African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1748 Aid and Immigration Issues

1939 6 Month 10 Day.

Soviet diplomats in Britain and France held further in-depth negotiations and consultations with the two countries. Although Joseph had made up his mind to declare war on Germany, the responsibilities and the distribution of postwar benefits had to be clearly defined with Britain and France before the Soviet Union could declare war.

Joseph and the Soviet leadership clearly harbored resentment towards Britain and France. They were particularly concerned that the two countries might renege on their commitments after the war, and that this was highly likely.

In fact, the outbreak of the Cold War in the previous life was just like this, with Western countries immediately changing their stance with the Soviet Union after World War II.

However, this is also a Western tradition. When Napoleon was at the height of his power, Europe was eager for Tsarist Russia to act as the gendarme of Europe, as if Russia were the savior of Europe. After dealing with Napoleon, Britain immediately began to completely blockade Tsarist Russia.

In the previous life, after the outbreak of World War II, when Britain and other Western countries needed the Soviet Union to participate in the war, they also showed a eagerness to help the Soviet Union. However, as soon as the war ended, they immediately turned their backs on it.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the West repeated its old tricks, manipulating Russian politicians as if the dissolution of the Soviet Union would allow Russia to join the "free world" family. Later...

In short, the Slavs have always harbored illusions about the West.

Joseph felt the same way, clinging to the hope that if the Soviet Union fought alongside Britain and France, the two countries might change their perception of the Soviet Union in the future. He also hoped that after the war, Britain and France would acknowledge the Soviet Union's contribution to the war effort and respect its achievements.

As a leader of a non-Western power, one should never trust the promises of Western countries, as they only promote the so-called "spirit of contract" when it is in their own interest.

For example, in the past, Western countries came up with "environmentalism" in order to curb the development of developing countries. When this tactic failed, they immediately reneged on their promise.

Under a "democratic" system, Western countries can take it for granted that breach of contract is reasonable as long as there is a change of government, since it is a promise made by the previous government.

Therefore, the cost of breach of contract in Western countries is extremely low. They may even turn the tables and use their media hegemony to shift the blame onto the party whose contract has been breached.

However, the Soviet Union, or rather the Slavs, did not fully understand this principle.

Even Joseph was not immune, after all, he had harbored similar fantasies about Germany in his previous life, which ultimately led to Germany launching Operation Barbarossa.

……

East Africa is not concerned about the Soviet Union's actions. At present, East Africa's attention is focused on the Far East, including the issues of immigration and aid.

1939 6 Month 9 Day.

The Far Eastern Empire, Shule County.

This is also the end of the Central Asia Highway. Today, the area near the border west of Shule County is quite lively because the first batch of land transport supplies from East Africa to aid the Far Eastern Empire has officially arrived at the Far Eastern Empire's border and is preparing to enter Shule County.

At the newly built border crossing, special envoys from the Far Eastern Empire's mountain city government and the Western Regions provincial government had prepared bilingual banners in Chinese and German with welcoming slogans.

The Central Asian Highway was of great significance to the Far Eastern Empire's anti-Japanese cause. From the moment it was opened, it became the most important channel for the Far Eastern Empire to obtain external aid.

Therefore, in order to maintain the stability and security of this passage, the Far Eastern Empire's Yamashiro government specifically assigned personnel to be in charge of related matters.

At that moment, the East African Consul General in Shule, Eborn, was having a conversation with Special Envoy Xiao from the mountain city at the border crossing.

Consul General Eborn said, "Mr. Xiao, after the Central Asia Highway is opened, we hope that the Far Eastern Empire government can coordinate and handle the subsequent route issues in your country."

"The Central Asian Highway ends in the Western Regions Province, but that doesn't mean everything is fine once the aid supplies arrive there."

"From Shule to the eastern part of the Far Eastern Empire, even in the Guanzhong region which is not on the front line, there is still a long way to go, passing through long deserts and oases, as well as the Hexi Corridor."

"As far as we know, your mountain city government has insufficient control over these areas, so the Empire does not want to see any problems with the transportation of subsequent supplies due to this."

Consul General Eborn was subtly emphasizing here that the Far Eastern Empire's mountain city government should coordinate and manage the local forces along the route of subsequent material transportation.

Leaving aside the complex situation in the Hexi Corridor, even in the Western Regions Province, the local situation is somewhat beyond the reach of the mountain city government.

