The British Government, of course, understands that this news is actually released by the Spanish Government. The purpose of releasing this news is naturally to remind and threaten the British.
The Spanish Government is openly telling the British Government that Spain can cooperate with countries other than the UK; all European Powers are within Spain's scope of cooperation.
Who the Cuban Colony belongs to is not important; what's important is that, if this incident pushes Spain completely towards Germany, won't France be completely diplomatically isolated by Germany?
The threat from Germany itself is already significant; the British Government is considering assisting France in wooing Russia to form a Franco-Russian Alliance to resist the threat from Germany.
