A Short History of China and Southeast Asia

Enter the Europeans

colonised—and Siam had long since repudiated its tributary relation-
ship with China.
Just as China’s relations with Southeast Asia atrophied at the
official level, however, Chinese migration increased dramatically. The
economic success of the overseas Chinese attracted both the Qing
court and its political opponents, and both used them as avenues of
influence in the Nanyang. The Qing Nationality Law and the swelling
tide of Chinese nationalism caused considerable disquiet among colo-
nial administrators and indigenous elites alike in Southeast Asia. But
China remained far too weak to challenge European power in its own
treaty ports, let alone beyond its shores. The late nineteenth century
thus marked the nadir in two millennia of relations between China
and Southeast Asia.