What is diplomacy all about?

"It is about influencing each other, being inspired by each other and learning from your opponents," said Wu Jianmin, a veteran diplomat whose career spanned 42 years.

Wu is the president of China Foreign Affairs University (formerly the Foreign Affairs College), which just celebrated its 50th anniversary over the weekend. When it comes to personal insight on diplomacy, he has abundant nuggets of wisdom and he is sharing them with his students.

The way a professional diplomat is trained is very much like the workshops in the early days of the Industrial Revolution, where the master teaches the apprentice, he said. It is inefficient and much of the result depends on who the master is, and what and how he or she teaches.

"You can send two different people to solve the same problem. They are given exactly the same instructions, yet the results can vary dramatically," Wu illustrated.

Art of communication

Talking about those who are "unfriendly" to China, Wu, who spent 25 years abroad to elucidate China's foreign policies, cautioned about jumping to conclusions.

"There is a group of people on the global stage who are prejudiced against China. No matter what we say or do, it won't satisfy them," he said. "But they are very small in number."

"Whichever country you visit, the majority are friendly and kind-hearted. When these people don't understand you, you should ask yourself how to make it easier for them to understand you," he continued.

Wu said China's diplomacy is often "in broad brushes" while the West tends to focus on "concrete matters." We may feel that as long as we have stipulated our general principles, everything will fall into place by itself. But Western diplomats want to solve problems, and they may not understand why you are endlessly repeating your standpoint.

"This is just like addressing an envelope. The Chinese way starts from the largest part of the address and goes step by step to the smaller parts. But the Western way will list the name of the recipient first and then house number, the street, city etc. This demonstrates our difference in approach," he illustrated.

"To change people's perception, we'll need facts and details, not just generalizations," Wu stressed. He cited the case when former Premier Zhu Rongji used the price structure of a pair of Nike sneakers to explain the benefits of Sino-US trade: The pair fetched US$125 on the retail market, but China only made US$3 out of it. Who's benefiting more? In the same vein, when asked how China has been maintaining its economic momentum, Wu would give specific examples of entrepreneurs who built their businesses from scratch. Now, multiply that case by millions and you get to the essence of the nation's whole picture.

The key to the issue is to think from the other's perspective. Some leaders are naturally good at this, he said, using examples from his five years as China's ambassador to France.

Former President Jiang Zemin, on his official visit to France, addressed members of the embassy and asked them how they took care of their family members at home. "That instantly pulled everyone closer to him, psychologically, because it was the most difficult thing for someone stationed abroad. Yet not every visitor would do this. Some would give up the chance to address the embassy staff without knowing that it was a chance of leaving a good impression," Wu said.

"Communication is not totally about knowledge, it also requires skill," Wu quoted Zhao Qizheng, former minister of the State Council Information Office (SCIO).

The outside world gets to know you from your performance. Even if you know 80 percent but perform 100 percent, you impress the world as 100 percent, Wu added.

From art to science

The skill of communication, especially international communication, is an art that some seem to have an intuition for and some not. Wu wants to transform it into a science that can be taught and practiced.

"We start from the rudiments: how to speak, how to carry yourself, where to direct your gaze. We teach by example. We teach by practice and correcting mistakes," Wu commented about his teaching technique.

He acknowledged that everyone is different, and therefore teaching must be customized. "You have to observe what one needs most."

However, what most students need is experience. "Confidence builds on experience," he said, using himself as an example. "I've met some 50 heads of state and more than 100 foreign ministers. And that experience is a great asset."

He disclosed that he would send the best of his students to the UN. Right now, students learn from simulations. A recent one was a job interview with three prospective employers: the Foreign Ministry, the Bank of China and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Each student had to walk 30 meters before he or she could sit down. And even the trainee's walking and sitting posture revealed which ones had received training and which had not, said Wu.

"Once you are a senior official, even if your manners need improvement, few people would dare to tell you and correct you. That's why we should teach the young generation," he stressed.

Wu envisioned that the study and practice of good communication would help create the business of image consulting.

"In our country, leaders are left on their own on niceties like these, but both political and business leaders need experts to help them polish their image and communication skills," he said.

Joy of teaching

For someone whose diplomatic career extended over much of New China, Wu has had opportunities to observe and receive insight that only someone with a ringside seat could possibly have gained. Fortunately he loves to teach and share his knowledge with others.

"It gives me great joy to teach, and also an opportunity to think through what's in my mind," he reflected.

One result is a book entitled "Fourteen Lectures on the Study of Communications," which is not only a textbook for students in his own school, but has been made a compulsory-read for the training class of spokespersons at the SCIO.

To carry out his philosophy of teaching by example, the Foreign Affairs University, under Wu's guidance, is building a reserve of case studies. "We have already prepared 30 cases, and our goal is 100, by which time our school will have a unique advantage," he said.

Wu articulated that he wanted a significant number of the cases culled from the post-1989 period. "It was unprecedented for a nation to go from a diplomatic nadir to a sustained golden age in such a short period of time. We should pick the brains of those who made it happen while we still can," he said, adding that the idea of case studies has the support from former Vice Premier Qian Qichen.

Diplomacy used to be called "diplomatic struggle" or "diplomatic front" in China. "That was when much of the world was against us and we had to fight our way," Wu explicated. "Now we have entered an era of peaceful development, and our work is to get along with others."

China's economic growth has infused pride into our country fellows. However, some of us tend to exaggerate our own strength, he cautioned.

Student participation is another area Wu is emphasizing. "We send them to non-official functions so that they'll have first-hand experience of how to handle various situations," he said.

The school also sets up simulations where historical situations are recreated and students are to weigh the pros and cons of different scenarios.

"I always encourage them to be creative and have a free rein to their thinking," said Wu, who has noticed some disparity between young diplomats and his students. "Our students have less restraints and more inspiration."

One way of achieving that is to think like an artist. We ask our students to take a few art classes. For a diplomat, bright ideas are important and they often crop up naturally. They need to accumulate knowledge, sharpen their responsiveness and build up capabilities to handle emergencies.

"As the old saying goes, it takes 100 years to build up human resources. It's not easy to train diplomats, but I am keen to do my bit," Wu said.

All these efforts are to ensure that China's diplomacy has a great future.

(China Daily September 13, 2005)