Chapter 947 Loyalty!

Both of them are complete newcomers to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a new Foreign Minister and a new Permanent Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The test is the same and they need to face it together.

After a brief exchange, both of them agreed that although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is one of the three major ministries, it is a thankless department. Nowadays, both the United States and the Soviet Union advocate decolonization. For colonial countries like the United Kingdom, He said that the external situation is still quite severe.

"Just like France now, protests have been going on for a long time." Harold Wilson pointed out that France's current difficulties are due to the high investment in the Algerian war and the economic crisis, which led to this crisis.

"I also agree with the minister." Alan Wilson said this and changed the subject. "It seems that this will be the minister's first problem after taking office. I think the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should first find out the internal trends in France before making a decision. .”

If this is true for the Foreign Secretary, then why is it not a test for Alan Wilson? The first thing is to understand the current situation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Having worked overseas for a long time, he will inevitably have to change his working style after returning to London.

Edward Bridges also agreed with this point. Working in London is very different from working overseas, most obviously in the degree of freedom. Alan Wilson also understands that this may be the difference between the so-called officials in the capital and the officials in the feudal frontier.

"You must protect the interests of your own department and at the same time maintain a good relationship with the minister. If you cannot become friends with the minister like Norman did, you must at least be on peace with each other."

Edward Bridges said with an experienced tone, "Under normal circumstances, don't conflict with ministers, unless it is a mistake that leads to serious consequences. However, different people have different ways of coping. I will argue with reason. Norman faces You might not make the same choice about the same thing.”

Homeland is different from overseas. At least for the current Alan Wilson, he cannot replicate in London what he did in Kuala Lumpur.

"I will adjust my mentality." Alan Wilson replied gratefully. This is just like the vast majority of people who write online novels who believe that they have the potential to be an aunt, but at the very least, they are unrecognized.

But it doesn’t hold back that 90% of writers can’t earn a penny. There is a gap between ideal and reality after all.

"You have to think about it, the minister has just taken office and is actually not familiar with diplomatic work. Now is the time to formulate a set of diplomatic concepts for the minister." Edward Bridges smiled gently, "Let's Ministers have a platform to play from.”

"Indeed, this is the top priority now." Alan Wilson slapped his head. He had been doing administrative work in the colonies. Now he should change his views and formulate a plan that was said to be in the past, so that the minister could implement a grand blueprint that did not exist.

At least in name, Britain is still a global empire, and its foreign policy must cover the whole world. The three-ring diplomacy declared in name, or the two wings flying together in fact, is not a gain or loss for one city or one place.

The reason why the British Empire became the British Empire was that diplomacy was of course too important. For hundreds of years, Britain has been trying to maintain a balance of power among the countries on the European continent: Britain will help whichever side is weak, and contain whichever side is strong.

As long as there is this balance, the countries of continental Europe will automatically check each other, and Britain can rest easy.

But balanced diplomacy is just a guideline, not the essence of the diplomatic field. The UK does not have the ability to plan for the distant future. In fact, it is just taking a step-by-step approach to the current situation. Because you can’t calculate the distant future accurately, you can’t find the precise location of the equilibrium point in advance. This equilibrium point can only be determined based on various current circumstances and conditions.

If there is one person in the UK who has this ability, it is only the newly appointed permanent undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"It's time to be knighted." Seeing her husband come back and start to plunge into the ocean of political affairs, Pamela Mountbatten put down her son and decided to pursue a new route.

The younger son lay on his stomach and squirmed toward his father,

The awkward look successfully attracted Alan Wilson's attention.

"My son." Alan Wilson, who picked up his son, had a kind face and made faces at the little guy.

Huh... She snorted for no reason. Pamela Mountbatten had a disgusted look on her face, "It's just the son that's important, right?"

"This accusation is unreasonable. You and Pamela are equally important." Alan Wilson refused the dirty water thrown at him and defended himself, "I have always attached great importance to family, and you are an existence that cannot be measured by anything. .”

"I know how to say nice things!" Pamela Mountbatten rolled her eyes at her husband and picked up her son who stretched out his little hand. "In the second week of May, I found a lot of people. You have to know that a hereditary It’s hard to win a title, and many families have asked for help, but you don’t seem to care.”

"My heart is full of gratitude, and I clearly feel my wife's passionate love for me." Alan Wilson swore, with two words written all over his face, loyalty...

