Taiwanese president calls Clinton 'Mrs.,' not 'Secretary'

Tue, 06/02/2009 - 3:00pm

Yesterday at a state banquet hosted by outgoing Salvadoran President Elías Antonio Saca, Secretary Clinton and Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou had a rare informal chat when they shared a table and Clinton made the first move in greeting him and shaking hands.
The United States and Taiwan have not had formal relations since the United States severed diplomatic ties in 1979 in order to normalize relations with the People's Republic of China. Perhaps in keeping with the absence of formal ties, the Taiwanese president addressed Secretary Clinton as "Mrs. Clinton" while introducing himself as "the president of Taiwan."
Later, Ma told Taiwanese media that the informal chat was typical of "courtesy encounters" that occur at diplomatic functions.

在西方，用男性附屬稱謂，如某某人的太太，在工作場合中稱呼女性，是非常失禮的行為，有貶抑女性成就的意思。甚至會因太過輕佻而被視為性騷擾。即使在台灣，也不會在某個餐會當中，稱呼女性主管「馬太太」、「陳太太」。
外交國際慣例上更別說了，每個出席的人都有一定稱謂，例如現任美國總統夫人必稱First Lady Michelle Obama，一定以她的全名出現，而別人稱呼她時，簡稱第一夫人或者她的全名，在新聞中則同樣以Obama來簡稱。除非是卸任總統夫人，才會出現以Mrs.作稱謂的情況。