China as a buffer and a target of economic influence

Would a stronger nineteenth-century China have pushed European powers toward colonizing other Asian states?

European expansion could continue, but Japan would not be an easier substitute, and Britain had reasons to preserve China as a buffer against Russia.

The repeated question adds a strategic explanation for China's survival as a large territorial state. In this interpretation, Britain valued China as part of the buffer between Russia and India. British concern about Russian movement through Afghanistan helps explain that perspective. Territorial conquest is distinguished from economic influence, including foreign pressure on China and Japan. Japan would not automatically become easier to conquer, while Korea could remain contested by China and Japan. Russian logistical constraints also limited the military pressure Russia could apply in East Asia.