Chapter 400: The Panama Canal Convention

While Europeans were dreaming of a bright future, and only a small number of people were worried about a potential super-war, the civil war in Colombia had already spread across the entire country in South America, which was separated from Europe by the Atlantic Ocean.

The sudden outbreak of the Colombian civil war brought the construction of the Panama Canal to a standstill, and this civil war even affected several countries in South America and Central America.

The Americans had originally planned to incite the independence of the Panama region during this civil war, but because the reputation of the United States had already been ruined by Spain, they were no longer able to carry out such a plan at this time.

This was because once the news that the United States was inciting Panama's independence was disclosed, it would trigger a wave of resistance against the United States throughout South America.

This was not cost-effective for the Americans, as it would be equivalent to handing over their own backyard, South America, to others.

It must be known that it was not just the United States that was eyeing South America at this time. The original master of South America, Spain, the canal builder France, and the United Kingdom, which had acquired Cuba, were all watching like tigers eyeing their prey.

Once the reputation of the United States was completely ruined, it would mean that the United States would withdraw from the competition in South America from then on.

In order to preserve their reputation, the United States chose to remain still for the time being. Because the war in Colombia was currently quite intense, the Liberal Party had slowed down the progress of the Conservative Party's war through various methods, which could be considered as having bought the United States some time.

It was just that what the United States did not expect was that while they chose to remain still, other countries would not continue to stand by at this time.

Because the Boer War had already ended, the United Kingdom did not need diplomatic support from the United States. This also led to the United Kingdom not being biased toward the United States on the issue of sovereignty over the Panama Canal; in fact, the United Kingdom even wanted to control the sovereignty of the Panama Canal itself.

From the world's major transportation hubs occupied by the United Kingdom, it could be seen that the United Kingdom was very interested in international transportation hubs similar to the Panama Canal.

The Strait of Gibraltar, the Suez Canal, the Strait of Malacca, and other transportation hubs had already become the possessions of the United Kingdom, and the United Kingdom did not mind putting the Panama Canal into its own pocket as well.

The United Kingdom, which had begun to contact the Colombian government, suddenly discovered that the former hegemon of South America, Spain, had already begun to contact these countries in South America and had established relatively close economic relations.

Wanting to obtain the sovereignty of the Panama Canal under the watchful eye of Spain did not seem that easy at the moment.

This was not considered much of a trouble for the British, and they soon changed their minds and decided to unite with Spain to control the sovereignty of the Panama Canal.

Because the French were the actual builders of the canal, there must certainly be French people among those who possessed the sovereignty of the Panama Canal. In the British plan, the sovereignty of the Panama Canal would ultimately be jointly held by the United Kingdom, France, and Spain, and other countries would have absolutely nothing to do with the operational management rights of the Panama Canal.

This looked somewhat ridiculous, because the United Kingdom, France, and Spain were all European countries, yet they ended up controlling the Panama Canal located in the Americas.

But for this era, Europe was the very center of the world, and in the eyes of the British, only Europeans were qualified to control the Panama Canal.

Although the relationship between the United Kingdom and Spain was not very good, this did not affect the fact that the United Kingdom was willing to cooperate with Spain on the issue of the Panama Canal.

After all, compared to the United States gaining control of the Panama Canal, the United Kingdom preferred for the control of the canal to be held by European countries.

Doing this could not only weaken the influence of the United States in the Americas but also ensure that the Panama Canal would not be controlled solely by any country other than the United Kingdom.

Although it appeared that the United Kingdom, France, and Spain were jointly managing the Panama Canal, the British were confident that they would obtain the ultimate control of the canal, just like the Suez Canal of the past.

When Yu Kaluo learned that the British side wanted to intervene in the construction of the Panama Canal together with Spain, the time had already reached the middle to late period of 1899.

To be honest, Yu Kaluo was still very surprised and curious that the Colombian civil war could last for such a long time.

Because the news that the United States supported the Colombian Liberal Party in launching the civil war had already been made public, the Liberal Party's support rate within Colombia had dropped significantly.

