During the meeting to continue negotiations on the issue of effective occupation, it was the Portuguese Foreign Minister's turn to speak. The Portuguese Foreign Minister stood up calmly, holding a thick stack of documents in his left hand. He held the document high and said, "Gentlemen, I do not dislike the idea of effective occupation, but I think that before effective occupation, we also need to take into account the issue of historical ownership to a certain extent. There is too much information to prove the effective occupation of Portugal at the mouth of the Congo River. We, Portugal, do not want to prevent Belgium, which has a history of 35 years, from entering and leaving the Congo, but this occupation also needs to respect history, respect since ancient times … "
On January 20, 1831, the London Conference attended by Britain, France, and Prussia recognized the independence of Belgium and guaranteed its permanent neutrality. In 1831, the National Assembly elected Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg as King, known as Leopold I. In 1839, Belgium signed a peace treaty with the Netherlands, and the Netherlands recognized Belgium as an independent country. So in theory, Belgium had a history of 43 years. But in 1794, Austria was defeated by France at Fleurus, and Belgium was ceded to France. In 1815, when dealing with this issue, the Conference of Wijnaland decided to annex Belgium to the Netherlands. The recognition of the Netherlands as a sovereign state could also be regarded as the time when Belgium became truly independent.
Listening to the Portuguese Foreign Minister's ridicule, the King of Belgium's face was extremely ugly. But in addition to the King of Belgium, the other representatives were all foreign ministers, prime ministers, and prime ministers. As a king, in order to maintain his dignity, he could only pretend not to hear. A king directly clashing with the foreign minister of a country was actually a very shameful thing. Of course, the king could also get up and leave in anger, using action to express his dissatisfaction and protest. But the Congo was too important to the King of Belgium, Leopold II, and he did not want to leave the meeting for a second.
The countries at the conference did not expect that Portugal would not give up and still resist stubbornly. If they really counted since ancient times, the current weak European countries, the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal, all had really rich ancestors. The French Foreign Minister's face immediately became very ugly. The Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal had more excuses to occupy Africa than France.
The King of Belgium, who had been ridiculed by the Portuguese foreign minister, jumped up in protest. The territory owned by the Belgian King, Leopold II, was located in the center of Africa. There was only a small piece of land at the mouth of the Congo River. On the map, it looked like a big balloon with a small tail in the lower left corner. The land that the Portuguese wanted happened to be that small tail. If the Portuguese got their way, it would mean that the land of the International Congo Association would completely become an inner African region. This wasn't just a problem related to shipping the products out, but the frightening outcome of the neighboring powers directly dividing up the territory of the International Congo Association.
France, Germany, and the United States had already rejected Portugal's request. The biggest beneficiary of this request was the UK. Based on the British's conduct, after sealing off Belgium's territory in the Congo, they would definitely charge a high fee for the transportation of goods through the Congo River. The King of Belgium was just waiting to work for England for free.
"My country thinks that Portugal's request is reasonable." The British Foreign Minister immediately jumped out to support Portugal.
The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, the American Envoy, and the King of Belgium all looked maliciously at England. At this moment, China's Foreign Minister, Li Xin, said, "My country supports England's point of view."
Instead of supporting Portugal, he said that he supported England's point of view. The meaning contained in these words stunned the countries present. Everyone looked at China's Foreign Minister, Li Xin, and their eyes contained a sentence. "Even the thick-browed and big-eyed China betrayed the revolution!"
The war between China and England had just ended not long ago, and China was actually so terrified after winning! First, they gave England money to buy land, and now they openly supported England's point of view. Shouldn't China immediately jump out to oppose England's point of view? Those countries with insufficient strength looked at England with more respect. To be able to make the victorious China lower its head and support England, it seemed that the British were indeed experts in international politics.
The British Foreign Minister was also very helpless. China's Foreign Minister was only willing to give face, but was unwilling to give in. Although he knew that this was not realistic, the British Foreign Minister still hoped that China would jump out and shout, "Whoever doesn't let Portugal have that land, we, China, will declare war on that person."
