Britain, France, Japan, Russia, and the Netherlands jointly appealed to the United States, hoping that the United States would come forward and call on the international community to exert pressure on East China, demanding that East China stop trampling on international norms, undermining international free trade, and undermining freedom of navigation. The reason why the United States is pushed to come forward to call the international community is that East China's leading industry is undermining international free trade, and at the same time harming the interests of the United States, and the United States is currently the world's largest economy, as well as a regional power, should assume more international obligations, so it is natural that it should come forward to maintain 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 East China, they either hold the concept of white supremacy, or think that East China is the future strategic opponent of the United States, or simply look at East China ** unpleasantly, so many people advocate that the United States should help Britain and France and come out to put pressure on East China.

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 must not come forward to put pressure on East China. Because mediation can be said to maintain a neutral attitude, but the pressure will inevitably go completely to the opposite side of East China.

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 completely ready to take the initiative to make enemies, and East China may become a powerful opponent of the United States in the future, but at this stage, East China does not pose a threat to the United States, or the threat is very small, but it has a lot of common interests with the United States. It is not in the current interests of the United States to make an enemy of East China

Since the establishment of East China, it is to face the world with an open attitude, and actively carry out economic and trade cooperation with countries around 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 it, not only has a large number of economic and trade exchanges with East China, but also uses East China ** as a springboard to import goods into Chinese mainland.

And now East China has obtained the Northeast region, and is preparing for development, there are a lot of business opportunities, in the Portsmouth negotiations, East China has held a Northeast China development exhibition in the United States, attracting American businessmen to invest, and indeed many American businessmen are very interested in investment 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 East China, because Britain and France have not given the United States enough bargaining chips, and of course, Britain and France are actually unable to offer the United States any valuable bargaining chips. But with just a few high hats from Britain and France, they want to fool the United States and East China as enemies and take action for Britain and France, so there is such a good thing.

Of course, there is another important reason why Roosevelt does not dare to easily turn against East China now, and that is in the military. East** In the era of the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleon ordered a trade blockade against Britain, although Napoleon did not have a navy strong enough 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 East China**It's just a gourd painting, it's 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 what tramples on international norms, undermines free trade, and undermines freedom of navigation, it's just a scene, and it's okay to say a few words of protest, but if you really put pressure on East China, it is estimated that no country will do it now, including the United States, because it is after East China has won the battle of the Taiwan Strait, who will be so uninteresting and provoke East China at this time.

The United States has always judged that after Britain and France enter the war, there will be a stalemate situation in which East China dominates the land and the expeditionary force fleet dominates 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 will be annihilated, and of course, no country would have expected this result. 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 at this time, the United States could not completely silence itself, after all, East China's countermeasures were indeed harmful to 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 East China. First, it is to show East China, including the whole world, the attitude of the United States, and second, to test the reaction of East China.

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 to meet Li Sanjie with the Foreign Affairs Committee of East China, and went to the Foreign Affairs Committee the next day to have a formal meeting with Li Sanjie.

After the two exchanged some routine diplomatic courtesy, Wilkins said with a straight face: "Mr. Commissioner, we think you are ** The countermeasures to be taken against Britain, France, Japan, Russia, and the Netherlands are very inappropriate; 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. Able to think carefully and make improvements. 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 country's **, and I will respond to the Executive Yuan." So let's sit down and talk. ”

Robert Bacon nodded, sat down on the sofa, and said: "Mr. Commissioner, my country is very concerned about the countermeasures carried out by your **, and frankly speaking, we think that your countermeasures are too radical. ”

Li Sanjie said: "Mr. Consul, we are forced to do this, in fact, we don't want to be so extreme, but in order to end the war as soon as possible, we have to do this, I hope Mr. Consul, and the United States 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 United States 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, we in the United States have been working hard to restore peace in the Far East, and at the beginning of the year, we held the Portsmouth talks to mediate between Guizhou, Japan, and Russia. A suggestion to mediate again was issued, but it was rejected by Gui**. ”

Li Sanjie said with a smile: "Mr. Consul, we are very grateful to the efforts of the United States, but we did not refuse the mediation of the United States, obviously the conditions we put forward were rejected by Britain and France." ”

Robert Bacon shook his head and said, "Mr. Commissioner, please forgive me for saying that the conditions put forward by your ** are really too difficult for strong people, and if I were one of the parties concerned, it would be difficult for me to accept the conditions you proposed. ”