20세기 전반기 아시아 설탕 시장과 “아시아 역내 교역론”의 재고 - 태고당방(太古糖房) 영업 분석을 중심으로 -

Abstract

This paper introduces the arguments of recent studies on the East Asian sugar market to provide a critical review of intra-Asian trade theory. The intra-Asian trade theory argues that the growth of modern Japanese industries has successfully substituted Western capital such as British companies in the Asian market on the basis of autonomous intra-regional division of labor. However, this paper tries to interpret the so-called “Anglo-Japanese” competition over the Asian market as a competition between “transnational diaspora capital” and “national capital” rather than national rivalry. In addition, this paper verifies the revisionist argument by analyzing the competition between Japanese sugar and Taikoo Sugar in China. Hong Kong sugar has not shrunk in the Chinese market even after the growing sales of Japanese sugar but instead has grown quantitatively and qualitatively. This growing trend was thwarted by the 1925 anti-British boycott and the Chinese nationalism. During the Great Depression, Java sugar, Hong Kong sugar, and Japanese sugar all had to accept losses and dumping sales to maintain their business. Overall, it was not the defeat of European capital in the imperialist competition in the Asian market. The growing restrictions laid on free economic activities in favor of national capitals in Asia weakened the competitiveness of transnational merchants like European merchants in Java and Hong Kong.