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Honolulu Lite

CHARLES MEMMINGER

Wednesday, April 11, 2001


Battle of words leaves
our side speechless

TO UNDERSTAND why negotiations with the Chinese over the release of the pilot and crew of the downed American surveillance airplane are dragging on, you only need to go on the Internet and read an account of the incident in the People's Daily, China's official newspaper.

Try out this excerpt from a recent editorial:

"Instead of (apologizing and taking responsibility for the collision), the U.S. side wantonly whipped up opinion, charging that China was ignorant of air rules and failed to act in accordance with international law, and what not. This conforms exactly to the Chinese saying, 'The guilty party files the suit first.' "

Huh? The guilty party files the suit first? I guess if you get run over by a bus in China, you've got to hope the bus company sues you for bleeding on the bumper.

It would take longer to deconstruct that paragraph then it would for Chinese operatives to dismantle our spy plane, but I think the "guilty party files the first suit" jab is just an expression of frustration that the United States has the nerve to say the collision was not our fault. It's the next sentence that's the real mind-blower.

"THIS BEHAVIOR of the U.S. side represents a new performance it staged in explaining its hegemonic conduct with domineering logic." It kind of looks like a sentence. It has lots of words in it, some I even recognize. But I can't quite get at the nut of the matter. If you were an American diplomat attempting to negotiate the release of our men and women in captivity, and you were accused of explaining your hegemonic conduct with domineering logic, what would be your next move? You could deny it, assuming you could figure out what "it" was. Or you could evade it by saying, "On the other hand, if Tiger Woods had laid up on that par 5 instead of going for the green in two, David Duval might have tied him for a playoff."

U.S. claims that the incident occurred in international airspace is another painful prick in the panda's paw.

"This is very much like referring to a robber who made trouble at the door of another person's home and yet forbid the house-owner to meddle in the matter," the Chinese editorial states.

If I follow this analogy, the United States is the robber, the door is the ocean, the home is China and the ... nope, lost me. This diplomatic negotiation is tough stuff.

Maybe Americans are too direct. In this kind of an incident, facts don't matter. Perception is what counts. If we just came out and said the crash was our fault and we were sorry, it would destroy the delicate dance of words that this kind of negotiation calls for.

There's an old American saying, "A man picking peaches in an orchard owned by a third party currently divested of interest in the enterprise is not necessarily attempting to be a preponderant influence over a person occupying contiguous real estate."

I suggest we spring THAT one on them in the next round of talks.




Alo-Ha! Friday compiles odd bits of news from Hawaii
and the world to get your weekend off to an entertaining start.
Charles Memminger also writes Honolulu Lite Mondays,
Wednesdays and Sundays. Send ideas to him at the
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-210,
Honolulu 96813, phone 235-6490 or e-mail cmemminger@starbulletin.com.



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