Secretary of State John Blinken and the U.S.-China delegation led by Yang Jiechi, director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi began a high-level dialogue in Alaska on April 18, and Shen Rongqin, an associate professor at York University in Canada, noted on Facebook that it was surprising that Chinese officials were so rude.
Shen Rongqin said that Yang Jiechi’s pretended surprise to Blinken during the U.S.-China talks: “We thought you would observe basic diplomatic etiquette,” lambasting the U.S. for its rudeness, which is really surprising. As early as the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Chinese diplomats were late and left early and spat in many places around the world, forcing Zhou Enlai to order the formulation of the “Instructions for Diplomatic Relations with Foreign Guests” in 1951, which required Chinese diplomats to comply with everything from not being late and leaving early for banquets to not having spittoons in their rooms, so as not to be embarrassed around the world.
In 2011, Li Yongsheng, the first secretary of the Chinese government in the Philippines, was banned from the Philippine Foreign Ministry for shouting at Philippine officials during a discussion on the Spratlys, and last year, Chinese diplomats even barged into the Taiwan diplomatic mission in Palau to openly beat people up.
Shen Rongqin said, “I have a relative, not from Taiwan, who studied in China when he was young, fluent in Chinese to the point of being a native speaker, and once served as an interpreter when the country’s leader met with Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai in Beijing, and despite his admiration for China, I still learned from his conversations a lot of diplomatic correspondence between China and that country in the past, and was impressed by the rudeness of the Chinese diplomats’ language. I was impressed.”
Shen Rongqin mentioned that last week it was revealed that the Chinese ambassador to France, Lu Shano, had sent a letter last month to French Senator Alain Richard, a friend of Taiwan, threatening him to cancel his planned visit to Taiwan and not to have any kind of contact with Taiwan, which was revealed by the French media La Lettre A. The letter was so rude and harsh that Senator Richard was very upset, and The letter was published by the French newspaper La Lettre A. The wording of the letter was rude and harsh, which made MP Richard very unhappy.
Shen Rongqin, who is in Canada, learned that Lu was transferred from his post as ambassador to Canada precisely because he had been criticizing the Canadian government in a brutal tone during his tenure as ambassador, from huawei and Meng Wanzhou to the hostage diplomacy, and was not welcomed by Canada. However, Xi Jinping‘s War Wolf diplomacy encouraged the ambassador to be wild, and transferred Lu Shano to France as ambassador to continue to be wild.
Shen Rongqin also found that Wang Yi, who is also involved in the current U.S.-China talks, was inspired by Xi’s war-wolf diplomacy and changed his usual mild tone. At a press conference after the annual meeting of Chinese and Canadian foreign ministers in 2016, a Canadian journalist quoted the disappearance of a Hong Kong bookseller and asked the Canadian foreign minister, in light of China’s human rights problems, “Please ask why Canada wants to maintain closer ties with China? How can we use that relationship to push China to improve human rights?”
Shen Rongqin recalled that at that Time Wang Yi was furious, and even though he wasn’t asked, he still couldn’t help but jump out and point his finger at the reporter and say, “Your question is full of prejudice against China, and the so-called arrogance from nowhere, which I am totally unacceptable.” Then instead of answering the reporter’s question, he asked the reporter in return, “Have you ever been to China?” “Do you know that China has gone from being poor to helping 600 million out of poverty?” “Know that China has the second largest economy at $8,000 per capita?” “Do you know that China has included the protection of human rights in its constitution?” ….. It was so jaw-dropping that even Canada’s traditionally pro-China Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had to step in and say that Wang Yi’s treatment of Canadian journalists was an infringement on press freedom and totally unacceptable.
Shen Rongqin pointed out that while the U.S. and China are holding talks again after 247 days of suspension, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, who were arrested by China for hostage diplomacy, will also be tried by a Chinese court 15 months after they were arrested, but China has banned Canadian personnel from being present for the secret trial, and the U.S.-China talks will be held with Yang Jiechi giving a 16-minute lecture to the U.S. personnel. The 16-minute lecture was given by Yang Jiechi to the U.S. side during the U.S.-China talks.
Shen Rongqin believes that from Yang Jiechi’s lecture to the refusal to allow Canadians to attend the trial, it is a version 2.0 of Obama’s humiliation at Hangzhou airport. The West, even Chinese experts, cannot really understand the cunning of the Chinese and how someone as rude and uncivilized as Trump can be treated by China. Xi’s move is the biggest test of the Biden administration, and the way Biden responds will determine the tone of China’s approach to the U.S. government over the next four years.
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