Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article: A1322-W937
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A1322-W937
Release Date: September 19, 2020
发布日：2020年9月19日
Topic: UK Ambassador to China Stirs Uproar With Photo Seen as Promoting
Xi Jinping（By Natalie Liu, Voice of America）
标题：英国新驻华大使推文晒照手拿“习宝书”引质疑（美国之音燕青报道）
Original Language Version: English/Chinese (Chinese version at the end)
此号以英/中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）
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UK Ambassador to China Stirs Uproar With Photo Seen as Promoting Xi
Jinping
-- Natalie Liu, Voice of America
September 18, 2020 06:59 PM
Britain’s newest ambassador to China has gotten
off to a rocky start after posting a photo on social media that some viewers
interpreted as an endorsement of the hard-line policies of Chinese President Xi
Jinping.
Caroline Wilson, appointed in June to lead Britain’s
diplomatic mission in Beijing as of this month, posted the photo on Twitter
after a meeting with Liu Xiaoming, China’s envoy to
Britain.
In the photo, Liu beams with apparent delight as the two hold what
appears to be a gifted book, the latest in a series of tomes laying out Xi’s thoughts on governance.
Wilson described the occasion on Twitter as a “valuable
meeting with @AmbLiuXiaoMing before heading to Beijing.”
Her new subordinates at the British Embassy in Beijing subsequently retweeted
the posting.
As of Friday morning, Wilson’s tweet had generated
more than 1,000 comments, and while a handful praised her as “the
perfect person for this absolutely pivotal role,” the
vast majority considered the posting highly problematic.
“Even
Liu XiaoMing didn’t choose to upload this photo,” one commentator wrote, though the Chinese envoy did post
several other photos from the meeting. Many others shared the views of a writer
who commented, “How could she uphold UK values while
holding ‘Xi Jinping Thought’?”
Among the most scathing comments was one from a writer who uploaded a
1938 photo of then-British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain shaking hands
with Adolf Hitler. Another writer said Wilson’s gesture
was “no different than holding Mao’s
little red book.”
A tweet that had generated almost 500 likes by Friday lodged a more
serious charge, that Wilson is too eager to please Xi.
Foreign ministry
response
A spokesperson from the British foreign ministry defended Wilson’s tweet, telling VOA their country has “a
policy of engagement with China and our approach will remain consistent even if
difficulties emerge.”
“We
must have a calibrated approach and use engagement to raise matters on which
the U.K. cannot agree or compromise with China, including on human rights and
Hong Kong,” the spokesperson said.
That argument is not persuasive to Roger Garside, a former British
diplomat and author of Coming Alive: China After Mao.
“As
a former British diplomat myself, who served twice in Beijing, I am appalled by
this behavior by our Ambassador-designate to the PRC,”
Garside wrote from London in response to VOA’s request
for comment. “It goes beyond anything I have witnessed
from a British diplomat.”
Garside summed up the reaction to Wilson’s
tweet as a “stream of well-deserved outrage.”
'Hard looks'
Clive Hamilton, a professor of public ethics in Australia, also
responded to a request for comment from his home in Canberra:
“I
think the foreign policy establishment is lagging [behind] the political shift
that has taken place in Britain this year. It has yet to wake up to the
[Communist Party of China]’s ambitions and ruthless
modus operandi.”
Hamilton added: “The danger is that instead of
advocating Britain’s policies in Beijing, she will end
up advocating China’s policies in London.”
Wilson has already attracted “hard looks” from critics of China’s ruling
Communist Party within her own party, said Hamilton, the author of Hidden Hand,
which warns that the Chinese Communist Party is determined to mold the world in
its own image.
He said there has been no public criticism “as
far as I know, but I’vet heard indirectly that some
have expressed dismay in private.”
