Britain, France, Japan, Russia, and the Netherlands have jointly appealed to the United States, hoping that the United States will come forward and call on the international community to exert pressure on the East China Government to stop trampling on international norms, undermining international free trade, and undermining freedom of navigation. The reason why the United States is pushing the United States to come forward to call on the international community is that the East China government is undermining international free trade and harming the interests of the United States, and the United States is currently the world's largest economy and a regional power, so it is natural that it should come forward to safeguard the international free trade order and maintain freedom of navigation.

After all, the United States is only a backward country among the great powers, and although its national strength is strong enough, its qualifications are still insufficient; in the eyes of such an old power as Britain and France, the United States is an upstart, and it looks down on the United States at all, but now it is asking for help in a low voice, and this feeling is of course very refreshing. In addition, there are also some politicians in the United States who are hostile to the East China government, they either hold white supremacist views, or they think that the East China government is the future strategic rival of the United States, or they simply look at the East China government unpleasantly, so many people advocate that the United States should help Britain and France and come out to put pressure on the East China government.

However, US President Roosevelt still kept a sober mind and knew that the United States could play the role of a mediator, and even if it appropriately favored one side or the other side in the process of mediation, it would not matter much, but he absolutely could not come forward to put pressure on the East China government. Because mediation can be said to maintain a neutral attitude, but the pressure will inevitably go completely to the opposite side of the East China government.

Although Roosevelt knew very well that although the United States was strong enough and played an important role in the international arena, isolationism was still very prevalent in the United States, so it was not fully prepared to take the initiative to make enemies, and the East China Government might become a powerful opponent of the United States in the future, but at this stage, the East China Government did not pose a threat to the United States, or the threat was very small, but on the contrary, it had a lot of common interests with the United States. It is not in the immediate interests of the United States to venture into an enemy of the East China government

Since the establishment of the East China Government, it has faced the world with an open and wanton attitude, and actively carried out economic and trade cooperation with all countries in the world. It is indeed much more convenient to engage in trade activities than in the Qing court, and the United States has also benefited a lot from this, not only has a large number of economic and trade contacts with the East China government, but also uses the East China government as a springboard to import goods into the Chinese mainland.

Moreover, now that the East China Government has acquired the Northeast region and is preparing for its development, there are a lot of business opportunities in it, and during the Portsmouth talks, the East China Government held an exhibition in the United States on the development of the Northeast region to attract American businessmen to invest, and indeed many American businessmen are very interested in investing in the Northeast region. Under these circumstances, at least for the time being, it is not appropriate for the United States to take the initiative to become an enemy of the East China Government, because Britain and France have not given the United States enough bargaining chips, and of course Britain and France cannot actually offer the United States any valuable bargaining chips. However, with only a few high hats of Britain and France, they want to fool the United States and the East China government as enemies and take action for Britain and France, and there is such a good thing.

Of course, there is another important reason why Roosevelt does not dare to easily turn against the East China government now, and that is in the military. In the era of the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleon ordered a trade blockade against Britain, although Napoleon did not have a strong enough navy to blockade the entire British Isles, but at that time he could order the entire European continent not to trade with Britain, which was actually an early naval blockade; and in the early stage of the American Civil War and the Far East War, when Japan and Russia were at war, all sides also sent fleets to intercept enemy merchant ships, so the East China government was just relying on the gourd to draw its own scoop, which was not a big deal。 The main reason why the international community reacted strongly was that in the past, only Britain and France had to blockade and ban other countries, but now it is rare for anyone to dare to do this trick against Britain and France.

As for trampling on international norms, undermining free trade, and undermining freedom of navigation, it is just a matter of words, and it is okay to say a few words of protest, but if you really want to put pressure on the East China government, it is estimated that no country will do it now, including the United States, because after the East China government has won the battle for the Taiwan Strait, who will be so ignorant and provoke the East China government at this time.

