CHINA has been anything but.

Jacques Derrida, etc,etc

解构之旅·中国印记:德里达专集
作者：张宁
出版社：南京大学出版社
出版日期：2009-08
本书共分四篇，对话篇、背景篇、专题研究篇、翻译篇。内容包括：宽恕及跨文化哲学实践——德里达访谈；与中国哲人对话是否可能？——德里达访谈；关于汉译《书写与差异》的访谈等。


這本書凡台灣必加中國
是對牛(中國)談琴之作
****

CHINA'S PUSH FOR SOFT POWER RUNS UP AGAINST HARD ABSOLUTES

If 2009 was China's year and the noughties were a decade when Beijing's rise seemed on permanent fast-forward, the past two weeks have been a setback for the country's global ambitions. The Copenhagen conference, a dissident sent to prison and an execution have raised again the question of whether China's political system is compatible with the international respect it craves.

For most of the past decade China conducted a quiet effort to revamp its global image. While the US was fighting two unpopular wars, Beijing expanded foreign aid, settled sensitive border conflicts in Asia and presented itself as unthreatening. Now it wants to go to the next level.

Over the summer, President Hu Jintao gave a speech in which he outlined “four strengths” that China needed to increase its power. As well as economic competitiveness and political influence, they included image projection and moral appeal. The message was clear: if China is to achieve great-power status, it needs the soft power that comes not from money or might but from being admired.

China's rebound last year from the financial crisis has rightly won praise and has led more people to sympathise with China's model of market economy and political authoritarianism.

But Liu Xiaobo's 11-year jail sentence, announced on Christmas day, is a stark reminder of what authoritarian regimes actually do. His crimes were to help organise a pro-democracy petition and to write six articles that criticised the Communist party.

Since the execution last week of Akmail Shaikh – a Briton who smuggled heroin but who, according to his family, suffered from mental illness – Beijing has argued vehemently that he received the same treatment as a Chinese defendant. That might well be true, but it only reinforces the point that every week China executes more than 30 of its citizens after trials that enjoy minimal transparency.

In its own way the aftermath of the Copenhagen conference has also demonstrated the limitations of China's soft power.

Mark Lynas, a writer who had access to the negotiating sessions, says that China single-handedly blocked a broader deal, opposing a target of 50 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050 and an 80 per cent reduction by developed countries. Wen Jiabao, the premier, was also criticised for sending a vice-minister in his place for a meeting with Barack Obama, the US president.

Given the perceived failure of Copenhagen, there was bound to be a monumental blame game. But what has been interesting is just how clumsy China's response to this attack has been.

A few days later the Xinhua news agency published and circulated a 2,000-word article that was supposed to set the record straight. The story did not actually address any of the specific allegations about how China blocked the talks. But it did provide the helpful information that, en route to Copenhagen, Mr Wen announced: “Now I can feel how heavy my duty is to attend the meeting on behalf of the Chinese government.”

On the “mysterious” meeting with Mr Obama, the article contends that Mr Wen found out about it only at the last minute.

The article is significant because Xinhua is at the centre of one of China's soft-power strategies. The government has been discussing proposals to try to turn Xinhua and China Central Television into international competitors for CNN and the BBC in order to give Chinese views a higher profile. But for all the immense interest in China, there is no international audience for the brittle propaganda of articles entitled: “Endeavours to build global hope: Chinese premier's 60 hours in Copenhagen.”

The Xinhua piece is part of a broader trend in the cultural sphere where China often competes for attention with one hand tied behind its back.

One Chinese academic argued last year that Chinese soft power would be more appealing than the west's because it would represent “openness and tolerance, friendliness and inclusiveness” and a general feeling of “peace and harmony”. Over the past two weeks, it has been anything but.

如果说2009年是属于中国的一年，而21世纪的最初十年是中国持续快速崛起的十年，那么过去两周则让中国的全球雄心遭受了挫折。哥本哈根会议、将一名持不同政见者送进监狱和处死英国毒贩等事件，再次引发了这样的问题：中国的政治制度是否与其渴望的国际尊重相匹配。

过去10年的大部分时间，中国都在悄悄努力，彻底改变其全球形象。在美国发动两场不得人心的战争之时，北京扩大了对外援助规模，解决了在亚洲的敏感边境纠纷，对外展示出一副不具威胁的形象。现在，中国想进入一个新的阶段。

今年夏天，中国国家主席胡锦涛在一次讲话中概述了中国提高影响力所需的四个“力”，除了“经济竞争力”和“政治影响力”之外，还有“形象亲和力”和“道义感召力”。由此传递的信息是明确的：要实现大国地位，中国需要软实力——不是来自金钱或威势，而是来自人们的敬佩。

中国经济去年从金融危机中迅速复苏，名至实归地赢得了外界的称赞，赢得了更多人对中国式的市场经济和政治集权模式的支持。

但圣诞节宣布的刘晓波被判处有期徒刑11年，清楚地提醒着人们一个专制政权的实际作为。刘晓波因帮助策划一个支持民主的请愿书，并撰写了六篇批评共产党的文章而获罪。

上周，向中国走私海洛因的英国人阿克毛·谢赫(Akmail Shaikh)被执行死刑，但据他的家人说，他患有精神疾病。此后，中国政府进行了激烈的争辩，说阿克毛得到了和中国人一视同仁的对待。这也许是事实，但 它只是让这样一个问题变得更加突出：中国每周都有30多个公民被执行死刑，而对他们的审判却很不透明。

与此同时，哥本哈根会议的结果本身也证明了中国软实力的限度。

据列席会议谈判环节的作家马克•莱纳斯(Mark Lynas)说，中国单方面阻止了一项更广泛协议的达成，坚持反对全球到2050年减排50%、发达国家减排80%的目标。中国总理温家宝还因为派遣一名 副部长代替他会晤美国总统奥巴马(Barack Obama)而遭到批评。

由于哥本哈根会议的明显失败，各方无疑会展开无穷无尽的相互指责。但有意思的是，中国对此类抨击的反应相当笨拙。

几天后，新华社发表了一篇被认为是给中国正名的2000字长文。事实上，这篇文章没有回应有关中国阻止达成协议的任何具体指控。但它确实提供了有用的信息：在飞往哥本哈根途中，温家宝宣布：“……我代表中国政府出席会议深感责任重大。”

关于和奥巴马“意想不到的”会晤事件，新华社的文章说，温家宝直到最后时刻才得到消息。

这篇文章之所以重要，是因为新华社在中国的软实力战略中处于中心地位。政府一直在讨论有关建议，试图将新华社和中国中央电视台变成美国有线电视新闻 网(CNN)和英国广播公司(BBC)的国际竞争对手，以便使中国的观点得到更广泛的关注。尽管中国国内对此表示出极大兴趣，但类似《努力创建全球希望： 温家宝哥本哈根60小时全披露》这类文章中生硬的宣传口吻却很难被国际受众接受。

这篇新华社文章只是一个广泛文化趋势的缩影：中国争取外界关注的努力，常常受到自身的束缚。

一位中国学者去年提出，中国的软实力会比西方更具魅力，因为它代表着“开放包容、友爱无界”，本质是“和平与和谐”。但过去两周的事实表明，实际情况远非如此。

译者/功文