Link to the original VOA report in Chinese:
https://www.voachinese.com/a/uk-ambassador-china-stirs-uproar-photo-promoting-xi-jinping-20200918/5589689.html
Link to the original VOA report in English:
https://www.voanews.com/europe/uk-ambassador-china-stirs-uproar-photo-seen-promoting-xi-jinping
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中文版
Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article: A1322-W937
魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A1322-W937
Release Date: September 19, 2020
发布日：2020年9月19日
Topic: UK Ambassador to China Stirs Uproar With Photo Seen as Promoting
Xi Jinping（By Natalie Liu, Voice of America）
标题：英国新驻华大使推文晒照手拿“习宝书”引质疑（美国之音燕青报道）
Original Language Version: English/Chinese (Chinese version at the end)
此号以英/中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）
如有中文乱码问题，请与我们联系或访问：
http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2020/report2020-09/WeiJSonUKambassadorWilson200919VOAreportA1322-W937.htm
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英国新驻华大使推文晒照手拿“习宝书”引质疑
-- 美国之音燕青
2020年9月19日 13:41
华盛顿 —
英国最新的驻华大使吴若兰（Caroline Wilson）今年六月刚被任命，本月到任。就在赶赴北京之前，这位高级外交官在推特上贴出一张与中国大使合举“习宝书”的照片，引发外界对其是否能推动和维护英国价值和利益产生了质疑。
吴若兰星期三（9月16日）在中国驻英使馆同刘晓明大使会面之后，于个人官方推特账户上展示了自己同刘大使共同手捧《习近平谈治国理政》英文版的一张合照，吴若兰在推文中说：
“赶赴北京之前与刘晓明大使一次非常宝贵的会晤。我们能够、也必须同中方在气候、卫生、贸易、以及比较棘手的问题上，展开富有雄心的合作。我期待本着英国价值观，推动英中之间成熟、积极的关系。”
两位大使、两张照片引热议
吴若兰的推文和照片发布不久，即引起各界关注。
截至周五，英国驻华使馆官方推特即收到一千多条相关留言，其中只有极少数留言赞美吴若兰是“这一绝对关键位置的最佳人选，”绝大多数网民认为这则推文极为不合时宜。
一位网民留言：“手举习语录，她还怎么可能同时高举英国价值呢？”
“这跟手举毛主席语录有什么区别？”
“我在想吴大使是不是要把习近平的‘新时代社会主义思想’介绍到西方。”
“你手里拿什么拍照不好——比如说拿本汉语字典、或者是北京故宫游览书——总比这个好吧？”
另一些网民甚至找出1938年英国前首相张伯伦和希特勒在签署慕尼黑协定时的合照，贴在吴大使的推文后面。
“即便是刘晓明也都没有贴这张照片，”一位网民说。
刘晓明在与吴若兰会晤之后，也在其官方推特网页上晒出了双方的另一张合照。相比之下颇为中规中矩，两人分别站在国旗下，并没有手捧“习宝书”的镜头。
值得一提的是，刘晓明贴出的合影中，中英国旗摆放位置是中国五星旗居中，照片拍出来的效果看起来是两位大使都站在红旗下，英国国旗几乎看不见。
生在红旗下、但是选择挑战共产党一党专政的中国著名异议人士魏京生评论说，仅从这一点，就可以看出，刘晓明比吴若兰要“聪明”许多。
魏京生说：“刘晓明知道‘物极必反’。”他解释说，长期担任中国驻英大使的刘晓明已从经验中总结出来，什么事做得过火，反而会起反作用。就这件事来看，魏京生认为，吴若兰看似要帮中国政府的忙，但这么急于表态，实际上势必引起反弹。
吴若兰的推文还没发出多久，英国诺丁汉大学的社会和政治学者安德烈亚斯·富尔达（Andreas
Fulda）就在网上呼吁公众找出这一推文的特殊之处：“大家快来看一看，这张照片有什么问题？”
一位来自香港、自称作家和坚决捍卫民主的“RichS”在推特上留言说：吴若兰“不仅拍了这样的照片，还兴高采烈地把它贴出去，给全世界看；这岂不是凸显了无知吗？要不然就是非常想得到某一个人的首肯。”
截止到星期五晚间，这一评论获得了500多次点赞。
英国东部赫尔德福特郡的一位地方议员也注意到了这条消息，他的留言是：“这太丢人了。”
英国外交部的反应
星期五，英国外交部就这一事件在回答美国之音提问时说：“我们对华政策是对话，即便遇到困难，我们的方式也（与这一政策）一致。”
英国外交部的一位发言人还对美国之音表示：“我们必须采取标准一致的途径，通过接触来提出英方不能同意、或无法与中方妥协的问题，比如人权问题和香港问题。”
盖思德（Roger Garside）职业生涯中曾经两度出任英国驻华外交官。他从伦敦接受美国之音采访时说，“以我过去多年从事外交生涯的经验，我对我国刚被任命的派驻中华人民共和国大使能有这样的行为，感到震惊。我从来没有见过任何一个英国外交官会有如此行为。”
英国最近在禁止中国电信巨头华为参与5G网络建设等问题上态度强硬，吴若兰的推文被一些人解读为是在向北京示好。
盖思德认为有这样的可能。“但那是非常愚蠢的想法，”
盖思德说。他认为，中国在处理国际关系时，非常冷静、客观，一切从实际利益出发，不会注重这种肤浅的表态。
澳大利亚著名学者兼政论作家克莱夫·汉密尔顿（Clive
Hamilton）近年来撰写了多部有关中共全球战略和中共在澳大利亚、英国等西方国家政界、商界渗透的著作，引起国际强烈反响。他从澳大利亚首都堪培拉接受美国之音采访时说：“在我看来，相较于英国全国上下今年的政治变动，英国外交界显然落后于时代了；英国外交界尚未因中共的野心及其残酷无情的行为方式而觉醒。”
他说，问题的核心在于，英国新任命的驻华大使“最终可能成为替中国的政策方针在伦敦游说的工具，而不是推动英国的政策。”
汉密尔顿最近撰写的有关中共在海外扩张的新书书名为“Hidden Hand”，即“看不见的手”。他与英国政坛人士也有深厚的往来。他对美国之音表示，虽然吴若兰大使的推文以及晒照事件尚未受到来自官方的公开批评，但是“私下里，很多对中共怀有异议的英国政界人士已经对其作为深感不安。”
美国之音报道的原始链接
中文：
https://www.voachinese.com/a/uk-ambassador-china-stirs-uproar-photo-promoting-xi-jinping-20200918/5589689.html
英文：
https://www.voanews.com/europe/uk-ambassador-china-stirs-uproar-photo-seen-promoting-xi-jinping
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