Chapter 543 South Ryukyu Islands
"Father-in-law, the navy has recently allocated three ironclad ships. I plan to seek a colony in the Far East."
"Well, do you have any ideas?"
The Far East was definitely the most attractive region in the colonial era. The Huaihai Economic Zone and Zhuhai Trading Zone in East Africa were important markets for the Hexingen Consortium, but these two regions could only be considered economic colonies.
There is nothing much to say about economic colonization. It is the most common form even in the 21st century. For example, aid to Africa is actually a form of economic colonization.
Colonization, colonization, that is naturally to let the people in the region create value for capital outside the region. East Africa is not a good person either. It has no profit in the Far East, and it will not create a development model of regional economic zones such as the Huaihai Economic Zone and the Zhuhai Trade Zone.
The global trade system dominated by the United States in the past was the highest manifestation of economic colonization. After all, the definition of a colony is a country or region that has been deprived of its political and economic independence by capitalist countries and is controlled and plundered by them. The United States’ group of younger allies are all of this type.
In fact, compared to this kind of economic colonization, East Africa itself is more like a traditional colonial country in the strict sense, except that there is no sovereign country over East Africa. The nearly 20 million black slaves in East Africa are proof of this.
Ernst took out a map from the drawer and spread it out on the table. It was a map of the Far East waters.
"Father-in-law, you also went to the Far East last time. You should be familiar with this place, right?" Ernst said, pointing to the location of the Ryukyu Kingdom.
"I have some impression, but it's not easy to get it here, right?"
Archduke Ferdinand knew that the composition of the so-called Ryukyu Kingdom was very complicated, and that both the Far Eastern Empire and Japan had interests here.
"Yes, so my target is not the entire Ryukyu Islands, but the South Ryukyu Islands in the south."
The South Ryukyu Islands, known as the Sakishima Islands in Japan, are also the southernmost island group of the Ryukyu Islands. They consist of the Miyako Islands and the Yaeyama Islands.
These names are relatively unfamiliar, but the geographical term Miyako Strait should be familiar to those who have paid attention to the news in the previous life. The South Ryukyu Islands are located on the south side of the Miyako Strait and are an important base for controlling the Miyako Strait.
"Last year, the Far Eastern Empire and Japan had a dispute over the Ryukyu Islands!" asked Archduke Ferdinand.
At the end of 1879, Japan decided to depose the King of Ryukyu and establish Okinawa Prefecture. Naturally, the Far Eastern Empire, as the nominal suzerain of the Ryukyu Kingdom, was strongly opposed to this.
So Japan had to settle for the second best and proposed a dichotomy of the Ryukyu Islands, with the Southern Ryukyu Islands ceded to the Far Eastern Empire and the central and northern Ryukyu Islands returned to Japan, on the condition that the Far Eastern Empire add a clause to Japan's most-favored-nation status in the treaty of goodwill. The Qing government naturally disagreed. During this period, the Far Eastern Empire was not polite to Japan, thinking that if it tried to leave Asia and join Europe, it would really become a Western devil. The two countries were deadlocked, so the region became a disputed area with undecided sovereignty.
In fact, until the 21st century, the Southern Ryukyu Islands were part of the Far Eastern Empire, as was clearly stated in the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation. Japan's occupation was illegal.
In Ernst's opinion, it would be better to let East Africa take advantage of this opportunity. Now that the Far Eastern Empire and the Japanese Navy are not strong enough, East Africa can take advantage of it.
So Ernst said to Archduke Ferdinand: "It doesn't matter. While the snipe and the clam quarrel, the fisherman benefits. We can directly go to the Far Eastern government to obtain the economic privileges of the region first, and then plan to make the region a colony by the end of the year."
This is also a routine of colonization in East Africa. This is how the Lan Fang Overseas Province became the territory of East Africa. However, Ernst did not intend to make the South Ryukyu Islands directly become the territory of East Africa, but to make it a colony of East Africa.
