African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1618 The "Encirclement" of Japan

Admittedly, relations between East Africa and Japan have always been cold, with underlying hostility between the two countries. However, the Japanese government and military are well aware that Japan does not have the resources to confront a global power like East Africa on a full scale.

Therefore, Japan's strategic approach to East Africa has never been one of full-scale confrontation, but rather one of achieving "denial" and "anti-access" through roundabout means or localized wars.

This means using a combination of military and non-military means to prevent East African military forces from entering specific areas, such as disputed waters, airspace, or land, or to significantly increase the cost and risk of East African intervention. It also involves restricting East African military freedom of movement, narrowing the technological gap between the two countries, and establishing defensive "buffer zones" in disputed areas to prevent the military projection of such a superpower as East Africa.

The "buffer zone" between Japan's and East Africa's spheres of influence is the Pacific Ocean.

Japan itself is an island nation surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, while East Africa also has many overseas bases, colonial outposts and spheres of influence in the Pacific.

Furthermore, these East African "nails" planted in the Pacific Ocean have a significant impact on Japan's geostrategic interests.

To the north of Japan lies the Alaskan Overseas Territory in East Africa. This is a relatively important colony in East Africa. Even without considering East Africa, Alaska can be considered a small country in terms of population and economy.

As a "small" country, Alaska has a population of two million, which is not a large number compared to other Pacific nations.

In the Pacific region during the 1930s, there were more than ten countries and colonies with populations exceeding ten million. Among these ten countries, Canada, the country with the smallest population, still had more than 10.3 million people in the 1931 census.

Meanwhile, there are many countries and regions in the Pacific region with populations exceeding one million, and Alaska is not even on the list.

However, Alaska's economic and industrial capabilities cannot be ignored; it has a nickname: "Little Canada."

Although Canada is not very active in the international community and often participates in international affairs as a British colony, it is undeniable that Canada is a major power with strong economic, industrial, and agricultural capabilities, even on a global scale.

If the United States were not present in North America, Canada would be a dominant power.

Alaska earned the nickname "Little Canada" because it is similar to Canada in many ways, like a miniature version of Canada.

With its relatively abundant resources and a certain population size, Alaska has developed a relatively complete industrial system, ranking first even among overseas territories in East Africa.

East Africa also supports the development of Alaskan industry, after all, in the early 20th century, this region had no other way out but to develop industry.

Therefore, Alaska is considered a relatively industrialized region in the Pacific and possesses a certain degree of independent military strength.

To put it bluntly, apart from a few major Pacific nations, there are virtually no other Pacific countries that pose a threat to Alaska.

Among the major powers that could pose a threat to Alaska, Japan undoubtedly ranks first. This is partly due to Japan's proximity to Alaska, and partly because Alaska's geographical location is important to Japan. By occupying Alaska, Japan would have a forward base for advancing into North America and control the Bering Strait.

As Alaska develops its industry, it will undoubtedly become heavily reliant on the Far East market. After all, Canada and the United States are both major industrial powers, and Alaska's focus on the Far East market will also create competition with Japanese industry.

In the agricultural sector, Alaska has relatively limited arable land resources, so its agricultural utilization rate is high. At the same time, it vigorously develops its fishing industry, which often leads to conflicts between Alaskan fishermen and Japanese fishermen.

In conclusion, Alaska, this "little cockroach" in the Pacific, may not pose a threat to Japan, but the conflicts between them are not insignificant.

Then there's the area to the east of Japan, mainly the eastern part of the Asian continent, including East Africa. There's not much military presence there, but East Africa still has some influence in the Far Eastern Empire, especially in the long history of economic and trade exchanges, where East Africa has also supported a certain scale of interest groups in the Far East.

Although this interest group cannot influence the decisions of the Far Eastern Empire, it can at least have a voice. Now that the Far Eastern Empire and Japan are enemies, East Africa has the ability to influence the Nanjing government's attitude towards Japan through its own representatives.

Then there's southern Japan, which is also the region with the greatest conflict of interest between East Africa and Japan. Among them, the Ryukyu Islands are a directly tangible disputed area where the conflict between Japan and East Africa is most evident.

