Chapter 341: Chapter 295: The Batavia Peace Talks (Request for monthly votes!)_2
What Arthur didn’t expect was that the Dutch would compromise so decisively, so decisively that it caught Arthur and most of the government by surprise.
They originally thought that a war would break out between the Dutch East Indies, but the Kingdom of the Netherlands surrendered without a fight.
At Arthur’s indication, the Australasian government agreed to the request of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and asked the Dutch government to send representatives for peace talks in Batavia, the capital of the Dutch East Indies.
Although admitting defeat directly would cause a significant loss of face between governments, it is currently the best method for the Dutch government.
If a war broke out with Australasia, the navy of the Dutch East Indies would not stand a chance against Australasia’s navy.
Without the support of the navy, the Dutch East Indies army would be defeated one by one.
If the military strength of the Dutch East Indies was completely wiped out by Australasia, even if Australasia did not occupy the Dutch East Indies, the tens of millions of indigenous people within its territory would be enough to directly overthrow the entire Dutch colonial government.
At least peace talks could minimize the Dutch losses. Dutch Prime Minister Simms did not believe that Australasia had the appetite to swallow the whole Dutch East Indies.
Even if Australasia did have such an idea, the powers would likely intervene and put a stop to it.
After all, small altercations don’t amount to much, and the powers would turn a blind eye in the interest of maintaining good relations.
But if Australasia were to annex the entire Dutch East Indies, Australasia’s potential and comprehensive strength would rise a notch, and its influence in Southeast Asia would be greatly enhanced.
This would be something that none of the great powers would like to see, since it would affect their positions in Southeast Asia and even East Asia.
Therefore, the Dutch Prime Minister was confident that even if peace talks took place, the Dutch losses would not be too heavy, and at least they could resolve this dispute in a way that would not cripple them.
As for the future, it wasn’t a significant concern for Prime Minister Simms. Based on the normal term of the Dutch Prime Minister, Simms’ term would end in 1913, which would also be his last term as Prime Minister.
Yes, since first becoming the Dutch Prime Minister in 1874, Simms had served three non-consecutive terms.
Given his age, it wasn’t likely that he would have another shot at becoming Prime Minister after this term, so there was no need for him to take responsibility for the next Prime Minister, right? Just leave this big problem of Australasia to the future Dutch government and just take things as they come for now.
After understanding this point, Simms’s mood actually improved a lot, and he was even able to play some tricks with his secretary.
On August 17, 1911, the peace talks between the Dutch government and the Australasian government officially began in Batavia, the capital of the Dutch East Indies.
The peace talks were led by several Dutch government ministers and the Governor of the Dutch East Indies. This was a humiliating negotiation, so naturally, the Dutch Prime Minister Jim Simms did not want to be involved.
No one could guarantee how the situation in Southeast Asia would develop in the future. If the Dutch East Indies were to be lost by the Netherlands in the future, these peace talks might be remembered by many Dutch people and regarded as the culprit and origin of the loss of the Dutch East Indies.
By that time, wouldn’t the Dutch government officials involved in these peace talks become scapegoats?
As a wily politician, Simms naturally wanted to avoid such a situation from happening.
After all, having been an official for decades, Simms was not willing to have his final political career tainted by such an incident, which could lead to a complete denial of all his political achievements and his entire political career.
Besides the Dutch and Australasian sides, the peace talks also involved the British ambassador and the German ambassador as neutral witnesses.
The United Kingdom has the greatest influence in the Southeast Asian region, and Germany is the country with the best relationship with the Netherlands. Hence, they were naturally invited as neutral witnesses for these peace talks.
Of course, there are other powerful countries with influence in the Southeast Asian region, such as France entrenched in the Southeast Asian peninsula and the United States in the Philippines.
Unfortunately, since the last Moroccan crisis, the French have strengthened their vigilance against Germany, with all their attention focused on enhancing their domestic military equipment.
As for the United States, although its economy and industry are already top-tier, it is still looked down upon by old powers like the United Kingdom and France as a nouveau riche.
Even the German Empire, which has been unified for only a few decades, looks down upon the upstart United States.
This has led to the United States having strong economic and industrial capabilities but not much influence internationally, just a bit higher than countries like the Island Nation.
Of course, a significant reason for this is the previous policy of splendid isolation in the United States government.
The so-called splendid isolation policy can be divided into military and economic aspects. In terms of military, they refrain from participating in other international military disputes, except for defending their homeland.
In terms of economics, they implemented various policies to restrict exchanges with foreign countries as much as possible.
This has led to the fact that, although the United States has grown quite strong, European countries still harbor prejudice towards it, believing that the United States is merely a nouveau riche, far behind the European powers in terms of both heritage and strength.
Of course, this statement is correct in some respects. At least in advanced and top-notch technology industries, the United States is still no match for the current European countries.
The reason for the rapid rise of the United States in later history was that it attracted a large number of European talents during the two world wars, thus filling the gap in its top-notch technology and talent.
But now, if the United States wants to attract a large number of top talents from Europe just like in history, it depends on whether Arthur and Australasia agree.
August 17, Batavia.
The peace talks begin officially, with Foreign Minister Andrew and Secretary of State Kent representing Australasia.
From the very beginning, Minister Andrew set very strict demands, requiring the Dutch East India Colonial Government to hand over all the ringleaders involved in the attack on Australasian merchants and cede all islands east of Bali and south of the Banda Sea.
Moreover, they also seek shared jurisdiction over New Guinea Island, with the establishment of West New Guinea to be jointly administered by the Dutch government and the Australasian government.
In addition to that, there’s financial compensation. In light of the good attitude of the Dutch government, Minister Andrew generously stated that the Dutch government only needs to pay 10 million pounds in compensation and meet all the conditions set forth by the Australasian government to perfectly resolve the dispute between the two countries.
Although peace talks usually started with high prices followed by gradual haggling, the high prices set by Australasia still made it hard for the Governor of Dutch East Indies to bear.
Bali is a large island east of Java and very close to it. Once all islands east of Bali are ceded, it means that Australasian influence is very close to the core of the Dutch East Indies, Java Island.
While the Dutch still control hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of land in western New Guinea, they still have to pay 10 million pounds in compensation, which is enough to build four dreadnoughts. If the Dutch were willing to spend that much, they would have built dreadnoughts themselves a long time ago, so why would they need to compromise with Australasia so humbly?
Then, the Dutch side put forth their own conditions.
The Dutch government is willing to apologize to the Australasian government over this matter and provide 100,000 pounds in humanitarian compensation.
In addition, the Dutch government is also willing to work with the Australasian government to investigate and uncover the real culprits behind the attack on Australasian merchants, and hand them over to the Australasian government.
These are all the conditions of the Dutch, which do not involve any land compensation and only 100,000 pounds in funding.
