风萧萧_Frank
以文会友
John Menadue
https://johnmenadue.com/precis/?
John Menadue has had a senior professional career in the media, public service and airlines.
He was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1985 for public service. In 1997, he received the Japanese Imperial Award, The Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure (Kun-itto Zuiho-sho), the highest honour awarded to foreigners who are not head of state or head of government. The award was for services to the Australia-Japan relationship, particularly the establishment of the working holiday program between the two countries. In 2003 he was awarded the Centenary Medal ‘for service to Australian society through public service leadership’.
澳前驻联合国官员质问“为何针对中国”
海外网 2020.12.0219:05
图为澳总理内阁部前主管约翰·梅纳杜（John Menadue）创立的政策博客
海外网12月2日电 澳大利亚前驻联合国官员卡文·霍格（Cavan Hogue）12月2日在澳媒上以《大象和老鼠》（The elephant and the mouse）为题发表评论文章指出，与中国发生争端，澳大利亚一定会输。可以预见的是，澳大利亚的政客和媒体会表现出歇斯底里的狂热，美国和英国公开站队澳大利亚足以说明，澳大利亚的主权实际上已经被背后操控。
文章摘编如下：
与中国发生争端，澳大利亚一定会输，不管我们对此有再多批评声音也不能改变事实。必须改变冲动的强硬外交政策转而冷静面对事实，澳大利亚需要思考的是，为什么会与中国产生摩擦？澳大利亚现在应该怎么办？
对于中国外交部发言人推特发布的有关内容，大家想必可能只会当做卡通漫画，而不是自我评断内容的真实性。可以预见的是，澳大利亚的政客和媒体会表现出歇斯底里的狂热，他们叫嚣捍卫主权，但并没有说明将如何捍卫。美国和英国公开站队澳大利亚足以说明，澳大利亚的主权实际上已经被背后操控。
正如很多人所指出的那样，在与中国的任何冲突中，澳大利亚都将不可避免成为失败者，我们或许不能接受，但是更也不能蒙起头来对此视而不见。
澳大利亚一直以来毫无必要地排挤中国，从失去理智地尝试开始，试图通过调查新冠病毒的起源来取悦美国政府，这些已经众所周知。除此之外，澳大利亚还实施了一系列明显针对中国和中国公司的所谓“国家安全”措施，还对中国香港、新疆等问题采取强硬态度，却选择性忽视其它国家存在的问题。
为什么澳大利亚要针对中国？美国只会口头上支持澳大利亚，继续鼓吹澳大利亚支持美国干涉中国事务，仅此而已。
太多的澳大利亚记者和政客并不了解澳大利亚以外的世界，我更希望让更有资格的人来评判中澳关系。你真的认为中国会在意澳大利亚吗？如果我是中国人，我不会把来自澳大利亚的批评当回事，而且看起来中国人确实不在意。我曾经在大学里跨文化传播学院授课，其中基本课程内容就是，无论你是否接受，你都必须了解其它文化，而不是根据自己的文化来理解别人所说的话或者所做的事。
我们应该怎么做？我们如何做会对中国产生影响？中国如何看待中澳关系？一味指责中国毫无意义，澳大利亚不要自欺欺人，因为澳大利亚需要中国和中国需要澳大利亚一样。我们需要更加了解中国、更加冷静地面对现实，而不是无脑捶胸顿足；我们不应该冲动，所需要的是理性思维。（海外网 朱惠悦）
The elephant and the mouse
China’s Twitter photoshop was presumably seen by the Chinese as a cartoon rather than pretending it was real. Whether it was any worse than Charlie Hebdo’s cartoon about the Prophet Mohammed is a moot point but both were in very bad taste and had a negative effect on those the cartoon satirised.
Australian politicians and media have responded predictably with domestically oriented hysteria about bullying and how we will stand up to protect our sovereignty. Just how we will do this is not stated. Public support from the US and UK can only suggest that our sovereignty has already been handed over to others.
As a number of people have pointed out, Australia will inevitably be the loser in any conflict with China. We may not like this but we cannot pretend otherwise.
There is much to be criticised about China today but Australia has gone out of its way to unnecessarily annoy China. We started it with our ill-advised attempt to please Donald Trump by calling for an investigation into the origin of the COVID virus – something that was already known. We have also implemented a number of “national security” measures clearly directed against China and Chinese firms. We have harped on Chinese actions against Hong Kong and Xin Jiang but ignored equally bad actions by other countries.
Why focus on China? This is not to defend things China is doing that I and many others don’t like but did we really think China was going to take any notice of us? There are various versions of the perhaps apocryphal newspaper headline:” The Launceston Examiner warns Mr Hitler” and a similar one about the Kaiser but the message is relevant. The USA will support us verbally and encourage us to support American attempts to turn back the Chinese tide but that is all.
Unlike far too many journalists and politicians with little knowledge of the world outside Australia, I leave it to others better qualified to analyse Chinese motives and possible avenues of reconciliation. The only thing that seems important and obvious to me is China’s humiliation at the hands of those who now criticise its human rights record.
If I were Chinese, I would not take these criticisms seriously and it looks like the Chinese don’t. I used to teach University courses in Intercultural Communication where one of the basic lessons is that, like it or not, you must understand the culture of the others and not interpret what they say or do in terms of your own culture. Far too many commentators on China would have failed the course.
The basic problem then is clear. What are we going to do about it? What can we do that will have any effect on China? What are their aims? It is no use blaming China and telling them they are wrong because they don’t seem to care. Nor should we kid ourselves that they need us as much as we need them.
Yes, it would be nice if China tried to understand us and our culture but powerful empires are not noted for being kind to the weak. Perhaps China is a bully but bullies succeed if they are more powerful than the bullied and China is much more powerful than us. I don’t pretend to have the answers but we need realistic analysis from Australians who understand China and less mindless chest-thumping.
We need less hot air and more cold reason.
