Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 396 Economic Cooperation
The Spanish-speaking countries in the Americas might not be so keen on establishing a military alliance with Spain. However, many Spanish-speaking countries would be willing to forge closer economic ties with Spain, whether it be an economic alliance or import/export cooperation.

The reason is simple: these countries in the Americas are rich in mineral resources, but they lack an industrial base.

Leaving aside automobiles, warships, and power equipment, which currently represent the pinnacle of technology, many countries are unable to produce even the simplest steel.

Despite the fact that the steel production of European powers had reached an astonishing level at this time, the United States' steel production had even reached 900 million tons.

However, in reality, apart from these few major powers, the steel production of other countries in the world still remained at a paltry tens of thousands or even thousands of tons.

Even among the major powers, Italy, with its relatively weak industrial sector, had an annual steel production of just over 11 tons at this time, let alone non-major powers.

By the beginning of 1898, the world's annual steel production had reached an astonishing 2562 million tons. Such a scale of steel production seems exaggerated at first glance, but those who know the truth understand that steel production was actually entirely concentrated in the hands of the major powers.

The total steel production of the eight major powers—Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Austria, Spain, Italy, and the United States—reached an astonishing 2478 million tons, accounting for 96.7% of the world's annual steel production.

The combined annual steel production of all the remaining countries accounts for less than 3.3% of the world's total annual steel production.

This is why Europe is considered the most dazzling pearl of the world during the colonial era. At that time, Europe was the most prosperous and developed region in the world, even surpassing the United States.

Of course, if we only talk about steel production, the United States is undoubtedly number one in the world, which is why European powers such as Britain and France are even more wary of the United States.

Despite the impressive annual steel production of 2478 million tons by the eight major powers, a significant portion of that came from the United States. The US produced a staggering 907 million tons of steel annually, while Britain produced only 463 million tons, Germany 573 million tons, and France a paltry 145 million tons—just slightly more than Spain.

This also reveals a frightening statistic: the combined annual steel production of Britain and Germany is roughly equivalent to the annual steel production of the United States alone.

More importantly, the United States' population has unknowingly surpassed that of most European powers. Apart from Russia, with its population of 100 million, the United States has the largest population among all major powers.

While a large population and a strong industrial base do not necessarily equate to a country's military strength, these factors can certainly amplify the United States' potential.

If Germany has the potential to grow into a European hegemon and pose a significant threat to British world domination, then what about the United States? And what level will the United States ultimately reach?

Because these South American countries have little industrial development, they are quite willing to engage in economic cooperation with Spain.

In addition to being able to obtain industrial products from Spain at lower prices, they can also earn more foreign exchange through trade with Spain.

Besides sharing the common characteristic of speaking Spanish, these Spanish-speaking countries also use the Spanish peso, the official currency from the colonial period.

This also means that the Spanish peseta is also accepted in these countries, which is Spain's biggest advantage over other countries.

With a universal currency, doing business can naturally save a lot of trouble.

The Colombian government is quite willing to cooperate with Spain on economic matters. Colombia is currently in a state of considerable turmoil, and the construction of the Panama Canal has attracted intense scrutiny from the United States.

Although the United States has a relatively low status and influence in Europe, it is the undisputed hegemon in the Americas, and Colombia cannot ignore its influence.

If Colombia could gain the support of Spain, the former hegemon of the Americas, the pressure on it would be significantly reduced. At least Spain and the United States are powers of equal caliber, and Spain's military strength is far superior to that of the United States.

Carlo had already anticipated Colombia's eagerness to join the Spanish-speaking Economic Union.

After all, Colombia is currently facing both internal and external troubles. The Americans are not exactly benevolent, and the chaos in Colombia may even have been instigated by them.

Carlo was in no hurry to show interest in the Panama Canal. After all, for Spain, which had already lost most of its American colonies, the Panama Canal had negligible, or even nonexistent, significance on the surface.

This brings us to the unique geographical location of the Americas.

The world has seven continents and four oceans, among which Antarctica and the Arctic Ocean are the most sparsely populated areas.

In addition, the remaining six continents and three oceans have had large populations and human activities since the Age of Exploration.

As can be seen from the map, Eurasia and Africa can be considered as a single entity. Eurasia is completely connected, with only a small portion of Egypt connecting it to Africa.

Although Oceania, where Australia and New Zealand are located, is not adjacent to Asia, there are many islands between the two continents, and trade between them is relatively close.

The Americas are unique in that they are separated from other continents by oceans, which means that there are currently very few ships from outside the Americas that need to navigate through the Panama Canal.

As long as Spain doesn't show interest in the Panama Canal, the Americans will keep a close eye on France, which is building the canal, and Britain, which is also interested in it.

With Colombia taking the lead in joining, other South American countries have become much more enthusiastic about joining the so-called Economic Union of Spanish-speaking Countries.

Argentina, which already had close economic ties with Spain, quickly joined the economic alliance, followed by Ecuador and Venezuela.

Chile did not directly join the economic alliance, but it is willing to strengthen economic ties with Spain and promote closer import and export cooperation between the two countries.

Chile's nitrate mines were controlled by the British, but it was possible to cooperate with Spain in other areas.

With these South American countries joining the Economic Union of Spanish-speaking Countries one after another, the formation of the union was almost complete.

It's less of an economic alliance and more of an economic cooperation treaty between these South American countries and Spain.

Although it wasn't a military alliance, it still proves that these South American countries, which were originally Spanish colonies, didn't harbor much hatred towards the Spanish government after completely gaining independence from Spain's sphere of influence.

