Tộ argued that Asia in general, and not only Vietnam, had taken the same "wrong road" and had failed to meet the challenge of the progressive, dynamic West. He claimed that the East had been the source of all the arts and sciences known to the world. He asserted that instead of developing and honing such advantages, Eastern civilizations had been content to remain in a state of triumphalism and indulged a love of stability. He said that Europeans had appropriated these arts, developed them to higher standards and used them to establish a dominant global influence.