African Nationhood

Chapter 479 State Council-Overseas Territories
"Minister Zhong, please tell me about the situation in overseas territories."

Zhong Yilin is no longer the handsome boy he used to be. He is slightly fatter and has a look and temperament that resembles that of Chairman Shi.

He nodded to his adopted brother and Prime Minister Ouyang Geng, and then opened the folder he carried with him.

“In the past five years, the development of our overseas territories has been rapid. First, let me introduce Lanfang Company.

Lanfang Company covers an area of ​​5.8 square kilometers, and its current resident population has exceeded million people.

Most of them are Chaoshan Chinese, and there are also a small number of Malay indigenous people. They were attracted by Lanfang's wealth and superior medical conditions. "

Because Nanhua regards Lanfang as a transit base for immigrants, Nanhua's support for Lanfang is comprehensive, with sufficient provision of education, medical care, clothing, and industrial products.

Nan Hua invested and built an oil pressing plant, a garment factory, a cannery, a thermal power plant and an aluminum smelting plant in Lanfang.

These industrial projects have provided many job opportunities for Lan Fong. As a result, the living standards of the people here are relatively high, which has also attracted a large number of Borneo and Malay natives to gather in Lan Fong.

“The increase in the permanent population has significantly improved all aspects of Lanfang. The amount of farmland within the territory, the mining volume of bauxite, coal and gold have increased significantly.

What Zhong Yilin meant was that he wanted to explore Sabah on the mainland, abandon the Sulu Islands, and let them take their own course.

In addition, the output of cash crops such as pepper, coconut, and rubber has also increased.

In addition to agriculture, Sabah only has Dipterocarpa and some gold mines as sources of income.

It would be better to develop the eastern part of Sabah first, and when the people of Bahraini and Qatar are resettled in the future, just choose a desolate and undeveloped land with few people and give it to them.

Although Sabah has a shorter delivery time, it has great profit and tax potential. Although the two places belong to the same overseas territory, their development is uncoordinated.

Among them, Hakka Chinese are the majority, followed by Malays, Bajau people and Kadazan people. There are also a small number of British white people here.

The population is 47, with 15 in the Sulu Islands, 3 in Palawan, and 29 in Sabah.

……

The Sulu Islands mainly produce tropical crops and rice, and the main economic crops include growing cocoa, collecting pearls, bird's nests, ambergris and other products.

Now that an oil field has been discovered in the easternmost part of Sabah, we and the Netherlands have jointly invested in the construction of the oil field. It will take time to actually produce oil and put it into production.

"After talking about Lanfang, let's talk about the Sulu Sultanate. The agriculture of the Sulu Sultanate is relatively developed. In addition to the main Sulu Islands area, Sabah and some new territories are now added, with a total area of ​​about 9.3 square kilometers.

Therefore, we cannot develop this place too well. When the time comes, people will not be willing to move, and it will easily become a powder keg area.

Shi Jintang also agreed with his opinion, but he planned to use part of this place to resettle people in Bahrain and Qatar in the future.

At the same time, the Sulu Sultanate is relatively small. I suggest that the ruling center of the Sulu Sultanate be moved to Sandakan City (today's Sandakan City, Sabah, Malaysia).

The annual output of rice is 505 million tons and that of corn is 489 million tons. The output of these crops is enough to support a large population. Lanfang's total annual profits and taxes are about 8 million yuan. "

After all, this was the capital of Sabah state ruled by the British, and it is located on the mainland. "

The main crops in Lanfang are rice and corn, with some cassava grown at the same time.

“Minister Zhong’s suggestion is very good, but at present our focus is still on local development. Although Sabah is a mainland state, its natural conditions are harsh and development is difficult, so we will not consider relocation for the time being.

People in Sabah can be gathered to the east near the Sulu Islands, so that they can not only get the radiation from the Sulu Islands but also share the benefits of the oil mines. "

Hearing that Chairman Shi had set the tone, Zhong Yilin could only accept it. “The total annual profits and taxes in Sabah and the Sulu Islands are about 3 million yuan.

After talking about the Sultanate of Sulu, let’s talk about the Emirate of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf.

These are two small islands with a total of 13 people. They mainly plant dates and collect pearls on weekdays.

There are not many bright spots in the low profit and tax level, which is around 1.8 million yuan.

Our department set up a ferry there to facilitate travel between the two islands, and introduced many women from South Asia to match the locals. "

Most of the white women in Bahrain and Qatar were punished as criminal sheikhs by the South Chinese Army and brought back to their homeland to marry Chinese immigrants. However, the needs of the locals could only be replaced by South Asian women.

“After talking about the Persian Gulf, let’s talk about the Sakhalin Administrative Office in the Far East.
A large number of immigrants came to the island in 1907, and coupled with the natural population births in the past two years, the total number of people there now is 39.

At the same time, the Oha Oilfield over there has been confirmed to be a large oil field, and there is an urgent need for local transportation of resources to build this oil field.

In addition, both Japan and Tsarist Russia expressed their intention to jointly develop this oil field.

After consulting the cabinet, we decided on a three-way joint venture, with us occupying 51%, Japan 29%, and Tsarist Russia 20%.

Since the Sakhalin Administrative Office has just been established, in order to support the construction of Sakhalin Island, our department decided not to collect profits and taxes within five years of the establishment of the Administrative Office, so that they can build Sakhalin Island faster and better.

The Mariana Islands' industry is too single and the population is small, with profits and taxes of only 1000 million yuan.

The rest is the Newfoundland Administrative Office. The Newfoundland Administrative Office covers an area of ​​11.1 square kilometers, with an original population of 18 and a current population of 12.

After the establishment of this administrative office, the local people did not want to endure the severe cold anymore, so they immigrated to the mainland along with the local cruise ships. "

The Philadelphia International Freighter Shipping Company acquired by Blackstone Fund has a Suman Steam Shipping Company that specializes in shipping routes to the United Kingdom and the United States.

With the establishment of the Newfoundland Administrative Office, a stopping point was set up directly on the island of Newfoundland to facilitate local residents traveling to and from the mainland of South China.

Because a large number of Newfoundland residents came to South China, the number of native British whites increased.

Most of the people in Newfoundland are fishermen. When they come to the mainland, they can expand the local fishing companies. It is warm all year round, which is much better than Newfoundland.

As for the island of Newfoundland, Chinese immigrants were just sent there to mix in the sand. Otherwise, the island would be filled with white people and it would be easy for independence tendencies to emerge in the future.

“The main industry in Newfoundland is fishing, and of course the lumber industry there also has great potential.

We built paper mills and canning factories based on the resource advantages there. As for power, we mainly used steam engines.

With the development of Newfoundland, the total profits and taxes there have been maintained at 2.5 million yuan per year.

The benchmark of NT$5 million set by the Cabinet and the annual growth target of 20% have been achieved.

In the future, the Sakhalin Administrative Office will probably have the fastest growth among our overseas territories. The growth of Lanfang Company has reached a bottleneck and its follow-up will be weak.

In my opinion, if the entire Borneo can be brought under our control, our profit and tax levels will increase more and faster. "

Ouyang Geng smiled and said, "Let's discuss this matter later. At present, we don't have much energy to involve external forces. As I said before, local construction is the most important."

Zhong Yilin nodded helplessly, "Okay, Prime Minister Ouyang."

(End of this chapter)