The Rise of Australasia

Chapter 810 -606: Bottom Line_1

“`

Arthur’s firm refusal caught the American Ambassador off guard and left him stunned, having believed an agreement was within reach.

After desperately thinking of a response, the American Ambassador said with a slightly embarrassed tone, “Your Majesty, are you really not willing to reconsider? The United States is willing to become allies with Australasia on both sides of the Pacific Ocean, to jointly manage and rule the entire Pacific.

If your country is willing, we can deepen our cooperation in industry and economy, which would be beneficial to the development of both our nations.”

Arthur shook his head even more resolutely. The United States may well be the world’s number one in industrial and economic scale, but the Great Depression is just a few years away.

If Australasia’s economic ties with the United States were to deepen, the impact of the Great Depression—which is going to hit the United States hardest—would inevitably affect Australasia as well.

Moreover, Arthur was well aware of the adage ‘two tigers cannot share one mountain.’ Although the Pacific Ocean is vast, for the rapidly advancing technological powers of the world, it’s not a domain where they can share influence with other countries.

The United States’ previous Pacific policies have already proven their great ambition, even to the point of desiring to rule both shores of the Pacific.

Under such circumstances, the American proposal to jointly divide and rule the Pacific is most likely a facade and outright unachievable.

Compared to the Americans, British assistance currently seems more reliable. Although the British industrial scale and economic volume cannot match the United States, the United Kingdom, being a European nation, has far fewer conflicts with Australasia than with France and the United States.

Even as Britain may weaken in the future, it will need an ally like Australasia more than ever. Such a relationship is exactly what Arthur needs.

Arthur shook his head again and gestured to the royal guards to see the guest out.

The guards understood and, with a seemingly respectful demeanor, escorted the American representative away.

The fact that the American Ambassador came personally made Arthur feel that the Americans must be somewhat panicked at this time.

They also fear the joint efforts of the entire World Alliance, because it not only represents a challenge to several powerful nations but also signifies that the United States is moving against Europe.

Although the United States is currently the largest industrial nation and strongest economic country, it would hold little international influence if shunned by the European nations.

Because the center of the world still lies in Europe, and the influence of European nations is, to a certain extent, still ahead of the United States.

It’s the perfect opportunity—the saying goes, ‘When he’s down, finish him off.’

Arthur wouldn’t hesitate to instruct the Australasian representative to propose further urging the American withdrawal at the upcoming World Alliance conference.

More than a week had passed since the World Alliance formally requested the withdrawal of U.S. forces.

Since there has been no movement from the American military, the World Alliance can legitimately press the issue, which is indefensible for the American government.

Under pressure from both the World Alliance and domestic protests, the government under President Coolidge will undoubtedly be sweating bullets.

As a motion that had already been passed, pushing it further faced little opposition and was normally passed during the routine meeting of the World Alliance.

On September 11, 1924, the World Alliance once again notified the American government, demanding that it accelerate its troop withdrawal and complete it within three months.

Should the American forces fail to complete their full withdrawal from Central America and the Philippines after three months, it will be regarded as a disruption to world peace and provocation to the World Alliance. The World Alliance would be entitled to hold the United States accountable.

To emphasize the importance and supervisory role of the American withdrawal, Britain and Australasia made a special request to the World Alliance conference to send fleets to Central America and the Philippines for oversight.

In reality, the supervision was a façade; it was the ostentatious display and provocation towards the Americans that were genuine.

Because the fleet sent by Australasia was modest in scale, even lacking battleships and comprising only battlecruisers built before World War I.

But the problem is, with Australasian and British fleets brazenly stationed just outside the harbor, would the American military dare to strike back?

After all, the location wasn’t within American territorial waters, and the supervision of the American withdrawal had been approved by the World Alliance, making it entirely legal and proper.

If the United States were to attack first, wouldn’t that be handing over a reason for war to Australasia and Britain on a silver platter?

At that point, the United States would be facing not only Australasia and Britain but also the combined forces of the entire World Alliance.

From the moment the World Alliance’s second warning reached the American government, President Coolidge’s mood soured.

He had originally hoped that Australasia would relinquish its support for Britain, turning the conflict into a unilateral competition between the United States and Britain.

Unexpectedly, Australasia showed no sign of abandoning Britain, which turned the conflict into a dispute between the World Alliance and the United States.

