African Entrepreneurship Record

In the field of chemical fibers, some have already taken the first step, and soon others will keep making breakthroughs. East Africa currently has a certain level of research capability, and by continuously experimenting, it will eventually achieve remarkable results.

Ernst said, ”Chemical fibers play a significant role in livelihood, military, and economic development. In the past, the textile industry relied predominantly on natural fibers, with cotton, hemp, silk, and wool occupying the dominant position in textiles, whereas the properties of chemical fibers are more diverse. As technology advances, more possibilities can emerge.”

The director of the New Frankfurt City chemical fiber plant said, ”Indeed, as His Highness mentioned, in the past few decades, many kinds of chemical fibers have been developed. Although many technologies are not yet mature, they have shown us the diversity of chemical fibers. With the progression of the chemical industry, society will surely see the birth of more products that replace traditional fibers.”

In reality, he wasn’t as optimistic as Ernst. After all, the textile industry’s scale is overwhelmingly vast. As the world’s leading industry, textiles are a pillar in the industrial landscape of every current nation, while the current production scale of chemical fibers is too small, making it hard to imagine replacing traditional textiles.

But Ernst is naturally different. In his previous life, chemical fibers shone brilliantly, surpassing traditional textiles in production and applied in various fields. Therefore, for this technological trajectory, East Africa must place a heavy bet.

Thus, Ernst said, ”The research and production of chemical fibers must be prioritized, especially your factory. As the first chemical fiber factory in East Africa, you must accumulate experience and continuously expand.”

In fact, there were many chemical fiber factories in the same batch as the one in New Frankfurt City, but because of New Frankfurt City’s proximity to Rhein City, its construction was fastest. Otherwise, the title of the first chemical fiber factory in East Africa wouldn’t have fallen here.

During the First Five-Year Plan, East Africa’s emphasis on the development of the chemical industry was already initially shown. Before this, East Africa could only focus its energy on two emerging fields: electricity and internal combustion engines.

While basic industries like textiles, steel, coal, and machinery processing have developed, they could only be said to be somewhat behind top industrial nations, but these fields are relatively easier to achieve results in.

Any industrial nation, even countries like the Far East Empire with a minimal industrial share, or resource-scarce Japan, can achieve results. In East Africa, with abundant industrial raw materials and population, these basic industries are forcibly supported. However, in terms of international market competitiveness, they are slightly lacking.

Nonetheless, the development of these basic industries, regardless of strength, is unavoidable, especially for great powers. In the new century, East Africa’s industrial focus is still not on traditional industrial fields but leans toward emerging industries like petroleum and chemicals. Meanwhile, industries related to electricity and internal combustion engines have begun to create massive value and are thriving.

This doesn’t mean East Africa’s traditional industries can’t develop. It’s just that in a great power like East Africa, the resources available are relatively abundant. While maybe not as good as the US and Germany, compared to other countries, they are still quite considerable.

This showcases the positive impact of national size on industrial development. Great powers have enough resources and population to support a more comprehensive industrial development, while many smaller countries must relinquish part of their industry due to those above constraints.

Take Japan’s steel industry, for instance. It’s constrained by the lack of domestic coal and iron ore, making its output pitiably low compared to other industrial and semi-industrial nations. It’s only because the industrial foundations of other countries in Japan’s region are relatively weak that Japan can even form a competitive edge.

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”Your Highness, as we know, the Japanese Government has likely reached certain agreements with the United Kingdom. There’s been a noticeable increase in Japanese diplomatic personnel in London these past few days, and both countries seem to have reached a consensus on the Far East issue.”

East Africa’s intelligence department has always prioritized monitoring the United Kingdom and Japan. Thus, when interactions occur between Japan and the UK, this circumstance is quickly part of what East Africa can grasp.

”The Far East issue! Is the intelligence reliable?” Ernst directly asked.

”Yes, this meeting had many participants, making it fairly easy for us to gain relevant information from within the British Government.”

Extracting intelligence from the UK is relatively simple. As a ”democratic” country, as long as you’re willing to spend money or build good relationships with some government personnel, you can obtain some political directions of the British Government.

Conversely, the work of East Africa’s intelligence department in Japan is more challenging because Japan developed its intelligence department relatively early. However, Japan’s main focus is on dealing with the Far East Empire and Tsarist Russia, while they also emphasize intelligence on the UK and the US, two countries with significant influence over Japan, making it hard for them to pay much attention to East Africa.

Although East Africa and Japan have had some unpleasant encounters over territorial issues, apart from the Southern Ryukyu Islands, East Africa struggles to garner Japan’s interest.

”According to the news we’ve obtained, this round of political exchanges between the UK and Japan is most likely targeted against Russia. In recent years, Tsarist Russia’s influence in the Far East Empire has been growing, threatening the potential interests perceived by the United Kingdom and Japan.”

Upon confirming that the UK and Japan are cooperating and possibly preparing significant actions, Ernst surmised that this time, the UK and Japanese Governments are targeting Tsarist Russia. It’s even possible the Anglo-Japanese Alliance Treaty has already been signed.

In recent years, Tsarist Russia’s movements in the Far East have become more substantial, particularly in the nineties when the Siberian Railway officially entered the construction stage, now reaching its final stages. It’s estimated that in another two to three years, it will be fully operational.

It can be said that the opening of the Siberian Railway marks the proximity of a war between Japan and Russia, and the attitude of the British Government on this matter is, naturally, to unite with Japan against Russia.

As a maritime power, Russia has always been a country on which the United Kingdom keeps a wary eye. Russia is not to be compared with the Russia of the previous life. Its area alone reaches close to twenty-three million square kilometers, almost equating to or exceeding the area of East Africa plus one Canada.

Moreover, a significant factor making Russia even more formidable than East Africa is that it is a European country with a substantial portion of Asian territory.

From a general perspective, the previous life depicted Russian weather as terrible, mainly due to its Asian territories, which were either the arid Central Asia or the frigid Siberian region.

However, Russia’s European part doesn’t possess such a climate. The European area of the previous life Russia amounted to over four hundred million square kilometers. Excluding borderland territories, Russia remains Europe’s top great power.

And the threat Russia poses far exceeds that of Russia, with Russian territory encompassing previous life Poland, Ukraine, the Baltic states, and other regions. Adding these areas makes Russia’s European part close to ten million square kilometers.

That means the entire Russia has at least ten million square kilometers of area with rather favorable climatic conditions, unbothered by major restrictions for industrial or agricultural development. Although other regions might have severe climates, they can provide Russia with more abundant resources.

In other words, this era’s Eastern Europe is almost entirely dominated by Russia. If Russia’s European part were developed, it would be akin to the United States being tied with Canada.

Nonetheless, the comforting news is that Russia’s industrial base is relatively weak, making development in its European part difficult as it naturally faces a joint suppression from other European countries.

It was only after the Franco-Prussian War that relations between France and Tsarist Russia somewhat alleviated; otherwise, Russia would have been friendless across Europe.

In essence, Russia’s geopolitical advantage is immense. Whether in terms of military or diplomacy, any breakthrough can alter the European political landscape. Fortunately, Russia lacks a knack in both military and diplomatic areas, which allows for comprehensive Western suppression.

Ernst wasn’t intending to demean Russia but merely stated an objective fact. After all, if Russia’s military or diplomatic capability were to reach the level of Germany during the Franco-Prussian War, it would be sufficient for Tsarist Russia to reclaim its position as the ”Policeman of Europe.”