Chapter 499: Fever to Establish Diplomatic Relations
"The East-Portugal War ended so well, which fully demonstrates that Portugal is not a rival at the same level in East Africa. This is just like Mexico to the United States. We can see that the African region is rapidly emerging into a region similar to the United States in North America. If no one curbs the development of East Africa, then Africa will also become an Africa for Africans.” - The Times
Regarding the statement "Africa for Africans," the Sun reporter conducted an exclusive interview with Will, the East African ambassador to Germany.
“Ambassador Will, the Times recently commented that Africa will become an Africa for Africans. Is this African alluding to East Africa?”
Will: "We are opposed to this statement. East Africa has never said that Africa is the Africa of Africans. In fact, we can see that East Africa's influence in Africa is limited to itself. North Africa is the Arabs' Africa. In the traditional sphere of influence, the country with the greatest influence in West Africa is France. South Africa and the United Kingdom are also very powerful. In addition, Spain, Italy, Belgium and other countries are all involved in Africa. This shows that Africa is currently diversified, not just a certain population. Africa for Africans, I want to ask who are Africans? Who represents Africans? Not Germany, France, and Arabs, so Africa for Africans is just an empty anxiety.”
Will's interview received widespread attention in Europe, because East Africa had a relatively low-key presence in Europe before, but the East-Portuguese War made the entire European society interested in the African country of East Africa for the first time.
Portugal, the old colonial power, has lost all face this time, and Portuguese domestic public opinion has sharply criticized East Africa and the current government.
Just like the Times, Portuguese mainstream media exaggerated East Africa as the biggest threat to Africa.
After all, Portugal has lost a lot of face this time. Portugal is heartbroken when Brazil becomes independent. It is understandable that Portugal has failed in competition with Spain, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom in the past, but being defeated by an African country and ceding territory to seek peace is simply a great shame and humiliation.
As a result, the current Portuguese government collapsed. After taking office, the new prime minister emphasized the need to recover lost territory through various means, and at the same time announced sanctions against East Africa.
The more eagerly Portugal jumps, the less will East Africa take Portugal to heart and impose sanctions on East Africa? It's ridiculous. While East Africa regards Portugal as a clown, other countries are beginning to dig deeper into the reasons behind Portugal's humiliation.
What follows is an assessment of East Africa’s national power. Because East Africa practices isolationism, the East African Navy is the most intuitive manifestation of East Africa’s national power.
Then everyone was surprised to find that the East African Navy had unknowingly reached the seventh position in the world, only behind the Austro-Hungarian Empire and above Germany. The Army could only rely on guesses from various countries. However, according to the East-Portuguese War, East Africa can be calculated At least two hundred thousand troops.
So from the perspective of military strength, East Africa can be considered a world power. It is unclear how strong it is, but it is definitely above Portugal.
What followed was the East African threat theory. In fact, the East African threat theory has been around for a long time. This argument began to appear after East Africa occupied South Africa, but most of it was suppressed by the media controlled by the Hechingen Consortium. .
As for Africa for Africans, no matter how stupid East Africa is, they will never say such a thing, because no one knows that Africans generally refer to black people, and East Africa will not rush to expel itself from German citizenship.
The direct consequence of the East-Portuguese War was that some countries began to seek to develop friendly relations with East Africa. Among them, Italy and Belgium were the most active. Both countries had colonies next to East Africa, so for the sake of their own interests, they must have good relations with East Africa.
As a result, both Italy and Belgium sent diplomats to Dar es Salaam to discuss the establishment of diplomatic relations with East Africa. This was the first time that a European country took the initiative to establish diplomatic relations with East Africa. The Dutch also sent diplomats to discuss with East Africa a little later. this matter. In fact, East Africa has diplomatic relations with these three countries, but it is similar to the German Chamber of Commerce established in the Far Eastern Empire during the East African colonial period, but it was one step closer after the East-Portuguese War.
The Netherlands has a good relationship with East Africa and has had a lot of cooperation. In addition, the Netherlands may have noticed East Africa's actions on Kalimantan, so a timely and formal consultation platform is needed to prevent conflicts between the two countries.
Lanfang Republic is not large in area, so it does not matter if it is given to East Africa, but there are Dutch colonies nearby. If there is a conflict between the two countries, it seems that East Africa is really capable of cutting off the connection between the Netherlands and the East Indies.
For these friendly countries, East Africa is of course open to all comers, but the planned embassy area in East Africa makes people have to complain.
The embassy area planned by East Africa is in the city of Dar es Salaam, not the first town in the capital. However, East Africa is relatively sincere. According to various countries, Dar es Salaam is the most prosperous city in East Africa and the first. The town's construction level is too backward and it is unable to provide corresponding services. Dar es Salaam
The level of business and service industry in the first town is indeed not as prosperous as Dar es Salaam, but it is not as bad as described in East Africa.
However, Ernst considered from a practical perspective that the relationship between East Africa and these countries was not good enough for them to move to the East African capital. As a highly centralized country, the first town and city officials knew relatively high intelligence, and there was a risk of being bribed. Therefore, it is better to place the diplomatic personnel of these countries in Dar es Salaam.
Anyway, Dar es Salaam is not far from the first town, and it only takes less than an hour by train. There is also telegraph communication.
In addition to these countries that have real interests in East Africa, there are also some countries that simply have good relations with the Hechingen royal family or East Africa, so they have established embassies in East Africa.
Ernst established the embassies of these countries in the first town, including Germany and Austria, newly independent Romania, Sweden, the Far Eastern Empire, Paraguay, etc.
Of course, the Far Eastern Empire’s embassy is quite special, and it’s hard to say what its relationship with East Africa is. But for the Far Eastern Empire, East Africa is definitely a country with relatively good relations, at least it’s easier to talk to.
In fact, there is a third type of country embassy area in East Africa, that is, the Zanzibar Island embassy area. The Zanzibar Island embassy area is home to Ottoman, United States, Japan and other countries.
Hence, the diplomatic construction in East Africa was seriously mixed with Ernst’s personal emotions, which also reflects the unparalleled control and influence of the Hechingen royal family in East Africa as an autocratic monarchy.
The three embassy areas in East Africa also reflect the differences in East African diplomacy. The one in the first town is definitely a friend of East Africa, the city of Dar es Salaam is a friendly country, and the island of Zanzibar is a hodgepodge.
This kind of embassy division also has confidential arrangements, such as the mixed economic system in East Africa. Ernst did not want to reveal it. The Paris Commune was at the forefront, and East Africa did not want to be associated with it, although the two are not the same thing at all. However, many policy-related things have too high a plagiarism check rate, so it is not good for interested people to use and interpret them. Moreover, whether it is monarchy, class autocracy, or slavery, it seems that it is not very popular in various countries at present. East Africa is indeed too reactionary. .
(End of this chapter)