2006 Volume 115 Issue 4 Pages 486-510
This article examines the context in which the Qing Dynasty placed the relationship between the kingdom of Annam's Tay Son Dynasty and pirates during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, in order to show how China legitimized its diplomatic policy when an existing tributary fell and a new one was established. After the Tay Son Dynasty was granted tributary status in 1789, the relationship between Annam and pirates was regarded as a problem by China; but for a number of reasons, the Qing Dynasty avoided bringing the problem to Annam's attention so as not to raise tension between the two kingdoms. However, when China recognized in 1801 that the Tay Son Dynasty was going to collapse, the Qing government accused Annam of instigating piracy in order to legitimize that fall. Then in 1802, when the king of the new Nguyen Dynasty petitioned for tributary status, China granted it on the grounds that Annam was cooperating in dealing with pirates. Within the process of such a policy change, the Qing Dynasty's emphasis on a failing Tay Son Dynasty's relations with pirates extended from actual fact, while in its dealings with the new Nguyen Dynasty, nothing but praise was lavished upon it in dealing with piracy. In both cases, the existence of pirates was used to legitimize China's attitude towards Annam; and from the related documentation, it should be concluded that such legitimization was solely a domestic matter within the Qing court, not diplomatic. Therefore, from the above process, China's basic policy of nonmilitary intervention in Vietnam after its unsuccessful attempt to do so in 1789 was consistent, but was legitimized for different reasons, and pronouncements regarding the intimate relationship that existed between Annam and pirates was none other than an attempt to legitimize diplomatic policy within the Qing court.