Huanqiu Shibao: Will Turkey turn East?

Chinese media provide relatively very little opinion on the coup attempt in Turkey and its aftermath, and prefer to quote foreign media. However, the choice of information sources may indicate where Chinese media pay special attention, and the article translated here ends with a bit of expertise from Chinese academia.

The following is a translation of a press review of sorts, originally from Huanqiu Shibao, and republished by china.com, a news portal in a number of languages (including Mandarin), that is apparently operated by Global Broadcasting Media Group, which in turn is operated by China Radio International (CRI). Global Broadcasting Media Group, as CRI’s investment vehicle, is also known as “Guoguang”. The following article – or my translation of it, for that matter – may or may not reflect the quoted sources accurately.

Links within blockquotes added during translation.

The BBC reported on July 20 that the purge of so many people had led to concern among international observers, and that the United Nations were working on making sure that Turkey maintained the essence of the rule of law, and protected human rights. Germany, on July 20, condemned the growing purges by the Turkish government even more directly. Government spokesman Steffen Seibert said, “we see actions almost daily that damage the rule of law, with measures whose force exceeds the seriousness of the problems.” Some of the measures were deeply disturbing, and unconstitutional.

英国广播公司20日报道称，如此众多的人员被清洗已经引起国际观察家的关注，联合国在努力确保土耳其坚持法治精神和维护人权。德国20日则更为直接地对土耳其政府升级整肃行动表示谴责。德国政府发言人斯特芬·塞伯特说，“我们几乎每天都看到破坏法治的新举动，措施力度超出了问题的严重性”，有些措施是令人深感不安、违背宪法的做法。

Associated Press quoted EU Parliament speaker Martin Schulz as saying that Turkey was now carrying out “retaliation” against opponents and critics, and the debate about the reintroduction of the death penalty was “absolutely worrying”. The EU has warned that such a move would spell the end of EU accession negotiations with Turkey.

美联社援引欧洲议会议长舒尔茨的话说，土耳其正在对反对者和批评者实施“报复”，围绕恢复死刑展开的争论“非常令人担忧”。欧盟已经警告，这样做将意味着土耳其加入欧盟谈判的终结。

A White House statement on Tuesday said that President Barack Obama, during a telephone conversation with Erdogan, “had urged respect for the law while investigating those involved in the coup, in a way that would strengthen public trust in the democratic system.” However, the problem US-Turkish relations were facing go far beyond the protection of rule of law and of democracy.

美国白宫在周二的声明中说，总统奥巴马在与埃尔多安的电话中“敦促对参与政变者的调查应该遵守法律，并以增强公众对民主体系信心的方式进行”。但对美国来说，美土关系需要面对的问题远不止维护法治和民主。

According to a “New York Times” report, Turkish officials, including the foreign minister, demanded on July 19 that America extradite Fethullah Gülen. On that day, the White House confirmed it had received electronic documents from Turkey that was meant to serve as evidence. However, it was not clear if a formal request for extradition had already been made. “The ministry of justice will examine this material in accordance with the extradition treaty between our two countries,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. CNN said that according to the extradition treaty between America and Turkey, treason [as a reason for extradition] did not apply, but Turkey had given exactly that reason for its request. When asked if the Turkish government had any evidence for this, Turkish deputy prime minister Kurtulmus said that Turkey knew clearly that Gülen was the manipulator behind the scene, just as America knew that bin Laden had been the conspirator of “9-11”.

据美国《纽约时报》报道，包括外长在内的土耳其官员19日要求美国交出居伦。当天，白宫证实已经收到土耳其提供的作为证据的电子文档。但不清楚土方 是否已经正式提出引渡要求。“司法部和国务院将根据两国之间的引渡条约审视这些材料。”白宫发言人厄内斯特说。美国有线电视新闻网(CNN)说，根据美土 达成的引渡协议，叛国罪并不适用，但土耳其正是以此提出引渡居伦。在被问及土政府对此有何证据时，土副总理库尔图尔穆说，土耳其明确知道居伦在幕后操纵， 就像当年美国知道拉登是“9·11”主谋一样。

David Ignatius, a “Washington Post” columnist, writes that within the clamor of the coup aftermath, the US-Turkish relations, which had already been tense, could get into new difficulties, with the demand of extraditing Gülen as the most immediate test. Given the US and EU concern about the Erdogan government’s human rights record, this issue would be complicated. There were serious differences between the two sides about strategies of strikes against IS in Syria. During the past few years, the American-Turkish relations had come across as those between friends who were breaking up.

