Official’s systematic sideswipe

Date: 13/03/1997

Humour helps promote understanding between peoples - as a Chinese official proved recently with a splendid one-liner delivered during a European Parliament delegation visit to Beijing.

The death of Deng Xiaoping has raised more questions about Hong Kong's fate when it is handed back to China in the summer, including whether the late leader's promise of “one China, two systems” will be kept, preserving the colony's way of life.

But the tables were neatly turned during a speech being given by the head of the parliamentary delegation, Italian Forza Italia MEP Stefano De Luca.

He was talking at length about the country's one-party system when one of his Chinese hosts whispered, a little too loudly: “China: one country, two systems. Italy: one system, two countries.”