The Hong Kong Poll conducted by Oriental Daily on April 22, 2006, revealed significant dissatisfaction with the White House's handling of Hu Jintao's visit. Key findings include that 33% of respondents believed the announcement of the Republic of China's national anthem was a deliberate insult, while 79% felt the U.S. government should apologize for allowing a protestor to disrupt Hu's speech. Additionally, 62% of participants deemed the U.S. untrustworthy as a partner. The discussion highlighted four major protocol blunders, including poor simultaneous interpretation and inappropriate handling of the protestor.
PREREQUISITESPolitical analysts, diplomats, international relations students, and anyone interested in understanding the nuances of U.S.-China interactions and public perception in diplomatic contexts.
Hong Kong Poll About White House Meeting (04/22/2006) Oriental Daily interviewed 349 Hong Kong adults by telephone and here are the survey results with respect to the series of incidents at the Bush-Hu speeches on the White House lawn (see Comment #037).
Question: The White House master of ceremony announced the playing of the national anthem of the Republic of China.
- 33% said that the American government deliberate set this up (玩 ) to insult China
- 21% said that the American government was of poor quality
- 23% said that it was an unintentional mistake
Question: When the female FLG member disrupted Hu Jintao's speech, she was allowed to go on for almost three minutes before the secret service agents removed her.
- 79% said that the American government should apologize
- 9% said that the American government should not apologize
Question: How should China protest against what occurred?
- 43% said China should demand an apology from the American government
- 22% said China should lodge a diplomatic protest
- 6% said China should cancel the recently signed purchase contracts
Question: Do you think that the United States is a trustworthy partner?
- 17% said USA is a trustworthy partner
- 62% said USA is not a trustworthy partner
At Bowenpress, four major mistakes were noted:
(1) The American master of ceremony announced that the national anthems of the Republic of China and the United States of America will be played. This type of mistake is rarely ever seen because this is a huge insult. Hu was supposed to look grim.
(2) There were 16 errors in the simultaneous interpretation of Bush's speech, including a missing section that was filled in later. The interpreter took more time than Bush himself and every Chinese sentence contained grammatical errors and stuttering. According to an exclusive source to Bowen Press, the two sides should have provided their welcoming speeches to each other beforehand. The Chinese did that, but the Americans did not for unknown reasons. According to a veteran diplomat, even excusing the absence of preparation, the simultaneous interpretation was below sub-standard for this type of work.
(3) During the speech, there was a female protestor. She was able to yell aloud for two minutes and fifteen seconds without any special agent stopping her. This was a rare occurrence. When the police came to take her away, they did not depart through the rear (where there is a passageway for the special agents). Instead, she was taken away in front of the entire assembly against White House and Secret Services regulations. These two aspects showed that the Americans may have deliberately planned this to tell the world that there is freedom of speech in America and to remind Hu Jintao about his problems inside China.
(4) After Hu Jintao finished his speech and was about to leave, Bush went above to touch him and steer him in the right direction. This is a minor detail, but it showed that the preparations for this visit had not been fully worked out. It also showed that the United States does not treat this visit as importantly as China does.