Chapter 149 Portuguese Goa

Regarding the ownership of the Saarland, London has indeed not yet come up with a unified opinion. On the one hand, London has morally expressed its understanding of France's actions when Germany provoked two world wars in decades.

But at the same time, Britain is also afraid of changing the balance of power between Germany and France, causing France to dominate in Europe. This conflicts with the mainland's equilibrium strategy, and the idea of ​​the shit-stirring stick is so tangled and hesitant.

As a member of the gentlemen, Alan Wilson can also experience this kind of entanglement. After all, France has Charles de Gaulle, and in the end it must pursue political and military independence. If the Saarland region is merged into France, facing a France, which has greater industrial strength, and the United Kingdom may not be able to play.

France must be much more difficult to deal with than the Federal Republic of Germany, which has a bunch of occupying forces on its own. That's why Britain hesitated on the issue of the Saarland area, expressing a moral understanding of France's proposition, but refused to express support publicly.

However, the final solution to the problem in the Saarland region has evolved into the European Iron and Steel Community. France and Germany revolve around the ownership of the Saarland region. Considering the future of Europe, France and Germany feel that it is necessary to establish a common market for coal and steel. The idea of ​​a common market for coal and steel is also known as the "Schuman Plan".

Later, the six countries of France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg signed it. Since then, the key industrial sectors of the Federal Republic of Germany's rearmament have been placed under the joint management and supervision of the six countries, which has brought peace to Europe. At the same time, the European coal and steel pool has also become the embryonic form of the European Union.

But now the UK has no plans for a steel community. Although six countries are meeting in Brussels, the focus is on the colonial issue. The European economic revival plan is not without its share, but it is far less important than the colonial plan.

In the end, faced with Nino Bertrand's questioning, Alexander Cadogan kicked a ball and said that the Americans should be asked for their opinions.

This meeting was held in the name of the European reconstruction plan to avoid the participation of the Americans. At this time, the Permanent Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs of the British Empire thought of the Americans again.

Said that without the approval of the Americans, this matter would be very difficult to do. However, obtaining the approval of the Americans requires constant mediation and communication, which may not be effective in a short period of time.

Finally, he changed the topic to the colonial issue and said, "The Dutch are in a hurry now. The native elites of the Dutch East Indies have declared their independence. Nino, needless to say, you and I both understand that this is a very dangerous sign. "

"This is a very dangerous sign!" Coincidentally, the British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin, who was walking in the garden of the Belgian Royal Palace, said the same thing to the Foreign Minister of the Fourth French Republic, Georges Pidour. , also referred to the changes in the Dutch East Indies, "Europe's interests in Asia have been dealt with by the Japanese in this way,

If it cannot be stopped, it may cause irreparable harm. "

"Yes, Paris also believes that this is a harbinger of the collapse of order and must be dealt a merciless blow." Georges Pidour gave Ernest Bevin a very gratifying statement, expressing France's uncompromising attitude towards the colonial issue .

This is exactly the attitude that London hopes for France. France's resolute suppression attitude is beneficial to the British Empire. In yesterday's report, Ernest Bevin also heard that Alan Wilson hoped that the French would return to Vietnam as soon as possible .

The advantage of doing this is to look at the determination of the colonies to be independent. If France can’t handle it, it will definitely need a certain degree of help from the United Kingdom. British Malaya can become a base for France to fight in Vietnam, driving local economic development. In the same way, the Netherlands' suppression of the Dutch East Indies also had this benefit.

Georges Pidour was the leader of the resistance movement in France during World War II. During the war, he started the resistance movement in the south and published underground publications.

Soon to be a leading member of the fight and establish ties with the Free French. Entrusted by Moulin in Lyon, he formed a news and newspaper bureau, specializing in publishing news of the domestic resistance movement, promoting the unity of the resistance forces of all factions, and supporting de Gaulle as the leader of the resistance movement.

Knowing that this person is the current Minister of Foreign Affairs of France, Alan Wilson knew that it was stable. He assured Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin that the French would definitely show a tough attitude on the colonial issue. The reason given by Alan Wilson Yes, Georges Pidour is a French leader who grew up in the flames of war.

But in fact it was because, after de Gaulle established the Fifth Republic and finally chose to make Algeria independent, Georges Pidour established the National Resistance Committee, together with General Sur Saran, advocating terrorist activities to prevent Algeria from becoming independent. And went underground, declaring de Gaulle's government illegal.

