Thread by @ruffleseed

This is not taught in Sejarah. The Malay Malacca Sultanate was a Tributary State to China (Ming Dynasty).

A tributary state is a state that is subordinate to a more powerful empire. It was a form of subordination in pre-modern times.

When Portugal conquered Malacca in 1511, China responded with extreme violence against the Portuguese.

(Prior to the invasion, The Portuguese spent several years trying to establish formal relations with China. In 1521, China formally rejected the Portugese Embassy)

Right after the invasion, a Malaccan envoy informed the Chinese of the seizure, and the Sultan lodged a complaint to the Chinese Emperor, which the Chinese responded to with hostility - imprisoned / executed multiple Portuguese diplomatic envoys after torturing them in Guangzhou.

In 1521, China detained the Portuguese diplomatic mission in Guangzhou and offered their freedom on the condition that they return Malacca, which had been a Ming tributary, to the Sultan. When Fernão Pires arrived he was put in chains and kept in prison. He was never released.

This led the "Battle of Shancaowan" - a naval battle between the Ming dynasty coast guard and a Portuguese fleet led by Afonso de Mello in 1522.

The Chinese authorities then executed 23 Portuguese and torture the rest of them. Followed by complete extermination of all Portuguese in Ningbo & Quanzhou.

After that, China forced Pires to write letters for them, demanding that the Portuguese restore the deposed Malaccan Sultan back to his throne. The Malay ambassador, who refused to leave fearing that the Portuguese would kill him, left on a junk to Patani.