Chapter 153 Showing Unity

Kalimantan was the largest island in Dutch East India, with a population roughly one-tenth that of Java. The area of Java was not large in Dutch East India, only 130,000 square kilometers, but because the local land was described as fertile, the population was an overwhelming advantage over the other islands.

It was also because of the crushing population that Indonesia, a country of ten thousand islands, maintained its unity after independence. Even if Indonesia is actually geographically an extremely divisive country.

Compared to Java, the center of Dutch East India, the island of Kalimantan, although with an area of nearly 800,000 square kilometers, the largest island in Dutch East India, has only one-tenth of the population of the entire Dutch East India because of its barren land.

The current population of Dutch East India is over eighty million, then Kalimantan has less than ten million people according to the maximum estimate.

“There is also a very personal request.” After a half-dozen discussions about the suitability or unsuitability of Kalimantan for partition, Alan Wilson lowered his voice and said, “I would like to see, whether or not Holland is able to achieve a great success, that the local population statistics be published as soon as it reaches Dutch East India, preferably to the higher estimate.”

“Toward a high estimate of the population, what’s this about?” George Armand wondered what this had to do with the current situation in the Dutch East Indies, and wasn’t it true that the higher the estimate, the more the local natives felt that there were more people than there was power, and that it would not be a good idea instead?

“Oh my George. Of course it is useful, Australia has a population of only seven and a half million. Dutch East India can be too close to Australia for that kind of population pressure to be felt only by its neighbors.” Eileen Wilson smiled and shook her head, “Think of Australia being so large and so sparsely populated, what would the Australians think if Dutch East India eventually became independent and its neighbor was a country with a population of over a hundred million people but mostly crammed onto a single Java island?”

“Alan, this is very visionary, and you exemplify the exceptional qualities of a British Empire diplomat.” George Almand was right on the money, who was the one who was facing the population pressure of the Dutch East Indies head on? Australia.

Is Australia just idle with its longstanding White Australia policy? Would Australia be so xenophobic if it had hundreds of millions of people? Maybe, but the sense of crisis would be much smaller.

Australia is actually perceived poorly by the people of Asia because it is the most xenophobic member of the Five Eyes Coalition. In fact, the people of the Republic think the same way, just a little too much, and the Republic is not as hostile to the world as its own people think.

Australia is just cooperating with the United States in propaganda, and the one thing it really sleeps on is Indonesia, which is so close at hand. In the twenty-first century Australia had a population of less than 30 million people, and Indonesia has nearly ten times the population of Australia.

Since Indonesia’s independence, it has been a direct competitor in the eyes of the Australians. Indonesia is not small in size, but has little fertile land, and its population has always been ten times that of Australia, and in Australian folklore, Indonesia’s presence is far greater than that of the Republic.

It’s just that the people of the Republic receive information from the Republic’s media, which doesn’t idly report on Indonesia, so the people of the Republic can only see Australia and point fingers at the Republic.

Not realizing that Indonesia, which is far less powerful than the Republic, has a higher presence in Australia than the Republic.

In the matter of the Dutch East Indies, it is best to get the goodwill of Australia’s support, so that the certainty of success will be a little higher, if not to do it to retain Kalimantan focus on the operation of the island, and jointly with Australia to contain the post-independence Indonesia.

Even if in the end, with the development of the times, even Kalimantan Island can not be retained, but also be able to follow the trend of splitting Indonesia, to maintain the balance of Southeast Asia, to prevent the independence of Indonesia is a dominant.

Later generations of Southeast Asia is a dominant situation? Allen Wilson if fair to say, indeed, Indonesia’s national strength is far beyond the other countries, both in terms of area and population.

As for Vietnam, which is favored by some republics, it is not really Indonesia’s rival, and Vietnam and Indonesia do not have a good relationship. The two countries have clashed many times around the South China Sea, and most of the fishing boats that Indonesia has sunk at sea have been Vietnamese.

The fight for Southeast Asia, whether it started with the United States and the Soviet Union, or later with the United States and the Republic, centered around Indonesia, and other Southeast Asian countries were far less important than Indonesia.

For the current Dutch East Indies, Allen Wilson’s advice to the Dutch was to firmly suppress it, saying in a brutal tone, “Jakarta is a coastal city, and if the resistance is violent, my personal advice would be to shell Jakarta, not to differentiate whether it is a civilian area or not, and as long as the United States is too embarrassed to make an explicit accusation, on the European side, the countries at this Brussels conference will treat it as if it were not seeing it.”

As for how many casualties there would be among the locals, this is not something that Alan Wilson, a Brit, should be concerned about. He just truthfully provided the possible favorable conditions, let the Dutch people to choose.

