【美版知乎】遇到纳尔逊·曼德拉是什么感觉？ [美国媒体]

What was it like to meet Nelson Mandela?

遇到纳尔逊·曼德拉是什么感觉？





【答案一】Paul Denlinger
I attended a small private event for Nelson Mandela in August 1993 in Taipei, Taiwan. This event was hosted by Taiwan's Foreign Ministry, and he was given an honorary PhD by a Taiwan university. The real reason was to extend feelers to Mandela and the ANC because Taiwan (official name: Republic of China) had supported South Africa's apartheid governments, and had strong economic and cultural ties with Pretoria. The reason for this support was because both Taiwan and South Africa were considered to be pariah states, and their economies were highly complementary. 

1993年8月，我在台北参加了纳尔逊·曼德拉的一个小型私人活动。这个活动由台湾外交部主办，台湾大学授予他荣誉博士学位。活动的真正目的是试探曼德拉和非国大的态度，因为台湾（官方名称：中华民国）曾经支持南非的种族隔离政府，而且和比勒陀利亚【译注：南非首都】有很强的经济和文化联系。 这种支持的原因是台湾和南非都被认为是流氓国家，而且它们的经济互补性很强。

By 1993, it was clear that Nelson Mandela would run for president in the first multiracial elections in South Africa, and was likely to win. Moreover, his party, the ANC (African National Congress) had close ties with Beijing. These were forged over the years the ANC was a banned organization, and when Mandela was in jail. It would be natural for a new ANC government to switch diplomatic ties from Taipei to Beijing.

到1993年，很明显，纳尔逊·曼德拉将在南非第一次多种族选举中竞选总统，并且很有可能获胜。而且，他的政党——非国大，和北京关系密切。这些都是在非国大被禁、曼德拉入狱的年月里形成的。对一个新的非国大政府来说，将外交关系从台北转到北京是很自然的事。

Because of the sensitive nature of the meeting, there was almost no media, no security personnel, no one from the South African embassy in Taipei, and not even his wife. Nelson Mandela just attended by himself accompanied by Foreign Ministry and university personnel. He gave a short speech about the importance of education and learning, and there was some informal conversation afterwards. 

由于这次会议的敏感性，所以（现场）几乎没有媒体，没有安保人员，没有南非驻台北大使馆的人员，甚至他的妻子也不在场。在（台湾方面）外交部和大学人员的陪同下，纳尔逊·曼德拉自己独自参加了会议。他对教育和学习的重要性发表了一个简短讲话，之后又进行了一些非正式的谈话。

He seemed very different to me in person than from the image we have seen described in the media and on television. The friendly smiling charmer of small children was not there. Instead, he struck me as a very shrewd politician who spoke in a very measured manner, giving careful thought to every word he said. At the time, I thought that this was because of the very sensitive nature of the meeting. Some of his closest allies and comrades in arms, especially Walter Sisulu, were very pro-Beijing, and Mandela deliberately wanted to keep his visit to Taiwan very low-profile and unofficial. He came to Taiwan very much at the behest of F.W. de Klerk, South Africa's last apartheid era president, to see if there was some way to preserve official relations between South Africa and Taiwan after Mandela became president. This was a very difficult call for Mandela, because while he and the ANC considered Beijing a close ally, Taipei had never done anything to hurt South Africa, or to harm the interests of black South Africans. In fact, Taiwan businesses had been a major investor in South Africa. As a precondition for the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Africa and China, South Africa would have to sign a communique recognizing the PRC (Beijing) as the sole legitimate government of all China, including Taiwan. 

他给我的感觉和媒体电视上看到的形象大不相同。那个友善微笑着的有魅力的人不在那里。相反，他给我的印象是一个非常精明的政治家，用一种非常谨慎的方式说话，字斟句酌。当时，我认为这是由于会议的敏感性。他的一些最亲密的盟友和并肩作战的同志，尤其是沃尔特·西苏鲁，非常支持北京，而曼德拉则故意让他的对台访问显得低调而非官方。他在德克勒克（南非种族隔离时代的最后一任总统）的授意下来到台湾，想看看在他当选总统后，南非和台湾之间是否存在某种维护官方关系的方法。这对曼德拉来说是一个非常艰难的要求，因为他和非国大都把北京当做一个亲密的盟友，但台北从来没有做过任何伤害南非的事情，也没有伤害南非黑人的利益。事实上，台湾企业一直是南非的主要投资者。作为南非和中国之间建立外交关系的先决条件，南非必须签署一份公报，承认中华人民共和国(北京)是包括台湾在内的全中国的唯一合法政府。

So, the China/Taiwan diplomatic recognition issue presented a real dilemma for his government. While it was clear that South Africa would eventually establish diplomatic relations with Beijing, the bigger question was "How would this process be handled?"

