I was initially planning to write an analysis of Trump’s art of diplomacy. He has successfully got Serbia and Kosovo to sign an economic normalization agreement with each other, who has also sneaked in some elements in the agreement to crack down Huawei and other potential Chinese funded network technology suppliers, so that he could pull the main One Belt One Road initiative participants of the Balkans under the U.S. network safety strategic umbrella. But shortly after the signing of agreement, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted a photo on social media showing Trump’s meeting with President Vučić of Serbia, which has caused a small diplomatic turmoil. I believe the story behind this would be more of an enlightenment for Hong Kong readers, who are nowadays desperate for the interpretation of “diplomatic victory.”

The origin of this diplomatic turmoil was Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson of Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, posted the aforementioned photo alongside the famous scene in the movie Basic Instinct, where Sharon Stone was crossing her legs, with a joke that Vučić was invited by Trump to the White House “for interrogation.” Vučić was furious and bluntly put that the post reflected how vulgar the spokesperson was and did not earn her position. Zakharova later explained on Twitter, her intention was not to insult Serbia, but to quip Trump’s superior attitude during diplomatic situations and that he would use small details to belittle visiting guests. Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov has also personally called Vučić and reassured him of the brotherly-relationship between their two countries. The matter was then drawn to a close.

Actually what Zakharova said was right in terms of general diplomatic etiquette. In a diplomatic matter that places huge importance on peer relationships, the sitting arrangement was less than satisfactory. In general, if it is an official formal meeting, a long meeting table would mostly be used with the leaders of both teams sit in the middle of both sides, and their interpreters and bodyguards sitting next to them; for a more casual meeting and press conference, the two countries' leaders will sit side by side with the visitor on the right side of the host, the interpreter and bodyguard sitting somewhere further back. But looking at the photo posted by Zakharova, Vučić's “diplomatic position” was very embarrassing: they were neither sitting around a long table, nor the two leaders sitting side by side. His interpreter and bodyguard were also somewhat far away from him which made him look “isolated.” No wonder Zakharova couldn’t hold back and wanted to use the post to get some justice for Vučić. Unfortunately, it has backfired, as the post brought Vučić even more embarrassment and has nearly cost Serbia’s relationship with Russia. This was an immature performance of dealing with online posting.

In fact, what diplomatic training emphasizes is how to run a diplomatic relationship systematically, the philosophy behind diplomatic etiquette is sovereign equality among countries, therefore whether it is the preparation before official meetings, sitting arrangements of private dinner or social activities, or how to set up ideas and deployment of negotiation according to the person’s political culture, are all important details that need to be paid attention to. When Nepal’s Ex-diplomat Rajaram Bartaula shared his views on diplomatic etiquette at Nepal Administrative Staff College, he said if the representative has to wait 15 minutes or longer at a meeting, it is either the meeting organizer has messed it up, or it deliberately stalls it to imply that the representative and his/her country is not so important to the organizer. This is to lift its own position in the meeting and undermine the others. If you are interested in international negotiation, I would like to recommend you the book “Diplomatic Negotiation: Essence and Evolution” written by Paul Meerts, a renowned coach of diplomatic training, in which he concluded his studies on changes of European diplomatic negotiations and the pros and cons of different diplomat training methods.

I am sharing some concepts of diplomacy which are more unrealistic than those of international relations, because I want to point out diplomatic negotiation and government lobbying has always been a practical knowledge. Some experienced diplomats make mistakes too, let alone those bystanders who never had power, who are far away from the negotiation table and lobbying platform? Of course, the ever so secretive operation of international negotiation and diplomatic policy would always get people’s imagination going. Therefore the bystanders always subjectively believe the complete change of diplomatic policy is due to an event that suddenly happened such as an experience of a diplomat or a normal citizen being locked up.

Let’s not mention how such imagination is based on untrue content, more importantly, it has completely written off the institutional rationality within a diplomatic policy, the hard work diplomats put in before an agreement has been reached and the political wrestling during the lobbying by the lobbyists who represent different interests. Ignoring the functions these background factors have on national negotiation and government lobbying would only have disadvantages when using international social platforms to protect self-interest. And when saying all these functions are because of the doing of just one person, it is either another way of sacrificing others to profit oneself, or it is putting too much burden on this person.

The difference between modern politics and politics in the old days, is that nowadays the world doesn’t need “the chosen one,” but a large group of normal people who are willing to do their job well in each of their position.

(Dr. Wilson Chan Wai-Shun, Founding Secretary-General of Global Studies Institute in Hong Kong.)

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