By mid-1918, as a series of major international events unfolded and conditions within East Africa shifted, the East African government's three main priorities could be summed up as "digesting," "development," and "military expansion."
Digesting, as the name implied, meant absorbing the series of gains East Africa had made in recent years, especially its newly opened overseas markets and colonies.
Over the past few years, East Africa's trade in South America, the Far East, and along the Indian Ocean coast had continued to expand. These new market shares had injected vitality into East African economic development.
Maintaining the stability of these markets and colonies involved the issue of "military expansion." Overseas markets and colonies unsupported by force were nothing more than reflections of flowers in a mirror and the moon in water. Thus, the expansion of the East African Navy continued to advance steadily; it was an inevitable measure for any great power.
Development, meanwhile, chiefly concerned domestic economic construction and was reflected in two areas: reforming state-owned enterprises, and guiding the free market while improving market systems and legal institutions.
Its main contents basically followed the guidelines of East Africa's "Fourth Five-Year" Plan introduced in 1916, deepening and advancing without pause. This was the East African government's basic task, or rather, its minimum economic development target, so there was no need to dwell on it.
Clearly, the blazing pace of economic development had made it easy for East Africa to complete the targets laid out in its "Fourth Five-Year" Plan ahead of schedule.
Thus, in 1918, the East African government's focus remained on military expansion. To that end, Ernst convened a meeting at Rhine Palace.
Minister of Defense Pripriate summarized the East African Army's development in recent years. "As of 1918, the Defense Force has grown to an unprecedented 850,000