After the South African War, East Africa could no longer keep a low profile in the military sphere, but military strength could only represent the outward appearance of the country.
After all, as long as they were willing to spend money, many countries could make their military strength look splendid on the surface. Take Saudi Arabia and the UAE from his previous life, or the Far East Empire's Beiyang Fleet and the Russian navy before the Russo-Japanese War. They seemed powerful, but the moment they faced actual combat, their true colors were exposed.
Without strong economic and industrial strength to support it, a military assembled from "the wares of all nations" was nothing but a showpiece. Even if it used advanced Western weapons, it was merely a disposable consumable.
East Africa naturally did not belong in that category. After all, East Africa had begun making its defense industry self-reliant as early as the previous century. Yet military strength alone could not solve every problem.
Especially when dealing with independent countries, blindly threatening them with force would only drive them into the arms of East Africa's potential enemies, such as the United States, Japan, or great powers like Britain, France, and Russia.
Russia was a typical example. Russia's military strength could not be called weak, yet its clumsy foreign policy had made most of its neighboring countries and peripheral regions deeply loathe it.
As preparations for the East Africa World Expo got underway, the East African government began sending invitations across the world.
Far East Empire.
"Why is another country holding a World Expo?" Looking at the invitation submitted by the East African embassy, the Far East Empire's President asked, "Isn't America still holding the Panama Exposition? They invited us to participate before."
Facing the President's question, Yang Du said,