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Chapter 726 The British are going to start a financial war

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    The reason why Zhang Hanqing dared to put forward various requirements to the British that were considered very "harsh" by the British was because he accurately grasped the situation.

    Although after the end of World War I, Britain, as the victorious country, obtained a large area of ??mandated territory, and the empire's territory was further expanded.  But this is just an appearance:

    Due to the huge losses suffered by Britain during the war, 8 million tons of ships were damaged, accounting for more than 70% of the merchant ships, and the death toll in the navy reached 27,215.  After World War I, Britain lost its long-held maritime hegemony, its economic strength declined, its dominance over the colonies weakened, and it was no longer able to maintain a huge colonial system.

    At the same time, driven by the impact of World War I and the Russian October Revolution, the colonial consciousness of national independence further strengthened, the post-war national liberation movement reached a climax, and the British colonial system was greatly impacted.

    For example, in 1921, the United Kingdom was forced to allow 26 counties in southern Ireland to secede and enjoy autonomy, and the name of the British country was changed from "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland" to "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland";

    In 1922, the "Wafd" Party led Egypt to gain initial independence.  Some dominions, such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, participated in the war to support Britain during World War I and gave Britain a large amount of manpower and material support. This increased the dominion's claim to be on an equal footing with Britain.

    Some people commented that the First World War made Britain "victorious but weak" and "won the war but lost the advantage".  The Great War did cost Britain a great deal.

    During the war, it lost 1/3 of its national wealth, lost 50% of its merchant fleet, and sold 1/4 of its overseas assets.  The war reduced Britain from the world's largest creditor country to a heavily indebted debtor country. Its debt increased from 650 million pounds in 1914 to 7.828 billion pounds in 1920.

    The surge in debt has also shaken the status of the British financial center, causing the British pound, which originally played a common currency role in the international market, to be impacted by the US dollar. The British dominance of using the British pound to financially exploit the world has been weakened.

    Therefore, the war severely weakened Britain's economic strength, and its world hegemony and the foundation of imperial unity began to shake.  Although the British government has adopted protective tariffs, unemployment insurance and overseas immigration policies, economic development is still full of difficulties.

    This war also changed the balance of power between Britain and Japan in the Far East, especially in China: Britain's power gradually declined, while Japan took advantage of "God's blessing" to develop and strengthen its power in the Far East, and achieved a superior position of monopolizing China.

    As the friction between Britain and Japan increased due to the change in the balance of power, after the war, they re-established their respective policies towards the Far East and China.

    At the same time, in China, the national liberation movement was growing day by day, violently impacting the British and Japanese colonial rights in China.  Under such circumstances, in order to safeguard their respective colonial rights and suppress the Chinese revolution, Britain and Japan launched a tug-of-war in China that was both cooperation and competition.

    Before and after the Washington Conference, they began to adjust their policies in the Far East. Britain implemented a policy of containment and appeasement towards Japan, and continued to implement an imperialist policy towards China, but at the same time showed a trend of diplomatic withdrawal; while Japan launched "coordinated diplomacy" and  "Non-interference" diplomacy toward China essentially shows a trend of diplomatic offensive.

    Therefore, in the face of the increasingly powerful Republic of China, the United Kingdom, as a long-established imperialist power, has gradually become unable to deal with East Asian issues involving China. This can be seen from their handling of the May 30th tragedy and its aftermath.  Even in official history, Britain could only do nothing or even acquiesce to Japan's encroachment on Northeast China in Asia.

    It is good at playing "balance of power diplomacy" on the European continent, but in East Asia, where there is only one behemoth, China, it cannot use these tricks.  In the past, warlords still had a fulcrum when fighting in a melee. Now that all princes are under the leadership of the People's Party, the strategy of defeating each other is no longer effective.

    If China really takes the risk and engages in all-round economic confrontation with it, what will it do to counterattack?

    War?  The people are tired of war and their finances are bankrupt. Can the United States agree?  Can the course of the war be controlled?  Can millions of people's troops defeat it?

    After Japan and the United Kingdom jointly caused the "May 30th Massacre", a massive anti-imperialist movement, especially the anti-British movement, was launched across China.  The cunning Japanese government also vowed to assist Britain in jointly opposing China at the beginning, but when Britain's fatigue showed, it quietly turned its back - its losses in China did not allow it to continue to oppose China.  in the camp.

    If we say that in the past, it could completely ignore China's position, because a loose and weak Republican government did not dare to stop it from plundering the Chinese economy.

    But in the four years from 1916 to 1919,Japan's exports to China increased by 159.6%, and its proportion of China's foreign trade increased from 23% in 1913 to 43.5% in 1918. The amount of investment in China jumped from fourth place before the war to being on par with the United Kingdom, which ranked first. Its merchant ships  The total tonnage reached 513,000 tons, ranking third in the world.

    In a word, China is its benefactor now.

    Thanks to the fact that China is extremely limited in material resources and its industrial capabilities are increasingly large-scale, China¡¯s market can be paved with domestic products, and the impact of foreign goods can be completely ignored. Now it is Japan that needs China, not the other way around.  Without China, a huge market, Japan's economy would plummet, there is no doubt about it.

