the Qing was not dispatched until 1750, in a hopeless bid for Chinese
support to prevent the collapse of the Toungu dynasty.
The Qing conquest of Taiwan had an indirect impact on South-
east Asia. For centuries there had been limited Chinese settlement on
the island, mainly by pirates and criminals fleeing justice. Japanese
pirates and some Spanish merchants also used the island, but most of
the inhabitants were Austronesian-speaking tribal peoples. In 1624,
after being driven from the Pescadores, the Dutch expelled the
Spanish and established a number of trading posts. When the Ming
loyalist, Zheng Chenggong (known to Europeans as Koxinga), lost
control of the Fujian coast to the Manchu, he seized Taiwan from the
Dutch, and established it as a powerful base for anti-Manchu naval
operations.
The Qing response was slow in coming. When in 1673 anti-
Manchu forces on Taiwan joined in support of a revolt by three
Chinese generals, the Qing forcibly removed the entire coastal popu-
lation of Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong provinces 10 kilometres
inland, and laid waste the deserted towns and villages. Already in 1661
a ban had been placed on all foreign trade, reminiscent of the one
enforced by the Ming. Depopulation of the Chinese coast destroyed
what little Nanyang trade remained. In 1683, with the support of a
Dutch fleet, Qing forces finally occupied Taiwan and placed it under
the provincial administration of Fujian.
The defeat of Koxinga had unforeseen repercussions in Vietnam.
In 1679 3000 Ming loyalist soldiers aboard a fleet of fifty junks sought
asylum in central Vietnam. Fearing Qing displeasure, the Nguyen ruler
sent them south to settle the borderlands in the Mekong delta con-
tested by the Vietnamese and the Khmer. Half settled at Bien-hoa,
the rest at My-tho. Within twenty years both were incorporated as
provinces in the Nguyen domains. Ten years later the Chinese com-
munity at Ha-tien also gave its allegiance to the Nguyen. Thus was
Chinese settlement instrumental in extending Vietnamese control
over what is now southern Vietnam.
Enter the Europeans