Chapter 1060 The British Pound’s Share of the Settlement

Basra City, the venue has been prepared for the six national flags, but when the sight of the Indian flag flying high, Alan Wilson is still difficult to calm down, mixed in a strange thing, but I believe that history will be corrected.

The High Commission for the Persian Gulf and the High Commissioner for Malaya also came to Basra, corresponding to the Joint Middle and Far East Warfare Command, responsible for British interests along the line east of the Suez Canal.

It was also mainly because Alan Wilson was bored, and although Vivien Leigh also came over to ensure logistics, he couldn’t just sit on a rocket and do nothing.

Other countries have not yet arrived, John and Richard two, accompanied Allen Wilson around, incidentally mentioning their current work difficulties, “I heard that there is German capital into Iran, called Heilmann Oil Company, is said to be controlled by two sisters, in the Federal Republic of Germany power is quite large.”

“I know these two women, the white gloves of the British Occupation in the beginning.” Alan Wilson did not deliberately hide anything, pretending not to recognize instead seemed like being a thief, “Yesterday’s friends have become today’s opponents, the world is so marvelous.”

Richard, on the other hand, shook his head and said, “Not to mention that Germany was not weak in the first place, even the elite of the colonies will not be so obedient after a long time, with the Chinese merchants in Malaya starting to liaise with the neighboring Southeast Asian countries, I am a little worried. I’ve heard a noise that the Chinese have a high opinion of themselves within their own ranks, that they are superior to the natives of Southeast Asia.”

“Throughout the British colonies in Africa, Indian merchants are wealthier than the natives, so it seems that the Indians are just as good as the Chinese?” Alan Wilson said with a cold smile, “Don’t say, the Indians really think so. I hope India will think so in a few years, so that the strategy in Africa will be easier.”

“Southeast Asian colonies, in general, had the main purpose of bringing in Chinese to check the locals. The same way African colonies brought in Indians to balance out black Africans.” John grimaced, “All on their own? Without us tilting the policy, they can stand their ground?”

“Not a big deal!” Alan Wilson prevented further discussion on this kind of issue, “It’s not that important, the key depends on who has the gun in their hands, Malaya not only has the gun, but also has forty Red Beard nuclear warheads, Australia also has the Vulcan strategic bomber, talk about it openly and honestly, I believe no one is willing to risk losing their head to make trouble.”

Alan Wilson looked relaxed and didn’t take the two men’s concerns as much of a big deal, instead he said, “If India’s attitude doesn’t satisfy us, I could be a prophet right now, there could be ethnic cleansing in Mauritius.”

Richard and John raised their eyebrows at the same time, then nodded in understanding; the main ethnic group in Mauritius was of Indian origin.

John still raised his concerns, “The second largest group is French speaking, will that give the French an advantage?”

“That’s why it took until today to get at Mauritius, if France hadn’t now made French Africa independent. I wouldn’t have forced India to make a choice by strong-arming her yet.” Alan Wilson tossed his turban, “Nehru would have had to send back all the Indians in the colonies if he hadn’t sided with us, his choice.”

This sort of thing would be no difficulty for Britain, it’s just a matter of whether there’s any reason for anyone to do it; would the balance of the island be out of whack if the Indians in Mauritius were repatriated? Was that considered a problem for the colonizer? He could also call on the Chinese to fill the role of the Indians, the last thing the world needs is people.

“I’ll have a good talk with them, and the ones who are actually quite vocal are in the minority. Most of the JPs are on good terms with us.” Richard nodded, “Some of my friends are always asking about England itself.”

“Distance begets beauty, and after Malaya pulls away from its surroundings, one wonders what England proper is like.” Alan Wilson let out a bitter laugh, “Nominally Britain’s per capita income is six times higher than Malaya’s, and with the exchange rate between the British and Asian pounds, Malaya’s subjects don’t think that the citizens of mainland Britain are thirty times better off than they are, do they?”

Is the Paris Syndrome going on in Malaya? Alan Wilson couldn’t help but shake his head, and statistics don’t determine everything. The Asian pound used in Malaya was undervalued in exchange rates.

The per capita monthly income in the United States in the twenty-first century was three thousand dollars, and the vast majority of people in China were three thousand yuan; could Americans possibly have a standard of living six times that of China? This is of course impossible, this is all based on the premise that the United States is an agricultural empire, many basic needs of agricultural products at low prices.

Switch to Japan and Korea and the comparison shrinks a bit more, the statistics and the real level can’t be the same.

It’s also unlikely that the standard of living of British citizens is now thirty times that of Japan’s, because the yen is also undervalued, and the British pound is a strong monetary policy, stronger than any currency in the world.

“Spread the word among the inhabitants of Malaya through the grapevine, and let it be said that the exchange rate of the pound in Asia is undervalued, and is used to promote the export trade, and that the local incomes of Malaya are not so disparate as compared with those of England itself. Malaya’s competitor is Japan, not Britain.”