However, Commissioner Short was not too worried about this issue. He said to Consul Eborn, "Your Excellency Eborn, your worries are somewhat unnecessary."

"It is undeniable that our country's control over the Northwest region has declined due to war and historical reasons. However, under the great cause of resisting Japanese aggression and defending our homeland, no one dares to make any underhanded moves."

"Not to mention that the Central Asian Highway is the route that our Far Eastern Empire government values ​​most, which is why the President has assigned me to come to Shule to oversee this matter."

"The government will send more personnel to specifically serve this aid route."

"To ensure that every batch of aid from your country and overseas compatriots reaches the places where it is most needed on the front lines and in the rear."

Although Consul General Eborn was full of doubts about what Commissioner Short had said, he would not dwell on the matter too much. East Africa had already done more than enough by sending aid supplies into the Far Eastern Empire.

As for where these supplies will go next, there will definitely be problems, but that is an internal matter of the Far Eastern Empire, and Consul General Eborn can't say much about it.

It's no wonder that Consul General Eborn had doubts about the Far Eastern Empire's mountain city government, given that many of its members had indeed behaved extremely poorly.

“If you can do it, that would be best. I’m just offering a friendly reminder, after all, a large part of these aid supplies represents the hard work of our East African people,” Consul General Eborn said.

East Africa's aid to the Far Eastern Empire via the Central Asian Highway can be divided into two parts: one part is the selfless dedication of the overseas Chinese of the Far Eastern Empire, and the other part is the donations from the people of East Africa to the Far Eastern Empire.

Consul General Eborn continued, "Of course, the Central Asia Highway is of far greater significance to your country than that. This highway will also be an important trade route between us and your country in the future."

"Furthermore, the Empire also hopes to use this highway to carry out related immigration work, which also requires the cooperation of the Far Eastern Empire government."

East Africa planned to use the Central Asian Highway to recruit immigrants from the Far Eastern empires and eventually transport them to West Africa and other places.

Previously, East Africa had already attempted to conduct immigration through the Central Asian air route, but the scale of air transport was difficult to achieve. Now, with the opening of the Central Asian highway, this will greatly alleviate East Africa's need for immigrants—or more accurately, the need for immigrants within East Africa's sphere of influence.

The sphere of influence in East Africa is not limited to its own colonies, dependent states, or other countries with significant influence in East Africa.

Commissioner Short was not surprised that East Africa was absorbing large numbers of immigrants from the Far Eastern Empire, since East Africa had been the most important country for immigrants from the Far Eastern Empire since the late 19th century.

East Africa itself is a country composed of people of half-Far Eastern Empire ancestry.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, East Africa's demand for immigrants from the Far Eastern empires has declined, but it has always remained the top destination.

In particular, the construction and development of the various East African colonies in Southeast Asia were almost entirely supported by immigrants from the Far Eastern empire.

Although he had some understanding, Commissioner Short still asked with some curiosity, "Consul General Eborn, East Africa now has a population of 200 million. This population size ranks third in the world, second only to our country and the British Indian colony. Do you still have such a great need for immigrants?"

The world's third most populous country is short of people? This is clearly unreasonable, which is why Commissioner Short found it strange.

Consul General Eborn did not hide anything from this, explaining, "Mr. Xiao, the Empire itself has long since passed the era of population scarcity, but our Rhine Empire still has a large sphere of influence that is relatively short of people."

"To be honest, the reason the Empire is absorbing immigrants from the Far Eastern Empire this time is to address the shortage of human resources and population in West Africa."

“Our Rhine Empire also has its own allies in West Africa, such as the Kingdom of South Germany, the Habsburg Monarchy, and the Kingdom of New Austria. These three countries are all sparsely populated, especially the latter two, which are newly established and therefore extremely lacking in population and labor.”

The Habsburg Monarchy and the Kingdom of New Austria were two countries that Schott had never heard of before.

On the contrary, the Kingdom of South Germany, anyone in the Far Eastern Empire who had studied world geography or seen a world map might have some understanding of it.

The Far Eastern Empire government had direct ties with the Kingdom of South Germany, since the Far Eastern Empire was a major source of immigrants when the Kingdom of South Germany was established.

Especially later, as the Kingdom of South Germany developed and essentially took on the appearance of a nation, it even established diplomatic relations directly with the Far Eastern Empire.

