Of the two countries, East Africa and the United States, Franco was clearly more inclined to deal with East Africa. After all, East Africa itself had colluded with Franco during the Spanish Civil War, and East Africa and Spain had traditionally been friendly nations.
Franco said, "It is only natural for Spain and East Africa to establish a cooperative relationship."
"We are inherently highly complementary. In East Africa's trade with Europe, Spain has long played the role of an 'intermediary.'"
"Moreover, Italy and East Africa have frequent economic dealings, especially after the North African Railway opened."
"If Italy can do it, we can follow the cat and draw the tiger. Germany would have nothing to criticize unless it could persuade Italy to cut off relations with East Africa."
Such a situation was almost impossible. Never mind Italy—even Germany, at this stage, could not possibly fall out with East Africa.
For Germany, the role East Africa now played was very much like the role the Soviet Union had played before Germany went to war with it in the previous life.
With the Soviet Union clearly hostile to Germany, Germany had no choice but to deepen its dependence on East Africa in such areas as energy, minerals, and grain.
In the previous life, much of these supplies had been provided to Germany by the Soviet Union. In terms of energy, East Africa was the world's most important oil producer. If Germany wanted to import oil from the Soviet Union, it could basically only do so through smuggling and similar means, at higher costs and with uncontrollable risks.
In terms of minerals, East Africa was a mineral-resource powerhouse no less formidable than the Soviet Union. Beyond its abundant domestic mineral reserves, East Africa also controlled important mineral resources in many parts of Southeast