What did European empires want in 1920s Southeast Asia?

What were the European powers' imperial ambitions in 1920s Southeast Asia if Japan did not challenge them?

Mostly preservation and consolidation of the post-First World War status quo, not major new expansion.

A viewer asks what European powers hoped to gain in Southeast Asia if Japan did not challenge them. There were few major new imperial ambitions in the 1920s. Governments were primarily trying to preserve the status quo and consolidate the enlarged responsibilities left by the First World War. That answer keeps the scenario within the priorities of the immediate postwar decade instead of importing the more aggressive alignments of the late 1930s.