China's Next Leader?
In April a fellow named Le Yucheng conducted an interview with America's NBC News. It was a big deal.
Neither Chinese politicians nor diplomats frequently give interviews to the West. And this is partially the blame of the West. And also reflective of the inability of the Chinese Marketing Machine to make itself heard. While the Chinese Narrative within China itself rules supreme, it falls upon death ears beyond its borders.
So it was surprising to see an interview take place, albeit in Mandarin. While the Chinese Government, along with Korea and Japan, continues for some odd reason to strangely be unable to produce fluent English speakers to present their cause to the West(nevermind our even more glaring ineptitude to do the same, in their countries, in their language), it was still quite fresh to finally see a high Chinese government official coming out to speak to a foreign reporter. Something Jiang Zemin used to do on a regular basis.
However, I don't want to talk about the context of the interview. I don't care too much about it. It is widely available online.
What I really want to talk about is this fellow Le Yucheng, and what it tells us about China's future direction. And I must admit, it saddens me, and should sadden everyone else interested in knowing what the future of China portends for the rest of us.
I should state first it was hard to find out much about him online. His profile was deleted on the Chinese Foreign Affairs website. Strange. The rumor is he is the son of a government official. I do not know if that is true or not.
What I'd like to say is something like this: Le Yucheng speaks fluent English, and studied abroad at a European University. He studied French Philosophy, had a German girlfriend, and traveled widely as a backpacker. As such, he knows the West very, very well.
Well...didn't Xi Jingping live in Iowa for a bit? People are disappointed in XJP. He came to America, lived here, then left without taking anything of merit back with him. He is a Nationalist Chinese, bent on making China strong. All seemingly indelible crimes. In a phrase, he's merely the Chinese version of Trump, alas, many multitudes more talented.
But XJP only stayed in Iowa two weeks. That's all. And yet our world's are shattered to see him not be one of us. The terror.
But back to Le Yucheng. Who didn't backpack through the West, most assuredly never had a German girlfriend, and probably only speaks basic English at best. Why is that? Well, because he speaks Russian of course! Like Li Peng, he is a Russian trained "expert". His Russian is better than you and me. The problem with all of this of course, and yes you may call me a "self absorbed Westerner" if you wish, is that Russia is so.....yesterday.
Being able to speak Russian won't even be necessary to pick up a Russian Bride. And speaking Russian isn't a requirement to buy Russian oil, much less Russian weapons. So it pains me to see the direction China is going, when instead of choosing someone perhaps a bit more versed in Western politics, it instead chooses a Russian Expert to "deliver the message".
It shows us that China doesn't want Western Experts dominating the future path of China's Rise. To hell with that. Better to pick an expert of a failed nation.
Le Yucheng is the number two fellow in China's foreign ministry. He speaks to barbarians day in and day out. It's his job. He's been the ambassador to both Kazakhstan as well as to India, albeit for only a few years each. And to be the Ambassador to India means something.
Again, when one lacks the sense of urgency to finely tune a "message" to a billion people, how can you be good "messaging" beyond your borders? The interview would have been so much better if it was given in English, right? It would have had massive views. And let's be blunt; If China had picked a beautiful girl with good English to deliver the message, trust me, good or bad, it would have gotten across.
Instead, this is really Le Yucheng's "coming out" party. Kudos to him. China likes him. We need to get used to him. And clearer than ever, we now understand which "road" China wants to take. Any official even within a whiff of understanding our culture is on a path to career suicide.
China, and it
Neither Chinese politicians nor diplomats frequently give interviews to the West. And this is partially the blame of the West. And also reflective of the inability of the Chinese Marketing Machine to make itself heard. While the Chinese Narrative within China itself rules supreme, it falls upon death ears beyond its borders.
So it was surprising to see an interview take place, albeit in Mandarin. While the Chinese Government, along with Korea and Japan, continues for some odd reason to strangely be unable to produce fluent English speakers to present their cause to the West(nevermind our even more glaring ineptitude to do the same, in their countries, in their language), it was still quite fresh to finally see a high Chinese government official coming out to speak to a foreign reporter. Something Jiang Zemin used to do on a regular basis.
However, I don't want to talk about the context of the interview. I don't care too much about it. It is widely available online.
What I really want to talk about is this fellow Le Yucheng, and what it tells us about China's future direction. And I must admit, it saddens me, and should sadden everyone else interested in knowing what the future of China portends for the rest of us.
I should state first it was hard to find out much about him online. His profile was deleted on the Chinese Foreign Affairs website. Strange. The rumor is he is the son of a government official. I do not know if that is true or not.
What I'd like to say is something like this: Le Yucheng speaks fluent English, and studied abroad at a European University. He studied French Philosophy, had a German girlfriend, and traveled widely as a backpacker. As such, he knows the West very, very well.
Well...didn't Xi Jingping live in Iowa for a bit? People are disappointed in XJP. He came to America, lived here, then left without taking anything of merit back with him. He is a Nationalist Chinese, bent on making China strong. All seemingly indelible crimes. In a phrase, he's merely the Chinese version of Trump, alas, many multitudes more talented.
But XJP only stayed in Iowa two weeks. That's all. And yet our world's are shattered to see him not be one of us. The terror.
But back to Le Yucheng. Who didn't backpack through the West, most assuredly never had a German girlfriend, and probably only speaks basic English at best. Why is that? Well, because he speaks Russian of course! Like Li Peng, he is a Russian trained "expert". His Russian is better than you and me. The problem with all of this of course, and yes you may call me a "self absorbed Westerner" if you wish, is that Russia is so.....yesterday.
Being able to speak Russian won't even be necessary to pick up a Russian Bride. And speaking Russian isn't a requirement to buy Russian oil, much less Russian weapons. So it pains me to see the direction China is going, when instead of choosing someone perhaps a bit more versed in Western politics, it instead chooses a Russian Expert to "deliver the message".
It shows us that China doesn't want Western Experts dominating the future path of China's Rise. To hell with that. Better to pick an expert of a failed nation.
Le Yucheng is the number two fellow in China's foreign ministry. He speaks to barbarians day in and day out. It's his job. He's been the ambassador to both Kazakhstan as well as to India, albeit for only a few years each. And to be the Ambassador to India means something.
Again, when one lacks the sense of urgency to finely tune a "message" to a billion people, how can you be good "messaging" beyond your borders? The interview would have been so much better if it was given in English, right? It would have had massive views. And let's be blunt; If China had picked a beautiful girl with good English to deliver the message, trust me, good or bad, it would have gotten across.
Instead, this is really Le Yucheng's "coming out" party. Kudos to him. China likes him. We need to get used to him. And clearer than ever, we now understand which "road" China wants to take. Any official even within a whiff of understanding our culture is on a path to career suicide.
China, and it
Comments
Post a Comment