Problem is Mr Qin Gang KNOWS 'BUGGER ALL' ABOUT THE WORD "CONSENSUS" specifically on how decisions are reached based on consensus.
(First off, we think China's foreign affairs ministry spokesman, has made an utter fool of himself! If China foreign ministry officials need lessons in English or in Latin, we suggest they hire Western teachers -- after all they are fast learners as they excel at aping and copying almost anything under the sun. But they cannot go around professing knowledge over something of which they obviously know 'BUGGER ALL' about. In fact, we think that Mr Qin Gang should be sacked by his bosses because his stupidity will not help China achieve the international respect that they so badly crave!)
Alright, here's the story: IN THE RECENTLY CONCLUDED ASEAN SUMMIT, the Philippines objected to a clause in a draft joint communiqué proposed by Summit chair Cambodia. The draft declared that a consensus had been reached whereby ASEAN decided NOT TO INTERNATIONALIZE the West Philippine Sea/South China Sea territorial disputes. President Aquino protested -- and the Philippines was right to object -- because to accept such clause would have put the Philippines, one of the founders of ASEAN, at China's mercy.
Decisions made at ASEAN summits are usually based on consensus. But China's spokesperson, perhaps not understanding the Latin-based term, thought "consensus" meant voting by majority or "unanimity less one or less two" which is not what consensus is all about. So, following Philippine refusal to approve the clause in the proposed ASEAN joint communiqué, China apparently poked fun at the Philippines. (China is not a member of ASEAN and has no business telling ASEAN what to do let alone poke fun at the Philippines, one of ASEAN's founding members.)
According to Armando Doronilla of the Philippine Inquirer, Qin Gang, China's foreign ministry spokesperson said that there was a consensus, and so poked fun at the Philippines. In his column today, Mr Doronila wrote:
"The report also said the summit meetings came close to a breakdown when Hun Sen adopted a draft statement saying there was a consensus not to “internationalize” the dispute between Asean and China. The Philippines, “which sees its alliance with the US as a critical check to China’s claims at a time when Washington is shifting its military focus back to Asia, made a formal protest to Cambodia and succeeded in having the clause removed from the final statement,” the report said.
"But this opened a chance for China to poke fun at the Philippines’ assertion that there had been no consensus. China pointed out that eight out of 10 Asean leaders had agreed not to internationalize the dispute, meaning, according to Qin Gang, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, there was a consensus.
“I suggest that people, when attending the East Asian summit, have to be very good at mathematics,” he said. “That’s 10 minus 2, so which is bigger?”"Mr Qin Gang is either being obtuse on purpose or is genuinely just pathetically ignorant. 'Consensus' IS NOT A VOTE PROCESS BY MAJORITY... We can print Meriam Webster's and Collin's definitions of 'consensus' but the bottom line is 'consensus' signifies COLLECTIVE APPROVAL as in UNANIMOUS CONSENT.
To illustrate best what decisions by consensus mean, we refer to decision making by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation: NATO makes decisions based on consensus, i.e., if one of the 28 member nations vetoes a proposal AS IN DOES NOT APPROVE or protests, objects, refuses, etc., the proposal cannot be carried over. In other words, NATO cannot do anything -- and the proposal or the program will be buried. If you like, "voting" by the entire organization to do an action must be 100%. It is the simplest way to define consensus especially when a decision is made by a political organization of which ASEAN is one.
Wilson Strategies' on what consensus is all about:
"Strictly speaking, a consensus requires the unanimous consent, or approval, of everyone participating in the decision. Partly because each participant has veto power over the decision, participation in a consensus decision-making process gives each participant a strong sense of joint responsibility for the process and the decision. Every participant receives both motive and opportunity to give their blood for the cause."We suggest that China foreign ministry officials take a crash course in keeping their mouths shut at ASEAN meetings before they make further fools of themselves!
By Anne de Bretagne
For the Defenders of the Philippine Sabah and Spratly Claims
23 November 2012
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