Chapter 1244 British and French Mediation
The Siamese royal family first found Britain and France to mediate this "misunderstanding". After all, Britain and France have the most profound influence in Siam. Basically, Siam's foreign affairs cannot bypass Britain and France.
On the morning of August 16, King Rama VI invited two envoys, Sir Clare from the UK and Kriyaba from France, to the Bangkok Palace for exchanges.
King Rama VI told the two men what happened, then looked at them and said: "Two ministers, we in Siam are definitely being wronged this time. After all, our country has expressly prohibited the establishment of Chinese education in Siam, and East Africa opened such a school in Bangkok without saying hello, which led to this accident!”
"This is obviously a trap deliberately dug for us by the East Africans, and their purpose is also very simple, that is, to further invade Siam."
Sir Clare asked King Rama VI helplessly: "Your Majesty, have you talked to East Africa? What is the attitude of the East Africans?"
Since arriving in Siam, Sir Clare has not encountered any good news. First, Britain went to war with the Allies. For this reason, the British government gave Clare an important task, which was to ensure the support of Siam's strategic supplies to the British mainland.
Siam is the second largest rubber origin in the world after East Africa, and the war has caused international rubber prices to soar. Although rubber in East Africa is not expensive, it is obviously more cost-effective to buy part of it from Siam.
After all, Siam has a large population. Although it is only about 90,000, it stands out in the Nanyang region.
You must know that during this period, there were not many countries in the world with a population of more than 10 million. Take the island of Kalimantan, for example, with a total population of less than 3 million.
And this is despite Siam having been robbed of nearly half of its land by Britain and France. The current population size of Siam includes the rich Mekong River Basin. If this were not the case, Siam's population of over 10 million would be nothing at all. Difficult matter.
The land in Siam can be said to be one of the best in the entire Southeast Asia region. It has flat terrain, abundant rainfall, and rich products. Therefore, both Britain and France have great ambitions for Siam.
The British have invested heavily in Siam, of which food and rubber are top priorities. Siam's climate is very suitable for rubber cultivation, and its labor costs and organizational capabilities are excellent. It has become one of the largest sources of rubber in the UK.
This is incomparable to East Africa. After all, although East Africa is actively reducing the cost of rubber planting, the labor costs in East Africa still make rubber planting in East Africa show a decreasing trend.
Of course, it is still impossible for the rubber planting area in other regions of the world to exceed that of East Africa in a short period of time. After all, apart from 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 developed tools, government subsidies and domestic protection in East Africa, etc.
You must know that East Africa is not only the world's largest rubber producer, but also the world's largest consumer of rubber. Automobiles, electrical appliances, etc. are all large consumers of rubber. Therefore, East African countries can take advantage of this to protect the development of their own rubber industry.
However, no matter how good the tools and technology are, they are not as easy to use as Siam's "cattle and horses". This has made Siam 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 rubber Smooth delivery to the UK mainland.
Secondly, Claire's task is to safeguard British interests in Siam. In normal times, there is nothing to say about this. But now it is not that the British mainland is trapped by the war, but Britain's overseas interests are naturally under more severe pressure. 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 they obviously have no sincerity in negotiating."
King Rama VI: “East Africa has three demands. First, we must pay compensation of 80 million Rhine guilders to the East African government. Second, we require us to cede part of the area, including southeastern Bangkok, as its colony. Third, we need to further expand East Africa’s Siam’s privileges and the amendment of the Treaty of Bangkok are unacceptable to us.”
Minister Kliaba, who had never spoken, said: "This time East Africa has indeed gone too far. Eighty million Rhine guilders, which is an astronomical figure for Siam." You must know that France's extortion of Siam was less than three hundred. Ten thousand francs, and eighty million rhine guilders is equivalent to sixty million francs. This amount of money is simply unavailable to Siam, which has a population of only nine million and a very backward economy.
Of course, the compensation France demanded was small because France had appropriated large areas of fertile land in the strategic east. The value of this land was difficult to assess.
King Rama VI also agreed very much and said: "Even if Siam is sold, it may not be worth 80 million Rhine guilders. This shows that the East Africans have no intention of negotiating with us at all."
If it is possible to spend 80 million Rhine guilders to acquire Siam, then there will definitely be many people in the world willing to do this business. After all, East Africa paid a lot of money to acquire the German and Dutch colonies, and the land in Siam is obviously larger than the colonies of the two countries. Much more valuable.
So Rama VI was just an exaggeration, but now Siam is indeed in financial difficulty. After all, it is often harvested by the great powers. Being rich is a bad thing, not to mention that a series of reforms by Rama VI also cost money.
Of course, the empty treasury does not mean that the Siamese royal family has no money. The Siamese royal family is a typical big family. If it really wants to sell off its assets, it will still have 80 million rhine guilders, but the Siamese royal family will also be very painful.
What's more, in addition to reparations, East Africa also made other demands, which were impossible for the Siamese government to accept.
Minister Kliaba said: "The compensation must not be so large. After all, one person died in East Africa. Secondly, the requirement to cede land is unreasonable."
Sir Clare also nodded in agreement. As for the so-called amendment of the "Bangkok Treaty", it was a trivial matter in the eyes of the two of them. After all, they could do this.
For France and the United Kingdom, the land of Siam was originally a piece of food for both countries, but no one could do anything about it, so it was left idle as a buffer state.
But now that East Africa wants to come and get a share of the pie, Britain and France are naturally unwilling, so they are very willing to exclude East Africa.
Sir Clare said to King Rama VI: "We will negotiate with the East African government, but you must also be prepared for the opportunity to bleed. After all, East Africans really died in Bangkok this time. In this case, compensation is definitely indispensable. "
King Rama VI said: "Of course, we in Siam just hope that East Africa's requirements are more reasonable. If we pay more money, we can grit our teeth and persist, but at most three million rhine guilders. This is my psychological expectation." ”
Three million rhine guilders, which is about 100,000 pounds, has to be said that Rama VI is a bit whimsical. This kind of compensation is definitely impossible for East Africa to accept.
However, Sir Clare still said: "In terms of compensation, we can only do our best. At the same time, I also hope that your Majesty will prepare for the worst. If we cannot reach an agreement with East Africa, military conflict is inevitable."
At this time, the mainland simply cannot spare the power to take care of the Nanyang region's affairs, so Sir Clare is very clear about his position, that is, he can only be a lobbyist.
Moreover, the Allies still need to win over East Africa to prevent East Africa from fully falling into the Allied camp.
This is not impossible. East Africa and Germany and Austria share the same origin and are relatively close to each other. There are also very frequent trade, technology, academic, and political exchanges.
Therefore, in order to stabilize the big country of East Africa, it is impossible for Sir Clare to really offend East Africa. Even when necessary, it is necessary to abandon Siam and make good friends with East Africa. There is no need to mention it to Rama VI.
(End of chapter)