The United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken has concluded a three-day visit to China. The U.S. Embassy in China released a translated version of the speech by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, which contained multiple instances of the phrase “inaudible,” sparking discussions among netizens. Commentators believe this reflects the U.S. official’s practice of accurately recording events, in contrast to the Chinese Communist Party’s tendency to gloss over details.
On April 26, the U.S. Embassy in China posted on its official Weibo account the remarks made before the meeting between Blinken and Wang Yi:
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Wang Yi, the Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Work Related to Foreign Affairs of the Communist Party of China and Minister of Foreign Affairs, made remarks before their meeting.
Minister Wang (via translation): “Secretary Blinken, in the past ten years, the turbulent ups and downs in U.S.-China relations have weathered [inaudible] after [inaudible], following the [inaudible] of our two heads of state, this relationship has undergone [inaudible] and overcome [inaudible]. We attempted to return to Bali, arrived in San Francisco, and then began [inaudible] from San Francisco.”
The above segment contained numerous instances of “inaudible,” prompting many Chinese netizens to mock on Weibo:
“Why bother speaking if you’re going to be incomprehensible?”
“Did they hire a translation who is hard of hearing??”
“So, the Americans are deaf now.”
“Do they need better translators or a visit to the doctor?”
“Why so many ‘inaudibles’ in the beginning? Is it the translation’s fault or the recording?”
The U.S. Embassy later responded with: “The original English text can be found on the U.S. State Department website. This translated version is for reference only. The original English text is the authoritative source of information. The translation of Minister Wang’s speech is based on simultaneous interpretation recording.”
Lee Lin, a current affairs commentator in the U.S., told Dajiyuan that in U.S. official news conferences or when facing the media, speeches are usually recorded and transcribed, and the term “inaudible” often appears. While having so many instances of “inaudible” in one segment is rare, it is not a big deal. Whether it’s Trump, Biden, or others, recordings of speeches often have annotations of “inaudible.”
“Noting ‘inaudible’ is telling everyone that the text is presented verbatim. This issue has sparked discussion among mainland Chinese netizens, highlighting the hypocrisy and gloss in the Chinese Communist Party’s official style. Many Chinese have become accustomed to falsehoods in that environment,” he said.
The release of the “inaudible” transcript by the U.S. Embassy also generated discussions on social media platform X:
hui2233: “When an official account like the Embassy uses this description, it feels like U.S.-China relations are already bad enough…”
Zhongguo Ren Mining Corporation: “Copies of such speeches are usually exchanged, and they are exchanged before the meeting. Wang Yi read the entire speech, but the copy was not given to the U.S. side. The U.S. Embassy’s use of a translation to explain this is not in line with diplomatic conventions, showing that the relationship is very poor with mutual distrust.”
Zhao Chen: “The original intention of ‘inaudible’ is not to let you understand. What is said is not for you to hear but for those inside the wall. It’s just a show for the public to see! It’s normal that you can’t hear it!”
Averageman: “Just recording the truth, it may be a habit of government institutions to document this way, so don’t read too much into it. Even when Biden ended a press conference by calling a journalist ‘son of a bitch’, it was recorded.”
Hephaestion: “Don’t overthink it. They often write ‘inaudible’ for objective accuracy. It would be childish and meaningless to intentionally mess with this kind of thing.”
Advocate for Truth: “There’s no need to overinterpret the ‘inaudible’ in the first paragraph. It could simply be that the translator’s voice was low. In these diplomatic activities, translators from Country A are responsible for translating the words of Country A leaders, so the translation of Wang Yi might have been too far from the person responsible for recording the meeting on Blinken’s side. As for whether Blinken didn’t hear clearly, the staff underneath wouldn’t dare ask the Secretary of State. Luckily, this part was all useless chatter.”
On the 26th in Beijing, Blinken first met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Minister of Public Security Zhao Xinhong, before concluding with a meeting with the Communist Party leader Xi Jinping.
Although the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that the two sides reached a five-point consensus during Blinken’s visit, Radio Free Asia cited analysts pointing out that Blinken’s visit prominently highlighted that while relations between the two countries may seem to have stabilized, it does not mean that differences will not continue to expand and deepen. On the contrary, there is a trend of steady deterioration in the US-China relationship.
Allen Carlson, a professor of international relations at Cornell University, believes that the two sides have almost no common ground on substantive issues.