On February 9, 1938, the "East Borneo War" officially broke out. Due to the lack of air force support, the Chinese People's Corps in East Borneo was unable to resist the fierce offensive of the Dutch colonial army. At the beginning of the war, the Chinese People's Corps was completely defeated, and the Dutch army continued to "recover" some towns that were already in the hands of Chinese political leaders.

Faced with the fierce attacks of the 6th Dutch Army and the unscrupulous bombing of Chinese towns by Dutch Air Force bombers, the Chinese in Southeast Asia were indignant and wrote letters to the Lanfang government and the Chinese government, demanding that the two countries send troops to intervene.

The Chinese central government responded first. On February 15, 1938, the Chinese central government officially submitted written documents to the relevant countries of the "Borneo interests" through diplomatic channels, announcing that from that day, the East Borneo region will be a war zone. In order to "prevent humanitarian crises" and ensure the safety of lives and property of local Chinese, overseas Chinese and people from various countries, the Chinese Air Force in Nanyang began to carry out combat readiness patrol missions in the East Borneo airspace from now on. From that day on, the entire East Borneo airspace was declared a "no-fly zone". Without the permission of the Chinese Air Force in Nanyang, military and civil aircraft from any country shall not enter the no-fly zone. Violators of the ban will be subjected to "fatal attacks" without prior warning.

On February 16, 1938, two "Falcon" fighters in the South China Air Force, which were carrying out combat readiness patrol missions, encountered the Dutch Air Force in the southern airspace of East Borneo, and shot down six Dutch Air Force light bombers without escort cover in air combat. Although the Dutch government subsequently expressed strong protests, the war had not escalated into further confrontation between China and the Netherlands.

Seeing China's tough attitude and facing the strong appeal of the people, the Lanfang government finally made up its mind. On February 19, the Lanfang government announced that it would cut off all diplomatic relations with the Netherlands and decided to declare war on the Netherlands. The next day, the Lanfang destroyer successfully intercepted a Dutch transport fleet in the Java Sea and exchanged fire with the escort Dutch naval ships. On the same day, the Netherlands declared war on Lanfang. At this point, the "Second South China Sea War" officially broke out.

After the war broke out, the world's powerful countries immediately expressed their respective positions.

Britain firmly supports the Netherlands, France follows the United Kingdom, advocating that "the current international order cannot be destroyed." The two countries also announced sanctions on Lan Fang and submitted the "East Borneo Crisis" to the League of Nations for review. In addition, Britain and France's fleets in Asia have also begun to implement combat readiness plans.

The German and Italian governments declared "neutral", but behind this, they strongly encouraged China to start a war against Britain and France, and provided an astonishing international loan to the Lanfang government through secret channels.

The Chinese government announced its support for Lan Fang, and also decided to strengthen China's naval and air force in Bangka Island, and warned the Netherlands that the war should not be extended to Lan Fang's territory, otherwise China will "take further military action."

The Japanese government also announced the strengthening of the Japanese Navy's military strength in New Guinea, and at the same time sent a naval fleet to the coast of East Borneo to protect its own expatriates. As a response, the Australian government also announced the strengthening of the naval strength in the northern waters of Australia and the dispatch of the air force to carry out patrol missions in eastern New Guinea.

Although the US government also declared "neutral", it also made a major decision to transfer several main warships in the U.S. Navy's Atlantic Fleet to the Pacific, strengthen its naval strength in Manila and Pearl Harbor, and also add some air force to these two military bases to "cope with the worst situation."

In early March 1938, under the pretext of protecting the expatriates of its own country, the Lanfang government army landed on 6 East Borneo and fought on the ground for the first time with the Dutch army. Subsequently, in order to compete for the six air supremacy, the Dutch Air Force and the Chinese Air Force, which carried out the no-fly zone alert mission, exploded several fierce air battles. During the battle, the Chinese-made "Falcon" fighter jets completely suppressed the Dutch Air Force fighter jets. Due to the loss of air supremacy, the Dutch Navy's transport fleet was bombed by the Lanfang Air Force, and suffered heavy losses. Two Dutch submarines were also sunk. At this point, the "Second South China Sea War" was escalated in full swing.

After the war escalated, the attitudes of European and American countries changed. Britain and France proposed to hold an international conference on the "East Borneo Crisis" to resolve the dispute through peaceful negotiations. At the same time, the Soviet Union, which had always had an ambiguous position, also supported the initiative of Britain and France. The United States later joined the ranks of waving flags and shouting, proposing that countries "co-manage Borneo." However, this proposal was firmly rejected by the Dutch government, and the Dutch government demanded that the issue be resolved through the League of Nations.

At the critical moment when countries are fully mediating the "East Borneo crisis", the Japanese Air Force and the Australian Air Force fought on the island of New Guinea, each losing several fighter planes, which further complicated the situation. However, at this time, the Chinese government suddenly announced that as long as the Dutch government agreed to a ceasefire in the East Borneo region first, the Chinese government will persuade the "relevant parties" to come to the negotiating table and resolve the dispute through peaceful negotiations. This suggestion was unanimously agreed by European and American countries.

