Frankness Is a Valuable Trait of Press Spokesperson

Having devoted himself to the diplomatic career for over 40 years， Mr. Chen Jian is gentle and temperate， but he is a progressive reformer who dares to be the first to eat crabs. In 1994 when holding the post of press spokesperson in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs， Mr. Chen reformed the traditional structure “sitting down to have meeting” to “standing up to face the media”. This change seemed simple but brought about an international pattern for press conference in China. When holding the post of the UN Deputy Secretary-General， Mr. Chen was praised by the then UN SecretaryGeneral Anna as “having initiated the most profound reform in the history of the UN”. As a Chinese diplomat who has held the highest-level post for the longest time in the UN， Mr. Chen is now earnestly cultivating diplomatic talents equipped with international communication capability for the country via Model United Nations conference.

“Frankness plus tricks” — The key for news spokesperson

Q : It was learned that you held the post of news spokesperson in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as early as in the 1990s and you have made significant breakthroughs. So， how do you understand the post of news spokesperson? As a senior predeces- sor， what suggestions will you propose for the current generation of news spokespeople?

A : When I was the news spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1994， the major breakthrough I made was suggesting spokesperson standing up to face the public rather than sitting down， which I thought would make spokesperson more confident. And it is also an international practice. As a participant and developer of the news spokesperson system， I think the news spokesperson needs to pay great attention to his/her behaviors.

To be specific， the valuable trait of spokesperson lies in frankness and meanwhile he/she needs to employ some tricks. Frankness serves as the basis and tricks the means. He who excessively plays with tricks while lacks frankness， such as talking like a bureaucrat and wishing to speak but stopping on a second thought， will lose trust from the general public. On the contrary， in the Internet era with smooth information flow and sharp-eyed public， over-frank spokesperson lacking tricks will also be caught in problems.

However， spokespeople are different in styles. In particular， when dealing with the sharp questions raised by the Western media， some spokespeople from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are tough， while some others are gentle and humorous. And I’m in the latter style.

The supervision function of the network is comforting

Q : As a senior diplomat， you have had extensive and frequent contact with the media. So how do you treat the media?

A : Western media has much prejudice about China， which seldom expresses voices in favor of China; the domestic media represents the mainstream ideology with little voices from the general public; views on the microblog coming into vogue in the past two years are a little bit extreme.

To be frank， I’m not satisfactory with the Chinese media， as it fails to play its supervision role. But now there is a gratifying change—the emergence of the Internet stimulates the development of the media and the Internet plays the supervision role the media is supposed to function. This is a good phenomenon.

As we know， China could not copy Western political system， but still need to establish an effective oversight mechanism， in which Chinese traditional media do little effect， fortunately China does find a new public opinion channel via internet which can be described as an open and promising way.

However， we should draw lessons from the British riot， which reflects that network censorship is essential to prevent the Internet being capitalized on by terrorism or those who plot social unrest.

The future development trend is that Chinese netizens will gradually become mature and rational. In the mean time， the network will open a gap for the media and the media should timely follow up emergencies rather than blindly covering them up. The voice of the media will become more fair and objective.

Diplomats-to-be advised to choose foreign languages as first major

Q : This time you have a discussion in person with the finalists of the “APEC Voices of the Future” and since you have seen many a student is enthusiastic about participating in international exchange affairs， what guidance will you provide for the new generation of“diplomats-tobe”?

A: The youth in this generation is luckier than mine， who could choose their occupations freely in the information age. However， the society is more complex than ever， so I suggest they balance their career choice a n d s o c i a l needs.

For those interested in engaging in the diplomatic career， I suggest them choosing foreig n languages as their first major for their bachelor ’s degree and other majors for their second degree. From the perspective of a diplomatic， such a choice will be more helpful for the future work. Since the diplomatic work always touches upon international discourse power and China actually still has a long way to go for obtaining international discourse power. But regarding language expression， how to effectively express our thoughts is of great importance and language may claim as the bridge and tool for diplomatic work.

