Winning The Old Fashioned Way

That means, putting in the time and effort and respecting people. It’s hard work, but that’s the way the Chinese are kicking American butt in Africa, in the Pacific—hey, in Latin America, too. One illustrative anecdote out of many possible ones:

Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand

Extraordinary anecdote about U.S. vs Chinese diplomacy in Africa: the U.S. team were speaking with their African counterparts in French via translators whilst Chinese diplomats had actually gone through the effort of learning the local African language.

Something not many people know about: China's diplomatic training institutions - particularly China Foreign Affairs University and Beijing Foreign Studies University - rank among the nation's most elite schools. These institutions have extraordinarily stringent language requirements, with BFSU teaching all "the official languages of the 183 countries that have established diplomatic relations with China" (including such niche languages as Sango, Tok Pisin, Niuean or Tetum which I bet none of you have even heard of, list available here: https://en.bfsu.edu.cn/overview.html). This extensive language training produces diplomats with absolutely exceptional linguistic capabilities, drawn from among China's very best students.

Hard to compete with that, especially given the U.S. system where key diplomatic posts are often filled by political appointees who get the job because they've donated to the president's campaign... Source:

https://statecraft.pub/p/how-to-build-a-flying-ebola-hospital…

Last edited10:41 PM · Dec 2, 2024

Trump names billionaire investment banker Warren Stephens as his envoy to Britain

Does Stephens, who’s from Arkansas and donated over $3M to Trump PACs, savvy Estuary English? I’ll say this for Stephens, his personal life hasn’t been remotely close to as sleazy as that of his counterpart in Paris.