Immediately, he devoted himself to the formulation of foreign policy. Adaptability is the concept of British diplomacy. The most intuitive example is the Vienna Peace Conference after Napoleon's defeat.

In the later stages of the Napoleonic Wars, France's defeat was certain, but the conflicts between Britain's three major allies, Russia, Prussia and Austria, intensified.

When Russia was pursuing Napoleon, its power had penetrated deep into the hinterland of Europe, and it was likely to replace Napoleon as the overlord of the European continent. Prussia wants to rely on Russia's power to expand its territory and suppress Austria at the same time. Therefore, the possibility of forming a new alliance between Russia and Prussia after the war is increasing. In this case, the equilibrium point in Britain has changed.

Therefore, after defeating Napoleon, the European powers held the Congress of Vienna to arrange post-war matters, and British diplomacy underwent relatively large adjustments. The first is to no longer be anti-French, but to insist on leniency towards France: France's status as a continental power must be preserved.

As a result, Britain's allies were afraid and did not dare to act immediately. There is no need to completely defeat the enemy, but to keep it useful.

In addition, the weakest of Britain's allies is Austria, and it is also particularly worried about the alliance between Russia and Prussia, so Britain has established a particularly close cooperative relationship with Austria, so that Britain has help to compete with Russia and Prussia. .

In the end, Britain formed a balance that was beneficial to Britain through the Vienna Peace Conference.

However, in Alan Wilson's view, adaptability is already a matter of the previous era, and current diplomatic work must make long-term plans.

First of all, a basis must be established, that is, it is almost impossible for a war between major powers to break out. Because no country can bear the consequences of a nuclear bomb strike, especially the UK.

Since a world war will not break out, there will be no foundation for today's allies and tomorrow's enemies. The current situation will definitely remain for a long time. So we cannot consider adapting to changes in the short term. Instead, we must clarify a diplomatic framework for what Britain needs, and then used for decades to come.

From a macro perspective, taking history as a guide, the British Empire's diplomacy in the 19th century was essentially centered on ensuring the security of British India, so a peripheral defense system was built.

Now that the Malayan colony has replaced the role of British India, and can still make use of the surrounding Netherlands and Portugal, the strategy in the Asian direction is an inheritance of protecting the security of British India, but replaced by Malaya. Ya.

Harold Wilson also agreed with this point. Britain had transferred so many industries and used the pound area to support them. When the harvest began, other countries would never be allowed to separate the Malayan colonies from Britain. No matter who is ready to strike!

"You can even use Malaya as a base to carry out offshore balancing in Asia. During the time I worked in Malaya, I realized that maybe the Soviet camp was not as monolithic as the Americans said. The correct judgment is that China does not have a vassal relationship with the Soviet Union."

The specific contents are in the one-pound report, and the Foreign Secretary can read it himself.

"Of course, the far East is not urgent at the moment." Alan Wilson changed the subject. "Compared with other directions, Europe is still the top priority. The current situation in France is quite worrying. We really We do not hope that a repeat of 1789 will occur, which will have an unpredictable impact on the whole of Europe."

The world economic crisis that began last year caused France's industrial production to drop by 5%. The United Kingdom continues to increase, and in terms of finance, France's total expenditure last year was 55.4 billion francs, with a deficit of more than 10 billion francs.

The huge fiscal deficit is naturally due to the need to support Algeria's war and military expenditures, which has led to conflicts between the left and right factions in France. Since March, protest marches have occurred from time to time. If nothing else, France will change its government again.

"You mean, France might lead to the Soviet Union?" Harold Wilson asked, full of disbelief.

"It's not that serious, but I'm very complicated about the current situation in France. The French can help Britain attract attention." Alan Wilson said with mixed feelings, "If the war ends so easily, the pressure will be all on Britain."

Whether to help the French or not is a difficult question for Alan Wilson. If France is defeated, Britain will not be able to hold on.

"Dear, the French Communist Party should be very complicated. Do you know anyone?" After returning home, Alan Wilson asked Pamela Mountbatten. At the critical moment, his wife's connections were more practical.

"Are you going to join the Communist Party?" Pamela Mountbatten gave a look that doubted her husband's trustworthiness.

"How is it possible? I am one of ours." Alan Wilson almost exploded in the face of this suspicion.