In the scripted world of high-profile diplomacy, every move is planned weeks in advance, with seating charts, menus and toasts subject to careful scrutiny.
So imagine Britain’s surprise when Mikhail Gorbachev made an unannounced, spontaneous visit to the prime minister’s residence at 10 Downing Street in London.
This happened in December 1984, when the future Soviet leader — chief architect of the liberalization program known as perestroika — made a landmark trip to Britain.
Photo: AFP
照片:法新社
Afterward, an impressed Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher told then-US president Ronald Reagan that Gorbachev was a man the West could do business with.
Gorbachev’s impromptu appearance at the prime minister’s home was revealed in a confidential telegram made public on Jan. 3 by the National Archives under the “30-year rule” for declassifying secret documents.
(AP)
在凡事都先寫好劇本的大人物外交世界中,一舉一動都在數週前便計畫妥當,包括座位表、菜單與舉杯等,都被嚴密檢視。
如此一來就不難想像,當戈巴契夫突然不請自來,造訪倫敦唐寧街十號首相官邸時,英國方面有多麼驚訝了。
這件事發生在一九八四年十二月,當時這位未來的蘇聯領導人,也是被稱為「改革」(perestroika)的自由化計畫的主要策劃人戈巴契夫,前往英國進行具有指標意義的訪問。
事後,對此留下深刻印象的英國首相柴契爾夫人,告訴當時的美國總統雷根,戈巴契夫是一個西方世界可以打交道的人物。
戈巴契夫即興現身於(英國)首相官邸一事,揭露於國家檔案局一月三日根據機密文件解密之「三十年限」而公諸於世的一份機密電報。
(美聯社/翻譯:張沛元)
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