All this was ostensibly rooted in an ideology of extraordinary chauvinism (“What could these barbarians possibly have that we really need, anyway?”), but, applied to China’s neighbors, it proved extremely wise policy for a wealthy empire surrounded by much smaller but potentially troublesome kingdoms. In fact, it was such wise policy that the U.S. government, during the Cold War, more or less had to adopt it, creating remarkably favorable terms of trade for those very states—Korea, Japan, Taiwan, certain favored allies in Southeast Asia—that had been the traditional Chinese tributaries; in
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Important note! Though note that in the 1980s, I believe Japan was the largest foreign holder of US public debt (as they are now) and they also had enormously favorable trade arrangements with the US (Japan was highly protectionist and restricted capital outflows to the US, while the US allowed Japanese goods to be imported at relatively low tariff rates).
Eventually this became a problem, and Japan was forced to appreciate their currency in the Plaza Accords (along with some other concessions, such as accepting an auto quota).
