African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1719 Plotting Against the East Indies

This greatly angered Seishiro Itagaki. It wasn't that he was unhappy that his proposal hadn't been approved, but rather that he was dissatisfied with the lack of support for him within the army. After all, he knew that the "northern advance" plan was not a reliable option for Japan.

However, there's no point in saying more now. Even his own faction doesn't agree with the "northward advance" plan, so there's no need for him to get entangled in it any further.

He could only say in a calm tone, "Since most of you support 'going south' and seizing the resources of Southeast Asia, then aside from maintaining and accelerating the Far East battlefield, the Empire should prepare for going south!"

The invasion of the Far Eastern Empire is the core of Japan's current foreign wars. Compared to this, both the "northern advance" and "southern advance" plans seem to be secondary directions surrounding the Far Eastern battlefield.

The northward advance was aimed at addressing the security threat posed by the Japanese invasion of the Far Eastern empire, namely the Soviet military presence in the Far East.

The southward advance, on the other hand, involved plundering resources in Southeast Asia to obtain the necessary supplies for the war and support Japan in continuing the war in the Far East.

This is understandable, since the Far East Empire was the heart of the entire Far East. Since ancient times, it has been the absolute core of East Asia and Southeast Asia. Almost every country in East Asia and Southeast Asia with a history has either submitted to the Far East Empire or actively learned from and interacted with it.

If Japan wants to become the new hegemon of the Far East, it must replace it and eliminate or dismantle the behemoth that is the Far Eastern Empire.

Otherwise, given the Far Eastern Empire's immense size and resilience, it would still have the potential to rise again someday.

The very fact that the Far Eastern Empire occupied the most fertile and expansive land in the entire Far East destined this land to be the absolute center of the Far East.

Seishiro Itagaki said, "In the short term, the Empire's focus should still be on the Far East battlefield, and the Far East Empire's Yamashiro government and other anti-Japanese armed forces should be destroyed as soon as possible, so as to completely dismantle their will to fight against the Empire."

"As for the Southeast Asia, we should now speed up the intelligence gathering efforts there. Although Germany has declared war on Britain and France, their influence in the Southeast Asia will not be significantly weakened before the war breaks out."

His proposal did not encounter opposition from others this time, after all, even if Britain and France wanted to withdraw military forces from Southeast Asia, it would take time.

At this moment, Navy Minister Mitsumasa Yonai spoke up, saying, "We should not remain completely inactive in the South Seas."

"We should indeed be cautious in dealing with Britain and France, but I think there is one country whose colonies we might be able to annex ahead of time."

Immediately, everyone in the military turned their attention to Mitsumasa Yonai. His statement was indeed a bit frightening. After all, if they didn't deal with Britain and France at this time, were they going to challenge the United States and East Africa?
As if understanding their thoughts, Mitsumasa Yonai shook his head and said, "The country I'm talking about is the Netherlands!"

Hideki Tojo squinted and said, "Lord Mitsumasa Yonai means the East Indies?"

Mitsumasa Yonai nodded: "Then, the Dutch East Indies colonies. Do you all think my idea is feasible?"

If Japan still held some respect for other great powers, then the Netherlands was clearly an easy target for Japan to manipulate.

The Netherlands was not a military power; in fact, it was a small country. Its ability to occupy such a vast colony as the East Indies was entirely due to the strength of its ancestors and the checks and balances among the great powers of that era.

Seishiro Itagaki frowned and asked, "Although the Dutch military is easily defeated, Yonai-kun, there must be more to the reason why you started by attacking the Dutch than just that, right?"

Mitsumasa Yonai sat up straight and said, "That's natural. The reason I chose the Dutch East Indies as my target is because the East Indies are extremely important to the Empire, especially for our future Far East strategy."

"First, there is the East Indies itself, with its fertile land and abundant resources, which can produce the food needed by the empire, as well as the much-needed oil, rubber and other resources."

Java, an island in the East Indies, has only about one-third the land resources of Japan, but its arable land area is more than the entire country of Japan. Moreover, due to volcanic ash, Java's arable land is far more fertile than Japan's, and its water and heat conditions are also better, allowing for three harvests a year.

Occupying Java would greatly alleviate Japan's food shortage, not to mention that Java is only part of the East Indies.

Then, the resources in the East Indies that Japan is most interested in are oil and rubber.

