Chapter 1359 - 360: Political Mutual Trust

Chapter 1359: Chapter 360: Political Mutual Trust

Chile’s copper reserves are far more abundant than those of East Africa. As early as the Spanish colonial era, small-scale copper mining appeared in Chile. In the twentieth century, stimulated by international market demand, the scale of copper mining in Chile began to increase, with East Africa being the most important driving force.

Due to its excellent physical and chemical properties, copper is widely used in many fields, including electrical, light industry, machinery manufacturing, construction industry, and national defense industry.

Undoubtedly, copper is a fairly stable common metal that can even be used as a reserve. East Africa being relatively close to Chile makes importing copper from Chile quite cost-effective for East Africa.

As for nitrate, before the advent of ammonia synthesis technology, nitrate was one of the most important strategic materials worldwide.

With these two important mineral resources, Chile naturally became one of the South American countries that East Africa values most. Similarly, since East Africa can develop trade with Chile, it naturally includes its neighbor Peru, which is also a country rich in mineral resources.

Chile serves as a bridgehead for East Africa and the South American West Coast countries, and holds the pivotal maritime route of the Magellan Strait. Its priority is certainly ahead of other South American West Coast countries. Of course, the so-called South American West Coast countries are only four, namely Chile, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia.

However, these four countries, backed by the Andes Mountains, are all rich in minerals, and their trade with East Africa is growing quite rapidly. They are the main countries from which East Africa imports silver, copper, coal, iron, nitrate, and other resources.

Since the United Kingdom joined World War I, the only country that can compete with East Africa in this region is the United States. Regardless of whether it’s Peru or Colombia, both currently tend to develop relations with East Africa.

The diplomatic choices of both 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 having lost the Panama region and the latter experiencing severe economic disruption.

Foreign Minister Rigaldo said, "Chile and East Africa have a natural foundation for cooperation. We have rich natural resources such as copper and nitrate, as well as some local specialties. Your country has the technology and market. As long as the two countries join hands in the economic field, the future will be even brighter."

"Improving the navigational efficiency of the Magellan Strait is the prerequisite for expanding the scale of economic cooperation between the two countries. To support the construction of the Magellan Strait, our country intends to develop Punta Arenas into a window city for cooperation between the two countries."

As early as the last century, Chile designated Punta Arenas as a free port of the country, with the goal of leveraging the geographical advantages of Punta Arenas, and developing the local economy relying on the Magellan Strait.

Unfortunately, with the emergence of the Panama Canal, the ideas of the Chilean government fell through. However, the good news is that with the rise of East Africa, the Chilean government sees an opportunity to revive Punta Arenas.

Reini said, "I also have some understanding of Punta Arenas, which should be considered the largest city in the southernmost part of America, especially near the Antarctic region."

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

"Moreover, through our cooperation, we should conduct a systematic and scientific investigation of the topography, hydrology, and climate of the Magellan Strait."

"Establish more climate monitoring stations along the coast, give early warnings of extreme situations such as strong winds, high waves, heavy fog, and ice floes, and improve the navigation safety of the passage."

"At the same time, construct more guiding structures, such as lighthouses and indicator objects, to guide ships in determining their direction. Additionally, set up backup temporary docking ports for ships to evade danger in case of sudden extreme weather."

The Magellan Strait not only has relatively harsh climatic conditions, but its topography is also complex and variable. This is closely related to the reasons for the formation of the Magellan Strait, which was significantly affected by glacial and wind erosion during its formation.

Therefore, the geographical environment of the Magellan Strait is similar to that of Norway, with many fjord landscapes, and this results in many branches in the Magellan Strait, which can easily interfere with ship navigation.

Reini continued, "Besides strengthening these infrastructures, our two countries should establish a reasonable pilotage system by training experienced pilots who are familiar with local geography and climate to avoid human errors and prevent disasters."

In previous generations, the Chilean government set up a strict pilotage system to ensure the safety of ships in the Magellan Strait, where foreign ships were required to hire local pilots in order to be allowed passage, which fully demonstrates the risks of the Magellan Strait route.

Today, these proposals from the East African government are clearly well-researched and aimed at ensuring the safety of its own ships, as well as preparing for the expansion of trade between East Africa and the Western Coast of America.

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

However, under the guise of economic cooperation between the two countries, obtaining hydrographic and geographical data of the Magellan Strait to provide detailed data support for East Africa’s own ships and navy is very necessary.

The Magellan Strait can support the passage of large vessels, and by going through Chile, East African Navy can enter the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic, significantly reducing costs and shortening the time for East Africa’s mainland to reach the Pacific.

In this way, East Africa heading to Alaska and the South Pacific colonies does not need to go through the Indian Ocean first and then into the Pacific via the Nanyang.

From this perspective, East Africa’s emphasis on the Magellan Strait is also closely related to the Panama Canal. Although the Panama Canal is convenient and safe, it is controlled by Americans, and no country, especially a great power, would lightly put its own security on the commitments and good faith of other countries.

And this is also a major reason why Chile can cooperate with East Africa. Compared to the United States, East Africa and Chile are separated by Argentina, and the Magellan Strait is controlled by Chile, so from a realistic perspective, the threat of East Africa to Chile is much smaller than that of the United States.

Of course, the Chilean government is certainly not going to trust an imperialist country easily, so currently, East Africa is still in Chile’s observation period, and only when the cooperation between the two countries continues to deepen and there is certain mutual trust, Chile will consider whether to further open relevant fields to East Africa, even in the military aspect.

At the end of the day, for a country like Chile, it’s not easy either. In the past, Chile’s diplomacy oscillated between the United States and the United Kingdom’s rivalry, and now it has changed to the United States and East Africa.

However, from Chile’s government’s choices, it can be seen that regardless of whether it was the United Kingdom before or East Africa now, their reliability is currently higher than the United States, as after all, the West Coast of the United States and Chile are on the same side of an ocean, and any Pacific country is naturally constrained by the United States Navy. Any country with some insight and independent development capability is bound to develop relations with out-of-region countries to counterbalance the United States.

From a historical perspective, Chile’s government’s decision is evidently correct. If there is an opportunity, the United States would indeed interfere with Chile’s development and internal affairs, and unsurprisingly, Chile would value relations with the Soviet Union, and in the 21st century, value relations with the Far East Empire.

Of course, this situation is only applicable to countries that have the ability for independent development. In fact, most countries in the world lack this ability and awareness, and the government of some countries could even be described as incompetent. In the previous generations, except for a very few countries, the entirety of South America could be described as a mess that couldn’t be supported.

Of course, as East Africa, now a member of the imperialist countries, it clearly welcomes the existence of such states in the world, because without these countries that are not sensible or sensible, there would be no living space for the imperialist countries.

Reini said, "With economic development as the foundation, continuously deepening mutual trust between our two countries, we believe the future of the two countries will be bright, and at the same time, we also support your country’s legitimate interests in Central and South America."