Start 1861: I just inherited the Dutch throne

Chapter 751 Global Central Power
The Netherlands, Melbourne, Privy Council (commonly known as the House of Lords).

"In the past week, I have met with Mexican President Díaz and Spanish Queen Isabella II one after another, and I have learned a lot."

"As this network unfolds, the Netherlands seems to have returned to the era of more than 10 years ago."

William IV: "I hope that the Netherlands will transform into a global hub country. In order to achieve this goal, the best starting point is to first let the more follower countries become the backbone of the global hub countries.

A backbone country is a country that is between a strong country and a weak country in the international order. It is more inclined to use soft power rather than hard power to solve international problems. It will strive to follow the Netherlands and become a country that accuses other countries of human rights, environment, etc. Establish and implement international norms on specific issues.

If we really want to compare, before 1871, before the Kingdom of the Netherlands moved its capital from Amsterdam to Melbourne, the Netherlands was a powerful country among the backbone countries.

After 1871, the Netherlands officially stepped out of the European framework and stepped into the Indian and Pacific Oceans. After fully establishing its foothold and extending its tentacles to South America, the Netherlands has become a global central country, that is, it can already exist on par with the world's top powers. "

Everyone felt excited when they heard William IV's words. The rise of the Netherlands has only been 20 years ago. The people present were all over 35 years old. They could all see and touch the Netherlands 20 years ago.So of course we know about the tremendous changes that have taken place in the Netherlands.When William IV said this, they would all think back and know that what William IV said was very true.

The Netherlands has really risen!

Just look at the current diplomatic feast in the Netherlands.

Last week, Mexican President Díaz, Queen Isabella II of Spain, and Ottoman Finance Minister Saled visited Melbourne one after another.

The Grand Dukes of the Kingdom of Romania, the Kingdom of Bulgaria, and the Kingdom of Serbia are also planning to visit the Netherlands from the Balkan Peninsula this week. The Kingdom of Siam, Chula Longkorn, is also visiting Jakarta, Java Island, and will visit Melbourne soon.

At the same time, in order to get closer to the Netherlands, members of parliament from Denmark and Sweden will jointly visit the Netherlands and participate in an exchange meeting of parliamentarians from the three countries in an attempt to declare the friendly gestures of the three countries.

In addition, Prime Minister Lyndon will return to Washington in August next month to deliver a speech to the U.S. Congress and meet and hold talks with President Stephen Douglas, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Deputy Prime Minister Jules Danetang visited Europe in September, visiting the Russian Empire, the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy and other countries.

Foreign Minister Joseph Beit has left Melbourne this week for South America to station troops in Chile to reassure panicked allies and further deepen the Netherlands' relations with these countries.

All of the above will be the Netherlands’ future or ongoing diplomatic actions.

William IV continued:
“In addition to interacting with big countries, the Netherlands also hopes to interact with small and medium-sized backbone countries.

William IV naturally knew that the Netherlands was the partner these small and medium-sized countries wanted to make.

There are only three reasons why other intermediate countries like the Netherlands.First of all, although the Netherlands before moving its capital was located in the most modern and important geopolitical region in the West, it had always implemented a foreign policy that was very independent and uninfluenced by major powers.Europe is a stage for competition between Britain, France, Germany, Austria and Russia, especially Western Europe, where Britain, France and Germany compete.

The Netherlands is in the middle but has been making flexible use of its position and striving to become a respected presence in the region.

Of course, the Netherlands maintained a strong alliance with Prussia and now Germany, as Belgium did with Britain at that time.But it is important on international issues to understand that successive Dutch governments have been committed to maintaining a foreign policy that favors self-reliance over Belgium's dependence on Britain.

This is also the reason why the Netherlands was able to use both sides to pursue its own interests.Belgium was bound to the United Kingdom, and its territory was eventually divided among the Netherlands, Germany, and France.

Of course, this is definitely not the best thing in the end. The second point is that the Netherlands has the economic, technological and cultural strength to dominate the world. When Queen Isabella II of Spain visited Melbourne last week, she talked to me about Spain’s hope in Telegraph , telephones and even cars and bicycles to cooperate with the Netherlands.”

William IV said disdainfully: "We call it cooperation. Everyone knows that this is just a nice way of saying it. We are just asking for technical support from the Netherlands.

Mexican President Díaz hopes that the Netherlands can seek help from the Netherlands in the field of bicycles, support Mexico in developing its own bicycle army, and support the development of their telegraph. If possible, he also hopes that the telephone can become a new development for them. This is all for us to grasp them. The best means of technical direction. "

"Recently, Denmark hopes that we can help them improve their weapons, so they purchase weapons produced in the Netherlands on a large scale, becoming the largest country in Europe to purchase weapons from the Netherlands."

"Compared with Spain, another top backbone country, the strength of the Netherlands is more prominent, because Spain does not have the same economic, military, and technological strength as the Netherlands. Its relative independence and strong strength make the Netherlands an attractive partner."

Third, the Netherlands is not a controversial country, which is also an important reason why other low, middle and high powers want to cooperate with the Netherlands. The Netherlands is a country with a strong democratic tradition and is open. Other countries are more or less closed, such as the United Kingdom and Germany is very strong, France is fighting internally, and the United States has mixed public opinions and unstable policies.

Therefore, when senior government officials from other countries meet with the Netherlands, they do not have to worry about being implicated in accusations of nationalism. Moreover, although the Netherlands is a military power, it does not really threaten to launch attacks on these countries. Although the Netherlands has Various global companies have never exercised economic hegemony or isolated other countries economically. Even if they initially imposed an economic blockade on France, they were joint actions organized by the International Court of Justice in The Hague. It is not done by one country alone. "

William IV told Joseph Beit, the Dutch Foreign Minister: "The reason why the Netherlands' foreign policy is directed towards the global central power is very clear. In the network of alliances with South America and other parts of the world, the Netherlands is obviously the party that benefits. Therefore, The Netherlands must regard maintaining these alliance networks as a core foreign policy.

At the same time, the Netherlands must have a network of backbone countries capable of managing the competition for hegemony among the five countries in Europe, including Britain, Germany, France, and even Austria, Hungary, and Russia, and controlling the growing potential threats from the United States. "

In this network, different partners will complement each other with the Netherlands in different ways, so this Dutch-organized network is bound to be loose. South America is rich in natural support and fertile soil, and plans to use Dutch capital to develop its economy and technology. ; The American economy is good, and the market is very important to the Netherlands, but it plans to purchase Dutch weapons; Spain hopes to use Dutch technology and capital to develop its economy, but also hopes to have access to the Netherlands' top weapons technology; Germany hopes to have a strong relationship with the Netherlands cooperation in trade, investment and strategic interactions.

The Kingdom of Siam, the Kingdom of Greece, etc. have the idea of ​​​​following the path of the Netherlands. "

William IV told Prime Minister Linden: How to make full use of its own advantages, accept and flexibly respond to the interests and concerns of various potential partners, the Netherlands will gain huge benefits.The wide range of capabilities enables the Netherlands to negotiate with various partners in diversified ways. There are many ways to become a global hub country and become a partner that other hub countries want to cooperate with. This is one of the ways for the Netherlands to achieve this goal in the future. .

(End of this chapter)