An extraordinary display of discord erupted between China and Singapore in July 2004, when Lee Hsien Loong paid a private visit to Taiwan shortly before becoming the city-state's Prime Minister. Beijing responded with almost visceral asperity to the visit, saying that it had violated Singapore's commitment to the one-China policy and had hurt China's core interests. China followed up its words with punitive action, cancelling bilateral visits and exchanges and threatening to delay talks on a bilateral free trade agreement. Beijing was mollified only after Singapore emphasized its support for the one-China policy and its opposition to Taiwanese independence. What was astonishing about the dispute was China's vehement denunciation of a Taiwan visit by the leader-designate of a sovereign nation whose troops actually trained in Taiwan. The Chinese response prompted Eric Teo Chu Cheow to place the pique in historical perspective. According to him, Beijing's ire went beyond the Taiwan visit and expressed its frustration over what it saw as Singapore's increasing tilt towards the United States at a time when China was wary of America's intentions. Among the signs of the apparent tilt were Singapore's “eagerness” to sign a free trade agreement with Washington in the midst of the American invasion and occupation of Iraq, “for which Singapore pledged support for the US-led coalition in Iraq”; and Singapore's support for an American proposal to send its troops to help patrol the Malacca Straits, which “shocked” the Chinese. Certain quarters in Beijing saw Singapore as participating in a pro-US and anti-Chinese coalition of countries such as Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea that were forming a de facto arc of containment against China. The “mentality behind China's ancient tributary system seems to be bearing out on certain recent geo-political trends emanating from China”, Teo argues, mentioning Beijing's desire to reduce America's influence in the Asia-Pacific and advance its own vision of Asian regionalism by excluding the United States from the region, which “Beijing may once again consider its own ‘backyard’ ”. Teo views Beijing's “charm offensive” towards Singapore's neighbours as being among its moves to “pacify” China's immediate region, “as in the old days of China's imperial tributary system under the Ming and Qing Emperors”. Teo's use of an historical analogy suggests that China's imperial past remains a framework by which current events might be judged.