Chapter 1160 Prime Minister Kuyper
This is extortion! Wilhelmina looked at the shameless man in front of her with a complicated expression. Sure enough, now that the British Empire and France are inseparable, are clowns like East Africa now unscrupulous?
When Wilhelmina was extremely confused, Dutch Prime Minister Kuyper couldn't stand it anymore.
Kuyper was actually pro-Allied, which made the Netherlands neutral in World War I but actually favored Germany.
This also caused the Netherlands to suffer from war even though it was neutral.
On the one hand, almost all the world's supplies poured into Europe due to the war, which made the prices of tea, sugar, rubber and other supplies 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 areas, they can only produce a limited number of tropical agricultural products.
The reality is that almost all the British and French colonies and American countries can produce the same type of products, and this time and space has added East Africa, a major exporter of tropical agricultural products in the world. Not to mention the Netherlands, even tropical countries such as Brazil feel the deep malice of East Africa. , which almost caused the Dutch colonial trade income to drop significantly.
On the other hand, in order to win the war, the Allied Powers in the previous life began to prohibit 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 to this. After all, the Netherlands can be said to be the fastest sea channel in the Ruhr area of Germany, and a large number of goods are extremely dependent on it. Netherlands forwarding.
Later in the war, the United States also joined the blockade of the Netherlands, and the United States stopped supplying oil, coal, iron and other materials to the Netherlands.
Hundreds of ships carrying food were caught in English ports, leading to the "Potato Riots" of 1918.
The "Potato Riot" was actually a riot started by Belgian refugees who fled to the Netherlands because they could not keep up with the relief supplies.
In the later stages of the war, nearly 900,000 Belgians fled to the Netherlands, including hundreds of thousands of Belgian soldiers. The nearly one million war refugees were obviously an embarrassing burden for the Dutch, with a population of only more than 6 million.
This is also the fundamental reason why Teller proposed to help the Netherlands solve the refugee problem, and Wilhelmina immediately agreed. Of course, it is still the early days of the war, and the Netherlands’ carrying capacity is obviously not at that level, but hundreds of thousands of refugees are enough for the Netherlands. The government has a headache.
Of course, the final outcome of the war was still generally good for the Netherlands. Although there were some twists and turns, the Netherlands gained a large amount of real money from Germany.
The existence of Prime Minister Kuyper is also good news for East Africa. The existence of a pro-German Prime Minister allows him to open the door to trade between East Africa and Germany.
Kuyper knew very well the value of the Netherlands to East Africa, so he was completely confident in Trel's blackmail.
The so-called small power is only for the two countries of the United Kingdom and East Africa on the island of Kalimantan. The United Kingdom occupies the northern part of the island of Kalimantan, while East Africa occupies the west, and the Netherlands holds East Kalimantan.
The Netherlands is a small country. Its colonial core is mainly Java Island, and the power it can allocate to other islands is very limited. On the other hand, West Kalimantan controlled by East Africa is indeed East Africa's core interest in the Southeast Asia region. Its population, military, etc. are much larger than those of the United Kingdom 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 Madagascar. The two provinces on Madagascar are very close to East Africa and are completely planned as local areas.
Trailer said: "Prime Minister Kuyper, don't be too busy to refuse. Even in Europe, territorial transactions are very common, so we in East Africa definitely come to trade with the Netherlands with a friendly attitude."
"Although the island of Kalimantan is very large, its development is limited. East Kalimantan controlled by the Netherlands has almost no economic output, and the Burungan Sultanate and Kutai Sultanate under your country also had conflicts with the United Kingdom. disputes, so from a security perspective, even if our country does not have any plans for 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 still serve as a bridge between the United Kingdom and your country. buffer zone.”
The Sultanate of Burungan and the Sultanate of Kutai are both regimes in East Kalimantan and are also the sphere of influence of the Netherlands. The British did have fierce conflicts with the Netherlands during the expansion of Kalimantan in the last century.
The reason for this result is naturally the interference of East Africa. The establishment of East Africa was based on the loss of a large number of African colonies in the previous life, so the British expansion in other regions also appeared more fierce.
Kuyper laughed angrily and said: "Oh, according to what you said, we should be grateful for East Africa's contribution? And Kalimantan was handed over to your country, how can it become a buffer zone!"
Teller explained: "This is easy to understand. In fact, the Nanyang region can be divided into five major regions. In order of strength, they are the United Kingdom, France, East Africa, the Netherlands and the United States."
"The British colonies of India and Burma are originally close to the Nanyang region and control the Strait of Malacca. There are also many colonies in the south such as New Guinea and Australia. Most of your colonies are bordering the British, and in general the British controls the Nanyang. The north, and your country’s colonies are mainly distributed in the south. If we in East Africa are sandwiched in the middle, we can cut off the direct connection between your country and the United Kingdom, which is beneficial to both of us.”
As for France and the United States, there is no need to say more. Although the colonies they occupy are relatively rich compared to many areas in Southeast Asia, they are basically unable to be as dispersed as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and East Africa, and their influence cannot spread.
"Right now, we in East Africa lack East Kalimantan as a strategic fulcrum. If your country trades East Kalimantan to our country, then our East African colonies can move from west to east, isolating the forces such as the United Kingdom and the United States from moving south."
If East Africa occupies Kalimantan, it can cooperate with Mindanao, Balabac Island, New Guinea and the Pacific Islands to form the second largest power radiation area in the region after the United Kingdom, further increasing East Africa's influence in the South Ocean. rising.
Trail continued: "Of course, your country values actual interests more. We can guarantee some of the privileges of your citizens in East Kalimantan, and the two countries can jointly develop the East Kalimantan region, and the subsequent benefits can also be shared. , of course, the territorial sovereignty belongs to East Africa is unshakable.”
"And we are willing to give you a fair price to buy the East Kalimantan area, so that your country can get two benefits. As for whether East Kalimantan is still a colony of your country, does that matter?"
"You know, it is difficult for your country to hold East Kalimantan alone, and colonial activities have become more difficult in recent years, and the cost of colonial rule is rising day by day. With your country's national strength, it is somewhat powerful to control Java Island. If not, we might as well enjoy the future benefits under the protection of East Africa. We in East Africa already have a plan to develop East Kalimantan, and your country can definitely join in. "
As a world power, East Africa's ability to develop East Kalimantan is unquestionable. But if it is the Netherlands, it will be very difficult. Without development and the risk of independence, the Netherlands naturally has no ability to further expand the economic value of East Kalimantan. , even treasure mountains are difficult to develop.
Kuyper also agreed with Trailer's explanation later, but he couldn't make up his mind for a while. After all, Trailer's words sounded good, and it was up to two people to decide what East Africa would do in the end. In this case...
(End of chapter)