. A jealous policy has thus far managed to divert Annamite merchandise from their natural outlet; they have to seek a distant and expensi1•e market in Canton or Shanghai. It is up to us to use our influence on the courts of Peking and Hue to put a stop to this state of affairs. Our Cochinchinese colony is legitimately destined, b)' the ve1y force of circumstance, to harvest the heritage of Canton, and Saigon will offer to the products of Yunnan and southern fodochina a better-located entrepot for trade against European mcrchandise.1 (emphasis in the original; in Taboulct 1955, 564)