On 3 September 2015, H.E. Ambassador Liu Xiaoming was invited to a live interview with BBC Newsnight hosted by Robert Peston. Ambassador Liu elaborated on the significance of the Commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, and answered questions about China's military expenditure and China's economy. The full text is as follows:
2015年9月3日，駐英國大使劉曉明在英國BBC強檔品牌節目“新聞之夜”（Newsnight）演播室接受該節目主持人羅伯特·佩斯頓（Robert Peston）直播專訪，談中國人民抗日戰爭暨世界反法西斯戰爭勝利70周年紀念活動的重要意義，并回答有關中國軍費和經濟形勢等提問。專訪實錄如下：

Peston: Joining me now is the Chinese Ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming. Ambassador, I think of China as this fast modernizing country, enriching country. But we've seen this extraordinary military display today, which takes some of us back to the era of Mao. Is this China again sending a sort of message to the world that, you know, you are fierce and dangerous?
佩斯頓：我們今天邀請到中國駐英國大使劉曉明先生。大使先生，當我想到中國時，我想到一個國土遼闊、正邁向現代化、逐漸富裕的國家。但我們今天看到的令人震撼的閱兵場面，會使有些人覺得中國又回到了“毛澤東時代”。中國是否再次向世界發出這樣一個信息，即中國是一個危險且令人生畏的國家？

Ambassador Liu: I think the impression you had is not correct. In fact, the message is loud and clear, that is peace. Peace was hard won and peace should be cherished and maintained. And China will make its due contribution to maintaining world peace and regional stability. You know, in his ten minutes of speech, President Xi Jinping used the word "peace" for 13 times. So, that's the message.
劉大使：我認為你得出的印象是錯誤的。事實上，中國發出的信息響亮而明確，這就是和平。和平來之不易，和平應當珍愛，和平應當維護。中國將為維護世界和平和地區穩定做出自己的貢獻。習近平主席在10多分鐘的講話中，13次提到和平。這就是中國發出的信息。

Peston: So these gunboats that sailed off the coast of Alaska when President Obama was there today, was that just a sort of accident?
佩斯頓：今天，美國總統奧巴馬訪問阿拉斯加時，幾艘中國軍艦正好出現在靠近阿拉斯加的公海上。這是巧合嗎？

Ambassador Liu: I think we are talking about this commemoration first, then I'll come back to this naval fleet. When I say peace was hard won, not many people, especially in the West realize how much sacrifice China has made for the war against Japanese aggression. In fact the war, the Second World War, started in China, started earliest, lasted longest, and China suffered the largest casualties. We pay the price of 35 million casualties, and that is the most among all the sufferings of the world in Second World War. It's about one third of the casualties of the world. And so Chinese people see this 70th anniversary as a big occasion for us to celebrate the victory, to honor the fallen soldiers who, you know, sacrificed for their motherland.
劉大使：我想，我們還是先談談今天的紀念大會，之后我再回到你的問題。我說和平來之不易，在西方很少人了解中國人民為抗日戰爭做出了多大犧牲。事實上，第二次世界大戰發端于中國。中國人民抗日戰爭開始時間最早、持續時間最長、傷亡人數最多。中國軍民傷亡3500萬人，占世界各國傷亡總人數約三分之一，是二戰中傷亡人數最多的國家。因此中國人民把抗日戰爭和世界反法西斯戰爭勝利70周年視為一個慶祝勝利、緬懷先烈的重要時刻

Peston: But this peace require defend spending to go up this extraordinary way, 12% last year, 10% this year? Enormous money you're spending.
佩斯頓：但和平需要中國軍費保持如此之快的速度增長嗎？去年12%，今年10%。這是一筆巨大的開支。

