African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1566 Cooperation
East Africa's involvement in Afghanistan was primarily through Persia, so the proxies it supported in Afghanistan were mainly its northwestern powers. The British were happy to see this happen, because the Soviet Union was the first to be threatened by East Africa's intervention in the region.

Of course, East Africa could also connect with Afghanistan through the port of Gwadar, but Gwadar is located in southern Afghanistan, and the surrounding area was considered a core interest of Britain, as well as a connecting passage between British India and southern Persia.

Besides the Soviet Union, Britain, and East Africa, Afghanistan also actively sought to bring in Germany, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire to maintain political balance and ensure its own security.

……

The plane landed in Dihua, and only then did Hoffman finally catch a glimpse of this "largest city" in the Western Regions. Dihua County was not large, with a population of less than 100,000, and its economy and industry were relatively backward. Therefore, in 1934, the Nanjing government did not approve its upgrade to a city.

However, this did not prevent Dihua County from becoming the political and economic center of the Western Regions and the seat of the provincial capital, because the towns outside Dihua County were much more backward in development. At present, there are probably fewer than three towns in the Western Regions Province with a population of more than 50,000.

Dihua County Airport was very rudimentary, completely unpaved, with dust and gravel on the runway, but at this airport, Hoffman met some unexpected people.

Brownie said to Hoffman, "Consul, judging from their appearance, they should be Soviets, and this plane should be a Soviet military aircraft."

Hoffman, looking rather grim, said, "What bad luck! It seems the Soviet Union and the Western Regions have a closer relationship than we thought. I'm afraid they'll interfere with our negotiations with the Western Regions government."

Brownie reassured Hoffmann, "That's not necessarily true. After all, the Germans can operate here, so the Soviets shouldn't care too much about us entering this area."

After overhearing their conversation, the German pilot, Durut, said, "The Soviets are very active in Dihua, but as Mr. Brownie said, it's not easy for the Soviets to interfere with you. Although this place is relatively remote, the Far Eastern Imperial Government can still control it."

The relationship between the Nanjing government and the current Western Regions provincial government is very complicated. However, on the surface, the government still obeys the Nanjing government. After all, the Western Regions provincial government also needs the Nanjing government to endorse its legitimacy. At the same time, it is also wary of foreign powers such as the Soviet Union, based on past experience.

Hoffman said, "Let's hope so! Hopefully, Governor Sheng won't be influenced by the Soviet Union next."

The governor is currently the highest military commander in the Western Regions Province and is basically the local decision-maker. After all, in the current Far Eastern Empire, those who have guns have the power to speak, and the administrative power in many places is controlled by local warlords.

Afterwards, Hoffman and his party headed towards Dihua City to make contact with the Western Regions Provincial Government to discuss the issue of airport usage rights in Dihua and other regions.

The Soviets also discovered Hoffmann and his group, but they simply mistook them for Germans. However, the Soviets did not deliberately make things difficult for them.

Even though relations between the Soviet Union and Germany were not good at the moment, there had been no conflict between the two countries, so the Soviets in Dihua did not want to have contact with them.

As for what the "Germans" were doing in the Western Regions, they weren't very interested. This was mainly because Germany was geographically constrained and found it difficult to exert influence in the northwest of its Far Eastern empire, which caused the Soviet Union to miss an opportunity to target East Africa.

In Dihua County, the capital of the Western Regions Province, Governor Sheng warmly received Hoffman and his entourage.

"Consul Hoffman, I have been looking forward to your arrival. Dihua County is not large and is a harsh, cold place, so I hope you will understand if our hospitality is not up to par..."

Hoffman was satisfied with Governor Sheng's attitude and returned a few polite words before the two sides got down to business.

"Your Excellency, we are here today to discuss the establishment of the Northwest Air Route. I believe your Ministry of Transport has already informed you of this matter."

Governor Sheng said, "Of course. I will not oppose such a good thing as improving transportation in our Western Regions. On the contrary, I will welcome it and actively cooperate with your country's work."

Generally speaking, Governor Sheng was wary of the Nanjing government, but he saw an opportunity in the international air routes dominated by East Africa.

"Consul Hoffman, I would be very happy to cooperate with your country on the Northwest International Route. Of course, it would be even better if this route could serve as a window for exchange and trade between our Western Regions Province and East Africa."

"East Africa is the world's most powerful industrial country, while the economy of our Western Regions Province is very backward. However, the Western Regions Province is vast and rich in resources and special products, and the two sides are highly complementary."

