Chapter 1338 Political Mutual Trust

Chile's copper reserves are much richer than those in East Africa. As early as the Spanish colonial era, small-scale copper mining had already appeared in Chile. After entering the 20th century, stimulated by the demand of the international market, the scale of copper mining in Chile began to increase, and the most important driving force was East Africa.

Due to its excellent physical and chemical properties, copper is widely used in many fields such as electricity, light industry, machinery manufacturing, construction industry, and defense industry.

There is no doubt that copper is a common metal that is quite valuable and can even be used as a reserve function. East Africa is a country relatively close to East Africa, so it is quite cost-effective for East Africa to import copper from Chile.

As for saltpeter, before the emergence of synthetic ammonia technology, saltpeter was one of the most important strategic materials in the world.

Chile, which has these two important minerals, naturally becomes one of the South American countries that East Africa attaches the most importance to. Similarly, since East Africa can develop trade with Chile, it is naturally indispensable to its neighbor Peru, which is also a country with very rich mineral resources.

As a bridgehead between East Africa and the west coast countries of South America, Chile controls the important sea route of the Strait of Magellan. Its priority is definitely ahead of other countries on the west coast of South America. Of course, there are only four so-called countries on the west coast of South America, namely Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.

However, these four countries are backed by the Andes Mountains and are all mineral-rich countries. Their trade with East Africa has grown rapidly. They are the main countries for East Africa to import silver, copper, coal, iron, saltpeter and other resources.

Since Britain joined World War I, the only country that can compete with East Africa in the region is the United States. Both Peru and Colombia are currently inclined to develop relations with East Africa.

The diplomatic choices of the two countries at this stage are closely related to the Panama Canal. It can be said that Colombia and Chile are both victims of the opening of the Panama Canal. The former has lost the Panama region, while the latter's economy has been seriously hindered.

Foreign Minister Rigardo said: "There is a natural basis for cooperation between Chile and East Africa. We have abundant natural resources such as copper and saltpeter, and we are also rich in some regional specialties, while your country has technology and market. As long as the two countries join hands in the economic field, there will be a brighter future."

"And improving the navigation efficiency of the Strait of Magellan is a prerequisite for expanding the scale of economic cooperation between the two countries. In order to support the construction of the Strait of Magellan, my country intends to build Punta Arenas into a window city for cooperation between the two countries."

As early as the last century, Chile set Punta Arenas as its own free port, with the purpose of taking advantage of Punta Arenas' location and relying on the Strait of Magellan to develop the local economy.

Unfortunately, with the emergence of the Panama Canal, the Chilean government's idea has fallen through, but the good news is that with the rise of East Africa, the Chilean government has seen the opportunity to revive Punta Arenas.

Reni said: "I also have some knowledge of Punta Arenas. It should be the southernmost city in the entire Americas, especially the largest city near the Antarctic."

"We in East Africa are willing to help your country build and improve the infrastructure and operational capabilities of the port of Punta Arenas."

"In addition, our two countries will cooperate to conduct a systematic and scientific investigation of the topography, hydrology and climate of the Strait of Magellan."

"Set up more climate monitoring stations along the coast to warn of extreme conditions such as strong winds, big waves, heavy fog and floating ice to improve navigation safety in the waterway."

"At the same time, build more guiding buildings, such as lighthouses and indicators, to guide ships to identify directions. At the same time, spare temporary berthing ports should be set up to deal with ships in sudden extreme weather. Avoid danger."

The Strait of Magellan not only has relatively harsh climatic conditions, but also has complex and changeable terrain. This is closely related to the formation of the Strait of Magellan. During the formation of the Strait of Magellan, it was significantly affected by glaciers and wind erosion.

Therefore, the geographical environment of the area where the Strait of Magellan is located is the same as that of Norway, with many fjords, which makes the Strait of Magellan have many forks, which can easily interfere with the passage of ships.

Reni continued: "In addition to these infrastructure enhancements, our two countries should build a reasonable pilotage system to avoid some human errors and disasters by training experienced pilots who are familiar with the local geography and climate."

In the past, the Chilean government set up a strict pilotage system to ensure the safety of ships in the Strait of Magellan. In particular, foreign ships must hire local pilots before they are allowed to cross the Strait of Magellan. This also fully illustrates the risks of the route in the Strait of Magellan.

Today, these proposals of the East African government have obviously been fully investigated and studied, just to ensure the safety of their own ships and to prepare for the expansion of trade between East Africa and the west coast of America.

Although, the Chilean government will not allow the East African Navy to enter the Strait of Magellan for the time being due to sovereignty and territorial security considerations.

However, it is necessary to obtain hydrographic and geographical data of the Strait of Magellan under the guise of economic cooperation between the two countries, and provide detailed data support for East African ships and the navy.

The Strait of Magellan is sufficient to support the passage of large ships. By passing through Chile, the East African navy can enter the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic Ocean, which can greatly save costs and shorten the time it takes for East Africa to reach the Pacific Ocean.

In this way, East Africa does not need to go through the Indian Ocean first, then turn to the South Pacific Ocean and then enter the Pacific Ocean when going to colonies such as Alaska and the South Pacific.

From this perspective, East Africa's emphasis on the Strait of Magellan is also closely related to the Panama Canal. Although the Panama Canal is convenient and safe, it is in the hands of the Americans, and no country, especially a big country, will easily put its own security under the commitment and conscience of other countries.

This is also one of the main reasons why Chile can cooperate with East Africa. Compared with the United States, East Africa and Chile are separated by Argentina, and the Strait of Magellan is also controlled by Chile. So from a practical point of view, East Africa's threat to Chile is much smaller than that of the United States.

Of course, the Chilean government will certainly not easily trust an imperialist country, so East Africa is still in Chile's inspection period. Only when the cooperation between the two countries continues to deepen and a certain degree of mutual trust is generated, Chile will consider whether to further open up related fields to East Africa, or even military cooperation.

This work is compiled and uploaded by Liujiu Book Bar~~

In the final analysis, a country like Chile is not easy. In the past, Chile's diplomacy wandered in the game between the United States and Britain, but now it has changed to the United States and East Africa.

However, it can be seen from the choice of the Chilean government that the reliability of both the previous United Kingdom and the current East Africa is temporarily higher than that of the United States. After all, the west coast of the United States and Chile are on the same side of the ocean, and any Pacific country is naturally restricted by the US Navy. Countries with a little insight and independent development capabilities will inevitably develop relations with foreign countries to balance the United States.

From the perspective of the history of the past life, the decision of the Chilean government is obviously correct. If there is an opportunity, the United States will indeed interfere in the development and internal affairs of Chile. It is no wonder that Chile attaches importance to its relationship with the Soviet Union and the Far East Empire in the 21st century.

Of course, this situation is only for countries with independent development capabilities. In fact, most countries in the world do not have this ability and awareness. Even some national governments can be described as waste. In the past life, the entire South America, except for a few countries, can be said to be a mud that cannot be supported on the wall.

Of course, as a member of imperialism, East Africa is obviously happy to see this state of many countries in the world. After all, without these countries that are ignorant of the times and do not understand the truth, there is no room for the survival of imperialist countries.

“Based on economic development and deepening mutual trust between the two countries, we believe that the future of our two countries is bright, and we also support your legitimate interests in Central and South America,” Rainey said.