Meanwhile, further south from the Ryukyu Islands, East Africa's influence grows stronger, becoming the main area of ​​activity for the East African Pacific Fleet, with the Zhuhai Economic Zone in between East Africa and the Far East.

Finally, there's Japan to the west. Its strength in East Africa to the west is almost negligible, with only the dispensable North Hawaiian colony.

Even so, the existence of the North Hawaiian colony completed the final link in the East African "encirclement" of Japan, which made a rough encirclement "trapped" Japan in the middle on the map.

Therefore, in the Pacific region, East Africa, even if it does not pose the greatest threat to Japan, can still be ranked among the top. The threats to East Africa before were nothing more than the United States, the Soviet Union, and the Far Eastern Empire.

Of course, Japan now most likely doesn't take the Far Eastern Empire seriously.

When Japan was mentioned, Ernst became very talkative. He skillfully took out a somewhat worn map of the situation surrounding Japan from the drawer of the coffee table and laid it flat on the table.

This map is entirely centered on Japan and marks the distribution of military forces in surrounding countries. The area circled in striking red represents the distribution of East Africa's influence in the Pacific region.

"Look, our colonies, spheres of influence, and economic regions in the Pacific together form an encirclement of Japan. Although this so-called encirclement is more nominal than real, it can definitely put tremendous pressure on Japan just by looking at the map."

Ernst drew a circle around the East African outposts surrounding Japan with his hand and then spoke to Crown Prince Frederick.

Crown Prince Frederick chimed in, "If we disregard the weakness of our many colonies and look at this map alone, I, if I were the Japanese government, would certainly feel anxious."

"Perhaps only Britain in the whole world can give Japan this feeling, but Britain itself cannot bring a sense of oppression to Japan."

Britain also had a considerable sphere of influence in the Pacific, with particularly powerful colonies like Canada and Australia serving as strategic footholds. At the same time, the military strength of Britain's Far Eastern empire should not be underestimated.

However, for the Japanese government, the greater danger was undoubtedly Britain or East Africa. Leaving aside the strength of the East African mainland, the presence of the East African Pacific Fleet in the South Pacific alone was enough to make Japan dare not underestimate East Africa.

Ernst moved his hand to the location of the Soviet Union: "Now, Japan faces us with the same feeling that the countries surrounding the Soviet Union face the Soviet Union." "Japan is also a neighbor of the Soviet Union. Everyone knows that the Soviet Union's strength in the Far East Empire was very weak, but none of the Soviet Union's neighbors were not afraid of the Soviet Union."

"For many of the Soviet Union's neighbors, the mere sense of oppression on the map was enough to make them feel suffocated and deeply fearful."

Ernst himself deeply understood this feeling, after all, he was a person from the Far Eastern Empire in his previous life, and in his previous life, the Far Eastern Empire was not facing the Soviet Union, but a defective Russia. However, no normal person from the Far Eastern Empire did not harbor any deep-seated wariness towards Russia.

As the largest land neighbor of the former Far Eastern Empire, Russia exerted enormous defense pressure on the Far Eastern Empire on land. Even without explicitly stating it, Russia would undoubtedly rank among the top imagined enemies of the former Far Eastern Empire's army.

This concern has always lingered among the high-ranking officials of the Far Eastern Empire, even during the best periods in relations between the two countries.

The reason is simple: Russia itself is a very unreliable country to the Far Eastern imperial government. After all, Russians have always harbored illusions about the West and wanted to join the Western camp.

If the West "accepts" Russia, even if it's just using it, Russia could very well turn against the West and become a pawn in the West's campaign against the Far Eastern empires, shifting the focus of its attacks to them. This potential threat has always existed.

If this were to happen, the northern part of the Far Eastern Empire would instantly become one of the biggest threats to national defense and security, comparable only to the military pressure exerted by the United States in the Pacific and the resurgence of Japanese militarism.

If Russia alone is like this, how much more so the Soviet Union, a complex entity far exceeding Russia.

In the early 20th century, not to mention the weak and small countries surrounding the Soviet Union, even the most powerful Germany dared not relax its vigilance against the Soviet Union.

