African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1260 Deep Cooperation
On the third day alone, Kuyper personally visited Freer's temporary residence.

"Mr. Freer, this time we agreed to your country's territorial transaction, which is considered to be selling these dozen islands at a low price. We also hope that your country can guarantee our country's interests in the South Pacific region in the future."

"Okay, okay. I can assure you, Prime Minister, that we in East Africa have no desire for the East Indies. This time we are asking for help from your country out of the strategic security needs of the South Pacific."

After reaching the deal, Freer was in a very good mood and naturally would not embarrass Kuyper anymore. On the one hand, he appeased these Dutch prime ministers, and on the other hand, he greatly appreciated the pragmatic attitude of the Dutch government which saw the times and acted accordingly.

As for what Prime Minister Kuyper said about "selling at a low price", that is also true. After all, such an island with a strategic position is not something that any country can buy if it wants to, not to mention that East Africa only paid such a small amount of money.

It was at this time that the British were trapped in the quagmire of World War I, otherwise Britain would definitely jump out to stop the territorial transaction between East Africa and the Netherlands.

In fact, from the previous occupation of the Isthmus of Kra in East Africa, it can be seen that Britain is currently unable to cope with the South Seas region.

In the past, East Africa, let alone controlling a strategic location like the Isthmus of Kra, was only to prevent the threat that East Africa might pose to British colonies on the Malay Peninsula, as well as the potential pressure on India by East Africa's infiltration of its power into the eastern Indian Ocean.

It was impossible for the British to allow East Africa to control the Isthmus of Kra, but now Britain is completely unable to do this, so it can only settle for the second best and keep the Tabernacle Plain for Siam, making it impossible to build the Kra Canal.

Even if the British knew about the territorial transaction between East Africa and the Netherlands, they could not intervene. This was completely different from East Africa's acquisition of the Isthmus of Kra. In order to obtain the Isthmus of Kra, East Africa directly threatened the Siamese government with force. As one of the two protectors of Siam, Britain could use its status as a mediator to stop East Africa.

East Africa’s attitude towards the Netherlands was different. Although Freer also tested Prime Minister Kuyper, it was ultimately within reasonable rules.

In addition, the Netherlands is not a country like Siam that is completely unable to be independent. Instead, it has considerable influence in Europe and even the world.

Therefore, East Africa and the Netherlands are fully capable of doing business behind closed doors and do not need to pay too much attention to the attitudes of third-party countries.

Freer told Prime Minister Kuyper: "After the signing of this agreement, we in East Africa will certainly pay attention to the development of the Sunda Strait route. We also hope that your government can play an important role in the region and enhance the economic value of the Sunda Strait."

"The potential of the Sunda Strait is not much worse than that of the Malacca Strait, but in the past, because it is off the world's main shipping route, not many ships chose the Sunda Strait."

“Coupled with the underdeveloped ports and service industries on both sides of the Sunda Strait, this further puts the Sunda Strait at a disadvantage in competition with other world shipping lanes.”

“So we in East Africa hope to achieve further cooperation with your country and jointly build a stable shipping route from the Indian Ocean to the Far East Empire.”

After hearing what Freer said, Kuyper was skeptical at first.

This is also the helplessness of small countries. They cannot be careless in their exchanges with the world's major powers. If they step into the trap of the major powers, they will probably fall into an irretrievable situation.

As if he had seen Kuyper's concerns, Freer explained, "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, there is no need to be nervous. What I said is true. Since we in East Africa want to break the monopoly of the Strait of Malacca on trade between the East and the West, we will naturally be prepared."

“The previous territorial transaction with your country is a prerequisite for our country’s military and strategic development in the Southeast Asian region, so as to ensure the safety of the Sunda Strait route.”

All of East Africa's actions in the South Seas, in addition to the needs of its own colonial activities, are also aimed at bypassing the Strait of Malacca, a world-class trade channel monopolized by Britain.

