Chapter 951： idea goes bankrupt

Chapter 951 The idea goes bankrupt

Of course, the so-called international morality is worthless in the eyes of all countries. Since the United States and Spain have declared war on each other, it would not be a problem if they did not talk about the Philippines earlier, even if they really hit the Spanish mainland.

However, now that there are East African and French platforms, Spain has really taken advantage of this to negotiate with the United States on the Philippines issue, and the United States will naturally not be able to spit out the Philippines.

The final result of the compromise between the two sides was that the United States purchased the Philippines for the same amount of 20 million US dollars as in history. However, compared with history, the United States absolutely suffered a loss this time. On the one hand, the losses in this war were greater, and on the other hand, the Philippines' Mindanao Island It has been sold to East Africa, so the United States spent the same price and could only get two-thirds of the Philippines.

And Spain felt even more aggrieved. If it had known this earlier, it would have been better to sell the entire Philippines to Germany before the war started. Twenty million US dollars is not a low price, but Germany will definitely give more, and the most important thing is its own navy. The entire army will not be wiped out.

Regardless of the fact that the Philippine Navy was not strong before, the Spanish Navy is now directly disconnected. Even if the former Philippine Navy is placed in Spain now, it can at least maintain a decent figure for the navy in terms of total tonnage.

…

The first town.

"As for the results of the Spanish-American War, the two countries formally signed an agreement on the 19th of this month. The United States obtained colonies such as Cuba and the Philippines. As far as we know, Britain and Germany also benefited from this war, among which Some islands in the eastern Philippines fell into German hands."

In fact, this is not the first time that Germany has done this. For example, the island of Nauru in the Pacific that Ernst coveted was taken away from Spain by Germany in 1888.

In fact, Ernst already regretted it. If he had known that it was so easy to buy land from Spain, he should have grabbed more islands in the Pacific.

But this also gave Ernst a reminder. Now that the Spanish train is gone, there is still a Netherlands in Southeast Asia. The Netherlands has a lot of land in its hands, especially Kalimantan. Taking advantage of the remaining power of the war between the United States and Spain, Maybe a deal can be made.

What does the Spanish-American War have to do with East Africa's purchase of territory from the Netherlands? In fact, it has a lot to do with it. The Spanish-American War once again showed the world's jungle laws to those small countries. A great power like Spain would be beaten by a more powerful country, let alone a "small" country like the Netherlands.

Of course, although the Netherlands is small, it is not a weak country. In every aspect, it is much stronger than the half-dead Portugal. Otherwise, it would not be possible to hold a large territory in the Dutch East Indies.

As for why Ernst focused on the territory of Kalimantan held by the Netherlands, it was naturally because of the resources on the island.

The Lanfang Overseas Province in East Africa is actually an area with relatively scarce resources, while Sarawak, Brunei, and the North Borneo Territory in the northern British sphere of influence are rich in oil and gas resources. It is naturally impossible for East Africa to take advantage of the British.

The territory of Kalimantan controlled by the Netherlands not only has oil, but also a large amount of coal and other resources. The coal resources in southern Kalimantan alone accounted for 60% of Indonesia in the previous life. At the same time, the oil fields in eastern Kalimantan were also One of the three major oil and gas areas in Indonesia (the other two are Java Island and Sumatra Island).

Furthermore, Kalimantan has a low level of civilization and is far less important to the Netherlands than Java and Sumatra. Among the Dutch East Indies, Java is the absolute core and Sumatra is an integral part of the Strait of Malacca.

So the island of Kalimantan, which borders East Africa and the United Kingdom, is like a hot potato for the Netherlands.

Thinking of this, Ernst immediately asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to negotiate with the Netherlands. Taking a lesson from Mindanao, if the southern and eastern parts of Kalimantan can be obtained through peaceful means, that would be the best. If not, it would not be a big deal. Anyway, according to the Sooner or later the Dutch national power will have to be withdrawn from the East Indies.

Soon, East Africa received feedback on its test of the Dutch government. The two sides did not reach an initial consensus. The main reason was that the Netherlands itself was relatively wealthy and smart, so the asking price was also high. The Netherlands has a strong business culture, so when the East African government proposed to purchase Kalimantan Island, the Dutch immediately began to calculate the purpose of East Africa.

This is also easy to guess. East Africa already has Lanfang Overseas Province on the island of Kalimantan, so according to Dutch speculation, East Africa wants to expand the scope of Lanfang Overseas Province.

 East Africa’s expansion in the Southeast Asia region has not been slow in recent years. Especially after acquiring Mindanao, it has also become a numerous colonial power in the Southeast Asia region.

Mindanao and Kalimantan are across the sea, and by controlling the eastern part of Kalimantan, East Africa can connect the two colonies into one.

So the reason why East Africa wants to buy Kalimantan is reasonable and sufficient. However, from the perspective of the Netherlands, Kalimantan is equally important to the country. This is the second largest colony of the Netherlands.

The first place is Sumatra. Sumatra has an area of ​​more than 400,000 people, while the Dutch Kalimantan has an area of ​​more than 400,000 people, which is only slightly less than Sumatra Island.

The area of ​​Kalimantan is more than 700,000. Due to the British and East African reasons, not all of it is occupied by the Netherlands. Otherwise, the Dutch island of Kalimantan would probably be the largest colony of the Netherlands.

In fact, Kalimantan is the largest island in Asia and the third largest in the world, second only to Greenland and New Guinea.

New Guinea also has a Dutch colony, but like Kalimantan, New Guinea is also divided into three parts, belonging to the Netherlands, Britain and Germany.

The Dutch colony on Kalimantan covers an area of ​​more than 400,000 square kilometers, which is four times that of Mindanao. In the eyes of the Dutch, Kalimantan is no less important than the Philippines, so they directly asked for two billion rhine dong, which is almost twice the price of the United States "purchasing" the Philippines. After all, Dutch Kalimantan is indeed twice the size of the Philippines in terms of area (excluding Mindanao).

It is naturally impossible for East Africa to accept this offer. With so much money, East Africa can build its own navy and seize all the Kalimantan Island.

The Netherlands is not in a hurry. In their view, East Africa needs the Netherlands, so it is best to accept this offer. If the Netherlands does not accept the offer, it is not necessary to sell it.

"If we really spend 200 million Rhine guilders to buy Kalimantan from the Dutch, that would be a real international joke. Kalimantan's climate conditions are a little better than Alaska's and its population is not large. How dare the Dutch Ask for a price," Ernst said to his subordinates.

Nowadays, money is spent everywhere in East Africa, so in Ernst's mind, it is best to spend only a few million dollars on a "bad place" like Kalimantan, but any price exceeding ten million dollars Ernst They all felt at a loss.

After all, buying it will not immediately increase the national strength of East Africa. Ernst is only planning for the future of East Africa, and Kalimantan is not a must-buy.

According to the historical process of the previous life, as long as East Africa seizes the opportunity, Kalimantan will still fall into the hands of East Africa in a few decades at most. Even if Japan, the Nanyang spoiler, does not exist, the national strength of East Africa at that time will be enough to make the Dutch disgraced from Nanyang. Districts are gone.

This test also dispelled Ernst's enthusiasm for messing around. The situation in Mindanao and Alaska cannot be easily replicated. It is most cost-effective to spend more money to improve the strength of East Africa.

(End of this chapter)