As for why they had to wait until the end of 1880, it was because at that time in history Japan had completely abolished the Ryukyu Kingdom.
At that time, it would be just right for East Africa to establish a vassal state in the South Ryukyu Islands at the same time. The Far Eastern Empire and Japan would not be able to find a reason to object. After all, the Ryukyu Kingdom had been destroyed, and even if they objected, it would be ineffective. It was because their navy was not strong enough. The East African navy had also been exposed once before in the Far Eastern countries.
Of course, Ernst also gave enough face to the Far Eastern Empire and took the ruling power of the region from them. After all, they could not keep it. This meant that it was still the territory of the Far Eastern Empire in name, but in reality it was a colony of East Africa.
As for whether this place can return to the hands of the Far Eastern Empire in the future, it depends on whether the Far Eastern Empire can revive and become powerful. Even if East Africans want to stay here in the future, it will be impossible.
In fact, the South Ryukyu Islands are of important value to the Far Eastern Empire and Japan. Japan attaches great importance to maritime power and has great ambitions. The location of the South Ryukyu Islands is very important to both countries.
East Africa's acquisition of the South Ryukyu Islands was simply to provide material supplies, ship maintenance, and troop deployment for the East Africa-Lan Fang-Alaska route or the Far East Empire route.
This could actually be done along the coast of the Far Eastern Empire, but Ernst did not want to station troops in the Far Eastern Empire, as that would turn the Far Eastern Empire into his colony.
The South Ryukyu Islands are not small in size and have relatively rich resources. They could support more than 100,000 people in later generations, but at this time the population was only tens of thousands, so it was easy for East Africa to occupy them.
"Since you have a plan, I naturally won't object. However, it is not easy to gain a foothold here. Relying on diplomatic manipulation can only gain nominal governance rights."
In fact, it is not the right of governance, but rather the right of trusteeship. East Africa proposed that the Far East should trusteeship the region. This is not important to East Africa, but it is very important to the Far East Empire. After all, it involves territorial issues. Even if it still belongs to itself in name, it will still look better. Won't they worry about having too much debt?
In fact, the reason why the Far Eastern Empire was arguing with Japan was that it had been closed to the outside world for too long. Only forty years had passed since 1840. The shipbuilding industry, ports, navy, and sailors of the Far Eastern Empire could be said to be new. For example, the Jiaozhou Port was built with the help of the Heixingen Group. Otherwise, the Far Eastern Empire would not have been taken advantage of by the Japanese.
The Far Eastern Empire's progress in maritime affairs was not as good as that of East Africa. The establishment of East Africa was only 20 to 30 years later than the opening of the Far Eastern Empire. Moreover, the Far Eastern Empire's doors were opened step by step. Many bays were deserted before. To put it bluntly, they were forced out bit by bit by the warships of Britain and France. Moreover, this process did not happen overnight. In history, it took until the Treaty of Boxer to open its doors.
Therefore, many later ports in the Far East have not even been developed. Only the trading ports opened by foreign countries under pressure from the Far Eastern empires are modern ports.
Of course, it doesn’t mean that many ports did not exist under the closed-door policy, but that they could not develop without official endorsement. After all, it is impossible for so many Chinese who went to Southeast Asia to swim there.
Although East Africa started late, with technical support from the German region, support from the Austro-Hungarian Navy, expansion of the Hechingen Consortium's ocean trade, expansion of East African immigration and slave trade, overseas colonization, and construction of East African ports, the maritime industry in East Africa, a country with a large land area, has developed relatively prosperously, or at least has not lagged behind.
East Africa is also a closed country, but it has always been engaged in maritime business. It just does not allow foreign forces to directly participate in East Africa's maritime trade. The many newly built ports in East Africa are for use by its own commercial ships and navy. It is a closed country with a one-way valve structure, not the closed country of the Far East Empire, which does not even go out.
(End of this chapter)
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