Diplomatic history of World War II as Shanghai. Japan took over French Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia), British Malaya (Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore) as well as the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia). Thailand managed to stay independent by becoming a satellite state of Japan. In December 1941 to May 1942, Japan sank major elements of the American, British and Dutch fleets, captured Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies, and reached the borders of India and began bombing Australia. Japan suddenly had achieved its goal of ruling the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. The ideology of Japan's colonial empire, as it expanded dramatically during the war,
Germany–Indonesia relations Service Poll, 60% of Indonesians view Germany's influence positively, with only 21% expressing a negative view, one of the most favorable perceptions of Germany in Asia Pacific after South Korea's and Australia's view. The relations between people of Germany and Indonesia was commenced during 19th-century colonial Dutch East Indies. Indonesian painter Raden Saleh (1807-1880) spent some times in Germany and his works influences the local art scene. On the other hand, numbers of German scientists and artists took interest in Indonesia. Such as the Prussian geographer Franz Wilhelm Junghuhn spent most of his work studying the geography and geology of