In this era, the Dutch East Indies were an important oil-producing region in Southeast Asia, especially Sumatra and Java. In the previous life, the oil-producing area of ​​Borneo should also be included. However, the Dutch colony of Borneo in the previous life has now become East African territory.

However, this does not diminish the importance of the Dutch East Indies' oil production in Southeast Asia and even throughout Asia.

Before the outbreak of World War II, that is, before the outbreak of the Far East War, the Netherlands alone accounted for more than 30% of Japan's total oil imports.

Mitsumasa Yonai stated directly: "In the Dutch East Indies colonies, Sumatra was the Empire's most relied-upon source of oil imports before the war. If we could occupy this region, it would be no exaggeration to say that we could solve at least 40% of the Empire's oil shortage, or even 50%."

Mitsumasa Yonai's statement is not an exaggeration. The Dutch East Indies produce about seven million tons of oil annually, and before the war, about four million tons were exported to Japan each year.

Although oil exports to Japan are the main source of revenue for the Dutch East Indies Oil Company, the Netherlands itself has a significant demand for oil, and the East Indies also consume a portion of it.

Therefore, if Japan were to occupy the Dutch East Indies, it could intercept all the local oil and supply it to the Japanese army, which would greatly alleviate Japan's oil shortage problem.

Mitsumasa Minamoto said, "The Empire must take over the oil fields of Pomcaran Brendan and Palembang, in particular, as these two oil fields alone account for more than 90% of the East Indies."

"Moreover, the area also has well-established oil refining facilities built by the Dutch, which could be entirely owned by the Empire."

The Ponkara Brendan oil field was developed by Royal Dutch Shell in the late 19th century, and Palembang is also an important oil-producing area on the island of Sumatra.

In terms of oil extraction technology alone, Japan is probably not much better than the Dutch, given that Japan itself has scarce oil resources and lacks related industries and production experience.

Therefore, it would be equally important for Japan to fully accept the local oil extraction and refining facilities.

The fact that Mitsumasa Yonai, a high-ranking Japanese military official, could clearly name the locations of Pomcaran Brendan and Palembang demonstrates the meticulousness and thoroughness of Japan's intelligence work in the South Pacific. Of course, this also fully illustrates that Japan's covetousness and ambition towards the East Indies have a long history.

Mitsumasa Yonai continued, "Occupying the East Indies will not only solve most of the Empire's oil resource shortage, but also completely solve the Empire's rubber resource shortage."

The fact that the Netherlands, relying on the East Indies, was the world's third-largest producer and exporter of rubber in 1939, after East Africa and the United Kingdom, demonstrates the importance of the East Indies in terms of rubber resources.

Coincidentally, before the war, Dutch rubber exports accounted for more than 30% of Japan's total imports. However, the rubber resources of the East Indies are not like oil; if they are fully developed, they can completely meet all of Japan's needs.

Mitsumasa Yonai continued, "In addition, the tin, bauxite, nickel, quinine, sugar, and other minerals from the East Indies are all in dire need of the Empire."

The resources that Mitsumasa Yonai mentioned above are all resources that Japan is extremely dependent on from the Netherlands. For example, Japan does not have any tin mines on its own soil and can only rely on imports. Banga Island in the Dutch East Indies is an important tin-producing area.

If East Africa hadn't taken Belitung Island, next to Bangka Island, from the Netherlands, these two regions would have accounted for about 20% of the world's tin production in their previous lives.

The importance of tin ore for military purposes in the early 20th century is self-evident, especially in the field of welding, such as sealing military cans and water bottles, as well as welding bullets and shells.

Regarding bauxite, the Bintan and Riau Islands in the Dutch East Indies possessed the largest and most easily exploitable high-quality bauxite deposits in Asia at that time, and Japan had already participated in local investment and mining in the 20s.

Therefore, the East Indies are Japan's most important overseas source and are indispensable for maintaining its air force and navy expansion plans. After all, aluminum is an essential resource in the aircraft manufacturing industry, especially for the fuselage.

The Dutch East Indies is also one of the world's largest quinine production centers. Quinine is an effective treatment for malaria and is crucial for maintaining the combat effectiveness of armies operating in tropical regions.

Japan's expansion in Southeast Asia inevitably led to a demand for quinine.

In addition, local resources such as sugar and palm oil are extremely attractive to Japan.

In conclusion, the East Indies are not merely a source of resources for Japan; they can be considered a comprehensive strategic resource warehouse.

