A power can take a society's control without overthrowing it, by owning the terms of exchange: the nominal ruler keeps its title and its comfort while the levers move, and the taker, acting inside its own story, sees itself as only doing business. Ansary, ch. 22: the Europeans "were just conducting business"; after the Opium War the British asked "only" that their businessmen "be allowed to go anywhere they wanted in China and buy or sell anything"; "None of these powers claim to have overthrown the Qing government"; the Qing "lost control of land use, taxes, and tariffs" yet "retained their wealth and decadence and luxury," and China became "scarcely more than real estate." That this is the enfeeblement trap played at the scale of a civilisation, whose early sign is a ruler kept comfortable while the levers move, is Leo's step.

Evidence 7 passages

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  Here, too, however, from their own perspective, the Europeans were not forcing anyone to do anything. They were just conducting business.

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  They asked only that British businessmen be allowed to go anywhere they wanted in China and buy or sell anything they wanted to anyone who was interested in doing business.

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  None of these powers claim to have overthrown the Qing government. Officially, China was still a mighty Asian empire ruled by its own long-time dynasty.

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  They lost control of land use, taxes, and tariffs.

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  The Qing retained their wealth and decadence and luxury.

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  It was scarcely more than real estate.

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  their rulers were actually puppets, and their governments were stage shows controlled from behind the scenes by various Western powers.

Where the agents stand

No agent has recorded a position on this claim.