The capitalist character of market-based development is not determined by the presence of capitalist institutions and dispositions but by the relation of state power to capital. In the Ming and early Qing eras market-based development in China and throughout East Asia remained non-capitalist. The synergy typical of the European developmental path between militarism, industrialism and capitalism was absent in East Asia.

The original article was published in Japan Focus on 10 January, 2008.