When East Africa occupied Qatar, Britain, Qatar's nominal suzerain, indeed chose to turn a blind eye, just as East Africa had expected.
In fact, the process and outcome of East Africa's invasion of Qatar had long since spread throughout the surrounding region. Especially after East Africa captured Bida, the third-party personnel who had left Qatar—mainly merchants and diplomatic staff from various countries, including British diplomatic personnel stationed in Qatar—retreated in tacit agreement to Bahrain and other countries.
Previously, the Ottoman Empire had also maintained a small garrison in Qatar, merely two or three hundred men. However, they had returned home as early as the outbreak of war between the Ottoman Empire and Britain. Thus, when East Africa invaded Qatar, there were no military personnel from other countries on the peninsula.
Therefore, East Africa's annexation of Qatar could be called uneventful. But that did not mean Qatar was unimportant. Once East Africa completed a series of military and strategic deployments in Qatar, it would become one of the most influential nations in the Persian Gulf region.
Although East Africa was already a world power with formidable military strength, and had previously possessed the Northern Bay Territory, a wedge driven into the Middle East, its influence in the Persian Gulf had been growing by the day.
Yet that influence was still insufficient for East Africa to stand on equal footing with Britain and Russia in the Persian Gulf region. The most direct reason was East Africa's lack of military deterrence in the Persian Gulf.
This military deterrence was much like the previous world, where, whenever a situation unfavorable to the Americans emerged in the Middle East, they only needed to sail a carrier battle group into the Persian Gulf to place immense psychological pressure on countries large and small along its shores.