Review Why did Singapore, where every inch of land is at a premium, sell Christmas Island to Austr

Mondo Finance Updated on 2024-02-18

After the Second World War, the concept of nationalism developed rapidly around the world, and not only did many countries and nations get rid of the colonial rule of Western European and American countries, but even some countries had the idea and voice of independent statehood.

Because the concept of nationalism has also produced many contradictions, differences, and even fights and wars, such as the Kosovo War, the Chechen War, and so on.

Therefore, now the state attaches great importance to the national territory and the people on the land, and will not easily cede the land and the people until the last resort.

However, it was in this context that the land area was only availableMore than seven hundredOne square kilometer of Singapore, but there will be oneMore than one hundred and thirtySquare kilometres of the island, along with the predominantly Chinese inhabitants on the island, were assigned to Australia.

This heroic act of the "loser" made others stunned and shocked and speechless, this island that was "lost" by Singapore to Australia is Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.

On Christmas Eve in December 1643, an English ship sailed the sea, and the captain and crew of the ship were rejoicing in the imminent arrival of Christmas.

The captain had ordered that the crew would be able to enjoy more and better food and drink tomorrow Christmas, which was quite encouraging news for the sailors who were floating at sea with nothing to do, and many of the crew cheered for the great Captain William Mynas on board.

At night, when it was not yet dark and invisible, the sailors in charge of the lookout suddenly sounded the alarm bells, and the route was unfamiliar to the crew.

The sudden appearance of reefs, pirates, or anything else could have killed a shipload of people, so everyone rushed to the deck when they heard the alarm bells ring, ready for an unknown challenge.

At this time, the lookout sailor, who sounded the alarm, began to shout, "Land, land has been discovered", and Captain William Minus grabbed the side of the ship, waved his hand in the direction of the lookout sailor, and looked closely with his binoculars.

Captain William Minus found that it was supposed to be a small island, because from a distance, it could be seen that the coastline of the island did not spread out to the sides, but contracted backwards like an arc.

After some investigation, Captain William Minas discovered that this was a small desert island with no people, and Captain William Minas, who had a lot of experience in seafaring, did two things.

The first thing is to name the island Christmas Island when it was discovered; The second thing he announced to all the sailors was that the discovery of a new island on Christmas Eve was a very good thing, and a gift from God to the ship and to all those on board, and that the voyage would surely be smooth sailing and return home safely.

When the sailors heard this, they danced with joy and admired Captain William Minus even more.

Due to the small value of such an uninhabited island, and the location of the island away from the regular shipping routes, a simple search did not reveal a suitable landing site around the island, plus Captain William Minus had other tasks.

Therefore, in the end, the cautious Captain William Minus only recorded the location of the island, did not arrange for people to land on the island, did not set up a sovereign monument or anything, and led his ship to leave here in a hurry.

Although Captain William Minus did not arrange for personnel to land on the island, he had already marked the specific location of the island he named Christmas Island on the nautical chart, and this discovery and marking in the British navigation department could exchange a certain honor and benefit for Captain William Minus, and also provide a key node for the subsequent expansion of the British maritime sphere of influence.

Around 1888, British power continued to expand in the Indian Ocean, especially in all directions of Southeast Asia, where British ships carried out detailed explorations, and Christmas Island, as an island already marked on the nautical chart, was also included by the British.

After 1900, the British annexed Christmas Island to Singapore in order to facilitate the administration of colonial lands in Southeast Asia.

After careful exploration, the British discovered that Christmas Island is rich in phosphate ore, a valuable natural organic fertilizer that is extremely beneficial for agricultural cultivation.

Nauru, an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, made a fortune by selling guano phosphate ore after World War II, and its per capita GDP once surpassed that of the United States.

Due to the remoteness of Christmas Island, when the island was first started, there was no infrastructure, and the living conditions were extremely difficult, so when the British recruited people to develop the island, everyone was reluctant to come.

Only hard-working, hard-working and hard-working Chinese are willing to go to the ocean to work on this deserted island in order to live, so the mining miners here on Christmas Island are mostly Chinese.

Christmas Island is not far from Java Island, only about 360 kilometers, if it is on land, this distance is more than 2 hours by car, even in the ocean, the average speed of a merchant ship half a day is enough to sail from Java Island to Christmas Island.

Christmas Island is the pinnacle of an undersea mountain uplift, the cliffs around the island are high, there are only a few places where boats can dock, and there are no big freshwater rivers on the island.

Therefore, in the early days of the discovery of the island, there were no conditions for large-scale immigration, even if phosphate mines were found on Christmas Island, because this mineral was not an irreplaceable panacea, nor was it a necessary material for society or war, and the surrounding countries and other international powers were not interested here.

After the outbreak of World War II, the forces of Japanese imperialism soon swept through Southeast Asia, and the British and Americans were defeated by the sharp Japanese army, ceding all the lands and islands in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean to the Japanese.

After 1942, when the Japanese occupied Southeast Asia, they took control of Christmas Island, and in the three years that followed, the Japanese stole many resources from Christmas Island.

Christmas Island is densely covered with tropical rainforest, and the island is surrounded by large waves, heavy rain and strong winds every year, and the island is also a place where typhoons often pass.

So, although it was a key point in the Indian Ocean to Australia, it was not suitable for military use under the technical conditions of the time, and the Japanese did not deploy a large number of troops here after occupying Christmas Island.

After the Japanese army occupied Southeast Asia, it began to attack India step by step in the west, and began to reconnoiter and test Australia in the east.

