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The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (http://www.fco.gov.uk) is tasked with looking after British interests abroad. As a key platform for the British Chinese community, Dimsum had the special opportunity to interview Peter Wilson, a British diplomat and the Political Counsellor in China (Beijing). Jewel Du asked the quetions to find out from Peter's point of view what are the UK Government's political strategies towards China in the next few years and how the growing political realationship between China and Britain will have an impact on our readers. The interview has also been translated into Chinese.
DS: Mr Wilson, what are your main responsibilities being a Political Counsellor in Beijing ?
作为英国政府派出驻中国的政治参赞，您和您的团队的主要职责是什么？
PW: My team covers four main areas: China's internal politics, including human rights issues, China's relationship with the rest of the world, our bilateral relationship, and I have overall responsibility for our press team, too. Our team is still growing, as our interests grow. We do a lot of work with China as permanent members of the UN security Council, for example, and we are seeking to do more together in Africa.
Bilaterally, we sometimes troubleshoot, for example, on illegal migration, where both governments look to make it easier for legitimate migrants, and much harder for those who seek to abuse the system. Understanding China's domestic pressures is vital as we seek to co-operate more widely, including on areas of reform, so this is also an important part of our work. And working with China's increasingly active media - including the rapidly expanding blogosphere - is a rapidly growing part of all our work. We have a great Embassy website now, in Chinese and English, at www.ukinchina.fco.gov.uk - it is worth checking out!
我的团队主要负责4方面的工作：中国国内政治，包括人权问题；中国与世界其他国家的关系；我们的双边关系；我还领导新闻处的工作。我们的团队随着我们兴趣的增加还在发展。作为联合国安理会成员国我们与中国一起做很多工作，比如我们在非洲问题上正在寻求更多的合作。双边关系方面，我们有时共同处理如非法移民等麻烦问题，两国政府正使合法移民变得方便，并让那些企图非法利用制度的人觉得困难。了解中国国内的压力非常重要，因为我们寻求更广泛的合作，包括在改革方面，所以这也是我们工作中的一个重要部分。与日益活跃的中国媒体合作，包括迅速发展的博克群体，是我们工作中一个迅速增长的部分。我们有个很不错的使馆网站，是中英文双语的，网址是：www.ukinchina.fco.gov.uk, 很值得一看！
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DS: From your perspective, what are the biggest challenges facing the Chinese government under the current economic situation and has the UK government offered help with this and how?
面对当前的经济危机，您觉得中国政府面临的主要挑战有那些？应对这些困难，英国政府提供了那些实质性的帮助？
PW: Chinese leaders say that their priority is domestic growth, and have made clear at the National People's Congress this month that the economic crisis is hard for everyone, and that we are all in the same boat. We have been co-operating very closely with China in the run up to the London Summit, which includes all the G20 countries, on 2 April. The best help we can offer each other right now - and it is mutual - is to agree measures at that Summit that will increase global confidence, get international credit moving again, and put in place the regulatory and international institutional systems that will underpin confidence now and in the long run. We must also all firmly oppose protectionism. We hope that the signals coming from the London Summit will be very clear on this - and that we can soon conclude the Doha Round of global trade talks which could generate billions for the global economy. There is an active debate on this on www.londonsummit.gov.uk if you want to take part in it, or find out more.
中国领导人说他们的工作重点是国内增长，并在本月的人大会议上清楚表明经济危机对任何人来说都很艰难，我们都在同一艘船上。4月2日将举行包括所有20个国家的伦敦高峰会谈，在准备阶段我们一直与中国保持着密切合作。目前我们能够提供给彼此的最好的帮助－这是相互的－是在峰会上就相应措施达成一致，这些措施将提升全球信心，使国际信用得以恢复，建立在目前和长远来看都能支撑信心的监管和国际制度体系。我们也必须都要坚定地反对保护主义。我们希望伦敦高峰会谈释放的信号将会清楚表明这点 －然后我们能很快就多哈贸易会谈达成一致，可为全球带来数亿的经 济效益。点击www.londonsummit.gov.uk 网站可以参与辩论或了解更多信息。
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DS: In your opinion, what impact has the growing China-UK relationship had internationally? How have/will these impacts effect ordinary people in the UK and China?