因此，中国/台湾的外交承认问题给他的政府提了个真正的难题。虽然很显然，南非最终将与北京建立外交关系，但更大的问题是“怎样处理这个过程？”

In the end, his administration handled it very gracefully. At President Mandela's inauguration in 1994, Taiwan's then-president Lee Teng-huei was invited. President Mandela could then have quickly announced diplomatic recognition of Beijing, but instead, he deferred the announcement until December 31, 1996, until he was more than two years into his term. Moreover, the announcement stated that diplomatic relations with Beijing would not start until January 1, 1998, giving Taiwan's diplomats one years' time to manage the transition. 

最后，他的政府非常优雅地处理了这件事。1994年，在曼德拉总统的就职典礼上，时任台湾总统的李登辉被邀请参加。曼德拉总统当时本可以迅速宣布对北京的外交承认，但他把这个声明推迟到了1996年12月31日，他的任期这时已超过两年。而且，该声明还表示，与北京方面的外交关系要到1998年1月1日才开始，让台湾的外交官有一年的过渡时间。

While Taipei was disappointed at the diplomatic loss, it was handled much better than most diplomatic breaks Taiwan had been through. And Beijing won diplomatic recognition by the largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa on its own terms. 

尽管台北对这次外交失利感到失望，但它的处理远远好于台湾所经历的大多数断交。而且，北京凭借本身条件赢得了撒哈拉以南非洲最大经济体的外交承认。

From this meeting, and from the way this issue was handled, I formed the following thoughts about Mandela:

从这次会议以及这个问题的处理方式，我形成了关于曼德拉的以下想法：

1、Mandela was a very shrewd politician who was very conscious of his image, and how he was perceived by others;

曼德拉是一个非常精明的政治家，他很清楚自己的形象，以及别人对他的看法；

2、He realized that in politics, form and substance are often inseparable;

他意识到，在政治方面，形式和实质往往是不可分割的；

3、He would not try to curry the favor of his closest allies on the ANC or Beijing by publicly humiliating Taipei; Old friends would not be sacrificed to gain new friends. Loyalty is not a trait associated with most politicians, but Mandela was;

他不会试图通过公开羞辱台北来讨好他在非国大的最亲密盟友或者北京方面；他不会通过牺牲老朋友去结交新朋友。忠诚不是大多数政治家的特征，但曼德拉是。

He was willing to make friends and treat people with respect, even if many of them hated each other. For instance, he was friends with Yasser Arafat and President Shimon Peres of Israel.

他愿意结交朋友，尊重他人，即使他们中的许多人彼此憎恨。例如，他与亚西尔·阿拉法特和以色列总统佩雷斯都成为了朋友。

4、He was willing to disagree with others, but would not let this poison the relationship. A disagreement was just a disagreement.

他会与其他人意见相左，但不会让这破坏彼此的关系。意见不同仅仅是意见不同。

5、He stayed his own man and spoke his mind, and he won everyone's respect in the end.

他保持自我，说其所想，最终他赢得了每个人的尊敬。

【答案二】Janine Goosen
I wasn't anyone special - just a young woman with her first "real" job in his brand new administration in 1994. One afternoon in those early days, I bolted down a grand staircase with a pile of folders and a ridiculously short skirt (in retrospect), late for a committee meeting and more than a little panicked. I ran smack into him and my files went flying. I remember seeing the whites of his bodyguard's eyes as he responded quickly and defensively. President Mandela put out his hand in appeasement, looked me calmly in the eye, and introduced himself with a smile. I was stunned. He bent down and picked up my stuff for me. He laughed, said, "See you later, young lady." and left. When he saw me again, he addressed me by name, and mentioned the incident. And, as I say, I was no-one special.

我不是什么特人的人——只是一位年轻的女性，在1994年的新一届政府中有了第一份“真正”的工作。一个下午，我抱着一堆文件夹和穿着一件可笑的短裙（回想起来），从一个大楼梯上冲了下来，因为迟到了一个委员会而惊慌失措。我一头撞在他身上，文件四散。我记得他的保镖迅速反应防御时，白了我一眼。曼德拉总统伸出手来安抚，平静地看着我，微笑着做了自我介绍。我惊呆了。他弯下腰，替我捡起了我的东西。他笑着说:“再见，小姐。”然后离开了。当他再次见到我时，他以名字称呼我，并提到了这件事。就像我说的，我不是什么特别的人。

【答案三】Peter Kirby（曾在伦敦投资银行工作，现在南非开普敦）
Meet him once at a cricket game.Very humble is all I can say .A white Lady in front of me gave him a big hug and he was so warm.

在板球比赛中曾遇到他一次。我只能说他非常谦逊。我前面的一位白人女士给了他一个大大的拥抱。而且他很热情。