Adolf always said that the Soviets were an inferior race, but when it came to actually attacking the Soviet Union, he would definitely use all his trump cards and not dare to give the Soviet Union any chance to turn the tables.

In its previous life, when dealing with the Soviet Union, Germany actually believed from the very beginning that it had paid the maximum price that Germany could bear. At the start of the war alone, Germany amassed more than three million troops on the border between the two countries.

The initial offensive force of this kind of war of annihilation was unprecedented in previous history, but in the end Germany still failed.

It is easy to imagine how terrifying the sense of oppression the Soviet Union must have felt in the early 20th century.

Ernst therefore concluded: "Japan must also be under such pressure in the face of the Empire's military deployment in the Pacific. Therefore, in the strategic relationship between Japan and the Empire, it is impossible for them to completely turn against us."

"Even if the two countries were to go to war, Japan's greatest ambition would probably be to drive the imperial forces out of the Pacific Ocean and then block the imperial navy in the Indian Ocean by controlling strategic locations such as the Strait of Malacca and the Sunda Strait."

"We can also call this strategy denial operations or anti-access/area denial strategy, which is essentially a proactive defense strategy."

Crown Prince Frederick naturally shared this view, stating, "Following this war strategy, Japan only needs to destroy the Empire's Pacific Fleet and occupy a few key nodes such as the Strait of Malacca to clear the Empire's sphere of influence in the Pacific."

"Apart from the Pacific Fleet, our other military forces in the Pacific are almost negligible."

"The core of the Pacific Fleet is in the South China Sea. If we were to go to war with Japan, the South China Sea would be the location of the decisive battle between the two navies in the early stages of the war."

"Assuming that the Pacific Fleet is truly destroyed or forced to withdraw, the Empire's power in the Pacific, with only a few large colonies, might cause some trouble for Japan, but it cannot change the overall situation."

East Africa's major colonies in the Pacific were Alaska, East Kalimantan, Mindanao, and the Kra Isthmus, as well as Lanfang, East Africa's only overseas province in Southeast Asia.

These regions have at least several hundred thousand people, with Alaska, Eastern Kalimantan, and Mindanao each having a population exceeding one million.

These three regions alone likely had a combined population of nearly seven million by 1936. Therefore, East Africa did not lack personnel in the Pacific other than its own military forces and personnel.

East Africa already has a certain population base in the Pacific. While not all of these people support East Africa, they will stand on East Africa's side when conflicts and wars break out between East Africa and other countries in the region.

Even if they fall into enemy hands, there will be people who continue to heed the call of the East African Central Government and persist in resisting the enemy.

However, their abilities stop there; they can cause the enemy a constant stream of trouble, but they cannot play a decisive role.

If East Africa were to truly abandon these regions, they would most likely be unable to drive out the invading enemy on their own.

Of course, if they can do that, that's another story. If they can persist in resisting the enemy through their own strength and eventually force the enemy to withdraw without external help, then the region has in fact "graduated".

The so-called "graduation" can be understood as follows: since they have the ability to repel the enemy and maintain independence, this fact already demonstrates their capacity to break free from East Africa and transform into an independent country.

This is similar to Canada and Australia today. Although they are nominally British colonies, they would be doing quite well and could maintain normal national operations if they were to separate from Britain.

Ernst said, "If we really had to pick out our most independent colony in the Pacific, I think the most likely answer would be Alaska."

"Alaska's advantage lies in the fact that it is the only one of the Empire's overseas colonies in the Pacific, and even in the world, that has autonomy."

Alaska possesses autonomy, a unique feature among East African overseas colonies. However, Alaska's autonomy is still constrained by the East African mainland, unlike the more autonomous British overseas colonies.

More specifically, Alaska's position in East Africa is more like South Africa's position in the UK—it's practically a half-country, with other aspects such as finance, military, and diplomacy still controlled or influenced by the mainland.

Canada and Australia, which can be considered completely independent countries, have a relationship with Britain that is more like that of partners, including in terms of status. When it comes to their home countries, Canada and Australia are completely on the same table, and Britain must give them absolute respect, rather than treating them as servants, as it would with places like India.

(End of this chapter)