That makes sense when you think about it. While the reason these South American countries gained independence was the brutality of Spanish colonial rule, with vast sums of money flowing to Spain annually while the colonies themselves were left with little wealth, decades have passed since their independence. The earliest immigrants who most hated Spain are long gone.

Most of the South American population, currently in their prime, did not experience the War of Independence. They only know that they have close blood ties with Spain, but they are not very familiar with the history of their country's exploitation by Spain, and naturally cannot understand the hatred that the previous generation or even the generation before them felt towards the Spanish colonizers.

Moreover, over the long course of time, Spain has undergone tremendous changes.

The current Spanish monarchy is not the same as the monarchy that previously exploited South American countries, and the Spanish government has also undergone significant changes compared to before.

The two sides are no longer the same people they were back then, so the hatred between them has naturally dissipated.

The only constant between nations is their interests; neither adversarial nor allied relationships can be long-term or permanent.

These South American countries chose to go to war with Spain for their own interests in order to pursue independence, and now they can naturally engage in close economic cooperation with Spain for their own interests as well.

The formation of the Spanish-speaking countries' economic alliance has made Spain's strategic layout in South America much easier.

Carlos specifically instructed the head of the Royal Security Intelligence Service, Cadil, to send more intelligence personnel to various South American countries to closely monitor the domestic situation and the movements of important figures in those countries.

In particular, the National Security Intelligence Service should maintain a high level of vigilance towards Colombia. The Conservative and Liberal parties in Colombia are highly likely to erupt into civil war in the near future. As a crucial part of the Spanish-speaking economic alliance, Carlo's demand for close monitoring of Colombia is entirely justified.

Under Carlo's personal orders, the head of the Royal Security Intelligence Service, Cadil, dared not be careless in the slightest. He urgently organized a group of intelligence personnel to go to South America, and with their efforts, built the Royal Security Intelligence Service's intelligence network in South America.

In addition to gathering intelligence in South America, these intelligence agents also need to select trustworthy individuals to expand the National Security Intelligence Service's manpower in South America.

To conduct intelligence gathering around the world, in addition to having Spanish people on the side, one also needs the help of local intelligence agents.

South American countries are relatively fortunate because of their close relationship with Spain, and the two sides share a high degree of similarity in language, culture, and appearance.

Spaniards rarely aroused suspicion when conducting intelligence work in South America.

However, if they were to conduct intelligence work elsewhere, and were only Spanish, they would easily arouse suspicion.

The differences in language, culture, and customs among European countries, and even their physical appearances, have increased the difficulty of intelligence work.

To conduct intelligence work in other European countries, it is necessary to recruit local people into the Royal Security Intelligence Service.

The Royal Security Intelligence Service, as an important agency under Carlo's command, played a significant role in Carlo's strategic planning.

Carlo also invests a considerable amount of money in the Royal Security Intelligence Service every year, with annual expenses currently reaching tens of millions of pesetas.

According to internal statistics from the Royal Security Intelligence Service, the total number of intelligence personnel, both domestic and international, is now approaching 10,000.

It's important to understand that this only represents the number of registered intelligence personnel. There are many other intelligence officers who also provide intelligence to the Royal Security Intelligence Service, but whose identities are strictly kept secret. This is one reason why the Royal Security Intelligence Service's intelligence work is so highly effective.

The salaries of these tens of thousands of intelligence personnel alone constitute a huge expense. Not to mention the various costs associated with intelligence work, which is why the Royal Security Intelligence Service spends tens of millions of pesetas annually.

Of course, compared to the important role played by the Royal Security Intelligence Service, this expenditure is entirely worthwhile.

Carlo even wished the Royal Security Intelligence Service's annual expenses could be higher, because the higher the expenses, the more intelligence personnel it would have.

Having intelligence agents infiltrated into various countries means that, when Carlo needs it, he can obtain more clearly some intelligence and data from those countries.

The main reason Carlo was so aware of the progress Britain and France made in battleships, or pre-dreadnoughts, was thanks to the efforts of these intelligence personnel.

Intelligence personnel can also obtain approximate data on the battleships that Britain and France are building from their shipyards.

To exaggerate a bit, even without any scruples, intelligence agents were able to steal blueprints for warships from both Britain and France.

However, doing so could expose Spain's intelligence networks embedded in both countries. Unless it is a particularly important warship blueprint, the Royal Security Intelligence Service would not be willing to spend too much to steal it.

In addition to intelligence agents embedded in some important countries, there are also many intelligence agents within Spain who monitor the government and civil society.

For Carlo, the movements of important domestic political parties and figures need to be closely monitored.

Especially before the Spanish civil war ended, both the royalists who supported the Bourbon family and the church forces that might oppose reform were on Carlo's list of close monitoring.

The political environment in Spain has now stabilized, and Carlos has gradually reduced his focus on domestic parties and certain forces, retaining only a small number of intelligence personnel to monitor the operation of the government and various political parties.

At present, the main task of the Royal Security Intelligence Service is still intelligence gathering abroad, especially the actions of the major European powers, which is the most important thing to pay close attention to.

European countries have also expressed their interest in the Spanish-speaking economic union established by Spain. However, because this economic union is limited to South America, the level of attention from European powers is also limited.

The only country to express close concern is the United States, located in the Americas. For the US, South America is considered its backyard.

Spain's high-profile economic cooperation in South America is clearly an act of stealing fruit from America's backyard.

However, the US government is powerless to stop Spain's actions. After all, such an economic alliance was entered into voluntarily by both parties. Can the US really prevent countries like Colombia from engaging in economic cooperation with Spain?

(End of this chapter)