For decades Chinese leaders have cultivated the art of cautious diplomacy, so there was a strong sense of embarrassment in Beijing yesterday after the Chinese government prematurely congratulated Governor George W. Bush of Texas on winning the US presidential election.
There were red faces too throughout Asia after several countries scrambled to be the first to congratulate Mr Bush, only to learn that the US election result had been put on hold to allow a recount in Florida.
In most Asian countries the first bulletins announcing that Mr Bush had won came in mid afternoon, and officials had left their offices for the evening before the result was changed to "too close to call".
The official Chinese news agency Xinhua announced at 5.25 p.m. that China "extended its congratulation to Republican George W. Bush, who has taken 271 electoral votes of the total of 538 to win the US presidential election." It also carried a biography of the Texas Governor.
Around the same time, the Indian Foreign Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, told a press conference in Hanoi: "Of course we are delighted and would wish to congratulate Governor George Bush, president elect." He added: "But I would much rather wait until the formal announcement is made."
Much less circumspect was the Indonesian Foreign Minister, Mr Alwi Shihab, who expressed his satisfaction at Mr Gore's defeat, and then had to wait to find out if he had committed a major political gaffe.
"We are happy to hear that Bush has won the election", he had told reporters. "Bush seems more appropriate for Indonesia because he has already said he will not intervene much in world problems."
In Seoul, South Korean politicians fell over themselves to issue congratulatory statements before the recount was announced. The ruling Millennium Democratic Party gushed that it believed the Bush administration "will contribute to the peace, stability and prosperity of Asia and the world."
The main opposition Grand National Party said: "We expect the Bush administration to further develop the historically friendly relationship between South Korea and the United States."
The Asian foreign exchange markets were also affected by the see-saw election count, with the euro losing earlier gains and the dollar strengthening as the election seemed to favour a non-interventionist Mr Bush as president.
The euro first surged in Tokyo to $0.8690 when Mr Gore was doing well, then sagged back to $0.8606 as Mr Bush seemed victorious.
An apparent Bush win lifted Hong Kong shares slightly before profit-taking set in towards the end of the day. The index hit a high of 16023.41 early in the day, then climbed higher after Mr Bush was declared the next US president.
In Beijing, the US embassy invited selected Chinese students and academics to a reception to watch the TV results on CNN. There they were given an explanation of US-style democratic procedures by, among others, a US citizen, Mr Jon Zatkin from San Francisco, dressed as Uncle Sam.