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Tom Dyson's avatar

Interesting that MEMRI chose to translate and publish this article. There is some significant criticism of the way they use translation to promote their own narratives on the Middle East (see the translation scholar Mona Baker’s view on them here: https://www.monabaker.org/2015/04/17/narratives-in-and-of-translation/).

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David Cockayne's avatar

Making semi-mystical points about translation narratives is of course much more important than discussing an analysis of Russia's attempt to justify its invasion of Ukraine by a Chinese academic.

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Tom Dyson's avatar

Agreed. That a Chinese academic is trying to disrupt the dominant narrative in China on the Russian invasion is worth taking note of and more interesting than how we come to hear about what Sun wrote in Chinese.

The point I was trying to make (and which Mona Baker makes much more forcefully than me in the link I provided) is that we should be aware of the ‘narrative location’ (i.e. agenda) of the people/organisations who are providing those translations for us. This includes MEMRI, who clearly have their own agenda on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

China’s stance of neutrality on the invasion of Ukraine is of course highly questionable. But I would still like to know more about MEMRI’s sudden interest in China.

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