'Siam and its continental neighbours remained entirely
outside the Portuguese imperial design and charted
their own destinies during the sixteenth century.‘
• Vietnam- Unlike any other Southeast Asian people, the
Vietnamese had experienced centuries of Chinese
domination which, while infusing their lives with
aspects of China's culture, had also enabled them to
conceive of themselves as clearly non-Chinese.
• When both sides appealed to the Chinese as
mediators, Beijing ruled that the Mac should govern
the north and the Le with their protectors the south.
By the middle of the sixteenth century, therefore, hints
of a future division in Vietnam were already apparent.