Taking advantage of the effect of China's Foreign Minister's shocking meeting, the British Foreign Minister continued, "Portugal does not want to seize the land of the International Congo Association. Portugal only wants the land that has been in power since the 15th century. England believes that this request is reasonable. "
What followed was a full-blown quarrel. King Leopold II of Belgium was so angry that his beard was trembling. He tried his best to argue with the British to maintain his power. King Leopold II of Belgium looked agitated. When he was attacked by the British, King Leopold II of Belgium was like a saint in an oil painting. He looked up at the sky with tears in his eyes, as if he was seeking justice that could only be decided by the ruler of the sky.
France and the United States were determined to block England's point of view. Russia and Austria-Hungary also joined the battle against England. Although Germany was the host, Chancellor Bismarck also expressed his opposition to England in a very appropriate way. When almost all the participating countries were against England making things difficult for Belgium, England had to face reality.
When the storm was over, Bismarck invited Li Xin to dinner. During coffee time after dinner, Xiang asked Li Xin in confusion, "China was the last to arrive in Africa. If Portugal's reason is passed, then China will encounter a lot of problems."
"No, I don't think so," Li Xin replied. Under Xiang's surprised expression, Li Xin took out a document that was not too thick and handed it to Xiang. This was a document about Zheng He's voyages to the West. When the Manchu Qing dynasty was destroyed, the Liberation Army looted their database. Naturally, the documents of the Ming Dynasty were sorted out. This information was urgently sent from China. In fact, there was not much content. Most of it was information translated into many languages.
There were a lot of documents that had been sorted out in China over the years. For example, the documents of Dunhuang and the large amount of Xixia information excavated from Heishui City. This part of the information was originally used to argue with Russia since ancient times. Unexpectedly, the solution of the Central Asian issue with Russia went smoothly, so it did not appear on diplomatic occasions. Now that part of the document was used to prove that China's acquisition of Central Asia was very reasonable. China had indisputable ownership of Central Asia since ancient times.
After reading the historical information provided by the China people, Xiang could not choose a very accurate word for a while. Li Xin said, "As early as 50 years before the Age of Great Navigation officially began, China completed its own Age of Great Navigation. From this point of view, China has indisputable historical power in East Africa. For us Chinese people, this has been a very convincing thing since ancient times. It is not that we Chinese people arrived in Africa late. It is that Europe came so late that it did not know that China had been to Africa. "
The Prime Minister could only laugh at such sophistry. What he cared about was what Li Xin had just said. "China wants to get East Africa?" When this question was raised, Xiang also somewhat understood the motive of China's unexpected action. After driving the French out of the Indian Ocean, there were only Britain, China, and Portugal left in East Africa. China's calculation was very shrewd.
Li Xin explained seriously, "It is not that China wants East Africa, but that our ancestors have been to East Africa. This is the former homeland of China, and we, China, have power here. "
Xiang was not a person who liked to talk nonsense, so he no longer made any comments on this. China was not Portugal. Even if China had never been to East Africa before, with the existing strength of the Chinese Navy alone, they were enough to make any competitors go away. Now what the British wanted most was a war between other African competitors and China.
The loot-sharing meeting was held for more than 100 days. The Great Powers divided the sphere of influence in Central Africa and determined a common standard for the expansion of colonies in Africa. Since then, there has been a movement to divide Africa. The meeting finally formed a General Resolution of more than 60,000 words, including 38 articles. The core of the resolution was Article 36, which stipulated that in the future, when the Great Powers occupied land or established protectorates along the coast of Africa, they must inform the other countries that signed this agreement so that they could make their own demands if necessary. At the same time, they must ensure the establishment of ruling power sufficient to protect the existing rights, and if necessary, to ensure that the freedom of trade and transit were observed under the stipulated conditions. Only in this way could it be considered an effective occupation and be recognized by other Great Powers.
The General Resolution publicly recognized the legitimacy of the invasion and partition of Africa by the Great Powers, providing the basis for the invasion and final partition of Africa by the Great Powers. Under the condition that the interests of the other Great Powers were not affected, the signatory countries could occupy the areas that had not yet been partitioned, and whoever occupied those areas first would have the sphere of influence.
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