The high-alert Australian army, in conjunction with the US military, engaged in a large-scale naval battle with the Japanese navy in the waters of New Guinea.

After the Japanese occupied Papua New Guinea and other areas, the Japanese army began to set its sights on the Australian mainland.

At that time, the main adversary of the Japanese Navy was the U.S. Pacific Fleet, and Japan did not have the strength to launch a large-scale attack on the Australian continent until the U.S. fleet was completely eliminated and sea supremacy was controlled.

However, small-scale attempts by the Japanese were inevitable, and the Japanese bombers were dispatched to raze the Australian city of Darwin to the ground, and then launchedMore than a hundredAttacks of all sizes.

These attacks have left Australia struggling to cope with them, and have given Australia the idea of staying out of the country's borders.

Finding a foothold to the west and extending the depth of the country's defenses was one of the reasons why Australia later wanted to get Christmas Island; In addition, there is another reason, Australia's agriculture and animal husbandry are relatively developed, and the demand for phosphate ore is large.

Especially after World War II, Australia lost Papua New Guinea and other regions, and the national strategic depth was not as deep as before World War II.

Therefore, in order to achieve *** and development, Australia urgently needs to extend its territory outward, so Christmas Island, which is far away from Singapore, has fallen into the sight of Australians.

After the victory in World War II, a wave of national liberation movements was set off in British colonies around the world.

At that time, almost all the colonists had clearly realized that the days of colonial rule were not long, and seeing that the empire that was once the boss was about to fall apart, the British gentlemen working in the overseas colonies had the idea of making the last handful.

Since the high-ranking colonial lords have given up their faces and started to make a big profit, the British colonists in Southeast Asia will not be shy and reserved, and everyone has started a competition-style corruption and corruption, and Singapore's corruption has reached a blatant rampant.

At this time, Australia, which was independent earlier than Singapore, began to unite with the British nobles in the upper echelons of Singapore, and made a move towards one of the few overseas territories in Singapore.

In 1955, Australia** made a request to Singapore for the transfer of the Cocos Islands, and after some lubrication by Australia, Singapore***, which did not care about overseas territories, transferred the Cocos Islands to Australia with a stroke of the pen.

Shortly after getting the Cocos Islands, the oily Australia began to attack Christmas Island in a greedy manner.

However, unlike the Cocos Islands, Christmas Island is a resource-rich island that cannot be justified as being given to Australia for no apparent reason.

Moreover, after years of opening up to Christmas Island, there are already some islanders living there, and these people are still mainly Chinese, in this case, it is not easy for Australia to ask for Christmas Island under the pretext of nationalism, and things are stuck.

However, Britain and Australia are of the same language, while Singapore, Malaysia and other regions are dominated by Chinese and Malays, and the hearts of British gentlemen are separated by 108,000 miles.

Therefore, after Australia's initial operation failed, it wholeheartedly operated the British, the de facto controller of Singapore, especially when the call for independence in Southeast Asia was getting louder and louder, the British always wanted to make a lot of money to go home for the elderly when they left, which gave Australia a better chance.

After full negotiation between the Australians and the British, they gave Singapore** a plan, that is, Australia will come up with a multimillion-dollar purchase of the island to Singapore**, and buy out Christmas Island and all the people on it at one time.

Pushed by the British, the corrupt Singapore** agreed to the Australians' plan after only a dozen minutes of discussion in a meeting, and handed over Christmas Island to Australia, which was also said to be more cost-effective than the Cocos Islands.

In Singapore**, there are still people who oppose this deal, but their opposition is suppressed by the British, especially the British shamelessly use the matter of Singapore's independence as a threat, for the sake of Singapore's own development, these opponents can only nod their heads against their will and agree to trade Christmas Island to Australia.

Finally, on 1 October 1958, a deal was made between Singapore** and Australia**.

Under the supervision of the British, the "Christmas Island Act" confirmed that Australia had purchased Christmas Island and the people living on it, and the transaction cost millions of pounds disappeared after three turns and two turns, but Christmas Island has been in Australia's hands since then.

Today, most of the inhabitants of Christmas Island are of Chinese descent, but these people do not have the right to self-government, and the island's administrators are sent from mainland Australia.

Moreover, in recent years, Christmas Island has been used by Australia** as a resettlement center, a new crown epidemic quarantine area and other specific purposes, and the health of the islanders on the island has not been taken into account at all.

For a city for a country, an island enclave with an area of one-fifth of the size of the country, its importance is self-evident, and this kind of precious wealth passed on to future generations cannot be measured by money.

At that time, Singapore's knowledgeable people were not unaware of the importance of Christmas Island to Singapore, but in the eyes of the noble gentlemen of the British Empire, its suzerain, it was just a small island that could be exchanged for private interests.

So, the arrogant British gentlemen, ignoring the earnest calls of the Singaporeans, forcibly pushed through this territorial deal between Australia and Singapore, and then made enough good money from the Singaporeans to satisfactorily "grant" the Singaporeans independence.

The British gentlemen forcibly let the Singaporeans sell their land to Australia, and then take most of the income, this kind of colonizer rule method of buying and selling, and squeezing oil from stones, is exactly the same method that the British have been colonizing countries around the world and looting wealth everywhere for hundreds of years.

It's as if a robber broke into a poor man's house, and there was really nothing to rob, so he auctioned the poor man's house on the spot, and then robbed the money from the sale of the house.

Related Pages