"I have an idea: to build a communication platform between our Western Regions Province and your country, to connect with your country, and to accelerate the formation of the Northwest International Air Route."

Here, Governor Sheng specifically emphasized that direct contact should be established between the Western Regions Province and East Africa, which would make it easier for him to bypass the Nanjing government.

Hoffman didn't care much about his little schemes. As long as the Northwest Route could be completed and an air route opened between East Africa and the Far Eastern Empire could be established, he didn't care about cooperating with the Western Regions Province or the Central Government of the Far Eastern Empire.

Since Governor Sheng wanted to establish direct contact with East Africa, they could simply set up a separate liaison office for both sides while maintaining ties between Nanjing and Dihua. Even if Nanjing knew about it, they wouldn't care too much. Therefore, Hoffman readily agreed to his request.

Then, Governor Sheng began to reveal the reason for his actions: "Consul Hoffman, because the Western Regions Province is close to the border and has a serious bandit problem, we are concerned about the need to maintain local security and national defense. We wonder if we can import weapons from your country through the Northwest Route in the future."

The real intention of Governor Sheng was to obtain access to weapons purchases from East Africa and to seek support from East Africa.

Currently, Governor Sheng's army is heavily reliant on Soviet support. However, Governor Sheng clearly does not trust the Soviet Union and urgently needs to find new forces to counterbalance Soviet influence in the Western Regions.

Therefore, East Africa became his target. If he could establish good relations with East Africa, then Governor Sheng would not have to worry about being strangled by the Soviet Union in the future.

Hoffman also gave his reply to Governor Sheng's idea: "East Africa welcomes cooperation with the Western Regions. As for arms deals, I need to contact the domestic authorities, but I believe the local authorities will not care about this simple request."

East Africa certainly wouldn't care. Even if East Africa didn't do the arms trade with the Western Regions, the Soviet Union would. Therefore, if Governor Sheng wanted to obtain a channel for arms imports from East Africa, East Africa would certainly not refuse.

In fact, Governor Sheng had previously sought help from the Nanjing government. He was not without enemies in the Western Regions, but the Nanjing government itself was in financial straits and had no time to spare for the Western Regions.

Everyone knew the Soviet Union's intentions. Governor Sheng's previous cooperation with the Soviet Union was entirely out of necessity; he didn't want to become a Soviet puppet. Now that the East Africans had arrived in Dihua, he seized the opportunity and proactively proposed cooperation, thus creating competition between East Africa and the Soviet Union, which would make his power and position more secure.

The Soviet Union's support for Governor Sheng was not free; it was secured by the mineral and agricultural resources of the Western Regions. For example, the gold in the Western Regions Province had been extensively exploited by the Soviet Union for nearly ten years in the previous life.

Now that East Africa has joined, the Western Regions Province has another option. Since the Soviet Union is not selling weapons, they can turn to East Africa. At the same time, they can also introduce East Africans to compete with the Soviet Union in terms of local resource development and industrial development.

For example, some minerals that they were unable to develop, which were previously only developed by the Soviets, left them with no other choice and thus they could not fetch a good price.

Now, East Africa and the Soviet Union can bid against each other, with the highest bidder winning the right to develop the resources.

Hoffman promised, "Once the Northwest International Route opens, the Empire will inevitably increase its investment in the region. If you need, you can also import industrial equipment and goods from East Africa."

"East Africa is the world's leading industrial power. Our strength is far beyond what a backward industrial country like the Soviet Union could compare with, and the quality of our products is a level higher than that of the Soviet Union."

According to Hoffman, the Soviet Union had become a backward industrial country. However, at present, Soviet industry is indeed relatively backward compared with East Africa. The gap between the two countries is huge in terms of both development quality and industrial capacity.

To put it bluntly, the Soviet Union probably has no chance of surpassing East Africa in the future. After all, even in terms of industrial scale and size, which is its greatest strength, the Soviet Union would find it difficult to surpass a large country of the same level as East Africa.

The Soviet Union was only slightly larger and had more resources than East Africa. However, East Africa had overseas markets and raw materials to ensure its domestic production. If you add East Africa's overseas territories, its overall resource endowment and land area were not much worse than those of the Soviet Union.

East Africa indirectly controlled more regions, such as most of South America, which could provide East Africa with raw materials and markets, while the Soviet Union's overseas influence was weak.

In terms of population, East Africa has a significant advantage over the Soviet Union, and it would be difficult for the Soviet Union to surpass East Africa in this population advantage unless it returned to the Tsarist era and brought its population growth rate back up. In terms of the size of the educated industrial population, it would also be difficult for the Soviet Union to surpass East Africa.