Originally, it was thought that the Colombian Conservative Party would be able to end the civil war quickly after defeating the Liberal Party, but unexpectedly, after the Liberal Party, a large number of political parties and forces opposing the Conservative Party and the Colombian government emerged within Colombia.

This was also the reason why the Colombian civil war had not ended up to now; judging by the current trend, this civil war could not be ended without a year or two.

If one were to talk about the countries most concerned about the Colombian civil war, the first was the United States, which had planned this civil war, and the second was France, which was building the Panama Canal.

Because the Panama Canal was in the Panama region controlled by Colombia, and the Panama region was also affected by the Colombian civil war, the French had to control the local situation in Panama if they wanted to continue building the canal smoothly.

To control the local situation in Panama, they either had to obtain the support of the Colombian Conservative Party to take the lead in clearing out the opposition forces in the Panama region.

Or they could only rely on the efforts of the French themselves to mobilize troops to maintain the security around the canal.

The former was fine; as long as they could obtain the support of the Colombian Conservative Party, the security around the Panama Canal could still be guaranteed.

But if they relied on the latter, the reputation of France would also very likely become something that stank to high heaven, just like that of the United States.

While the French canal construction enterprise was still hesitating, the British and Spanish sides had already joined forces and come knocking.

The British side expressed the idea of wanting to join the canal construction party and stated that they would provide diplomatic support to France, provide funds to invest in the construction of the canal, and so on.

Spain guaranteed that it would bring the support of the Colombian government so that France's canal construction work would not be affected by the Colombian civil war.

These two types of support were exactly what the current France needed; the three parties could be said to have hit it off immediately, and they soon determined the cooperation matters regarding the Panama Canal.

After several days of negotiations and related discussions, a treaty concerning the joint management of the Panama Canal's sovereignty and the construction of the Panama Canal by the United Kingdom, France, and Spain was freshly released; the official name of this treaty was the "Panama Canal Convention."

This convention stipulated that the construction rights of the Panama Canal were jointly held by France, the United Kingdom, and Spain, and the subsequent operational management rights as well as the income brought by the operations should also be divided among the three countries.

Because France had already invested a lot in the process of building the Panama Canal, France would control 40% of the shares of the Panama Canal, and the remaining 60% of the shares would be divided between the United Kingdom and Spain, with each holding 30% of the shares.

As joint construction parties, the United Kingdom, France, and Spain should jointly maintain the construction of the Panama Canal and ensure the stability of the situation within the canal construction area.

At the same time, the three countries should unite to resist external threats, such as other countries that were also interested in the canal.

Unless the three countries nodded simultaneously, other countries had no right to participate in the construction and subsequent operation of the Panama Canal, nor was any country allowed to interfere with the sovereignty of the Panama Canal.

The United Kingdom, France, and Spain, which signed the treaty, were all powerful great powers, and the signing of this "Panama Canal Convention" was also quite open and aboveboard; they even invited many media outlets to witness it in person.

When the Americans learned that the United Kingdom, France, and Spain had jointly signed the "Panama Canal Convention," they could not help but be stunned.

Who could have thought that these three countries had already discussed the construction and subsequent operational management matters of the Panama Canal in secret, and had completely excluded the United States from the operational management rights of the Panama Canal.

It must be known that these three countries were all European countries, and in theory, they should have had absolutely nothing to do with the Panama Canal.

On the contrary, it was the United States, which had been excluded, that was the country that needed the Panama Canal the most. The country that needed the Panama Canal the most was excluded from the operational management rights of the Panama Canal, which actually meant that for the United States to pass through the Panama Canal subsequently, it would still have to obtain the consent of the three great powers of Britain, France, and Spain.

The Americans had planned the Colombian civil war for the sake of the sovereignty of the Panama Canal. But the result before them was that the United States had absolutely nothing to do with the subsequent operational management rights of the Panama Canal, and it was impossible to obtain sovereignty under the control of the three great powers of Britain, France, and Spain.

The three great powers of the United Kingdom, France, and Spain were all ones that the Americans could not afford to offend, even if they just picked one at random. Not to mention that these three countries were united to control the Panama Canal; even if the Americans were given ten times the courage, they would not dare to openly provoke the three great powers that signed the convention.

Of course, a protest on the surface was still necessary.