As Mitsumasa Yonai recounted his story, everyone in the Japanese military had their eyes light up. Every single resource he mentioned was something Japan desperately wanted.

After discussing the resources of the East Indies, Mitsumasa Yonai began to talk about the strategic value of the East Indies.

He said, "Besides the resources we must take over the East Indies, we also need to control its geographical location. For example, Sumatra controls the southern shore of the Strait of Malacca. If we want to control the Strait of Malacca in the future, we must take over Sumatra."

"There is also the Sunda Strait between Sumatra and Java, which is the second largest passage after the Strait of Malacca."

"As long as we control these two straits, we can completely block the great powers of Europe and East Africa from entering Southeast Asia, preventing them from interfering with the establishment of the empire's order in the Far East in the future."

People in the Japanese military also agreed with this statement. However, Seishiro Itagaki said, "Yonai-kun, you seem to have overlooked the threat that this East African country poses to us."

"If the Empire were to conquer the East Indies, do you think East Africa would stand idly by? East Africa is not like Britain and France, which are tied down by Germany. If the Dutch government were to ask East Africa for help, is it possible that East Africa would intervene?"

"As far as I know, the relationship between the Netherlands and East Africa is quite good, although East Africa has extorted a lot of Southeast Asian land from the Netherlands in recent years."

Seishiro Itagaki's reminder instantly dampened the spirits of everyone else in the Japanese military.

East Africa and the United States were two countries that Japan could not avoid when invading Southeast Asia. If Japan were to launch a war against the East Indies, the United States would be in a better position, since its main colony in Southeast Asia was the Philippines, which was separated from the East Indies by its colonies in East Africa. Therefore, it would be difficult for the United States to play a role in the East Indies without bypassing East Africa.

This is indeed the case; in the Southeast Asia region, the United States, Britain, and France cooperate more closely, while the Netherlands cooperates more closely with East Africa.

Of course, the Netherlands' increased cooperation with East Africa is not its original intention, but rather a result of being forced into it. In fact, the Dutch government is also very troubled by East Africa. In comparison, they have more in common with Britain and France.

However, the Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia were inevitably intertwined with the influence of East Africa. The chain of East African colonies in Southeast Asia, from the Kra Isthmus to the Lanfang Overseas Province, East Kalimantan, Mindanao, and New Guinea, effectively separated the Dutch East Indies from other powers.

Although Britain had access to Malaysia and Australia to reach the East Indies, it was unwilling to offend East Africa for the sake of the Netherlands.

After all, offending East Africa meant that almost all of Britain's colonies east of the Suez Canal, including India, could be threatened by war in East Africa.

Therefore, the Netherlands could hardly find any foreign aid in Southeast Asia. Of course, the United States did have the idea of ​​cooperating with the Netherlands, but it was also being closely watched by East Africa.

It was under these circumstances that the Netherlands had no choice but to put on a brave face and deal with its "bad neighbor," East Africa. This is why Seishiro Itagaki said that East Africa and the Netherlands had a good relationship.

Regardless of whether the Netherlands and East Africa are truly sincere in their relationship, the cooperative relationship and tangible benefits established between the two countries are real. For example, many East African companies have invested in and participated in the extraction and export of various resources in the Dutch East Indies.

East Africa also imports a significant amount of raw materials from the Dutch East Indies colonies, processes them into finished products, and then uses them for domestic consumption or exports them to other parts of the world.

Therefore, if Japan were to invade the Dutch East Indies colonies, it would inevitably harm the interests of East Africa, which is the most powerful country in the world, with national strength far exceeding that of Japan, and has had conflicts with Japan in the past, such as the Ryukyu Islands issue.

Therefore, Seishiro Itagaki's concern that East Africa would use this opportunity to interfere in Southeast Asian affairs and disrupt Japan's plans to invade the East Indies colonies was not unfounded, but a rational judgment based on a combination of various realistic factors.

In response, Mitsumasa Yonai said, "Itagaki-kun, that is precisely why I advocate attacking the East Indies first. In the future, the Empire and East Africa will inevitably have a war in Southeast Asia. East Africa is the biggest obstacle to whether the Empire can take over Southeast Asia and drive all Western forces out of Southeast Asia."

"If we have to get involved in dealing with the Netherlands, do you think East Africa will remain indifferent to the Empire's other military operations in Southeast Asia?"

(End of this chapter)