Ming-Cheng foreign trade Part 3

Coat of arms of British East India Co

Since 1497 when Vasco da Gama found a way of reaching the Far East from Europe, seafaring Europeans soon started the lucrative Spice Islands Trade. Spice Islands refer to the Indonesian archipelago of the Moluccas (or Maluku Islands), the richest sources of cloves, nutmeg, and mace at that time. First the Portuguese came, followed by the Spaniards and the Dutch. The British came in late, setting up shop in Bantam in 1602.

Bantam 1598

And the British, by allying with the Dutch, had successfully pushed the Portuguese and the Spaniards out of the trade in 1620. The binding agreement was that the trading center would stay in Batavia, the Dutch stronghold. This alliance, however, did not last long, soon they were fighting with each other for the control. The British regrouped in Bantam in 1628 and the town again became a trading center, importing teas from China, spices from the Philippines, and pepper from the Indies, all of which were then shipped back home and sold in Europe. This activity was, however, often disrupted by the Dutch and the feud continued.

In 1661, Koxinga evicted the Dutch from Taiwan. The Dutch East India Company, however, remained in control of the East Indies and was able to prevent other European powers from reaching Taiwan. The British finally broke through the Dutch blockade and sailed into Port An-Ping on June 23rd, 1670. On the 26th, British East India Company Representative Ellis Crisp was received by Cheng Ching. Mr Crisp presented to Lord Cheng an official letter from the Company stating that the Brits were honored by Cheng's invitation. He further explained the difference between the British and the Dutch, and requested a trade agreement complete with establishment of a trading post in Taiwan. Cheng Ching welcomed the Brits warmly and promptly agreed with the signing of a mutual trade treaty.

A British East India Co warship, 1612.

Mr Crisp returned to Bantam to an accolade-laden reception by the Company trustees. The first order from Ming-Cheng Kingdom was for 200 barrels of gun powder, shipments of match-lock rifles, iron ores, and black pepper, thus marking the beginning of the Cheng-British trade, that was to last for 14 years.

This is not to say that the Dutch had stood idly by. They had in fact not only refused Cheng Ching's invitation but also joined force with the Qing, assisting with warships in three separate unsuccessful attempts at invading Taiwan.

In 1674, Cheng Ching mounted a large-scale attack on China. The British East India Company was to play a crucial logistical role. With the increasing demand for war materiels, they built a 200-tonne frigate, the Formosa, to service the needs. When Amoy was re-taken by Ming-Cheng, the Company also opened a trading post there and built another 140-tonne frigate, the Tywan (i.e., Taiwan) to meet the much increased demand. Also in the summer of 1675, the Flying Eagle arriving from Bantam, had delivered gun powder to Taiwan and presented exquisite gifts to Cheng Ching's mother Lady Tung, his wives, and other court officials, while Cheng Ching himself was away fighting in China. Needless to say, the Brits enjoyed tremendous prestige and was rewarded with a much expanded trade agreement with nine more articles.

Disasters struck, however, in 1682, when the local Sultan allied with the Dutch and drove the British out from Bantam. And in 1683, Tung-Ning Kingdom had fallen to Qing naval force commanded by the Ming-Cheng turncoat, Shi Lang. British East India Company in Taiwan faced an uncertain future. Company officials, Thomas Angier and Thomas Woolhouse, tried to negotiate with Shi Lang for a trade deal with Qing but were rebuffed. In fact, Shi Lang regarded the Brits as enemy enablers who were to be tried as criminals. Through Shi's representatives, the Brits paid a bribe of 2,500 taels of silver to Shi and another 590 taels to other Qing officials, but ending up holding an empty bag. The Company was ultimately also unable to recover the debts owed by Ming-Cheng, even Company buildings were lost to the Qing.

Since the Qing were essentially horsemen from the north, they knew nothing about naval warfare and must rely on, to them the untrustworthy, southerners including the Ming-Cheng turncoats. Unable to fight Ming-Cheng on the open sea, they had operated on land and resorted to the scorch-earth policy which, with time, had proven effective. The much sought-after Chinese goods such as silk and porcelain became scarce. At the same time, Japanese isolationism, instituted since 1633, had become quite extreme banning all foreign contacts including the international trade. These developments had much diminished the role of Taiwan as the hub of East-West trade. Taiwan itself also had limited resources and the export was heavily taxed leaving very little profits for the Brits. And last but not least, British merchandises, mostly firearms, could not find enough interested buyers anywhere else except Ming-Cheng.

The trade with and through Taiwan, on balance, had turned out to be one with far more loss than gain for the British East India Company. The Brits re-entered China market in the mid-19th Century, this time through gunboat diplomacy, entering the Opium War with China, for example. But that is another story.