It's easier to leave a small country. The distance from any city in it to another country is lower. You can hop in a boat in Singapore or Hong Kong, but that is much harder to in East Turkestan.

Then there is the likelihood of colonization or invasion in general and the ability of ideas to spread. Competition between governments is more intense.

It may be Europe got its technological advantage and property rights evolved more quickly there because of more competition between countries. But in the center of a large continent, change is slower.