When Allen Wilson left, it was George Almand who personally sent him out, saying sincerely, “Holland is grateful for the kind help of Britain.”

“Everyone helps each other, this is the united Europe.” Alan Wilson said solemnly, “Once the military action starts categorically can not stay, to be suppressed with the most resolute attitude. If there is a stage of success, the Japanese Southern Army are currently among the local British prisoner of war camps, the Netherlands can pick out those who deliberately encourage the independence of the Dutch East India and publicly shoot them to deter.”

“This would show that Japan, the strongest in Asia, has fallen to this, and that these natives, encouraged by Japan, are even less of a match for Europe.”

Waving goodbye to George Almand, Alan Wilson went straight back to his quarters to report to Edward Bridges, the Cabinet Secretary, and expressed the embarrassment that the Dutch were not on record.

“Holland has settled down so long that it has even forgotten how to fight.” Edward Bridges shook his head, “But you said shelling Jakarta, fortunately it was a suggestion for a private occasion, otherwise it might have fallen on deaf ears.”

Alan Wilson immediately expressed an apology, Edward Bridges waved his hand to indicate that there was no need, “In matters of strategy, there is no excuse for such a suggestion, it is like British and American bombers bombing German cities, as long as the end result is good, the process is somewhat brutal and can be ignored, and it was the Dutch who did it, and it had nothing to do with Britain.”

“And as with your other proposal, as long as the Americans don’t point fingers, then the European side will pretend they didn’t see it coming.” Alexander Cadogan added, “No one will ever know about it.”

Alan Wilson agreed with both leaders that a man’s death is either lighter than a feather or heavier than a mountain.

The value is certainly different in different places, take Europe’s not-yet-existing Berlin Wall, which has been around for decades and has a record of one hundred and thirty people shot down for smuggling people across the border.

But in the same period, the number of people smuggled into the United States from Mexico who were killed by the U.S. National Guard exceeded three hundred per year.

In four months it exceeded the history of the construction of the Berlin Wall, and the former was widely reported throughout the world, while the latter was unknown. This goes to prove how terrible public opinion can be in hand.

After the simple and boring but happy life in the British-occupied zone, Alan Wilson finally dreamed of the Potsdam Conference and found the diligence and hard work of the imperial civil servants at the Brussels Conference.

Even busier than the Potsdam Conference, the Potsdam Conference, at least he was only conducting backroom operations, the formal negotiations have the current British representative in Berlin, Eifel responsible, and now he is alone and have to participate in the official meeting, but also have to conduct backroom operations.

Every day after the end of the official meeting, are constantly and different countries’ representatives, talking about different response programs.

In and George Almand talked about the next day, Alan Wilson and Portugal on behalf of Olivia talked about the problem of Goa, Olivia said that Portugal urgently hope that the British Empire, can openly and clearly support the Portuguese ownership of Goa.

Allen Wilson, on the other hand, said that the current situation is not suitable to make a public statement on the issue of British India, once the British Empire was able to dismantle the independent forces of British India, the problem of Goa will naturally disappear.

If it can’t, Britain will certainly formally recognize Portugal’s legitimate rights and interests over Goa before British India becomes independent.

“I’m afraid that by then, we will be too late in communication.” Olivia spoke with inevitable disappointment.

Alan Wilson’s face instantly pulled down, reminding, “Honorable Mr. Olivia, perhaps I will be in New Delhi at that time, you can absolutely contact me directly at that time.”

“Oh, is that such a coincidence?” Olivia first stared blankly, then her expression changed in a fleshly manner, knowing that Alan Wilson should have an operation in this regard, and congratulated him without a trace, “If fate has made such a wonderful arrangement, Portugal will surely express its sincere gratitude for this.”

Sincere thanks? Alan Wilson raised his eyebrows, accurately capturing the key information, it seems that there is a windfall waiting for him in the future.

When communicating with the French about the speed of the march, and the handover of things to Vietnam, Allen Wilson made it clear that France had a firm attitude towards the colonies and gave firm support, expecting France to revitalize itself.

Belgium, because the only important colony is the Belgian Congo in the center of Africa, has little interest in other places, and similarly the remaining Spanish colonies, which are only in Africa, are not a threat at the moment.

Therefore, in the Brussels Conference, Spain and Belgium, in fact, the existence of the two countries is not very big.

However, since this is a colonial countries to show unity of the meeting, Spain and Belgium want to stay out of it is impossible.

Alan Wilson after a report, got the authorization, secretly found Portugal, Holland and France’s representative to clarify the position, ready to Belgium and Spain together to pressure, to show the unity of the colonial countries.