Abstract
China's diplomatic discourse is a complicated system underpinned by divergent translations. As such, the concept of "Zhengque Yi Li Guan" (Zhèngquè Yì Lì Guān in Pinyin), like numerous other Chinese concepts, is not well appreciated. This could be due to the dearth of a uniform official translation and inconsistent interpretation. Therefore, this paper seeks to draw awareness to this vital issue that has been neglected in the China-Africa diplomatic discourse. As a way of filling this gap in the literature, the author argues that literal translation is not enough in diplomatic discourse. Searches of Chinese classical works from texts and dictionaries were carried out to identify the equivalent English words for "Zhengque," "Yi," "Li," and "Guan." Based on the scope of this paper, emphasis will be placed on "Yi" because it plays a critical role in the "Zhèngquè Yì Lì Guān" concept and has been the term with the most controversial interpretation. The paper uses the critical discourse analysis (CDA) method as its theoretical framework. The author contends that "justice" (meaning impartiality) is a preferable translation for “Yi" while “interests” is fit for “Li.” The article also suggests that "Yi" should be reconceptualized using three approaches: the strategic partnership approach, the international approach, and the regional approach, to represent the realities of current China-Africa relations.
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Data availability
Data from the Chinese Text Projects was used in this paper. The full dataset can be accessed and downloaded from the database http://ctext.org.
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Notes
Chinese Text Project; https://ctext.org. N:B Data used for Figs. 1 and 2 are from the Ctext website.
Chinese idiom dictionary https://www.chinese-tools.com/tools/dictionary.html.
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Modestus, Q. Diplomatic Discourse Analysis: Translating and Reconstructing “Zhengqueyiliguan” in China-Africa Relations. Fudan J. Hum. Soc. Sci. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40647-023-00378-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40647-023-00378-w