Читать книгу An Introduction to Intercultural Communication - Fred E. Jandt - Страница 135

At a 2016 G20 meeting in Hangzhou, Chinese officials welcomed British prime minister Theresa May, Brazil’s president Michel Temer, South Korean president Park Geun-hye, Russian president Vladimir Putin, and other foreign leaders with “red carpet” treatment upon arrival. Only when U.S. president Barack Obama arrived was there no staircase provided to leave Air Force One. He was forced to disembark on a small stair through a little-used exit in the plane’s belly normally reserved for high-security trips.

A Chinese foreign ministry official said that China provides a rolling staircase for every arriving state leader, but the U.S. side insisted they didn’t need the airport staircase when they learned the driver didn’t speak English and couldn’t understand security instructions. Yet there was no apology.

One China expert observed, “The idea that they have been preparing for well over a year for the G20 but suddenly there be a malfunction with the ramp just for one president … that really strains credulity.… It sure looks like a straight-up snub.” Jorge Guajardo, Mexico’s former ambassador to China, said, “These things do not happen by mistake. Not with the Chinese.… It’s a snub.… It’s part of the new Chinese arrogance.… It’s part of saying: ‘And by the way, you’re just someone else to us.’” The ambassador added, “Just as the Chinese are about giving face they are also about not giving it and letting you know that they are not giving it to you.… They don’t overlook these things by mistake. It’s not who they are. It’s not the way they do these things.”

President Obama suggested that the Chinese hosts may have found the size of the U.S. delegation overwhelming, adding, “I wouldn’t over-crank the significance of it.… [N]one of this detracts from the broader scope of the relationship.”

Then Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said that if it were him, he wouldn’t have gotten off the plane. “I’d say, you know folks, I respect you a lot, but let’s get out of here.”

Assume you work with the Office of the Chief of Protocol responsible for advising the president on matters of national and international protocol.

1 How do high- and low-context concepts help you understand this incident?

2 How does the concept of face help you understand this incident?

3 What would you advise the chief of protocol to advise the president?

Sources: “Barack Obama ‘Deliberately Snubbed’” (2016); Krauthammer (2016); Landler & Perlez (2016); “Trump Slams China” (2016).