On March 19, 1938, the Netherlands announced a unilateral ceasefire. On the same day, Lan Fang also announced a ceasefire in the East Borneo region and announced that he would send special envoys to participate in the armistice negotiations held in Beijing. Since the German team brazenly entered Austria at that time, the merger of Germany and Austria became the focus of attention of European countries. Therefore, Britain and France had no objection to the East Borneo crisis mediation negotiations in Beijing. On March 26, the negotiations officially began. The two sides of the direct conflict, the Netherlands and Lan Fang were the protagonists of the negotiations. China, Britain, the United States, Japan, France and other countries attended the meeting as observers.

The armistice negotiations lasted for more than a month, and it was not until the "May Crisis" broke out between Germany and Czechoslovakia that the Dutch government accepted the solution proposed by China under the "persuasion" of the British and French governments. According to this solution, the East Borneo region will be divided into four "sovereign zones". The Dutch government retained one to continue as an East India colony. The local Chinese obtained a piece of territory for future founding of the country, and the Japanese expatriates also obtained a piece of territory as an "autonomous region", and the local indigenous people also obtained a piece of territory. Whether it is autonomy or independent statehood depends on the result of the subsequent referendum.

There is no doubt that if this solution is fully accepted by the Dutch government, the Netherlands will lose a mess again, not only will it lose a large area of ​​colonies, but it will also be in a slump in Europe. This solution immediately caused a political crisis in the Netherlands. The right-wing radical forces in the Netherlands have greatly increased their strength in the fanatical rebound of nationalism. The Nazi movement in the Netherlands has become unstoppable. Faced with the crisis, the Queen of the Netherlands refused to sign the final peace agreement, and the Dutch parliament also announced that it would resist to the end "spiritually".

As a result, the peace talks achieved by the Beijing Conference were in vain. The war in East Borneo began again. Without any suspense, the Dutch army, which had no advantage in terms of military strength and weapons, could not seize the initiative on the battlefield at all. With the beginning of the maritime blockade of the joint naval fleet of China and Japan, the Dutch Navy's slight advantage over the Lanfang Navy was immediately lost. In the subsequent one and a half months of war, the Dutch East India colonial army was almost wiped out. Except for a small number of troops successfully retreating to the British colonies, other Dutch troops were either wiped out or captured. By the end of June 1938, the organized resistance of the Dutch army had actually been dismantled, and East Borneo finally "draged colonial rule."

"The colonial rule has been dragged down", this sentence was told by the Chinese President to Japanese reporters. And as the President promised, China did not replace the Netherlands as the "new master" of East Borneo, and also persuaded the Japanese government to dispel this idea. After the war, China invited the United States, the Soviet Union and Japan to attend a high-level meeting held in Tianjin, and used this meeting to pass the "Tianjin Plan". According to this plan, the issue of the post-war status of East Borneo was resolved. This region will establish several independent sovereign states, and establish the country in accordance with the "national self-determination" principle of the Paris Peace Conference that year, and the local residents will decide to belong.

In the following half month, the "Tianjin Plan" was quickly implemented, and two "independent sovereign states" appeared in East Borneo, one of which was "guided" by Japan and the other "guided" by Lan Fang. Moreover, after the two countries announced their founding, the first thing they did was to establish diplomatic relations with China and at the same time announced their participation in the negotiations of the economic system dominated by China aimed at establishing an "Asian unified market". This "Asian unified market" is exclusive, and even the United States was excluded from the market. It was not until this time that the US government realized that it was being used, so the number of American battleships and aircraft carriers in Pearl Harbor became more.

...

"There is no doubt that the emergence of the 'Tianjin Plan' has declared the end of an old era. This plan is undoubtedly to encourage nationalists in Asia and Africa to take 'decisive action' to drag the shackles of the old colonial system. On this issue, neither Britain nor France can do anything. The goal that the United States tried to achieve at the Paris Peace Conference has now been achieved by China. The European colonial system is about to collapse. An Asian economic colonial system dominated by China is about to be established. Even the United States is humiliated and fooled. Whether we want to or not, we will see the complete end of the old European colonial system. Not only that, Europe itself is also in crisis. Perhaps, a war is approaching. Can the empire survive this war? I personally take a cautious stance."

The above is a speech by British Prime Minister Chamberlain in the House of Commons, known as "British Good Man". Perhaps, we can see from this speech that the British government's strong sense of crisis after the East Borneo crisis. It is also this sense of crisis that forced the British government to seriously reflect on its colonial policies in Asia. The facts are now very clear. Either the United Kingdom actively grants "autonomy" to Asian colonies, or waits for a "liberator" to appear in Asia. This is a difficult choice. The initiative is not completely in the hands of the British government. Whether in Europe or Asia, there are eyes staring at these colonial interests on the British plate.
Chapter completed!