In the end, because of the conspiracy to overthrow the Fifth Republic, de Gaulle was crushed, and Georges Pidour began his life in exile.

Such a person is now the foreign minister of the provisional government, how could France not show a tough attitude on the colonial issue.

The six-nation meeting was officially held on the second day. The delegations of the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal entered the venue. British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin delivered a speech on the opening of the meeting, " This is an era of reconciliation. We must focus on the future, seek common ground while reserving differences, and look back at the past. It is precisely because European countries lack a kind of unity that they usually tend to solve problems by force when solving problems, which led to two tragic incidents. World War, I hope this Brussels Conference will be the beginning of the unity of European countries."

There is no doubt that modern society was established by Europe. The British Foreign Secretary is quite modest about this. He did not say that it was established by his own country, but mentioned the contributions of other countries. As for the two countries on the Iberian Peninsula, We can only mention the contribution of the Age of Discovery.

This meeting was able to bring Spain in, and it was also out of consideration for maintaining the unity of the colonial empire.

We must know that during the Spanish-American War, after the Spanish Empire became the stepping stone for the United States to enter the world stage with a new attitude, Spain’s colonies were almost lost, leaving only limited colonies in Western Sahara and Equatorial Guinea.

Spain's colonies are now the last among the six countries in the Brussels Conference. Not to mention that compared with Britain and France, it is not as good as Belgium and the Netherlands, and even far inferior to his neighbor Portugal.

Portugal's current colonies are mainly in southern Africa, and the area is still larger than the Belgian Congo and the Dutch East Indies.

Not to mention that the current ruler of Spain is still Franco, who was ambiguous with Germany during the war.

In fact, Franco in Spain and Salazar in Portugal should, strictly speaking, be liquidated as alliances between Germany and Italy. But at this time, Germany had already been defeated. Considering that Britain still needs the support of the two countries on the colonial issue, it sent an invitation to the Brussels meeting.

The British Empire is still strong, and its relationship with Spain and Portugal is relatively harmonious, even though Gibraltar in Spain is still occupied by the United Kingdom and has never planned to return it.

In fact, Germany did formulate a plan to attack Gibraltar, but Franco, who was scheming, would not bet on the fate of the country in this undecided war. Besides, Spain, after years of wars, was in decline and its strength was weak, so it was really not suitable for involved in an all-European war.

And during the meeting with Hitler, Hitler, who is famous for his speeches, was at a loss.

Franco and Salazar are young comrades after all, and the mistakes they made are not unforgivable. This is the current attitude of the British Empire towards Spain and Portugal. Maybe when it will be counted on, Portugal and Spain will act as thugs when Britain has no scruples.

In fact, the Brussels Conference this time is no different in nature from the 1884 Berlin Conference. It was only at the Berlin Conference more than 60 years ago that European countries divided and occupied colonies.

And this time the Brussels meeting, at this moment when the future is uncertain, discussed how to keep the vested interests in their hands. The most powerful colonial empire in history, the British Empire, also let go of the arrogance in its heart and was willing to sit down and discuss with other colonial countries. It is not an easy task to discuss together.

In principle, the heads of state expressed their solidarity with each other on the issue of colonies, which is the easiest issue to reach consensus.

When the leaders move their mouths, the diplomats of various countries will lose their legs. The leaders of the countries have set a principle of unity. Under this premise, the diplomats began to discuss the preservation of the order of the old era.

When Alan Wilson was speaking, he greeted the Portuguese representative and said, "Mr. Olivia, I am very glad to meet you. I have been to Goa once, and I linger on the local beauty. It is really a good place. I Good relationship with local commissioner Pedro."

"Thanks to the British Empire for respecting the sovereignty of Goa." Olivia responded positively, "As we all know, the military power of Portuguese Goa cannot exist until now without the goodwill of the British Empire. .”

"The British Empire has always respected the rights and interests that Portugal should have. We are gentlemen in the civilized world." Eileen Wilson expressed her friendliness with a reserved face, and then changed the subject, "However, some people may not It’s not like we are so talkative, people in these backward areas are really incomprehensible.”

Alan Wilson did not expect that this time the Brussels meeting would not be the impatient Dutch who first sought support, or the French who were inspired to return to Asia to be the first to be impassioned. The first issue that aroused discussion turned out to be the issue of Portuguese Goa.

However, this question is just a professional counterpart to Alan Wilson, which can be said to give him room to play.