Admiral Zheng He and Southeast Asia

3. Did Zheng He Set Out to Colonize Southeast Asia?

Chapter฀3 DID฀ZHENG฀HE฀SET฀OUT฀TO฀ COLONIZE฀SOUTHEAST฀ASIA? By฀Tan฀Ta฀Sen In recent years, with the approach of the 600th anniversary of Admiral Zheng He’s maiden expedition to Southeast Asia, some historians began to re-examine the nature and impact of the Admiral’s expeditions. Lectures, articles and books have been published and many more are still being published. These publications and activities have enriched our understanding of the subject matter. While some writers argue the positive aspects of the Zheng He voyages, others are critical, and even consider Zheng He as an aggressor and a colonialist. Dr Geoff Wade, a senior visiting research fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, belongs to the latter. He presented his theory that is contrary to many scholars’ view. He is of the opinion that Admiral Zheng He’s voyages were aggressive and colonialistic in nature — in fact, acts of invasion. This essay examines some of the arguments presented by Dr Wade in his article entitled “Ming China and Southeast Asia in the 15th Century: A Reappraisal”1 and his seminar at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) as reported in the Straits Times2 42 Reprinted from Tan Ta Sen, “Did Admiral Zheng He Set Out to Colonise Southeast Asia?”, Asian Culture 29 (June 2005), by permission of the publisher. Some editorial changes have been made by the editor. Did฀Zheng฀He฀Set฀Out฀to฀Colonize฀Southeast฀Asia?฀ 43 and Lianhe Zaobao.3 I will concentrate on his arguments regarding Zheng He’s expeditions to South and Southeast Asia. Wade argues that: 1. Zheng He was a territorial expansionist of the Ming Dynasty, a proto-colonialist; 2. He led a fleet and established bases, colonies and commercial strongholds in Southeast Asia, similar to those of the Portuguese; 3. He launched military actions in Sumatra, Java, Palembang and Ceylon during his seven expeditions to the West Ocean. In short, Zheng He’s seven expeditions to the West Ocean were colonizing expansion and invasion, no different from the Portuguese colonization and invasion in the 16th century. Dr Wade has based his arguments on the Chinese sources, to which he added his own interpretations. He mentioned various events to substantiate his views. My essay also uses mainly Chinese sources but comes to a different conclusion. Let us start with the composition of the Zheng He fleets. GRAND฀FLEET Dr Wade is of the view that, of the 300 or 400 ships, the “majority” were warships, and among the 28,000 men on board, the “majority” were military servicemen. He has not disclosed his source of information about the so-called “majority” claims. However, many historical sources show that Zheng He’s fleets consisted of a variety of ships; for example, treasure ships, transport ships, cargo ships, passenger ships, warships and so on, but none has mentioned that the “majority” were warships. In fact, there was no strong maritime power within the trading zones of East Asia and Southeast Asia in the 15th century that 44฀ Tan฀Ta฀Sen warranted Zheng He’s bringing along a great number of warships. At that time, the formerly great empires like Majapahit of Java and Srivijaya of Sumatra had already declined and even disintegrated into small states. Meanwhile, in the vast ocean, piracy abounded. If not supported by some troops, Zheng He during his first voyage in 1407 might have been defeated by the pirate chief Chen Zuyi of Palembang. Therefore, those military servicemen were meant for selfdefence and to protect the valuable gifts and commodities on board and not for invasion. According to archival records, upon arrival at a native state, Zheng He first read out an imperial decree and bestowed gifts of jewellery, silks and porcelain on the native ruler. Thereafter, trading activity was conducted. The main task of the seven Zheng He voyages was not to mount military action, but to project the glory and the Ming China (xuan yang guo wei), to establish the Confucian Order with the neighbouring states and to promote trade through a tributary system.4 MILITARY฀ACTION฀BY฀ZHENG฀HE’S฀TROOPS฀ON฀ JAVA฀ISLAND What about Zheng He’s encounter in Java — was it military action? A Ming source, Shuyu Zhouzhilu by Yan Congjian, states: In the 4th year [of the reign of Emperor Yongle], the Ruler of the West sent tributes like pearls and coral while the East Ruler...