during his second term, crispi continued his colonial expansionist policy in east africa. king umberto i commented that "crispi wants to occupy everywhere, even china and japan". crispi was strongly supported by the king, who alluding to his personal dislike of him, stated "crispi is a pig, but a necessary pig", who despite his corruption, had to stay in power for "the national interest, which is the only thing that matters". crispi took a very belligerent line on foreign policy as he during a three month period in 1895, he talked quite openly about attacking france, sent a naval squadron to the eastern mediterranean to prepare for a possible war with the ottoman empire in order to seize albania, of sending an expeditionary force to seize a city in china, and planned to sent a force to south africa to forcibly mediate the dispute between great britain and the transvaal republic. crispi who favored a militant anti-french line wanted to revise the triple alliance as the preamble to the triple alliance spoke of preserving peace in europe while "for italy, it must be the opposite; for us, the triple alliance must mean war!" those who knew him by this stage of his life considered crispi to be almost mindlessly bellicose as he broke off diplomatic relations with portugal over a supposed slight, saying he deserved more respect from this "entirely unimportant country" ruled over by a "minuscule monarchy".