Communicating with the west not only depends on languages but also on thinking pattern

Q : Is that to say language determines the success of diplomatic work?

A : Not exactly. Only mastering languages but failing to express in foreign languages will also not work. In other words， how to communicate in languages that everybody can understand is very important.

We have to admit that there is a wide gap between China and the West on ideological differences in which we could not eliminate in short term; meanwhile， the rise of any emerging power will inevitably lead to the suspicion， resentment and even opposition from the existing power. So we Chinese should prepare to be misunderstood by the world. But the diplomats and the media should strive for the understanding from the international community， and to communicate with them in language at first.

But unfortunately， the existing official and media languages are not ideal in communication， as foreigners may not understand too much verbalism. Therefore， we need to learn to communicate with the western society in the English thinking pattern. Then what is English thinking pattern? For instance， when I took office in the UN， Anna called a high-end meeting every morning. At the very beginning， I was used to presenting in the Chinese thinking pattern. For me， the so-called circular thinking pattern was to find many arguments for demonstration before proposing a viewpoint. In this way， since it took too much time for thinking， I hardly had time to present in the half-an-hour meeting. On the contrary， with linear thinking， westerners tend to express whatever viewpoints they would like to express and even two conflicting ones. Later， I found that Anna’s organizing the meeting aimed at listening to viewpoints from all sides rather than letting somebody clarify viewpoints and find out arguments for him. Hence， I began to learn the westernstyle linear thinking. I hope that Chinese students can gradually think in English when they are learning English. Only in this way can they genuinely master the essence of English and thus express themselves freely.

Q : It seems that it’s far from enough to cultivate qualified talents for international e x c h a n g e s merely by the traditional Chinese teaching model， isn’t it?

A : Yes， it is. The current Chinese education system is featuring infusion rather than the western-style enlightenment and debating. The Chinese style is helpful for academic researches， but not for innovation and exchanges. To enhance diplomatic power and expand influence， China needs to insist on the opening up policy， reform its education system and to cultivate international talents with international vision and cooperative spirit so that China’s benefits will be better integrated with the world’s benefits.

Model United Nations aims at enhancing international vision

Q : Is the Model United Nations program that you are energetically carrying out for cultivating the above-mentioned international talents?

A : Definitely. The Model United Nations (MUN for short) imitates the UN and relevant international organizations and bases on these organizations’ operation modes and principles to hold meetings around international hot issues. The young students play the role of diplomats from different countries to participate in the “MUN” as national representatives.

A full-fledged UN discussion of any issue is comprised， usually， of three stages. The first stage is presentation. It is an occasion for people from different countries of the world as members of UN， for each and every one of them to present their country case. The second stage is discussion around a resolution or resolutions. That is the time when general debate really starts， country debate on every phrase and every sentence of that resolution. They argue among themselves， trying to win more people over to his or her country’s viewpoints. The third stage is negotiation， or what is called consultation. Closed door meetings will be held by interested parties on the exact wording of resolutions so as to ensure that eventually that resolution will be adopted by the members of the UN， either by a majority of votes， or even better by consensus.

As an annual demo UN activity sponsored by the UN Association of China and as the most influential demo UN activity in China closest to the UN， China Model United Nations (CNMUN) aims at publicizing the purpose and principle of the United Nations Charter in China and popularizing knowledge about the UN and urging the youth to understand and support the UN. By far， the CNMUN has been held for a consecutive 8 years with around 400 participants each year. Every year， the CNMUN is organized by a college and ethnic colleges in Western China are also candidates to organize the CNMUN.

Our purpose is to help students develop an international vision and team spirit rather than blindly cultivating them into diplomats.

The participants will learn the following three particular skills or capabilities: the art of language; the art of communication and the art of compromise. Through my 17 years of life in the UN， I see the importance of these three qualities， the quality of presentation， persuasion and the quality of compromise. Often， a person or a country that can create a bridge between two or three opposing positions by offering a compromise， one word， one phrase， or one sentence， that builds bridge between them， is respected as a constructive person. That country is respected as a constructive country， because that person or that country can bring the whole world along.