    And the huge financial resources of the People's Army also daunted the Japanese government.  I haven't dealt with him directly, so I don't know the details.  However, with its organizational capabilities and the strength that it has gradually established into a system, even the radical Japanese military circles cannot guarantee that it can win. It must win in one battle.  Otherwise, Japan can fall into economic quagmire just by dragging its feet.

    This is also the reason why Japan only dares to hide behind the British. As soon as the situation is not serious, it will immediately run away.  By implementing a dual policy, it disengaged itself from the anti-imperialist movement earlier and considered how to further its economic aggression in China.

    The United Kingdom is extremely dissatisfied with Japan's behavior. However, being trapped in isolation has forced it to consider limited adjustments to its China policy.

    As the People's Party has taken overall control of the Chinese political power, the People's Army is militarily stronger (as can be seen from its soldiers and equipment) than ever before, and the Republic of China has shown the potential for rapid economic and industrial development. All of this has  This made Zhang Hanqing appear unusually tough and prevented Britain from gaining any advantage in this negotiation.

    Zhang Hanqing is very clear about the details of the British.

    From 1924 to 1929, British industrial production only grew by 12%, which was far behind the United States.  Traditional industries such as coal, steel, and textiles are in deep trouble.  Although the automobile, electrical and chemical industries are also developing rapidly, they are still not as good as those in the United States.

    The UK's trade volume still ranks first in the world. From 1921 to 1929, the annual trade volume was more than 9 billion US dollars. However, the UK's share of international trade dropped from 13.9% in 1913 to 10.8% in 1929.  %, the share of industrial product exports in the world dropped from 26% to 22%, and trade turned from surplus to deficit, with the deficit reaching 400 million pounds in the highest year.

    The trade deficit is getting higher and higher, and the power of trade protectionism in the UK is getting stronger and stronger.

    In 1915, the United Kingdom already imposed an ad valorem tax of 33.3% on imported cars, clocks, musical instruments, and movies on the grounds of raising war funds.  This tariff was not terminated by the Labor government until 1924 (seven years after the end of the war), but it was re-imposed by the Conservative government in 1925 and its scope was expanded.

    Another important reason for the lack of competitiveness of British industry is that the pound was overpriced when the gold standard was restored.  Despite this, the UK's international balance of payments is still barely balanced due to the repatriation of international investment profits.

    With the increase in the military strength of the People's Army, military intimidation alone could no longer restrain the Republic of China government from being tough on the British government.  Economically, the Republic of China mainly relied on stimulating domestic demand (mainly using the power of state monopoly to build transportation, industry, agriculture, etc.) rather than expanding trade, which made Britain's financial and taxation chips increasingly weak.

    Faced with Zhang Hanqing¡¯s toughness, the British Concession authorities had no choice but to use another trick.

    Less than 10 days after Zhang Hanqing entered Shanghai, a serious crisis - inflation was approaching step by step.  This is also the scourge caused by imperialism.

    Originally, China was a silver-standard country, and silver was currency in China. However, because countries such as Europe and the United States have already implemented credit currency systems, silver is an asset in them.

    When international trade is balanced, this harm cannot yet appear, but when a foreign country intends to subvert China's monetary policy, the rise and fall of silver prices in the international market will be extremely conducive to achieving the other party's purpose.

    When the Chinese government and the United Kingdom achieved political goals through an economic distance war, the British government used its financial monopoly or dominant position to ingeniously direct a financial war.

    On June 2, the price of silver plummeted in the London futures market, and the news reached Shanghai, causing an uproar in the securities market.  Then the value of the silver dollar was severely undervalued, causing prices to skyrocket.

    At first, Zhang Hanqing didn¡¯t take it seriously: after all, silver dollars were not banknotes, they were real hard currency.  At present, when China's dependence on foreign countries is not high, as long as there is no major famine in China and food prices are stable, the financial foundation will be stable. This is common sense.

    But starting from June 5, the Shanghai market has been filled with a wave of "accumulation" fever.  Because the Sino-British war was becoming more and more intense, especially after the British warships on the Huangpu River began to bombard, foreign capital, led by British capital, transferred assets one after another. Industrialists inside and outside the concession also transferred their property, and on the other hand, they also transferred their assets.  As a last resort, some daily necessities were purchased to cope with possible shortages.

    The rumors are getting stronger and stronger, and citizens are joining in the panic buying process.  After Shanghai fell into an economic panic of hoarding food and medicines, people queued up to buy rice. While Miku declared a warning, he also hoarded rice according to the orders of profiteers in order to make greater profits.

    As a result, the market became even more tense, and the prices of rice, cloth, shoes, salt, and cooking oil all rose in response. In the end, even the price of coal for civilian use also soared. Although it is already midsummer, basically except for power plants,  Citizens¡¯ daily consumption needs are nearly fixed.  (Remember the website address: www.hlnovel.com)Some daily necessities were purchased to cope with possible shortages.

    The rumors are getting stronger and stronger, and citizens are joining in the panic buying process.  After Shanghai fell into an economic panic of hoarding food and medicines, people queued up to buy rice. While Miku declared a warning, he also hoarded rice according to the orders of profiteers in order to make greater profits.

    As a result, the market became even more tense, and the prices of rice, cloth, shoes, salt, and cooking oil all rose in response. In the end, even the price of coal for civilian use also soared. Although it is already midsummer, basically except for power plants,  Citizens¡¯ daily consumption needs are nearly fixed.  (Remember the website address: www.hlnovel.com
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