Governor Sheng had no doubt about Hoffman's words. He was quite familiar with the development of the world's major powers. Many people now said that East Africa's comprehensive national strength could rank first in the world, while the Soviet Union was only in the top five.

But even the Soviet Union, which was among the top five, was a behemoth to him, suffocating the entire Far Eastern Empire, and this "monster" was lying on the Western Regions.

In comparison, East Africa, the world's number one in terms of security, offers a much better sense of security. Unfortunately, he couldn't connect with East Africa in the past, but now that he has the opportunity to contact and cooperate with East Africa, he naturally won't let it go easily.

Afterwards, he began in-depth communication with Consul Hoffman on the details of the Northwest International Route, and on this basis, he also discussed issues such as economic cooperation and military cooperation. The negotiation process between the two sides went very smoothly.

Thus, with the support of the Western Regions Provincial Government, the Northwest International Route was quickly established. A year later, this route became the fastest transportation route from East Africa to the Far Eastern Empire.

Starting from Bosaso (Gulf of Aden) in East Africa, and then passing through Gwadar, these two cities alone can reach the Western Province of the Far Eastern Empire. Then, passing through Dihua, one can finally reach Xi'an, the mountain city.

With a total flight distance of over 7,000 kilometers, if the most advanced transport aircraft in East Africa is used, only one stop is needed in between to reach the mountain city or Xi'an from the East African mainland.

Of course, Bosaso is still somewhat remote for East Africa. It is just a military town in the Gulf of Aden, and it is not very convenient to transit through Bosaso for the transportation of supplies.

However, compared to the Hump route that came later, the Northwest International Route still had more advantages. The biggest advantage of this route was safety, especially its resistance to the threat of war.

The benefits of the Northwest International Route were first enjoyed by the Western Regions Province. A year later, in 1935, East Africa achieved direct trade with the Western Regions Province for the first time due to the opening of the Northwest Route.

High-value-added products such as weapons and pharmaceuticals entered the Western Regions along this route, which to some extent weakened the Soviet Union's influence in the area. At the same time, East African companies also used this route to facilitate their investment in the northwest of the Far Eastern Empire.

Previously, East Africa's investment in the Far Eastern Empire had already shifted to its two rear areas, namely the two major regions centered on Xi'an and Chongqing.

Now, with the opening of the Northwest Route, the process of people traveling to and from East Africa has been further accelerated. For example, the East African technicians and management of Shenmu Coal Mine, who previously wanted to return to China, had to go east first, reach the coast of the Far Eastern Empire, then travel through Southeast Asia, and cross the Indian Ocean to return home.

Now, as long as you arrive in Xi'an first, you can take a plane and fly back to your homeland in East Africa via the Northwest International Air Line.

In this era, there were no civilian air routes from Southeast Asia to East Africa. The most advanced aircraft in the East African military had a range of only 4,000 kilometers, and only a dozen or so had been initially produced and had not yet been widely deployed.

Most of these flights are used between East Africa and the Sunda Strait, requiring a stopover in the Chagos Islands. The distance between Mombasa and the Chagos Islands is over 3,500 kilometers, and the distance from the Chagos Islands to the Sunda Strait is also over 3,500 kilometers, totaling nearly 7,000 kilometers.

Therefore, there are no civilian air routes from East Africa to Southeast Asia. The only route, which uses the Chagos Islands as a transit point, is only used by the East African military.

In other words, the only way for ordinary people to travel from Southeast Asia to East Africa was by ship, and ships were not fast, which wasted a lot of time.

The emergence of the Northwest International Route solved the problem of personnel exchanges between East Africa and the Far Eastern Empire. It only took five or six days to fly from the central and western parts of the Far Eastern Empire to the East African mainland.

This is already built on the foundation of East Africa's highly developed aviation industry. If it were another country, such as Germany, which ranks second in the world in aviation technology, it would not be able to do this. Otherwise, the Eurasian air routes would not have been delayed in being fully connected.

Besides technical issues, there are also political issues. For example, the Southwest Route has been delayed in taking shape for so long. One of the key factors is that East Africa lacks a corresponding foothold in India, and the conditions in Sikkim are not very good.

This was based on the premise that East Africa was a major colonial power, and Germany lacked overseas colonies and spheres of influence. Without major technological breakthroughs, it would be even more difficult for Germany to break free of the blockade by relying on aviation.

(End of this chapter)