What made the collaboration between the Chinese and the Europeans in the early colonial Maluku Islands different from the well-known cases in Manila and in Batavia? I think the answer lies in the...Show moreWhat made the collaboration between the Chinese and the Europeans in the early colonial Maluku Islands different from the well-known cases in Manila and in Batavia? I think the answer lies in the nature of Dutch policy in Maluku, monopoly, and the character of Chinese trade in Maluku, arbitrage, as well as their special relationship: strange monopoly vis-à-vis elusive arbitrage. By reading both Dutch and Chinese sources, I argue that, before Coen became the Governor-General of the VOC in 1618, Chinese traders, like many other Asian traders, made arbitrage between different counterparties in the world of Maluku, such as the Dutch, the Spaniards, and the local rulers, because their rivalry distorted commodities prices in local and global markets. After Coen became the Governor-General, he initially tried to expel all of Asian traders from the Maluku Islands, but, as this policy turned out to be impractical, he chose to leave the Chinese as “regulated arbitrageurs” to replace other “unregulated arbitrageurs” in order to maintain his strange monopoly policy.Show less