Commissioner Xiao nodded as if he had just realized something, and said, "I see. It seems your country is also making significant moves in West Africa!"

Having learned about East Africa, Commissioner Short was no longer surprised by the fact that East Africa is now recruiting immigrants from the Far East and sending them to West Africa.

After all, East Africa did the same thing in Southeast Asia, thus fostering a large number of mixed-race colonies in Southeast Asia with East African culture at their core.

In the view of Commissioner Short, the current migration of migrants from East Africa to West Africa is nothing more than a means to expand East Africa's influence and sphere of influence in West Africa.

East Africa is an African country and the only powerful country on the African continent, with its territory covering nearly half of Africa.

Therefore, it is only natural for East Africa to strengthen its control and influence over other parts of the African continent, just as the United States pursued the "Monroe Doctrine" in hopes of dominating affairs in the Americas.

However, the Americans did not expect that in the late 19th century, a country like East Africa would emerge in the world. At that time, the Americans could not have imagined that this country, which started on the African continent, would quickly become a superpower stronger than the United States in just half a century.

Then, the rising East Africa extended its reach into what the United States considered its "backyard." Almost half of South America was no longer under the control and influence of the United States, but became part of East Africa's sphere of influence or was profoundly influenced by East Africa.

Putting aside other factors, even Brazil, the largest country in South America, is still inevitably influenced and penetrated by East Africa, despite the fact that Brazilians are more wary of East Africa than the United States.

The reason is simple: Brazil has always been a country on the South Atlantic coast, and the dominant power in the South Atlantic is East Africa.

As fellow South Atlantic nations, Brazil's economy and trade are inevitably drawn to East Africa. With this economic foundation, East Africa naturally supports Brazilians whose interests are intertwined with its own.

Therefore, Brazil presents a contradictory situation: politically it resists East Africa, yet physically it is drawn to it. This is also the situation faced by some other South American countries, such as Argentina and Venezuela.

Moreover, even relatively independent South American powers like Brazil and Argentina cannot completely sever their ties with East Africa by relying on external forces.

After all, East Africa holds military hegemony over the South Atlantic, and moreover, it projects its military power onto the South American continent through countries and regions such as Paraguay and Bolivia.

Without addressing East Africa's military advantage in South America, it would be quite difficult for South American countries to break free from East Africa's influence through other means.

Of course, the United States has indeed caused a lot of trouble for East Africa in South America, but ultimately it cannot change the overall situation.

Especially after the 20s, with the improvement of East Africa's diplomatic and economic strategies toward South America, it became even more difficult for the United States to undermine East Africa.

The most typical example is Argentina. Argentina should be the most self-respecting country in South America. However, after the 1920s, with the increase in agricultural and livestock orders from East Africa, a large number of pro-East Africa people emerged in Argentina, which directly affected Argentina's attitude towards East Africa.

This is different from the United States, where agriculture and animal husbandry are more developed and there is competition with Argentina. East Africa's agricultural and animal husbandry development conditions are inherently worse than those of the two countries. In addition, East Africa has a larger population and a larger consumer market, so its demand for importing high-quality agricultural and animal husbandry products is also stronger.

Therefore, faced with the United States, an economic competitor, and East Africa, which has a strong demand for and imports large quantities of Argentine agricultural products, Argentinians can easily make a choice.

Getting back to the main point, Commissioner Short's assertion that East Africa expands its influence in West Africa through immigration is not entirely wrong, but it is not comprehensive.

However, West Africa was an extremely distant and unfamiliar place for the Far Eastern Empire, so even after learning about some of the purposes of East Africa, the envoy from South Africa did not care much.

For the Far Eastern Empire at present, the one thing it has no shortage of is people, or even refugees. Due to war and various natural disasters, the Far Eastern Empire has produced a large number of refugees in the past two or three years.

If these disaster victims could be accepted by East Africa as immigrants, it would be a good thing for the Far Eastern Empire government, since they themselves were unable to solve the livelihood problems of these disaster victims.

The East African side also believed that recruiting immigrants from the Far Eastern Empire through the Central Asian Highway was a relatively cost-effective option, because most of the aid supplies from East Africa to the Far Eastern Empire returned empty after arriving at the Far Eastern Empire.

So instead of letting them return to Gwadar empty, it's better to make use of them and take the immigrants with them.

(End of this chapter)