Yes, I know, it’s getting to be all Jia Qinglin all the time around here, but here are a couple of things that amused me:
The NZ Herald states that Jia did not raise the Crafar farms in official talks yesterday, has Acting Prime Minister Bill English not expecting the farms to be raised, and quotes English as describing yesterday’s intemperate outburst from Green co-leader as a “conspiracy theory”.
Global Times (《环球时报》, via Sina) quotes Prime Minister John Key as describing Norman’s sudden rush of blood to the pharynx as “纯属胡说” – and of all the possible translations I can think of, the one I can most imagine John Key saying is “utter nonsense”.
But I’m wondering… If English is Acting PM, doesn’t that suggest Key is out of the country? How did Global Times find him for comment? Oh, here he is, in Indonesia.
But back to Jia’s visit to New Zealand: It’s not often I find myself agreeing completely with an NZ Herald editorial. Just don’t read the comments thread that follows.
Now something I’ve noticed in three articles. In reports of Jia’s meetings with Christchurch mayor Bob Parker, Acting PM English and Speaker Lockwood Smith, although Jia’s speech is reported first and gets the larger share of the article, as soon as the report switches to the Kiwi official’s speech, the phrase “中新” – Sino-New Zealand – switches to “新中” – NZ-China. Also, both Jia and Parker invoke the spirit of Rewi Alley, a Canterbury (how far out of Christchurch is Springfield these days?) native and son of both countries, Smith gets lots of praise for his role in advancing Sino-New Zealand relations (he was international trade minister as China was negotiating with NZ and pushed through the first of the bilateral trade agreements China needed in the process of joining the WTO, for example).
Global Times didn’t find him for comment. In my experience they rarely gather first hand information, since a lot of their overseas correspondents are students or have a daytime job to do. It was a Dom Post piece. And you were correct, Key said it was “nonsense”.
Y’know, I was rather doubtful that Global Times themselves did find him. I did wonder if perhaps Xinhua’s or CCTV’s Indonesia correspondent, who I suspect would be more likely to be a real journalist, had perhaps asked Key, and Global Times had taken it from them. I also wondered if they’d cribbed it from the NZ media, and I did search through Stuff (which should’ve had the Dom Post piece) but couldn’t find it. Thanks for the confirmation that it was the Dom Post. And I think I’ve seen just enough of NZ TV over the last few years that I can actually hear Key saying “nonsense” in my mind’s ear. He seems to have a fairly distinctive accent and style.
But should I take it that Global Times “sexed it up” a little adding that “纯属”?