Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

"Spanish Prime Minister Praquesades met with William IV and promised to strengthen security cooperation with the Netherlands" - "Spanish Herald".

The southern European newspaper opened its story with this bold bold headline.

Spanish liberal Prime Minister Praxades Mateo Sagasta, who was visiting the Netherlands and Australia, met with William IV of the Netherlands on August 8, 1880. After the meeting, the two sides issued a statement stating that they would Cooperation with the South American Union has been pushed to a new stage, and it is concerned about the increasing military power of Japan in the Far East, the United States, and the United Kingdom in the Pacific.

Praxades went to the royal residence in Sydney on the evening of August 8, 1880, and met with William IV. The two sides talked about possible conflicts in the Pacific and the development of the situation in America and reached a consensus.

Spain and the Netherlands will remain united on issues such as South America and the Pacific, and oppose the British and French threats to the Kingdom of Siam in Southeast Asia. Once the confrontation between the two forces attempts to change the current status quo on the Southeast Asian peninsula, the two countries will work together to create a free and open Pacific. and Americas region.

After the talks, the two sides issued a joint statement saying that Spain and the Netherlands would push cooperation to a new stage. The statement expressed concerns about the increase in British military power in the Pacific and Indian Ocean regions.

Spanish Prime Minister Praquesades and William IV also held a joint press conference. Spanish Prime Minister Praquesades said that Spain will study participating in the South American Union Organization Council + Partner Countries Meeting. Spain and South American Union decided to set up that security Territorial cooperation, of course, in Asia, Spain will fully cooperate with the Netherlands and maintain the commitment of the two countries to common defense.

The next day, Spanish Prime Minister Praquesades also inspected the Eastern Fleet headquartered in Sydney Harbor, Netherlands, and took a ride overseas in Sydney Harbor aboard the Dutch battleship New South Wales. When attending the dinner party in the evening, he expressed his gratitude to the capitalists in the city of Sydney for their assistance in supporting Spanish investment in the Philippines project.

In addition to meeting William IV, Praxades also met with Dutch Prime Minister Linden and Dutch Foreign Minister Joseph Beit. This was the first time in three years that a Spanish Prime Minister visited the Far East of the Netherlands.

"La Vanguardia": The Prime Minister of Spain visited the Far East of the Netherlands. The trend of "the Far Easternization of European powers" is becoming more and more obvious!

The Prime Minister of this report started by listing the land area that the Tsarist Empire began to develop in the north of the Eurasian continent and eastwards more than a few decades ago.

There is also the maritime expansion of Spain, the Netherlands, and Portugal that began in the 17th century. Finally, it is said that Britain inherited the "legacy" of Spain, the Netherlands, and others in the Far East Sea, and was better than its predecessors. Now it has won India.

The Netherlands has moved to the Far East in the past twenty years, even moving its capital there, becoming a veritable Far Eastern country.

The British also accelerated their expansion in India/Southeast Asia, and France never stopped expanding in eastern Southeast Asia.

Now Spanish Prime Minister Praxades has visited the Far East of the Netherlands, and Spain is accelerating its military co-tenancy with the Netherlands. The trend of "Europe's Asia-Pacificization" is becoming more and more obvious. What are your observations on this?

This report also cited the comments and analysis of Mesid, an expert on the British Empire project at the Netherlands Center for Strategic and International Studies, to explain the mystery.

"This trip to the Far East and the Netherlands by Praxades is obviously to move closer to the Netherlands and further make military and economic investments in Asia. This was carried out when Britain and France were against the Netherlands. It can be seen that Spain this time is How much determination it took to do this, and at the same time, it is also obvious how close the relationship between the Netherlands and Spain has become.”

“In terms of military operations, there are currently not many joint operations between Spain and the Netherlands, or between Spain and the Nordic Alliance and the South American Alliance where the Netherlands is located, but there is no doubt that Spain is strengthening its all-round alliance with the Netherlands and intends to build A "Far Eastern version of the 'Nordic Alliance', and now the eastward movement of the Nordic Alliance is the first stage of action. In other words, the establishment of the "Far Eastern Alliance" in the war in the Far East has actually not achieved such a goal."

“At present, the Netherlands and Spain have not formally reached an agreement on the formation of the Far Eastern Alliance, but at yesterday’s joint press conference, Praxades also stated that they would actively participate in the South American Union Council. The South American Union Council is based on Article 10 of the South American Association of South America. Zeng Ruode’s political institutions, that is to say, within the entire framework of the Union of South America, it has a military committee, which is mainly responsible for the political affairs of the member states of the Union of South America; and an international liaison office, which is mainly responsible for the foreign affairs of the member states of the Union of South America. Spain Participating in the UNASUR Council is a quasi-alliance with the UNASUR hierarchy and has taken a key step."

"King Chula Longkorn of the Kingdom of Siam, the Netherlands' Far East ally, had already stated before Spain that he would set up a permanent office in the Council of the Union of South America. In other words, the two countries are obviously actively moving closer. South American Union. This situation has laid a very important foundation for the future creation of a 'Far East version of South American Union'."

"However, there is no entity of the 'Far East version of South American Union' yet. It is just that South American Union has moved westward. Judging from yesterday's joint press conference in Sydney and the information released by His Majesty Praxades and William IV, it can be confirmed This point of view. “The westward expansion of the South American Union is to absorb a large number of surrounding idle countries and small and medium-sized countries into the alliance circle, which can be used by the Netherlands or each other. This is already a fact. However, it is easy for the South American Union to expand westward to absorb the Kingdom of Siam, but it is indeed difficult to absorb the Qing Dynasty and the Kingdom of Koryo. Therefore, the Netherlands first started with Spain, which had the Philippines as a colony, and started as an autonomous province. It was a slow process. "

Finally, the expert said, no matter what: the South American Union is to strengthen deep-level military penetration in the Far East. This includes two meanings. First, it strengthens the political, diplomatic and military cooperation between the South American Union, the Kingdom of Siam and Spain. The other meaning of exchanges is to strengthen cooperation at the military level, including land and sea. Praxades even said frankly that Spain would raise the level of cooperation with South American Union to a new stage.

In the future, the Union of South America may actively participate in the cooperation between the Kingdom of Siam and Spain on military projects, including Spain's deployment of troops to the Far East, the Kingdom of Siam's fight against British and French invasion and other military projects, including military personnel exchanges and training, joint military Exercises, etc., but it may still take some time to reach the real military level, such as directly participating in war.