Lost in translation

The Chinese flag has fluttered over 1235 Acacia road in Makati’s plush Dasmariñas Village, official residence of China’s ambassador to Manila, for some three decades now.

Yet my car was held up for about a quarter of an hour at the main entrance yesterday by village guards who insisted, even after talking to embassy spokesman Sun Yi on the phone, that it was the wrong address and that, according to the village association, 1235 Acacia was a vacant lot.

I have visited the house several times. But just to be certain, when Sun Yi drove over to lead me to the residence for my interview with the ambassador, I looked at the street sign and the house number to make sure I made no mistake. Sure enough, it was 1235 Acacia.

A similar problem happened some weeks ago to our editor-in-chief, Isaac Belmonte. He finally had to find another gate and bluff his way in to attend a dinner with the ambassador.

Leaving the village yesterday, my driver was asked by the guard if we were indeed taken to 1235 Acacia. Couldn’t those nitwits simply have checked the address themselves?

I hope that was simply a case of SWAT-type incompetence instead of a deliberate harassment of Chinese guests, or a manifestation of a wish for the embassy residence to vanish from the face of the Earth. I hope that was simply a case of something getting lost in translation, although Sun Yi speaks English fluently and the ambassador speaks Oxford English (he prefers to call it Globish).

Some of the current tension between the two countries may also be blamed on messages getting lost in translation.

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Ambassador Liu Jianchao was nearing the end of a 40-day vacation in Beijing when he saw the live coverage of the Manila hostage crisis on Phoenix TV beamed from Hong Kong.

At the end of a long day, when he saw the bloody denouement, he knew he would have to cut his vacation short. He was back in Manila the next day, the 24th.

Liu headed delegations from both China and Hong Kong in a meeting at Malacañang that afternoon chaired by President Aquino himself.

Since China handles foreign affairs and defense for Hong Kong under its one-China, two-systems policy, the Chinese ambassador is the diplomatic representative of Hong Kong in Manila. But the Hong Kong chief executive enjoys a wide range of autonomy in governing the Chinese territory. This could have contributed to the confusion over P-Noy’s failure to take the call from Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang as the hostage crisis unfolded.

Instead Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo got in touch with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing, Yang Jiechi, about an hour after the crisis ended.

There are no set protocols for instances when the chief executive of Hong Kong wants to visit or get in touch directly with the head of state or government of another country.

I dropped by the ambassador’s residence yesterday to clarify certain issues that have cropped up as a result of the hostage crisis.

Hong Kong has banned its residents from visiting the Philippines. Liu clarified that Beijing merely issued a travel advisory but not a travel ban for mainland Chinese.

He also clarified that while they protested against the draping of the Philippine flag over the casket of hostage taker Rolando Mendoza, they did not complain about the smiling cops posing for photos in front of the tourist bus.

The Chinese ambassador is one of the most forthright in the Manila diplomatic community. When he wants to avoid ruffling feathers, he goes off the record but gives direct, honest answers instead of lying, or else admits he doesn’t know enough to give the correct response. So I believe him when he says his government appreciates everything that President Aquino has done so far in connection with the hostage incident.

P-Noy, Liu noted, expressed condolences, apologized for the tragedy, and promised “a very fair and comprehensive investigation, thorough, fair, no cover-up.”

The Philippines, Liu added, provided all the medical attention necessary, assistance in repatriation, and “solemn and dignified” treatment of the fatalities and survivors.

“This was a very unfortunate incident,” Liu told me. “From the results of the investigation, we can get ourselves better prepared for similar incidents in the future.”

He stressed that his government respected Philippine sovereignty and has not asked for the head of any particular public official for mishandling the hostage situation.

Bilateral tension will ease depending on the conduct and results of the ongoing investigation. Liu welcomed the assistance given by Philippine authorities to investigators from Hong Kong.

He lamented that a lot of extraneous issues have been tacked on to an already complicated situation. The failure of two Chinese officials to go to Manila and personally accept their Ramon Magsaysay Awards, he emphasized, was their personal decision and was not a sign of protest from Beijing.

Liu recalled that no one noticed when he also failed to show up for last year’s National Heroes’ Day rites. He couldn’t remember why he skipped that one, but last Sunday he had a previous commitment.

“I think bilateral relations will remain strong. I think it will be unfortunate if relations are affected,” he said. “I hope the two peoples could turn the page so that the normal business of the people will resume soon.”

When I told him I would write that the guards in his village didn’t even know where the Chinese ambassador lived, he chuckled and said, “Just ignore them, just ignore them. People might think I’m so unpopular.”