美国《华盛顿邮报》专栏作家大卫·伊格拉蒂尔斯撰文说，在政变之后的喧嚣中，华盛顿和安卡拉之间业已紧张的关系将陷入新困境，要求遣返居伦是最直接 的考验。考虑到美欧此前对埃尔多安政府人权记录的批评，此事将相当复杂。在叙利亚打击IS的战略上，双方已经分歧严重。近几年的美土关系向外界展示了一对 朋友如何一拍两散。

Could Turkey become an ally of Russia? Russia’s [online paper] Vzglyad writes in an editorial that Turkish prime minister [Yildirim] had already said, Ankara could review Turkish-US relations if America refused to extradite Gülen. Russia’s Izvestia quoted the Russian Academy of Sciences Oriental Institute’s Gadzhiev as believing that while it was premature to say that Turkey would completely turn to Russia, there could be some change. German Global News Network^*) commented that a coup was now changing Turkey, and possibly the Middle East. Turkey didn’t trust America any longer, and the Middle East’s future could become more complicated.

土耳其可能因此成为俄罗斯的战略盟友吗？俄罗斯《观点报》以此为题评论说，土耳其总理已经表示，安卡拉或因美拒绝交出居伦而重新审视与美国的关系。 俄罗斯《消息报》20日援引俄东方学研究所专家加日耶夫认为，虽然说土耳其的对外政策将全面转向俄罗斯为时尚早，但会有所变化。德国全球新闻网评论说，一 场政变正在改变土耳其，也将改变中东。土耳其不再信任美国，中东的未来将更加复杂。

But Li Weijian [apparently a researcher from Shanghai International Issues Research Institute – not previously mentioned in the article] thinks that Erdogan’s intention is to broaden his presidential powers and pave the way for the implementation of domestic policies and of diplomacy, and this wouldn’t necessarily constitute fundamental regional or global change. In an interview with “Huanqiu Shibao” he said, Erdogan had always maintained [an approach of] benefitting from West and East alike, and would keep to this strategy.

但李伟建认为，埃尔多安的意图在于扩大其总统权力，为内政外交政策的实施铺平道路，这未必会对地区关系和世界格局构成彻底改变。他在接受《环球时报》记者采访时说，埃尔多安一直以来秉持在西方与中东间左右逢源，这一战略会继续。

(Huanqiu Shibao special correspondents from Turkey, Germany, Egypt – Ji Shuangcheng, Qing Mu, Wang Yunsong and Huanqiu Shibao reporter Bai Yunyi, Ren Zhong, Zhen Xiang, Liu Yupeng]

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^*) Not known to me, or not under this name – JR

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Radio Argentina al Exterior: How to listen anyway

[Update, September 8, 2016: rae.com.ar may be compromised or attacking – be careful, and don’t enter without reliable virus-detecting software. http://www.radionacional.com.ar/ – see picture below – appears to be alright.]

[Update, July 15, 2016: RAE’s website appears to be back online. The morning shortwave broadcast in English at 03:00 UTC was also quite readable.]

Argentina’s foreign radio, Radio Argentina al Exterior (RAE) broadcasts in Spanish, Portuguese, English, German, French, Italian, Japanese, and Chinese, on 11710,5 kHz during the second half of the night (UTC), and on frequencies from 15343,7 to 15345 kHz during daytime and until midnight.

Unfortunately, modulation on shortwave is currently bad, and much of what is said is hardly understandable.

To add to the trouble, the radio station’s official website is currently under maintenance.

However, the foreign radio livestream can be found on Radio Nacional – http://www.radionacional.com.ar/

A dropdown menu can be found on the website’s top-right, and you can choose RAE from there:

Provided that RAE is on the air or livestream (which isn’t the case 24 hours a day), the station can be heard, usually in good quality.

Podcasts of the station’s English and German services are available on the Radio 360 website.

Huanqiu Editorial on Hague ruling: “The Chinese People will inevitably support the Government”

The following is a translation from an editorial published online by Huanqiu Shibao. It refers to today’s (Tuesday’s) decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

The terms used in this translation may not be accurate legal language, be it because of my limited translation skills, be it because of the nature of the article which may be more about purposeful agitation and reassurance, than about legal issues.

Links within the blockquote were added during translation.

The arbitration court’s result on the South China Sea arbitration case, announced in the afternoon Beijing time, is even more extreme, more shameless, than predicted by many, and may be rated as “the worst version” people could imagine, and we believe that Chinese people in their entirety will resent this illegal ruling, and the peace-loving global public will also be absolutely astonished about the arbitration court’s seriously partial approach which will very likely add to regional tensions.

