Red Kev? A Chinese-speaking PM for Australia (That's BJ)

November 27, 2007
by Paul Pennay

Kevin Rudd has the coolest sounding Chinese name of any western leader and that's because he chose it himself. Rudd, or 陆克文(Lu Kewen), led the Australian Labor Party to a solid victory in the country’s Federal election on the weekend (apparently the place for local supporters to gather and celebrate the victory was the new Irish pub opposite the Australian Embassy) and has replaced the long-serving John Howard as Prime Minister. Rudd made headlines in China and upstaged Howard when during the APEC conference in Sydney earlier this year he was able to use his formidable mandarin to charm Hu Jintao (see clip below).

But Youtube has been both the new leader's friend and foe, as an embarrassing clip of the then backbencher nibbling on his own earwax while a fellow House of Representative colleague addressed the nations parliament emerged during the election campaign.

Chinese media have followed the election result closely and reported not just on the new Australian PM's unique-among-foreign-leaders command of Chinese but also on his other ties to the Chinese community; the fact that his eldest son is completing a post graduate degree at Fudan University, that Rudd spent time in Beijing as a diplomat in the mid '80s and that his daughter is married to a Chinese-Australian banker from Brisbane.

For more on the Chinese reaction to Rudd's victory, the folks over at Global Voices have done a good roundup of the response from Chinese-language bloggers.

Links and Sources:
Reuters: China, Indonesia welcome Rudd win in Australia
The Japan Times: Will Rudd cool relations with Japan?
Global Voices Online: Our man in Australia?
Youtube: Kevin Rudd speaking Mandarin to welcome Jintao Hu in APEC
Youtube: Kevin Rudd eating ear wax during Question Time
Youtube: Kevin Rudd - Chinese Propaganda Video
Kevin 07

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