African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1309 Territory Exchange
East Africa's tougher diplomatic attitude is naturally not intended to quit, but to make Britain "willingly" cut its own flesh and blood to "compensate" East Africa's losses.

This will certainly offend Britain, but East Africa today is very different from the period of the South African War. Before the South African War, East Africa's comprehensive national strength was far inferior to that of Britain.

Now, the gap between East Africa and Britain is almost negligible, and East Africa even has an advantage. East Africa is not afraid of the Allies' liquidation of East Africa after the war.

……

1918 4 Month 2 Day.

London.

British Prime Minister David has been in a very good mood recently. With Britain's full efforts to win over and deceive the United States, it finally joined the Allied camp, which greatly boosted the Allied Powers' confidence in victory in the war.

At the same time, Britain also achieved continuous success on many new fronts it opened up. Except for the Dardanelles, which it could not capture for a long time, the other battlefields achieved good results.

Prime Minister David, as usual, sat on the sofa watching the military situation at the front line, but compared to the sad expression he had a few months ago, he now looked somewhat relaxed and contented.

At this time, Foreign Minister Balfour came over in a hurry and said to the Prime Minister with a serious face: "Your Excellency, I think you should pay attention to some of the information we have received recently."

Looking at Balfour's stern face, David's heart suddenly skipped a beat. After all, it was obviously not a good thing for his Foreign Minister to report news to him with such an expression.

You have to know that Balfour, like himself, was in a good mood because the situation had improved. Moreover, the Jewish Palestinian state-establishment initiative advocated by Balfour last year was also passed in the UK, which made Balfour even more refreshed recently.

As for why Britain pushed for the passage of this initiative, the reason is very simple, that is, to gain the support of Jewish forces.

As beneficiaries of the development of capitalism in Europe, Jews have extensive influence on European countries by virtue of their strong economic power.

American Jews played a significant role in Britain's ability to drag the United States into the crisis, not to mention that the Jews also had considerable influence in the Allied Powers. Except for East Africa, other powers in the world more or less needed Jewish capital.

Balfour's blatant support for the Jews obviously also brought him a lot of benefits.

David straightened up and asked, "Balfour, what happened?"

Balfour said: "It's not a big deal, but I think it may affect the British Empire and cause twists and turns in the war, so I came to report to you."

"East African Foreign Minister Freer just asked me about the redivision of power in the Indian Ocean. This time his attitude and words were much harsher. I think this is a new change within the East African government, so I have to ask you for your advice."

There is no trivial matter in diplomacy. Changes in individual words may make the original information conveyed have a completely different meaning.

A classic example is that in the last century, before the Franco-Prussian War, Bismarck triggered Germany's last war of unification by modifying William I's letters.

Prime Minister David frowned and asked, "What do the East Africans want to do at this time?"

Balfour said: "According to our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, East Africa is obviously dissatisfied with our previous delays. They also specifically mentioned France, which is obviously dissatisfied with our failure to fulfill our promises."

Last year, the British government made a big promise in order to stabilize East Africa, and it was David, Balfour and Winston, several senior British cabinet officials who led the matter.

So David naturally knew more about what Balfour said. When it comes to making big promises, Britain is obviously the best, but now East Africa wants to take a piece of the pie by force. Prime Minister David asked, "Has East Africa taken any practical action? How should we respond to the previous proposal? Will the failure to fulfill the promise lead to East Africa joining the Allied camp?"

Asking several questions in succession showed Prime Minister David's anxiety at the moment.

Balfour said helplessly: "East Africa has not taken any actual action, but since last year, the East African Navy has been more and more active in the Indian Ocean, especially in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. This is obviously a threat from the East African government to us."

“And regarding last year’s proposal to stabilize East Africa, at that time we were not sure whether the United States would join us. Now the United States is on the same boat with us, so I think our attitude towards East Africa should change.”

"After all, we haven't made any substantial promises to East Africa, only hints. However, we shouldn't completely offend East Africa to prevent it from getting angry and joining the Allies. As for how to do it, it's up to you to decide."

It seems that Balfour said everything, but in fact he said nothing. After all, Prime Minister David was very clear about these things. Everyone knows that East Africa should not be pushed to the opposite side of Britain at this time.

However, if East Africa's demands are met, then responsibilities will have to be taken, and there may even be liquidation in the future.

So David didn't intend to let Balfour go. He asked, "How do you think we should meet East Africa's demands without harming the interests of the empire, and thus stabilize our relationship with East Africa?"

Balfour said without hesitation: "In that case, what is the real demand of East Africa, and how to ensure that after we meet their demands, they will not go back on their words and continue to support the activities of the Allies."

From the perspective of East Africa, the trade between East Africa and the Allies is naturally "free trade" without any political relations involved. However, for the Allies, in special periods, countries that trade with the Allies support the Allies. Although the trade between East Africa and the Allies has been largely cut off, it can still flow into the Allies through various means.

However, it is impossible for the British to completely block these smuggling channels. After all, there is no shortage of powerful people even within the empire.

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Prime Minister David said: "Since the East Africans mentioned the redivision of power in the Indian Ocean, they are interested in the Indian Ocean region. Which regions do you think we should trade with East Africa?"

Balfour pondered for a moment, then suddenly had an idea and asked, "Prime Minister, do you still remember the territorial transaction between the French and East Africa?"

David nodded and said, "That's natural."

Balfour said excitedly: "But the French have bad intentions. Among the colonies they handed over to East Africa, there are several colonies in India."

"Can we use the reason of maintaining India's security as an excuse to exchange territory with East Africa to meet East Africa's demands and hand over some unimportant Indian Ocean colonies to East Africa? In this way, we can stabilize East Africa and our people at home at the same time."

If the country directly gives up its territory to East Africa, it would be treason, but if it is a territorial exchange, it would be a normal exchange of interests between the two countries, which would appease the emotions of the people of the country and avoid attacks from political opponents.

Prime Minister David's eyes lit up and he said, "Your idea is very good. After all, nothing is bigger than India's security. If we want to maintain India's security and exchange territory with East Africa, then no one can find fault with us. At the same time, it can also satisfy East Africa's ambitions temporarily."

India was the core of British colonialism, and the French gave away several of their own colonies to East Africa, which in itself was a threat to India.

Even though the risk of controlling India by relying on a few colonial outposts was small, the British could not afford such a risk.

In fact, Prime Minister David and other senior British government officials knew very well that if East Africa really wanted to invade India, Britain could only watch helplessly at this time.

Therefore, exchanging other colonies for a few colonial outposts in East Africa in India was a complete cover-up used to convince the country's people.

(End of this chapter)