The European colonial powers brought economic change to SE Asia, but that change was detrimental and almost exclusively benefited the Europeans.
The SE Asians already had a sophisticated trade network with China, India, Japan, each other, etc. The SE Asians did not need the "help" of the Europeans to modernize their economic system. Whereas the SE Asians would have invested in business ventures locally and reaped full benefit from their economic activity, they instead had to support the weight of what amounted to European parasites in the form of forced economic cooperation and heavy-handed bureaucratic structures. This is certainly not to say that the local rulers in SE Asia did not exploit the labor of their own people for their own benefit, but nothing on the scale that the European colonial powers achieved.
Left alone, SE Asia could have developed into an economic powerhouse considering the myriad of natural resources and strategic geographic location. I suppose it was these advantages that made them irresistible targets of the European powers.
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Yes, it is terrible that European powers 'raped' Southeast Asia for its resources; I agree that eventually left alone it would have become a major power as it is doing currently. China and India are new powerhouses in the region and the world. A vast trade network was established. Just like in Africa, local rulers exploited their own people for their own selfish goals. Colonies by their very nature of course support the home country, so Europe 'raped' Southeast Asia for its weatlth.
ReplyDeleteI think the most important factor mentioned in Tarling was the notion of marxism, which spread to the people.