After all, East Africa could not make much money from colonial activities, and even to date, most of the colonies in East Africa had not turned a profit.

On the one hand, the colonial environment in East Africa was too poor, either with a tropical rainforest climate or an icy cold land like Alaska.

On the other hand, East Africa's colonies are poorly developed and have a small population. Of course, this is partly due to East Africa's large-scale "slaughter" in Southeast Asia. However, no matter what, East Africa cannot count on the little bit of its own colonies at this stage.

Therefore, compared with colonies, East Africa attaches more importance to the smooth flow of trade. Today, as the world's largest industrial country, East Africa occupies an advantageous position in international trade, and this is also the main source of East Africa's accumulation of national wealth.

Britain has long controlled the world's maritime hegemony, controlling many strategic locations such as straits, canals, channels, waterways, islands, etc., and thus controlling the basic order of world trade.

Especially the Strait of Malacca and the Suez Canal, two vital transportation routes to East Africa, can be said to be a thorn in the throat and a thorn in the back of East Africa.

If these two channels are cut off, foreign trade on the east coast of East Africa may even be directly suspended for a period of time.

Prime Minister Kuyper also understood what Freer meant.

He asked uncertainly, "Mr. Freer means that your country will develop the Sunda Strait route?"

Freer shook his head and said, "Of course not. Rather, our two countries are jointly developing the Sunda Strait route. After all, the Sunda Strait route passes through not only East Africa, but your country's status and importance are higher."

From the eastward of the Sunda Strait to the South China Sea of ​​the Far Eastern Empire, the distance in between can be said to be completely between East Africa and the Netherlands. The fact that the Netherlands controls the Sunda Strait makes the development of this route impossible without the Netherlands.

Freer said: "Of course, in order to ensure that the Sunda Strait will not be controlled by a big country with ulterior motives in the future, we have another request to your country, that is, there should be no third-party troops or military facilities in the Sunda Strait and other areas of the East Indies controlled by your country."

"We in East Africa will also support your country's position and interests in the region and ensure that your country's interests in the Southeast Asian region will not be interfered with by other countries."

East Africa could allow the Netherlands to continue to control the Sunda Strait, but would never allow the Sunda Strait to fall into the hands of any other power except East Africa.

Even though the Sunda Strait is currently far smaller than the Malacca Strait, it does not mean that there are no other countries that are not eyeing this fat piece of meat.

During World War II, Japan and the United States fought over the Sunda Strait. Later, in the process of maintaining its world hegemony, the United States also paid special attention to the Sunda Strait.

In the past, the US Seventh Fleet relied heavily on the Sunda Strait when traveling between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. The Sunda Strait is very suitable for submarines to pass because of its special seabed conditions.

From these histories and characteristics, we can also see the important position of the Sunda Strait. In fact, before the 1980s, the conditions in the Sunda Strait were even better.

However, due to volcanic eruptions in the surrounding areas, the seabed of the Sunda Strait has become shallower and more rugged, which is not conducive to the smooth passage of giant ships over 200,000 tons.

Of course, the ships of today are not as exaggerated as those in the 21st century. The Titanic, which sank not many years ago, had a displacement of only more than 50,000 tons.

Therefore, the Sunda Strait is definitely sufficient for East Africa, especially in military terms. Even in the previous life, the Sunda Strait was sufficient for the navy to use. After all, the US aircraft carrier in the previous life was only about 100,000 tons.

East Africa attaches so much importance to the Sunda Strait, but what about Britain, the world hegemon? The answer is that Britain also monitors the Sunda Strait, but it is just monitoring.

Britain controls the Cocos Islands and Christmas Island to the west of the Sunda Strait, but these two islands are a long distance away from the Sunda Strait and are not enough to support Britain's blockade of the Sunda Strait.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that the Strait of Malacca is more important than the Sunda Strait. Before East Africa, except for a few countries such as the Netherlands, few countries in the world chose the Sunda Strait route as a trade route.

(End of this chapter)