What was the strongest native (so no colonial powers) empire in Southeast Asia?

What was the strongest native (so no colonial powers) empire in Southeast Asia?

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Historically in terms of prestige and power projection for its time: Khmer empire

Filipinos are the most powerful race

Depends on time period.
>600s-1000s.
Sri Vijaya based on Java was literally the only SEA empire around. China, arguably was a SEA power too, since they held Vietnam at the time.
>1100s-1400s
Khmers in Mainland SEA. The Majapahit on the Islands.
>1400s-1500s
Burma and Vietnam on the Mainland. Brunei on the sea.
>1600s-1700s
Burma & Vietnam. Insular SEA was Eurocucked by this point, though Hispanic Philippines was the strongest of the Southeast Asian colonial holdings by virtue of their utter control & loyalty of Native Filipinos to Spain which wasn't replicated in Portuguese nor Dutch Indonesia.

Maybe I should throw this in: Siam in the 1500s-1700s under the Ayyuthaya, Thonburi, and Chakri Dynasties were economic powerhouses, albeit Militarily they always got raped by Burma and often relied on foreign help from Europeans, Japanese, and Chinese to drive Burms off.

If Spain was so strong, why didn't it take over more of the region?

1) It tried, in the 1500s-early 1600s. And failed: Governor Dasmarinas was defeated by the DECLINING KHMERS of all people.
2) The Philippines was a handful enough to handle. The SPanish colonial presence there for the longest time was a combination of direct rule and indirect rule through converted Christian native chiefs and princes who were more allies than subjects of Spain. Spain never sent enough men to the Philippine colony and so they had to rely on shitloads of local help.
3) Building on that theme: threats from independent Filipino natives, particularly the powerful Muslim Moros down South and their Muslim SEAsian friends.
4) The looming threat of Chinese or Japanese invasion, which ever scared the Spanish.
5) The entire point of the Philippine operation was for Spain to have a spot in the East Indies/China trade. Nothing more.

However, a lot of those problems became of less concern by the 1700s, but a new problem came to the fore: Spain itself was weakening by that time thanks to internal crises and other Europeans.

Still, by virtue of dominating the Philippine archipelago and complete control of the Populace, Spain was pretty much the powerful colonial entity in Asia up until French & Brits came in the 19th Century. It helped out Thailand a number of times vs. Burma, pacified the South China Sea of Chinese/Japanese pirates, cowed the piratical antics of Muslim Southeast Asians, and in a time when the Spain itself was being BTFO by Netherlands in Europe, defeating the Netherlands in naval battles in Southeast Asia.

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burma by far

Lemuria.