For a former diplomat, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is drawing a lot of flak at home over his behavior with heads of state on his first major trip abroad. However, he may have redeemed himself in China.
First he outraged the opposition by flipping a salute to US President George W. Bush; then he got in trouble for not bending his neck when he met Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.
Rudd’s behavior towards Bush was described as “conduct unbecoming of an Australian prime minister” and as carrying a “subservient connotation.”
PHOTO: AFP
Days later, at an audience with the queen at Windsor Castle, Rudd failed to show her enough respect, conservative Senator George Brandis said last Wednesday.
“It’s interesting that the prime minister of Australia doesn’t afford the appropriate formal courtesy to the person who is at least nominally Australia’s head of state, but makes this flamboyant and rather obsequious gesture to the president of the United States.”
Rudd laughed off the original criticism of his salute to Bush at a NATO meeting in Bucharest, saying “it was just a joke.”
Meanwhile Rudd impressed students last Wednesday with his flawless Chinese at China’s Peking University while leaving the audience laughing over quick witticisms on China’s history and culture.
Although Rudd’s comments about “significant human rights problems in Tibet,” might draw ire from his hosts Premier Wen Jiabao and President Hu Jintao, China’s top students appeared unfazed.
“I agreed with what he said,” said Li Yang, a graduate student in environmental sciences. “The Tibetan issue should be resolved without violence and through dialogue, this is correct.”
A computer science graduate, surnamed Chen said “I enjoyed his discussion on how China needs to integrate with the world, this was very important ... his message was that everyone needs to deepen understanding and the first step is through language learning.”(Staff writer ,with afp)
前外交官暨現任澳洲總理陸克文展開首場重要外交之旅，但他與其他各國元首的互動卻在家鄉引起一陣撻伐。然而，他或�?齒^自己在中國的名聲。
一開始是他對美國總統布希舉手行禮的動作激怒了反對黨；接著他會晤英國女王伊麗莎白二世時沒有行鞠躬禮又招致批評。
陸克文對布希行禮的舉動被形容為「有失澳洲總理身份」，感覺像是在「抱美國大腿」。
保守派參議員喬治．布蘭迪上週三表示，幾天後，陸克文到溫莎堡覲見英女王時，竟未對女王展現出應有的尊敬。
「有趣的是，澳洲總理沒對至少名義上是澳洲元首的英女王展現恰當的正式禮儀，卻對美國總統�?o個浮誇甚至相當阿諛諂媚的手勢。」
陸克文對他在布加勒斯特舉行的北約峰會上對布希行禮所引來的批評一笑置之，並說：「那只是個玩笑。」
同時，陸克文上週三在中國北京大學演講時，他流利的中文讓聽講的學生驚艷；談及中國歷史和文化時的妙語如珠也搏得哄堂大笑。
即使他談到「西藏的人權問題值得我們關注」，可能會激怒東道主中國總理溫家寶和中國國家主席胡錦濤，但中國最高學府的學生似乎不以為忤。
「我同意他說的，」一個環境科學研究所學生李揚（音譯）說：「西藏議題應該透過對談而非暴力手段解決，這點完全正確。」
一位資訊科學系的陳姓畢業生說：「我很欣賞他對中國應如何融入全球的論述，這點相當重要…他傳遞的訊息是每個人都應該深入了解，而且第一步就是要透過語言學習。」（法新社�翻譯：袁星塵）
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