Chapter 1309 Territory Exchange

East Africa has shown a tougher diplomatic attitude, naturally not intending to end the war, but using this method to make Britain "willingly" cut off its flesh to "compensate" for East Africa's losses.

This will of course offend Britain, but today's East Africa and South Africa are very different during the war. Before the South African War, East Africa's comprehensive national strength was far inferior to that of Britain.

Now, the gap between East Africa and Britain is almost negligible, and East Africa even has an advantage. East Africa has no fear of the Allied Powers liquidating East Africa after the war.

…

April 2, 1918.

London.

British Prime Minister David has been in a very good mood recently. With Britain's full efforts to win over and deceive, the United States finally joined the Allied Powers camp, which greatly boosted the Allied Powers' confidence in the victory of the war.

At the same time, the many new fronts opened by the United Kingdom also continued to achieve good results. Except for the Dardanelles Strait, which could not be conquered for a long time, several other battlefields have achieved good results.

Prime Minister David, as usual, was sitting on the sofa watching the military situation on the front line, but compared to his gloomy look a few months ago, he now showed a bit of leisurely contentment.

At this time, Foreign Secretary Balfour hurried over and said to the Prime Minister with a serious face: "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, I think you should pay attention to some information we have received recently."

Looking at Balfour's stern face, David suddenly felt a thump in his heart. After all, it was obviously not a good thing for his foreign minister to report news to him with such an expression.

You must know that Balfour, like himself, was in a good mood because of the improvement of the situation. Last year, the Jewish Palestinian statehood initiative advocated by Balfour was also passed in the UK, which made Balfour even more refreshed recently.

As for why the UK pushed for the adoption of the initiative, the reason is simple: to gain support from Jewish forces.

As the beneficiaries of the development of European capitalism, Jews have extensive influence on European countries through their strong economic strength.

As for Britain's ability to pull the United States into trouble, American Jews played a significant role, not to mention the influence of Jews in the Allied Powers. In this world, except for East Africa, other major powers more or less relied on Jewish capital.

And Balfort supported the Jews so openly, and obviously gained a lot of benefits from them.

David straightened up and asked, "Belfort, what happened?"

Balfour said: "It's not a big deal, but I think this may affect the British Empire and cause twists and turns in the war, so I came to report to you."

"East African Foreign Minister Friel just asked me about the re-division of power in the Indian Ocean. This time his attitude and words were obviously much harsher. I think this is a new change within the East African government, so I have to tell you Ask for instructions."

Diplomacy is no small matter, and changes in individual words may give the originally disclosed information a completely different meaning.

One of the more classic ones is that in the last century, before the Franco-Prussian War, Bismarck modified the letters of William I, thus triggering Germany's last unification war.

Prime Minister David frowned and asked: "What do the East Africans want to do at this time?"

Balfour said: "According to the inference of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, East Africa is obviously dissatisfied with our previous delay. They also specifically mentioned France, which is obviously dissatisfied with our failure to fulfill our commitments."

Last year, the British government made a plan to stabilize East Africa, and at that time it was David, Balfour and Winston, several senior British cabinet officials, who took the lead in this matter.

Therefore, David naturally knows the inside story of what Balfour said. The United Kingdom is obviously the most advanced in terms of painting the pie, but now East Africa wants to eat this piece of pie by force.

Prime Minister David said: "Is there any actual action in East Africa? How should we respond to the previous proposals? Will the failure to fulfill the promise lead to East Africa joining the Allied camp?"

Several questions were raised one after another, showing the anxiety in Prime Minister David's heart at this moment.

Belfort said helplessly: "There are no actual actions in East Africa, but since last year, the East African navy has become more and more active in the Indian Ocean, especially in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. This is obviously a threat to us from the East African government. "

"And regarding the proposal to stabilize East Africa last year, at that time we were not sure whether the United States would join us. Now the United States is in the same boat with us, so I think our attitude towards East Africa should change."

"After all, we have not made any substantive commitment to East Africa, only hints. However, we should not completely offend East Africa to prevent East Africa from becoming angry and joining the Allies. As for how to do this, it is naturally up to you to decide."

It seems that Balfour said everything, but in fact he said nothing. After all, Prime Minister David also knows these things very well, and everyone knows that East Africa should not be pushed against Britain at this time.

However, if East Africa's demands are met, it will be held accountable, and it may even be liquidated in the future.

So David did not intend to let Balfour go. He said: "How do you think we should satisfy East Africa's demands without damaging the interests of the empire, and thus stabilize our relationship with East Africa?"

Balfour said without hesitation: "Look at what East Africa's real demands are, and how can we ensure that after we meet their demands, they will not go back on their words and continue to support the activities of the Allies."

From the perspective of East Africa, the trade between East Africa and the Allies is naturally "free trade" without any political relationship, but for the Allies, in special periods, countries that trade with the Allies support the Allies. Although the trade between East Africa and the Allies has been cut off, it can still flow into the Allies through various means.

However, it is impossible for the British to completely block these smuggling channels. After all, there is no shortage of powerful people even within the empire.

Prime Minister David said: "Since the East Africans mentioned the redivision of power in the Indian Ocean, they are interested in the Indian Ocean region. Which regions do you think we should trade with East Africa?"

After thinking hard for a while, Balfour suddenly had an idea and said: "Prime Minister, do you still remember the territorial trade between the French and East Africa?"

David nodded and said: "Of course."

Balfour said excitedly: "But the French have bad intentions. Among the colonies they handed over to East Africa, there are several Indian colonies."

"Can we use the reason of maintaining India's security to exchange territory with East Africa to meet East Africa's demands and hand over some unimportant Indian Ocean colonies to East Africa? In this way, we can stabilize East Africa and our people at home."

If we directly give our territory to East Africa, it is selling out the country, but if it is a territorial exchange, it is a normal exchange of interests between the two countries, which can appease the emotions of the people and avoid attacks from political opponents.

Prime Minister David's eyes lit up and he said, "Your idea is very good. After all, no matter how big it is, it is not bigger than India's security. If we want to maintain India's security and exchange territory with East Africa, then no one can find fault with us. At the same time, it can also satisfy East Africa's ambitions temporarily."

India is the core of British colonization, and the French handed over several of their own colonies to East Africa, which is a threat to India in itself.

Even if the risk of controlling India by relying on several colonial outposts is small, the British cannot afford such a risk.

In fact, Prime Minister David and other senior British government officials knew very well that if East Africa really wanted to invade India, at this time, Britain could only stare blankly.

So, exchanging East Africa's several colonial outposts in India with other colonies was a complete cover-up to persuade the people of the country.