“`

Although in reality it was just a confrontation between the United Kingdom and Australasia with the United States, nominally it had already escalated into a confrontation between the World Alliance and the United States.

Because the World Alliance is an official alliance composed of dozens of large, medium, and small countries worldwide, it seemingly became the United States against the entire world.

To the average person, it seemed impossible for the entire world to be wrong, right? If one had to choose between the United States and the World Alliance as the one that appears to be in the wrong, the majority would choose the United States as their first choice.

"President Sir, as it stands, our only hope may be to retain control of the Panama Canal,” said the United States Secretary of State somewhat helplessly to President Coolidge in the Office Room.

"How can we retain the Panama Canal?” President Coolidge asked, his face pale.

"War,” the United States Secretary of State declared firmly. “We can afford to lose the Philippines and Central America, but we absolutely cannot lose the Panama Canal.

Losing the Philippines and Central America would only mean bearing the shame since the Philippine War didn’t start during your tenure.

But the Panama Canal is different. If we lose the Panama Canal, we all, everyone in the government, will suffer the consequences.”

"I believe the British do not want to see a full-scale war with us either. War is our final leverage, Mr. President,” the United States Secretary of State said:

"Either they take Central America and the Philippines peacefully, or they start a full-scale war with the United States to gain the Panama. Let the British choose; we have no other way out.”

President Coolidge was silent for a long time, and ultimately, with no alternative, he nodded reluctantly.

"Send a telegram to the British Government; I hope to start negotiations with them, if they are not willing to trigger a super war,” President Coolidge said.

"Yes, Mr. President,” the United States Secretary of State nodded.

On September 17, 1924, formal talks began in Sydney, Australasia.

The participants in these talks were from three countries – Australasia, the United States, and the United Kingdom – the main stakeholders in this incident.

Initially, the negotiations were supposed to take place in London, but to avoid drawing the attention of European nations and to facilitate a smooth negotiation process, the final location was chosen to be Sydney in Australasia.

After all, Australasia was one of the principal countries involved in this incident, making Sydney a fitting choice.

Generally, negotiations take place in a country holding a position of advantage; hence only two choices were available, either Australasia or the United Kingdom.

Before these negotiations began, Australasia had already established contact with the British side, uniting to secure their respective interests.

This was to be expected, as the incident had escalated to its current stage, the cooperation between Australasia and the United Kingdom couldn’t be easily broken by minor benefits.

From the start, the British were resolute, insisting that the United States must withdraw completely from the entirety of Central America and hand over the management rights of the Panama Canal to Panama.

It might seem as though the British would gain no benefit, but a look at a situational map of Central America revealed the United Kingdom to be the closest Power to Central America once the United States withdrew.

As for giving the management rights of the Panama Canal to Panama, one would know that the rights would not actually fall into Panamanian hands.

Once the British controlled Central America, they would inevitably gain control over Panama to the far south. With the British in control of Panama, would they not covet the Panama Canal?

On the other hand, Australasia’s demands were simple: for the United States to allow the independence of the Philippines and to withdraw all American troops from the Philippines and El Salvador.

For the United States, Australasia’s demands were momentarily put aside, as the British demands were categorically unacceptable.

Agreeing to the British demands would mean handing over Central America and the Panama Canal on a platter.

The Americans also made their conditions known; the Philippines, Nicaragua, and El Salvador could be ceded, but control over Panama and the Panama Canal must be assured.

This was clearly a vast deviation from the British demands, which the British would definitely not accept.

As negotiations hit an impasse, the party who could claim the moral high ground would essentially gain an advantage in the talks.

When talks reached a standstill, the British, undisturbed, communicated with Australasia and launched a new round of media bombardments, bribing more American media to report on American activities during the wars in Central America.

This was not the end; even the massacres of Native Americans by the United States were widely reported by these media, awakening Americans’ memories of history.

Though the actions of the European powers in their colonies were hardly commendable, the coercion on Native Americans’ lands by the United States since their independence, and the cruel policies of massacres against them, were just as brutal as those of the European powers.

There were also racial tensions between Caucasian and Black people, conflicts between the ruling political party and the opposition, and so on. In short, whatever could be reported to cause chaos in the United States was reported, and whoever could report such news could make money.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!