Rusty Mandarin inspires awe and applause

Rowan Callick, China correspondent | April 10, 2008

ALL 700 elite students crammed into the hall at Beijing University yesterday knew well beforehand that Kevin Rudd spoke Mandarin. But when the Prime Minister stood behind the lectern and began his speech, a gasp of awe ran through the audience, followed by warm applause.
His message was highly nuanced: Beijing University, "BeiDa", had played a central role during its 110 years in China's adaptation to modernity, and this had never been more important than today.
"But China's growth can also cause anxiety," he warned.
He described his audience as "the generation that will see China's full integration into global society, the global economy and the overall global order".
Addressing the students as tongshimen, colleagues, the Prime Minister talked of "responsible global citizenship", of melding China's catchphrase of building a "harmonious world" with that of World Bank chief Bob Zoellick, of China becoming a "responsible stakeholder".
He offered to be a zhengyou, a true friend, to China along its global journey. "We wish to see the year 2008 as one of harmony and celebration - not one of conflict and contention," Mr Rudd told the Beijing students.
Such a true friend, he said, "offers unflinching advice and counsels restraint".
And in this context he spoke of Tibet, saying: "It is necessary to recognise there are significant human rights problems."
This kind of friendship, he said, "I know, is treasured in China's political tradition".
The truth of that may be tested to the full during the rest of the Australian leader's visit.
University president Xu Zhihong said Mr Rudd's speech "brings new thinking to BeiDa students".
The Prime Minister apologised that his Mandarin was not as good as it had been, and cited a Chinese saying: "We don't fear anything in heaven or earth except for a laowai, a foreigner, speaking Chinese."
He passed the key test of comprehensibility - the audience laughed in the right places.
He was asked by students - this time in English, in which he answered the questions - how his background in Chinese would help build relations between the two countries.
He was also asked about his most important career failure, about the value of Chinese medicine, about misunderstandings between China and the rest of the world, and about the importance of co-operation between local and central governments.
Mr Rudd said separating the foreign and the domestic would no longer work. "The thing with globalisation is that it affects everybody. What happens internally affects what happens externally" and vice versa, he said.
He told the students "you'd be surprised" to what extent the problems discussed by leaders around the world during his recent travels had been the same.
Qu Jiang-yue, majoring in French, said after the function that she agreed with Lu Kewen - Kevin Rudd's Chinese name - that rapid development brought many problems, "which we are now making an effort to tackle".
She said it was clear "his speech was based on his knowledge" of China.
Law student Wang Zhi-fang said he had read some of Mr Rudd's speeches in the US and Britain. "Human rights problems exist in every country," he said.
He added that Mr Rudd's assertion that Australia would take care of the Olympic torch during the relay in Canberra - and not use Chinese security guards - "shows he is a responsible major leader, and Australia is a responsible major country".
Mr Wang said Mr Rudd's understanding of China must make him "more objective than other Western leaders".
Ye Cheng-hong, a bio-medical engineering student, said Mr Rudd's was "an excellent presentation". He agreed with the priority of integrating into the world - and said the Prime Minister would play a key role in boosting ties.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23515040-5013947,00.html