您觉得中英关系的改善，会产生的国际影响有那些？ 会对中英两国的老百姓产生那些影响？
PW: Premier Wen Jiabao said in London in his joint Press Conference with Prime Minister Gordon Brown on 2 February that "the China UK relationship has gone beyond the bilateral scope and is having an increasingly important impact on the whole world". We have a strategic partnership that - in the words of our two foreign Ministers - is comprehensive, co-operative, candid and creative. This has a short term impact, in the way that we are now working together to solve global problems, like the economic crisis.
It makes a big difference on critical foreign policy issues - we and other members of the UN Security Council have agreed three resolutions on Iran in the last two years, for example, that send a clear and united signal about our opposition to development of nuclear weapons there. We work intensively with China on climate change - and without China, it is hard to see a global solution being agreed at Copenhagen at the end of this year.
There are important longer term trends, too. Students from mainland China (more than 60,000 now) are the largest group of foreign students in the UK. British schoolchildren, in more than 500 schools across the country, are learning Chinese - and several thousand university students are doing so in China right now. China's rise is an opportunity for all of us.
温家宝总理2月2日在伦敦与布郎首相共同召开的新闻发布会上说，“中英关系已经超越了双边范畴，对世界的影响正变得日益重要。”我们之间的战略伙伴关系，用双方外交部长的话说就是：全面的，合作的，坦诚的和有创造性的。这带来的短期影响就是我们现在合作解决全球问题－比如，我们和其他联合国安理会成员国已经在过去两年中就伊朗问题的三个解决方案达成一致，就反对开发核武器问题发出了明确一致的信号。我们与中国在气候变化方面有大量的合作 － 没有中国参与，很难看到今年年底在歌本哈根会就全球解决方案达成一致。同时也有重要的长期影响。来自中国大陆的留学生，现在已超过6万，是英国留学生中比例最大的外国学生。英国全国500多所学校的学生都在学习汉语－而数千名大学学生目前正在中国学习。中国的崛起对我们所有人来说都是机会。
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DS: What are the UK Government's political strategies towards China in the next 5 years?
英国政府对与未来5年在中国的战略方针有那些？
PW: I can tell you what they are for the next four! We just published, in January, a strategy paper, called The UK and China: a Framework for Engagement. The Foreign Secretary launched it in Manchester, because of its long standing British Chinese community (on 22 January - he blogged about it, on www.fco.gov.uk/blogs ). We have put up a Chinese version, on the Embassy website, at http://ukinchina.fco.gov.uk/zh/working-with-china/uk-china-framework/ . It has three main strands - getting the best for the UK from China's growth; fostering China's emergence as a responsible global player, and promoting sustainable development, modernisation and internal reform in China.
It is the first time we have published a country strategy in this way. It is about positive engagement, which is also the context in which we discuss differences between us, for example on human rights. It shows the importance we attach to this relationship, and how widely it now goes - this involves and affects an increasingly large number of people across the UK, so it is important that it is widely understood and supported at home. The strategy has also received a warm welcome in China, including from Premier Wen. Both sides want to expand, and increase the predictability of, this key relationship.
我能告诉你未来4年的战略方针！我们1月份刚发布了一份战略文件，叫英国与中国：合作框架。外交部长在曼彻斯特举行了该书的发布仪式，因为那有历史悠久的华人社团（发布仪式是在1月22日－他在博克上写了文章，见www.fco.gov.uk/blogs）。我们使馆网站上有该文件的中文版，见 http://ukinchina.fco.gov.uk/zh/working-with-china/uk-china-framework. 该战略有三个支柱：让英国从中国的发展中获得最大利益；支持中国成为负责任的在全球有影响力的国家；推动中国的可持续发展、现代化建设和内部改革。这是我们第一次以这种方式发布一个国家战略。这是积极的合作，在此背景下我们可以探讨我们之间的差异，如人权问题。这表明了我们对此关系的重视，以及产生的广泛影响－这涉及和影响英国越来越多的人，所以在国内得到广泛理解和支持非常重要。这一战略在中国也受到了热烈欢迎，包括温总理。双方都想扩大并增加这种重要关系的可预见性。
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DS: In your experience, what are the perceptual differences between different generations in China (i.e. younger generation, middle aged and elderly) of the relationship （political or otherwise）between China and Britain?
