African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 655 - 343: Sanctions and Conceding

The Chinese Exclusion Act doesn't just affect the Far East Empire; in fact, when this news reaches Europe, it will also impact East Africa, which already has a large number of Chinese immigrants and many Chinese descendants among the workers and students in Europe.

Because the U.S. Chinese Exclusion Act stipulates that it applies to all Chinese, including those who have obtained third-country citizenship, the U.S. automatically classifies Chinese immigrants who have obtained East African citizenship as "Chinese," making it impossible for East Africa to stay out of the issue from the start.

Ernst, who is visiting Germany, looks grim because he does not understand the specific content of the Chinese Exclusion Act. He had only heard about it in his previous life, and it was only after East Africa's Chinese workers in the U.S. were restricted that Ernst realized, "The U.S. sword also aims to cut off East Africa's head." Isn't this essentially 19th-century long-arm jurisdiction?

If East Africa does not respond, it is clearly a slander against East African citizens. East Africa has some patience with Britain, the world's overlord, but absolutely no "respect" for the U.S.

"Let our media publish detailed facts about the situation so that rumors won't spread across Europe, and let Europeans see the true face of these upstarts, thieves, and robbers' descendants," Ernst said after summoning Thomas (Tom), the person in charge in Germany.

This issue actually has nothing to do with Europe, but since the center of world opinion is in Europe, they must not let the U.S. Chinese Exclusion Act's vile nature be transmitted to Europe.

Even though the U.S. is seen as an upstart by Europeans, it is still a country of white people, so their attitude towards Chinese will naturally lean toward the U.S.

"Moreover, let's publicize the U.S. human rights hierarchy in European media, and then see how many countries will still defend the Americans."

The U.S. human rights hierarchy is essentially English, Jewish, French... German, Slavic, Italian, Black people, Indians, Chinese in that order, with those after the ellipsis being the lowest. This way, people from the Germanic, Italian, and Slavic regions won't just stand by and watch.

Choosing who to laugh at requires context; if it's the English, French, German, Austrian, or Russian, then the smaller European countries might just endure it. What rank does America hold?

So Ernst plans to harness local public opinion, escalating the U.S. Chinese exclusion issue into a broader problem of U.S. racial and ethnic discrimination, creating momentum in Central and Eastern Europe, sure to give the Americans a hard time.

These areas have a characteristic of being important trade regions for East Africa, and are under the media control of the Heixinggen consortium.

Taking advantage of the economic crisis and depression of the previous decade, the Heixinggen consortium transitioned from industry to financial capital in parts of Europe, acquiring stakes in many newspapers in Central and Eastern Europe.

Before the economic crisis, the Heixinggen consortium had already withdrawn funds, and later even transferred some production capacity to East Africa. After all, when many European companies went bankrupt, machines were sold off cheaply. By covering a shipping fee, East Africa could reassemble factories in Africa.

Meanwhile, the Heixinggen consortium could devote more energy to the financial sector, benefiting the consortium by steering towards international investment and making local government control less feasible.

If their assets were entirely in industry, they would be more prone to being reaped by governments, so the Heixinggen consortium found it worth learning from the Jewish approach, while leaving labor-intensive industry development to East African natives.

Thomas: "Your Highness, I recall that around 1870, we left many film evidences in America. Should we also publish these photos of Chinese laborers?"

What Thomas referred to were the photos of the lives and work of Chinese railroad workers specially collected by Ernst in America at the time, with Ernst having maintained this habit of preserving evidence.

"Then publish them all together! A dog can't change its habit of eating shit. Aren't Americans always self-proclaimed champions of freedom and equality? Let's see how they argue."

"Also, question the Far East Empire's government and make sure they respond to the U.S. Chinese Exclusion Act; they can't play dead. The U.S. may not be provoked, but don't think our East Africa is an easy target. Additionally, use the Pacific Fleet's name to enter Jiaozhou Bay, expressing our dissatisfaction."

The Pacific Fleet consists of only five gunboats, but the symbolic meaning is more significant. Over the years, the economic exchanges between East Africa and the Far East Empire have grown larger, especially in the largest Huaihai Economic Zone.

Although the Huaihai Economic Zone is controlled by the Far East Empire, East Africa has nurtured a large group of proxy representatives of interests locally through economic means, primarily local bureaucrats and merchants, relying on East Germany-led trade rather than East Coast trade.

Moreover, local public opinion is also controlled by East Africa, as the Qing Government does not value public opinion, so East Africa and Western countries have filled this gap.

This way, East Africa can mobilize the official forces and public opinion of the Far East Empire within the Huaihai Economic Zone and force the Far East Empire's government to react to the U.S. Chinese exclusion movement.

In fact, the Far East Empire, after the Self-Strengthening Movement, has regained some national strength, especially in military industry, with several naval forces greatly developed, and crossing the Pacific in this era is not so easy. So as long as the Far East Empire government shows a slightly tougher attitude, the U.S. government definitely won't overstep its boundaries.

Because U.S. trade heavily relies on the Far East market, if the Chinese exclusion policy in the Far East leads to a setback in trade between America and the Far East Empire, everyone in the world would be happy to see it happen.

East Africa acted quickly, first by imposing equivalent sanctions against Americans in East Africa. There are already nine open port areas in East Africa, and these commercial sites inevitably contain American merchants who emphasize trade.

Simultaneously, the Heixinggen consortium's mouthpieces in Central and Eastern Europe began publicizing the miserable plight of Chinese railroad workers to European society, with stories of American "ingratitude" and "backstabbing" widely spread, receiving active responses in Germany, Austria-Hungary, and within the Russian Empire.

The U.S., already struggling with poor image, found its international influence plummeting under East Africa's machinations, particularly with Italian regional media brandishing the flag of America's "false equality," calling for equal treatment of Italians in America.

In July, East Africa's ambassador to the Far East Empire, Richard, met with the Central Government of the Far East Empire, while several officials from four provinces within the Huaihai Economic Zone submitted memorials to the court, demanding the punishment of national traitors.

As for who the national traitors are, naturally, it refers to officials demanding the resolution of the "U.S. Chinese exclusion incident." With this accusation hanging over them, along with pressure from Germans, the Far East Empire government had to issue a somewhat strong counterstatement against the U.S., and with East Africa's support, the Far East Empire directly imposed economic sanctions on the U.S. "California."

This effectively hits the forefront of the Chinese Exclusion Act effort, leaving California dazed, with other U.S. states, especially in the West Coast region, rushing to withdraw "related laws" overnight, shifting the blame entirely to California.

Along with the media, with East Africa's backing, stirring up a "boycott of American goods" wave within the Far East Empire's government territory, especially within the Huaihai Economic Zone and the Zhuhai Trade Region.

Under the dual blows of international opinion and economic interests, the U.S. government had no choice in August but to modify the "Chinese Exclusion Act," though just modify, not abolish it.

Specifically, the provision targeting "Chinese with third-party nationality" was abolished, aiming to minimize the impact without admitting error.

This particular demand of East Africa was resolved, so they ceased their relentless pursuit of the U.S. stance. As for the Far East Empire government's attitude, that was no longer East Africa's concern.

During this turmoil, Britain was quite pleased, especially seeing East Africa and the U.S., both thorns in its side, clashing. As for the Far East Empire's tough stance towards the U.S., Britain supported it because it was the largest beneficiary in the Far East Empire's market, and the market losses of the Americans naturally went back to the British.