The United States had always judged that after Britain and France entered the war, there would be a stalemate in which the East China government would dominate the land and the expeditionary force fleet would dominate the sea, but it did not expect that the expeditionary force fleet would be defeated by the people's army fleet, and almost all of them would be annihilated. Although the detailed course of the battle in the Taiwan Strait has not yet been announced, and the United States does not know how the KPA won this naval battle, the results are very clear, which shows that the United States, including the whole world, underestimated the strength of the KPA Navy, and Roosevelt did not think that the US Navy would be stronger than the Far East Expeditionary Force.

However, Roosevelt also believed that the United States could not completely remain silent at this time, because after all, the East China Government's countermeasures would indeed harm the interests of the United States, and if the United States did not react at all, it would inevitably damage the international image of the United States, so Roosevelt ordered Robert Bacon, the US consul in Qingdao, to protest to the East China Government. First, it is to show the attitude of the United States to the East China Government, including the whole world, and second, to test the reaction of the East China Government.

Robert Bacon came to Qingdao after the Portsmouth negotiations, and was a veteran of American diplomacy as assistant secretary of state, with Roosevelt's friendship for more than 20 years, and was deeply trusted by Roosevelt, and before entering politics, he was one of the directors of the Morgan consortium, the largest financial empire in the United States. In the United States, both political and business circles have deep connections. After the breakdown of the Portsmouth negotiations, the United States judged that the war in the Far East would fall into a situation of long-term confrontation between land and sea, and that the situation would be further complicated by the simultaneous conduct of military and diplomatic fronts, so the United States needed a competent person to sit in Qingdao to keep abreast of the development of the situation and make accurate judgments as the main basis for domestic adjustment policy, so Roosevelt appointed Robert Bacon as consul in Qingdao.

As a result, the United States was only half right, and the situation in the Far East was indeed becoming more and more complicated, but the long-term confrontation between sea and land did not appear, but the front shifted from military to diplomatic, and Robert Bacon also had a role to play.

After receiving Roosevelt's order, Robert Bacon immediately understood the president's intentions, so he immediately made an appointment with Li Sanjie to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the East China Government, and the next day he was invited to the Foreign Affairs Committee to have a formal meeting with Li Sanjie.

After the two exchanged some routine diplomatic courtesy, Wilkins said with a straight face: " Mr. Committee Member, we believe that the countermeasures that your Government will take against Britain, France, Japan, Russia, and the Netherlands are very inappropriate, and that the interception of merchant ships is a serious act of sabotaging free trade; the blockade of the Japanese archipelago and the prohibition of the entry of merchant ships of other countries have undermined freedom of navigation; and the attack on Java has trampled on international norms, further expanded the scale of the war, further complicated the situation in the Far East, and has no positive effect on the restoration of peace in the Far East, and has a serious impact on US interests in Asia。 After speaking, he handed over the protest letter to Li Sanjie.

After receiving the protest letter, Li Sanjie was so angry that he said: "Mr. Consul, I have accepted the protest of your government and will respond to it to the Executive Yuan." So let's sit down and talk. ”

Robert Bacon nodded, sat down on the couch, and said, "Mr. Commissioner, my government is very concerned about the countermeasures taken by your government, and frankly, we think that your government's countermeasures are too aggressive. ”

Li Sanjie said: "Mr. Consul, we are forced to do this, in fact, we don't want to do it so extremely, but in order to end the war as soon as possible, we have to do this, I hope Mr. Consul, and the US government can understand, in fact, if Britain, France, Japan, Russia, and the Netherlands can negotiate peace with us as soon as possible, end the war, and restore peace in the Far East, then these countermeasures can be stopped." If the U.S. government wants the war to stop as soon as possible, I think it should do the work of Britain, France, Japan, Russia, and the Netherlands. ”

Robert Bacon said: "Mr. Commissioner, our US government has been working hard to restore peace in the Far East. Although the Portsmouth talks failed due to various reasons, the US Government is still in collusion with all sides and is looking for every opportunity to restore peace in the Far East. ”

Li Sanjie said with a smile: "Mr. Consul, we are very grateful to the US government for its efforts, but we did not refuse the mediation of the United States. ”

Robert Bacon shook his head and said, "Mr. Commissioner, with all due respect, the conditions put forward by your government are too difficult for a strong man, and if I were one of the parties, it would be difficult for me to accept your conditions. ”