Chapter 842 Complementary Advantages
The security of East Africa in the geo-environment is indeed good, but in the geo-environment of East Africa, the main threats to East Africa in the future will be the north and west, that is, North Africa and West Africa.
But this is difficult to achieve. As long as the two regions are not integrated together, it is impossible to have the strength to confront East Africa. Now West Africa is full of colonial countries planting their flags. I am afraid that in the future, a bunch of countries with different cultures will form.
"East Africa has no interest in international affairs, but we are still interested in economic cooperation with other countries. This is also the common expectation of the people of the two countries." Ernst changed the topic.
Of course, there is no problem with cooperation, but now East Africa mainly focuses on economic development as its main strategic direction. Occasionally, it embeds nails in the Southeast Asia and the Pacific to prepare for the future. This is also the direction of East Africa's national policy.
Of course, the main reason is that there is nothing left to expand elsewhere. At this point, East Africa and Germany are actually in similar situations. Except for some leftovers in the Pacific, there is basically no room for expansion in the entire world. The main areas are in the hands of Britain and France.
Of course, East Africa is stronger than Germany and has many colonies in the Pacific. This is mainly because East Africa has a geographical advantage over Germany. After all, Germany colonized many Asian and Pacific colonies in its previous life, but eventually spit them out, bypassing too many sea areas.
In fact, the situation is similar in East Africa. Although some gains have been made in the Asia-Pacific region, as long as the Strait of Malacca is in British hands, the colonies in East Africa will not be safe.
However, unlike Germany, East Africa's desire for colonies is actually not too strong. After all, East Africa's own development is enough for East Africa to digest for dozens or hundreds of years.
And most of it is not the cold zone land that is difficult to develop in Tsarist Russia. If more than 13 million square kilometers were developed, the potential presented would be astonishing.
Caprivi felt a little sorry that East Africa had no intention of forming an alliance with Germany, but economic cooperation was enough.
After all, Germany's primary purpose now is to open up markets and raw material origins for its own industry and commerce, thereby further boosting national strength. This is also an important policy policy of Caprivi's "new line".
"Well, there are not many German countries in the world. Except for Germany and East Africa, the others are all dispensable small countries, so cooperation between our two countries is an inevitable choice." Caprivi said.
He reluctantly counted East Africa, a country with a large proportion of Chinese immigrants, as part of Germany. After all, the culture of East Africa is fully aligned with German cultural identity, and the royal family is also a traditional German prince. The royal family of Hechingen still retains the German Hechingen. The princely status of the princely kingdom is legal, and East Africa has the value of winning over.
Of course, the most important thing is that pure German immigrants from East Africa account for about one-third, and non-German immigrants have undergone relatively thorough Germanization, so some minor issues can be completely ignored.
Here I have to mention the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Austro-Hungarian Empire is not a German country. Only Austria is a part of Germany. Bohemia, which is Czechoslovakia, can barely be included. After all, Germany traces its origins back to the Holy Roman Empire. , and Bohemia was also part of the empire.
Even so, Bohemia can only be regarded as a semi-Germanized area, and now Hungary is on an equal footing with Austria in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so the Austro-Hungarian Empire does not belong to the category of German countries. If it was the Austrian Empire back then, then it would I can make do.
But it was impossible for Prussia to admit it at that time. After all, counting Hungary and other regions as part of the German country would threaten its right to speak in the German region.
The current weakened Austro-Hungarian Empire is actually what Prussia wants to see, but now the Prussians are happy to see its results. I am afraid that they will not be able to laugh when the last fig leaf of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a superficially powerful empire, is lifted. In the previous life, if the Austro-Hungarian Empire had been a little stronger, Germany would have most likely not lost the war. The Austro-Hungarian Empire, which had not experienced the whole experience, could not even exert one-third of its strength, and was humiliated by Serbia, which had just become independent. .
Of course, this cannot be blamed on the Germans for being short-sighted. I am afraid that even the Habsburgs did not expect that their "powerful" country was so vulnerable.
However, with the strengthening of Ernst, the situation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is now more than a little better than the same period in history. However, even if the Austro-Hungarian Empire gets Venice, Ernst is not optimistic about the future of this country.
The reason why East Africa supports the Austro-Hungarian Empire is naturally to better take over the political assets of the Austro-Hungarian Empire around the world, mainly in Europe, in the future.
After all, East Africa has no say in the Mediterranean, and the importance of the Mediterranean to East Africa is actually second only to the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, and above the Atlantic.
The Mediterranean coast is really a crouching tiger, hidden dragon. The main way for East Africa to gain influence and safeguard economic interests locally is to support the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Now the influence of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the Mediterranean is only behind that of Britain and France, and in the East Africa The Mediterranean is one of the only ones in the UK.
Ernst was not interested in Caplivi's compliment, so it was better to talk about some more practical benefits.
"East Africa and Germany are both major economies in the world. If our two countries can join forces in the economic field, it will naturally be a happy thing for everyone, and it can also promote Germany's global influence."
"In my opinion, Germany is a real economic power, while East Africa is an economic power that relies entirely on its land and population. The two can perfectly complement each other. We in East Africa need German talent, technology and financial support. Support, and East Africa can provide Germany with markets and abundant raw materials, and both parties can benefit from this.”
And what Ernst said was the real purpose of Caprivi's visit to East Africa. The territory of East Africa is really too large, and according to the rough import and export data of East Africa analyzed by Germany in recent years, the benefits are not lost at all. to any European country.
Perhaps the East African government wants to continue to "serve as a small transparency for the international community," but the busy commercial fleet off the coast of East Africa and the developed urban economy along the Indian Ocean cannot fool anyone.
Take the city of Dar es Salaam as an example. Although it is only a quarter of the size of Berlin's built-up area, it may be even worse economically. After all, Berlin is the capital of Germany, and all the country's economic and political resources are concentrated in Berlin. But it can There are not many cities in the world that are a quarter the size of Berlin.
Especially in Africa, Dar es Salaam is already the most prosperous city, surpassing Cairo in Egypt and becoming the economic center of the African region.
There are more than one such city in East Africa. The gap between Mombasa and Dar es Salaam is actually very small. Dar es Salaam is only slightly ahead of Mombasa.
In addition, New Hamburg Port, Mogadishu, Kismayo, Mtwara and other areas that were developed earlier or key coastal cities in East Africa are developing well.
And this is only the coast of East Africa. According to the intelligence of the embassy staff and the analysis of East Africa, there are also more economically developed inland cities in East Africa such as Nairobi, Mbeya, and Harare.
Therefore, the benefits of East Africa have exceeded the expectations of most countries. If they want to build such a group of economically developed cities, the German government will naturally not believe it if the interior of East Africa has not been effectively developed.
After all, Germany itself has a colony in Africa, namely Cameroon. To put it bluntly, Cameroon's economic situation is quite poor. So far, the German government is adding money to it. As for the recovery of the cost, it is probably far away.
With Cameroon as a comparison, Germany naturally knows that East Africa is good. After all, all regions in sub-Saharan Africa are similar, and Cameroon can be regarded as a smaller version of East Africa.