Chapter 1034: Chapter 43: Overseas Territory Development

The position of the Lanfang Overseas Province on East Africa’s geographical map can be considered quite important. It is adjacent to the Malacca Strait, and its location on Kalimantan Island is referred to as the crossroads of Nanyang. Although it can’t compare to the British-controlled Strait Colonies (mainly parts of Malaysia, including Singapore), it stands out as the most presentable among East Africa’s Nanyang overseas territories.

The initial development conditions far surpass those of the Mindanao Colony and Balabac Island. The Mindanao Island plains are too few, and the population is even sparser compared to the Lanfang Overseas Province.

While there are many indigenous people in Mindanao, in the eyes of the East African Government, they are all uncivilized barbarians. East Africa is currently conducting purging and suppression in the region, and the cost of governance remains high.

It can be said that East Africa’s rule in Mindanao, like the Americans in the northern Luzon Island, are like the Lying Dragon and Phoenix Chick—both countries are doing the same thing in suppressing the indigenous people in the area.

Additionally, due to religious reasons, East Africa’s purging activities in Mindanao are far bloodier than those of the United States. The local indigenous people’s determination to resist far exceeds those in the northern Luzon Island and other Philippine colonial regions.

So, East Africa’s governance costs in Mindanao remain high and will continue for a long time, thus it can’t possibly shift to the construction phase.

As for Balabac Island, its significance to East Africa is only of certain military use. The island is small and mainly mountainous, which doesn’t make it suitable for development.

Therefore, when comparing Lanfang Overseas Province to these two overseas territories in Nanyang, it is currently the most suitable for large-scale development and construction. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

As for the future, Mindanao’s value may exceed that of Lanfang Overseas Province, after all, Mindanao’s resources are far more abundant than those in Lanfang Overseas Province.

...

"According to the document requirements, the main task of this immigration plan is to establish two state-run farms around Kundian City, as well as a timber processing plant. Lanfang Overseas Province has a large area of land available for use, but development isn’t easy. There’s a need to deforest and cultivate the land initially, and meanwhile, the forest resources are extremely rich, with timber export being one of Lanfang Overseas Province’s important industries at present."

"During the land cultivation period, the provincial government will dispatch troops to protect your safety, so you don’t need to worry. There are only some wild animals that might pose a certain threat, but around Kundian City, the likelihood of such incidents occurring is very low."

There’s a variety of wild animals on Kalimantan Island, especially in areas like Lanfang Overseas Province where land is vast and people are scarce, living alongside rhinos, pythons, monkeys, and others.

As for threats from people, if it were other areas in Lanfang Overseas Province, you might encounter some illegal crossing by local indigenous people, but this situation is not possible around Kundian City.

"The water resources in Kundian City are extremely abundant, and the terrain is flat, but the soil is quite barren, which is a common issue in tropical rainforest areas. Unless there is a rich volcanic ash soil like on Java Island, agricultural production in Kundian City remains relatively challenging."

"However, you don’t need to worry too much; if the quality isn’t sufficient, the area compensates. There’s an abundance of land available around Kundian City, and currently, the total population of Kundian City is only over fifty thousand, which in the Empire’s homeland would probably be similar to the population density in desert and rainforest regions."

"Additionally, under the care of the homeland, we are securing considerable shares of agricultural tools and fertilizers, so local land cultivation is relatively easier."

"The current population in Kundian City is mainly Chinese, with only a small portion speaking German. Thus, there might be some difficulties in communication, but we have also established several schools here. Those of you who are interested may participate in educational work."

Most of the East African homeland nationals have received compulsory education, so some individuals teaching German can barely be achieved. This is also the talent needed by the Lanfang Overseas Province and Kundian City Government.

The real difficulty lies in the fact that German teachers must have some basic knowledge of Chinese, as fully teaching in German would be like speaking different languages to most local Chinese students. Under the strong German language promotion policy in East African homeland, there might really be few in the new generation who retain Chinese spoken language.

As for those who can grasp Chinese characters, in East Africa they are even rarer, since most Chinese migrants in East Africa were illiterate at the beginning.

In addition, educational work has other challenges, namely, while the local population mainly consists of Chinese, the Far East Empire covers a vast territory with a large population and numerous dialects. Just in the small Lanfang Overseas Province, there are six or seven dialects of Chinese, mainly from the southern region, with some carrying indigenous accents among the Chinese community. This is largely due to the long-term cohabitation of Nanyang’s many Chinese and local indigenous people, resulting in language habits’ alienation.

After all, Kalimantan Island, referred to as Borneo by the Far East Empire, has seen the local Chinese residents living there since the Ming Dynasty, and couldn’t possibly remain uninfluenced.

Therefore, even educational work isn’t something anyone can undertake, and the Lanfang Overseas Province government will certainly conduct assessments.

...

In this round of immigration to the Lanfang Overseas Province, the career options for East African national immigrants are quite limited. In a regular colony, perhaps the East African Government could arrange for them to manage the locals or undertake some mid-to-high-end work.

But the Lanfang Overseas Province is quite special as it isn’t a colony in the East African maps. The local indigenous people have mostly been expelled by the East African Government, and colonization is a form of parasitic governance, obviously lacking the parasitic basis on local indigenous people in Lanfang Overseas Province.

As for the Chinese residents in Lanfang Overseas Province who aren’t completely mapped out, for East Africa, they might, in some sense, belong to the category of "indigenous" locals, because a significant portion of them has quite a long history locally. However, after over ten years of selection by the East African Government, these Chinese residents have become East African nationals, only that because education resources are scarce, compulsory education and German popularization are unsuccessful, so most of them retained their traditional characteristics.

Still, for the East African Government, it’s only a matter of time. As East Africa’s rule continues longer, assimilating local residents will just be a matter of time.

This also means that Lanfang Overseas Province is indeed governed as a domestic province model under East Africa, although constrained by conditions, its development degree is lower, and its economy can’t compare to the East African homeland, but in terms of system and government level, it’s no different from the homeland.

And this also determines that the East African Government won’t govern locally in a colonial manner, even though East Africa’s establishment has long surpassed others, the East African homeland still has numerous indigenous slaves, so in a certain sense, the East African homeland is more like a colony compared to Lanfang Overseas Province.

Hence, the East African Government’s statement of building and developing Lanfang Overseas Province is entirely factual, and these homeland immigrants are like pioneers dispatched by the East African Government akin to Soviet Union’s development of Siberia, which determines their future path will be relatively arduous.

Even though the conditions of Lanfang Overseas Province are much poorer than those in East Africa’s homeland, this is only concerning the overall East African homeland. In the homeland’s northern, southwest, southeast, and other backward areas, there’s similarly a group working hard in harsh environments for national construction.

Thus, reclamation and construction in Lanfang Overseas Province is essentially no different from supporting construction in backward areas in the homeland, which is also a price East Africa’s generations must pay.

In the early 20th century, people in various societies, whether industrial or agricultural countries, had to participate in heavy manual labor, and East Africa was no exception. Therefore, for the East African Government to avoid being eliminated by the International Community, it could only shed more blood and sweat than European and American countries.

This includes East Africa’s overseas territories—these territories can provide quite minimal economic value to East Africa, so the construction of overseas territories requires more assistance from the East African homeland. However, at this stage, East Africa can only advance the development of Lanfang Overseas Province, Madagascar Island territory, and Alaska royal territories, albeit with very limited investment.