南海仲裁案仲裁庭北京时间12日下午公布了仲裁结果，它比之前很多人预测的更加极端、无耻，堪称是人们可以想象的“最坏版本”，相信全体中国人都会为这一非法裁定感到愤慨，世界爱好和平的公众也会对仲裁庭这一严重偏袒一方，并且很可能加剧地区局势紧张的做法而十分诧异。

According to an unofficial translation, this arbitration result, by denying the nine-dotted line, acts drastically against China’s sovereignty within [this line], and also denies its historical foundation. It denies that there were any exclusive economic zone around any of the Spratly Islands which amounts to denying the Taiping Island its due status. It also openly claims that the [artificial] extension of the islands were without legal legitimacy, denouncing China for obstructing the Philippines’ economic activities within the nine-dotted line, and denouncing China’s interception of Philippine vessels can only exacerbate maritime tensions.

根据一个非官方的中文翻译版本，这一仲裁结果借助否决南海九段线内中国主张权益来对其做了釜底抽薪，而且否定它的历史依据。它否定南沙群岛中任何一岛有专属经济区，这等于否定了太平岛的应有地位。它还公然宣称中国在南沙扩建岛礁不具有合法性，指责中国拦阻菲律宾在九段线内开展经济活动，指中国拦截菲律宾船只加剧了海上紧张。

If one goes by this ruling, the maximum that would remain for China in the Spratly Islands would be a few isolated spots, no exclusive economic zones, and even some territorial waters linking the islands and reefs could be denied. In large part, the Spratlys would be covered by Philippine and Vietnamese exclusive economic zones.

如果按照这一裁决，中国在南沙群岛最多只剩下一些孤立的点，既无专属经济区，甚至可能连岛礁周围的一些领海都将被剥夺。而南沙海域大部分将被菲律宾和越南的专属经济区覆盖。

It would also mean that Chinese construction on these islands and reefs could not be continued, and if the Philippines and Vietnam had sufficient power, they could carry out “demolitions” of already existing Chinese construction. From here on, all maritime resources would be the Philippines’ and Vietnam’s; China’s economic activities and all other activities would have to withdraw from that area.

它还意味着，中国的岛礁建设无法持续，如果菲越有足够的力量，甚至可以对中国已建的岛礁搞“强拆”。今后那片海域的资源将归菲越所有，中国的经济活动和其他活动都要退出那个区域。

This is a brazen denial of China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime interests. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea doesn’t apply for the standards and adjustments of territorial sovereignty – this should be one of the main principles of international conventions and treaties. Now, by this contentious redefinition [my understanding of the line – may be wrong – JR], this comes full circle by delimiting the dispute with this forcible ruling, this is shameless overstepping of authority and abuse of authority, and cruel trampling on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and for the entire international law system.

这是对中国领土主权和海洋权益的悍然否定。联合国海洋法公约不适用于领土主权的调整和规范，这是该公约缔约时的首要原则之一。现在仲裁庭通过对这些争端的再定义，兜了个圈子对中菲领土和海洋划界争端强行裁决，这是无耻的越权和滥权，是对海洋法公约以及整个国际法体系的粗暴践踏。

Not only China’s government, but the entire Chinese society will never accept this “arbitration result”. We will show an unwavering attitude of non-participation and non-acceptance, and nobody should think that anything would shake us.

不仅中国政府，整个中国社会都决不可能接受这一“仲裁结果”，我们对仲裁“不接受、不参与”的态度坚定不移，谁都休想撼动我们。

The so-called “arbitration result” is wasted paper, but if America, Japan and other countries will use it to exert actual military and political pressure on China, the Chinese people will inevitably support the government as it fights back. We firmly believe that when China’s law enforcement is embattled, China’s military force will not remain silent when their appearance is needed.

所谓“仲裁结果”就是废纸一张，但美日等国如果利用它向中国施加现实军事政治压力，中国人民必将支持政府予以针锋相对的回击。相信中国的执法力量严阵以待，中国的军事力量同样不会在需要他们站出来时沉默。

We hope that China’s reasonable activities of all kinds will not be affected in any way, and we also hope that Chinese society, in the face of all storms and waves, including geopolitical provocations, will maintain their determination, and let the daily affairs of this country continue as normal. We believe that the government is able to meet these challenges and to make us believe in this country’s strength will guarantee the unmoved continuation of our correct path.

我们希望看到，中国在南沙地区的各种正当活动不受任何影响，也希望看到中国社会在各种包括地缘政治挑衅在内的各种风浪面前保持定力，让这个国家的运行节奏一如往常。相信我们的政府有能力应对这些挑战，也让我们相信这个国家的实力能够确保我们岿然不动。

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Related/Updates

» Beijing engineers coverage, BBC, July 12, 2016
» Why we cover our Ears, BBC, July 10, 2016

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South China Sea: Permanent Court of Arbitration decides in Philippines’ favor

According to reports, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague has decided in favor of the  Philippines in a dispute about several of the Spratley Islands.

China had ruled out in advance that it could accept a decision from the Permanent Court.

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Update/Related

» Schiedshof zugunsten der Philippinen, Sofortbild, July 12, 2016

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