African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1301: Chapter 310: East Africa-France Meeting

Of course, while East Africa continues to maintain neutrality and faces the temptations thrown by England and France, it is not holding back; anything that can be consumed will be considered gobbled up.

Two days later.

”Ambassador Thomson, our East Africa has always been a nation that loves peace, and at this current stage, we do not intend to participate in the European war,” East African Foreign Minister Frier said earnestly.

However, Ambassador Thomson was still cautious, as Frier had used the words ”at this current stage.”

While inwardly cursing the cunning East Africans, Thomson maintained a smiling expression on his face, speaking slightly flatteringly to Frier, ”Your Excellency Frier, we in France have always known East Africa as a great power maintaining world and regional stability, making significant contributions to the peaceful development of the world.”

”Moreover, the historical ties between our two countries are deep and have always maintained friendly relations, so we in France support your country’s future role in the Indian Ocean and South Atlantic, thereby promoting the world’s peace and stable development.”

Not a word from his mouth was truthful; East Africa has only been around for nearly sixty years, and in those short sixty years, it’s never been peaceful. East Africa could be considered the greatest destabilizer in the region; otherwise, it wouldn’t have lands and colonies spanning millions of square kilometers by mere chance.

But the situation is stronger than people, and in the effort to woo East Africa, Thomson was shameless enough; after all, as a diplomat, lying with a straight face is a basic skill.

Frier said with a smile, ”No, no, compared to your country, we East Africans are mere juniors; your country has a significant influence worldwide, with colonies in important regions all over the world.”

”Although we East Africans are also a world power, in terms of overseas territories, we are far inferior to France, be it Algeria or Indochina, which are fertile lands.”

”To this day, our East African colonies are merely nominal, always in a state of loss, unable to achieve profitability.”

”Thus, how do we East Africans have the ability to further promote influence in the Indian Ocean and Atlantic Ocean when compared to your country?”

Faced with Frier’s feigned modesty, Thomson didn’t believe a word; these ”mixed” Germans seemingly influenced by the Far East Empire, love this kind of superficial humble rhetoric.

East Africa’s colonies indeed aren’t affluent places, but the overseas colonial area is large!

France labored for hundreds of years, yet all overseas territories combined are only eight million square kilometers, while East Africa, with merely decades of history, already has overseas territories totaling nearly two million square kilometers.

At first glance, it seems as if there is a significant gap between East Africa and France, but when factoring in the homeland, the situation is entirely different.

Recently incorporated into East Africa are the provinces of Cameroon and Gabon, with an area of over 600,000 square kilometers, pushing East Africa’s homeland area to over 13.6 million square kilometers.

These two new provinces alone are already significantly larger in area than today’s French homeland, which stands at just over 500,000 square kilometers, not including the former regions of Lorraine and Alsace.

The giant born in the 19th century that is East Africa naturally elicits envy, jealousy, and anger from France; combined with its colonies, East Africa’s size is slightly less than former Russia.

With more than 13 million square kilometers of territory, even if East Africa loses all its overseas colonies, its great power status is assured, as is its ability to maintain hegemony in the Indian Ocean and South Atlantic.

So Ambassador Thomson is especially envious of East Africa’s geographical conditions, inwardly calculating that if France had acted before the Hohenzollern Family, boldly expanding in Africa, it might compare favorably to today’s United Kingdom.

Of course, realistically, France has significantly invested in Africa; globally, it ranks just behind East Africa.

Originally, according to normal history, it was England and France dividing Africa, with small countries like Belgium getting a sip.

In this timeline, the British were unfortunate; their previous African strategy clashed with East Africa’s expansion, allowing France, focused on West Africa and North Africa, to gain significant advantages.

Before World War I, France’s overseas colonies were roughly 10 million square kilometers, with most located in French West Africa (including North and West Africa).

In this era, France’s overseas colonial area is only around eight million square kilometers, largely due to the rise of East Africa, causing France to lose territories like Madagascar, Chad, and Congo-Brazzaville from yesteryear.

Thus, it may seem like France is a victim of East Africa, but it isn’t really; in the expansion process in Africa, France barely interacted with East Africa.

Moreover, compared to England, France concentrated on developing French West Africa, leading to advantageous positions in West and North African expansions.

Though England also had its colonial strategy in West Africa, its prior competition with East Africa in southern Africa caused it to miss critical opportunities to support its colonies in West Africa.

Once the South African war ended and the British had to focus on West Africa, the French had already gained considerable advantages in West Africa; today, France’s colonies in Africa cover about 4 million square kilometers, second to East Africa.

From the French perspective, East Africa has indeed severely obstructed the British, secretly delighting the French.

East Africa acquired only two colonies from the French: one being Gabon, which was compensation given to the Germans as a result of French-German negotiations due to the Moroccan conflict, and eventually sold by the German government to East Africa, keeping relations between France and East Africa unaffected.

Besides this, France’s only territorial connection with East Africa is Mayotte; back when the Second French Empire just collapsed, Mayotte was a spoils of war for the Hexionggen Principality for assisting Prussia in the Prussia-France war.

If these matters are truly accounted for, the French would ultimately tally them against the Germans, having nothing to do with East Africa. For figures like Ambassador Thomson, these historical issues are clear in mind. Knowing this, at most the French will curse the Germans again.

Ambassador Thomson said, ”Your Excellency Frier, you are overly modest; regardless of how the European war develops, once the war ends, East Africa will become an emerging world power.”

”We in France fully support East Africa’s significant role in the Indian Ocean, South Atlantic, and even Pacific directions; your country is already capable of taking on the responsibility of maintaining post-war peace.”

”Our two countries should form better relationships in advance, to manage competition and threats from other nations, especially those that may obstruct or threaten your country’s strategy.”

The countries able to strategically obstruct and threaten East Africa are only two, the United Kingdom and the United States; undoubtedly, the biggest obstacle to East Africa dominating the Indian Ocean is the British, while potential competitors in the Pacific and Atlantic are the Americans.

As for France, its focus is concentrated in three areas: Europe, West Africa (including North Africa), and Southeast Asia (Indochina).

Of these areas, only in West Africa could France and East Africa possibly intersect, but presently East Africa has only the Togoland colony in West Africa, and this colony only borders French Upper Volta and Dahomey colonies. The productive colonies to the east and west are in British hands, so the ones to be most concerned are the British, not the French.

Regarding Upper Volta, the border area with East Africa is less than 200 kilometers, the conditions are poor, not places to covet; Dahomey’s colony isn’t exclusively French-owned, the Portuguese and British have their shares, thus France has no real pressure here.