庞中英

希拉里这次亚洲行的一个任务是公共外交（public diplomacy）。美国人所谓“公共外交”指的是政府和“公众”（外国“公众”尤其）的关系，也可以说是“公”对“私”的外交。在日本，希拉里日程那么紧张，居然安排了公众外交活动，她见了日本反对党的负责人，为可能的日本政局变动未雨绸缪；她到了东京大学，受到热烈欢迎，等。从公众外交的角度，希拉里在日本的访问很成功。

但希拉里的第二站是印度尼西亚，其公众外交就没在日本那么成功了。尽管印度尼西亚官方热烈接待，为她的到来戒备森严，似乎希拉里的官式访问成功在即。但印尼的“私”或者“公众”则一定会给希拉里个下马威。这不，新加坡主要报纸《海峡时报》（英文）报道，印尼最大的穆斯林组织之一的负责人就不赏脸，不参加欢迎希拉里的宴会。有关报道附件在下：

The snub came as Mrs Clinton was set to arrive later on Wednesday in the world's most populous Muslim country as part of a four-nation swing through Asia.

But her plans to open a new chapter with the Islamic world as promised by President Barack Obama received an early setback when local Muslim leader Din Syamsuddin, representing some 30 million Muslims, rejected her dinner invite.

'If it's only a dinner without a dialogue it won't be useful,' the chairman of Muhammadiyah, Indonesia's second-largest Islamic organisation, told AFP.

He said he would prefer to attend an inter-faith meeting in Australia rather than waste time discussing local delicacies with the new US secretary of state.

'That kind of meeting won't be effective,' he said.

Mr Obama spent part of his early childhood in Muslim-majority Indonesia and has promised rapprochement with the Islamic world after the US-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan under Mr George W. Bush.

'We have a responsibility to speak out and to work with the Muslim world on behalf of positive change and to enlist the help of Muslims around the world against the extremists,' Mrs Clinton told students at Tokyo University on Tuesday. -- AFP

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