发信人: confi(皓)
整理人: roy_young(2001-04-13 17:24:34), 站内信件
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Such compromises have been a feature of China’s encounters with the West for two centuries. On Sept. 14, 1793, Lord George Macartney of Britain, seeking to be the first foreign envoy accredited as a permanent representative to the Son of Heaven, was granted an audience by Emperor Qianlong after weeks of haggling over a key element: Would Macartney kowtow to the emperor, his forehead knocking the ground nine times in all?
Macartney rejected the Chinese demand, only offered to bend on one knee and never actually knocked his head at the emperor’s feet. But while British accounts and histories say he never kowtowed, Chinese historians, referring to documents in China’s imperial archives, insist that he did.
Over the last 11 days, China has insisted the United States apologize for the collision, for the EP-3’s “violation of Chinese airspace” as it made an emergency landing on Hainan Island without formal approval from the Chinese air control tower, and for the loss of the Chinese pilot, Wang Wei. While interpreting U.S. expressions of sorrow over the landing and Wang’s loss as an apology, the Chinese government chose not to notice that Washington did not accept responsibility or apologize for the collision itself.
The United States and China have been playing language games for decades. Early in their relationship in the 1970s, White House national security adviser Henry A. Kissinger and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai used the words “acknowledge” and its sometime Chinese equivalent “chengren” interchangeably when they described the U.S. attitude toward the “one China” policy stating that there is only one China and that it is the People’s Republic of China.
The United States, which had long backed Taiwan, said it “acknowledged” Beijing’s one China policy, which did not necessarily imply acceptance of it. Beijing, on the other hand, translated acknowledged as “chengren,” implying acceptance and support.
Since then, China and the West have moved beyond many of the issues that bedeviled their relations for years. But in some ways they are still dealing with issues left over from the age of imperialism, going back to Macartney’s visit. The psychological scars left by history were on dramatic display over the past 11 days, as were China’s resentful nationalism and its quest for international respect and a modernized, unified country.
“We are the victims,” said a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Zhu Bangzao, when describing the collision. “Nothing is more important to China than sovereignty and dignity,” said his colleague, Sun Yuxi.
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