Having just returned from South-East Asia I have been made aware of the absolute carnage that de-colonization brought to the region. Was there any backlash from the Western Powers (USA, Britain, Canada) re. the reinstatement of the Colonial Empires of France and the Netherlands so soon after they themselves were liberated? Did this view change overtime as the Independence Wars continued?
Well, decolonization definitely played into the Cold War.
While the various European allies weren't keen on granting independence to all of their colonies, they didn't really have a choice. Postwar, the US initiated a massive economic rebuilding of Europe, known as the Marshall plan. However, there were strings attached to this; and the major one was decolonization.
There were a few reasons for US policy here; first off, the Soviets had an ideological reason for anti-colonialism, and were one of the major powers in favour of immediate decolonization, and they believed that would gain them many allies in Africa and Asia. Likewise, the US believed that these new nations would be good checks to Soviet expansion in these regions. As well, FDR and a lot of the American establishment were never big fans of European style colonialism; it had been a given in previous US foreign policy to prevent it from occurring within its sphere of influence in Latin America, and a decolonization push fit into their previous framework
You often hear of the moment of the "end" of the French and British empires when President Eisenhower demanded their withdrawal from the Suez in 1957, but this was just one of the more visible pushes from the US (and the USSR too) for the Europeans to quit their colonies
I find it a bit weird that you put Britain apart when it did belong with France and The Netherland in losing vast colonies to the Japaneses, who did invade Malaysia, Birma and parts of India.