您认为中国的青/中/老三代人对于中英政治关系的发展， 关注点有不同吗？ 那些不同点？
PW: Good question! I don't believe in 'enduring differences'. Particularly not about China, where things are changing so fast. I first came here when I was 13, in 1981. Foreigners were strange, and it was not easy for us to see my Dad's Chinese friends - we had to be careful. I lived part of the time in Hong Kong between 1987 and 1992, and came to the mainland again then - there was great uncertainty about the future. I worked here in the mid to late 90s - the focus was almost entirely economic.
What strikes me now, being back in Beijing for two years, is how dramatically the range of China's interests have expanded, and how much more interest, and knowledge, about China there is in the rest of the world. There is a lot of optimism, and more confidence, here. That is good. Because the rest of us look forward to China, as a great power, playing a responsible role in the world, and helping to resolve big global problems. There's a big debate in China right now, about universal values. Some people here think there is no such thing. Some do. I do, and in an age when record numbers of us are studying each other's language and culture, and when China has become the most wired nation in the world, I do not see differences as 'enduring'.
非常好的问题！我不相信有“持久的不同”。尤其在中国，事情总是很快的变化着。我第一次来这是1981年， 我13岁。那时外国人是让人觉得奇怪的，见我父亲的 中国朋友是对我们来说很不容易 － 我们必须要小心。 我在1987－1992年间部分 时间生活在香港，然后又回到了大陆 － 那时未来很不确定。90年代中期到晚期 我在这工作 － 重点几乎全是经济方面。现在回到北京的两年中最让我震动的是， 中国的兴趣范围有了很大的扩展，而世界其他国家对中国的兴趣及了解也大大提高。这里有更多的乐观和自信。非常好。因为我们大家期望中国作为大国，在世界上负担起责任，并帮助解决重大的全球问题。现在中国有个很大的争论，是关于普世价值的。这有些人认为没有这个东西，有些人认为有。我是后者，在这个年代，当双方都有相当一部分人在学习彼此的语言和文化，当中国已经成为世界上互联网用户最多的国家，我看不到有什么差异可以“持久”。
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DS: With the upcoming London Summit 2009, what are your thoughts on how this event will impacts on the UK-China and UK-world relationships? Also, how will these potential impacts influence Dimsum's readers （i.e. The British Chinese community）?
最后一个问题，您对与4月初在伦敦举办的2009伦敦峰会，将可能产生的影响有那些？这些影响中那些是与dimsum的读者切切相关的。
PW: We all have a lot to gain from a successful London Summit. We want governments to act together, to stimulate their economies, and to regulate their financial markets in way that rewards innovation, but reduces systemic risk. We want markets to open up, not close. We want banks to lend. And, in the short term, we want consumers to spend. China is looking to trade more with, and invest more in, the UK. We are looking for the same thing. For Dimsum's readers, I hope that this Summit and the events that follow from it will lead to more optimism, and a sense of possibility. When the Prime Minister and President Hu meet bilaterally in London, we will be looking for those same things in the UK's important relationship with China. The British Chinese community has a key role to play in that.
我在回答之前问题时提到了一些这方面的情况，但我在这再多说点。一个成功的伦敦高峰会谈会让我们大家都收获很多。我们希望各国政府共同行动，刺激本国经济，并管理本国金融市场，鼓励创新但减少系统性风险。我们希望开放而不是关闭市场。我们希望银行提供贷款。并且，在短期内，我们希望消费者去消费。中国正在寻求与英国进行更多的贸易和投资合作。我们也在寻求同样的事情。对于dimsum读者来说，我希望本次峰会及之后的活动会带来更多的乐观情绪及对可能性的感知。当首相和胡主席在伦敦相见时，我们将会从英国与中国的重要关系中寻求同样的内容。在那英籍华人社团有重要角色要扮演。
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Picture : Peter Wilson ( third row, second from the right) with his team in Beijing. |