“The Permanent Undersecretary has said that we need Malaya’s industrial products to stabilize the sterling area.” Richard inquired with a curious look, “I wonder how much of the current trade settlement we have left.”

Alan Wilson hesitated and whispered, “Thirty-eight percent of the global settlement share. Specifically to some countries, ninety-five percent of Australia’s foreign exchange reserves are pounds, New Zealand is eighty percent.”

So far the efforts to stabilize the sterling area have been fruitful, which is actually inseparable from Britain’s post-war efforts to get out of the war quagmire.

So far many of the British colonies that have become independent have used the pound as a foreign exchange reserve, and of course the effects of inertia must be taken into account, and with Britain’s own economy in good shape there is no need for other countries to sell off their pounds for dollars.

But the real test has just begun, Alan Wilson remembers just from the sixties, the pound from clinging to the dollar’s share of the settlement of the strong currencies, less than a decade to fall to one-fifth of the global settlement share.

Subsequently in Europe’s position was replaced by the mark, the mark can be understood as the later euro, is backed by German industrial strength as credit.

The main thing was that the pound could never be devalued one after the other; France could keep devaluing it, and the countries in French Africa with franc-pegged currencies were all within French range anyway.

Sterling’s range is much wider than France’s, and the UK can’t force other countries to pay for the devaluation of the pound over and over again, or else Harold Wilson’s Zurich Gnomes, how could they have gotten the word of mouth from the UK citizens, and a little bit of exchange rate fluctuation in the pound, and the pound area wouldn’t have been stable.

“That would seem to make the stabilization of Malaya extremely important.” Richard’s face was grave, “The value of the pound is at stake.”

“Connecting the Oceania where Australia is located, and the East Asian market corresponding to Xiangjiang, Malaya is in the middle, isn’t it very important?” Alan Wilson let out a long breath, “So shifting some industries to ensure Malaya’s economic development, or we take advantage.”

“In two more months, the automobile production line will be erected.” Richard heard the strings and opened his mouth to assure, “At that time, I will inform the Permanent Undersecretary of the commencement of construction via telegram.”

“As long as the United States and the Soviet Union don’t go to war with Britain, there’s nothing they can do to Britain.” Alan Wilson lazily laughed, “As long as we don’t go to war, we’ll stay with the two countries and slowly grind them down. Anyway, our industrial layout has been completed, it’s not so easy to eat us.”

War is terrible, France from World War I hard against the world’s number one army power Germany, to World War II by the national strength is not as good as the second empire of the third empire to cut the throat, counting the time is only more than twenty years, but because of the casualties of World War I is too heavy, resulting in the French society in general aversion to war.

It was all too common for the outcome of a war to change the fate of a nation, so it was best to stay out of it.

Like this time at the Six-Party Talks, for example, where Britain was prepared to use all means short of war, but not to attack Iran.

Basra Mountbatten House, Alan Wilson, on behalf of his wife, who didn’t show up, gave the Iraqi royal family a gift, thanking the Kingdom of Iraq for their help in providing a venue for the talks this time around, and already a military sales contract for the sale of an aircraft carrier to the Kingdom of Iraq for a pound, though there is a fee for refitting. As for the Iraqi coastline not being long? That’s not a problem, it can all be overcome.

“On behalf of His Majesty the King, I thank Sir Wilson for his gift.” Princess Badia was very happy and reached out to put on the ten carat diamond ring that had been given to her, “Is Pamela so busy? Why didn’t you come along?”

“She has some business to discuss!” Alan Wilson nodded with a smile, his eyes on the diamond ring on Princess Badia’s finger.

The business that Pamela Mountbatten was plotting recently was to have a good talk with South Africa’s South Africa De Beers.

Can we borrow the diamonds of the British Gold Coast, which has not yet become independent, and the main source of production in South Africa, De Beers, to form a cartel alliance.

British Gold Coast diamond production is naturally inferior to South Africa, but diamonds are actually not as rare as they appear, the Gold Coast diamond production, enough to make diamonds are not so high value.

British hands to produce diamonds in the origin, but also more than a Gold Coast, the Great Lakes region of Africa is also diamond-producing. British Botswana also produces diamonds, De Beers itself is a British brand, and now the empire’s new nobility, Ms. Pamela Mountbatten, also want to get a piece of the pie, it’s normal.

The following days, the delegations of various countries have arrived in Basra, Alan Wilson is ready to read from the book of the six-party talks, finally began, the first day of the official meeting, the countries began to chicken with the duck, each articulating their own views on the Iranian oil crisis, just like the United Nations, each with a different interest in the more and more fragmentation.

The only country that really thinks it is important, besides India, is Iraq, where Basra is located, and the Iraqis are very interested in this international conference, considering it a symbol of Iraq’s status.

The big internal announcement of the Kingdom of Iraq is that Iraq is joining the talks by virtue of being the host, and does not need to care about the vanity of being a participating country or not.