wealthy family. If they really want to sell off their assets, they will still have 80 million Rhine guilders, but the cost will also be very painful.

What's more, in addition to compensation, East Africa also made other demands, which the Siamese government could not accept.

Minister Kliyaba said: "The compensation cannot be so much. After all, only one person died in East Africa. Secondly, the demand for ceding land is unreasonable."

Sir Claire also nodded in agreement. As for the so-called amendment to the Bangkok Treaty, it was a trivial matter in the eyes of the two. After all, they could do it.

For France and Britain, Siam was originally a piece of food on the table for both countries, but neither side could do anything to the other, so it was left idle as a buffer state.

Now that East Africa wants to get a piece of the pie, Britain and France are naturally unwilling to do so, so they are willing to exclude East Africa.

Sir Clare said to Rama VI: "We will negotiate with the East African government, but you must also be prepared for the possibility of bleeding. After all, there are real East Africans who died in Bangkok this time. In this case, compensation is inevitable."

King Rama VI said: "Of course. We in Siam just hope that East Africa's demands are reasonable. If they pay more, we can hold on. But the maximum is 3 million Rhine guilders. This is my psychological expectation."

Three million Rhine guilders is roughly equivalent to 100,000 pounds. It has to be said that Rama VI was a bit fanciful. East Africa would definitely not accept such compensation.

However, Sir Clare still said: "We can only do our best in terms of compensation. At the same time, I hope Your Majesty will prepare for the worst. If we cannot reach an agreement with East Africa, military conflict is inevitable."

During this period, the mainland simply could not spare the energy to take care of the affairs of the Nanyang region, so Sir Claire was very clear about his position, which was to be only a lobbyist.

Moreover, the Allies currently need to win over East Africa to prevent it from completely turning to the Central Powers camp.

This is not impossible. East Africa and Germany and Austria share the same origin and are relatively close. There are also frequent exchanges in trade, technology, academia and politics.

Therefore, in order to stabilize the great country of East Africa, Sir Claire would never really offend East Africa. If necessary, it would even be necessary to give up Siam and make friends with East Africa. There was no need to mention this to Rama VI.

(End of this chapter)