Ambassador Liu: You have to remember that China is a large country. China, you know, in term of territory, it's about 40 times of UK. In terms of population, it's about 20 times. Yet in terms of per capita military expenditure, China is only 1/22 of the United States, and 1/9 of Britain. And also in terms of proportion of expenditure with regard to GDP, the growth is decreasing. This year, in fact, is the lowest of the past 5 years. And you know China is, I said, is a large country to defend, the Chinese military has a lot of commitments.
劉大使：請不要忘記，中國是一個大國。中國的面積是英國的40倍，人口是英國的20倍。而中國的人均軍費僅是美國的二十二分之一，是英國的九分之一。而且中國軍費占GDP的比例逐年下降，今年是過去5年來最低的。正如你所知，中國有遼闊的國土需要保衛，此外，中國軍隊承擔著多重任務。

Peston: I think it's the share of the GDP that's actually gone up a bit, given the rapid growth of the economy. But you talk about obviously your desire of stability. What do you think when you hear the leading Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump talking about how he thinks that Chinese want Americans to starve?
佩斯頓：考慮到當前中國經濟的增長速度，我認為中國軍費占GDP的比例事實上略有上升。你談到中國要維護穩定，美國共和黨總統參選人特朗普說中國人想要餓死美國人，你對此有何評論？

Ambassador Liu: I don't think it represents the majority view in United States. You know, you always have some voice, but I don't think….
劉大使：我不認為他此番言論代表美國主流民意。

Peston: But if he became president, how serious would that be?
佩斯頓：但如果特朗普當選美國總統呢？你認為這種可能性有多大？

Ambassador Liu: I think it's a very hypothetic question. I do not know how you would answer that. But I certainly will not answer this hypothetic question. But I can assure you that we want to have good relations with United States. And you mention in your film before this interview, that China wants to challenge the dominance of the United States, and even want to challenge the US leadership. That is not our position, not our intention at all. I think in China, we have a lot of challenges to deal with in our domestic development, and we have no intention to challenge US dominance. And we believe that the US and China should be good partners in the Asia-Pacific region.
劉大使：這是一個假設性的問題，我不知道你會怎么回答假設性的問題，我是不會回答假設性問題的。但我可以肯定地告訴你，中國愿意和美國建立良好關系。在訪談開始前播出的節目中，你說中國想挑戰美國的主導地位，甚至挑戰美國的世界領導地位。這不是中國的立場，我們無意這么做。中國在實現自身發展方面已經面臨足夠多的挑戰，我們無意去挑戰美國的主導地位。我認為中美在亞太地區應該成為好伙伴。

Peston: Now is this display of military strength a distraction from the slowdown in the Chinese economy which many economists think is quite serious?
佩斯頓：中國舉行閱兵式是為了展示軍力，轉移人們對中國經濟下滑的注意力嗎？很多經濟學家認為中國經濟面臨嚴重問題。

Ambassador Liu: I think China's economic difficulties have been exaggerated by Western observers. I think we have some difficulty, challenges, that's for sure. But they are the natural outcome…
劉大使：我認為西方觀察家們夸大了中國經濟面臨的困難。中國經濟確實面臨一些困難，這在中國發展過程中是正常的。

Peston: Five trillion dollars lost of the Chinese stock market. Is that trivial?
佩斯頓：中國股市市值蒸發了5萬億美元，這是小數目嗎？

Ambassador Liu: No. I think stock market has its own rule of game. You know goes up and downs, like in the United States, in stock market. We have to focus on the big picture of China. I think the basics and fundamentals of the Chinese economy still good and sound. We achieved 7% increase for the first half of this year. That 7% increase is about the same size of the total GDP of this 20th largest economy of Switzerland.

劉大使：我認為股市有其自身的運行規律。股市有起有伏，美國股市也是如此。我們要看中國經濟的全貌。中國經濟的基本面是好的。今年上半年中國GDP增長了7%，增量相當于世界第20大經濟體瑞士的GDP總量。

Peston: And very briefly, your president has said he wants modernized economy and see markets liberalized. A really important part of free markets is that people should be free to say whatever they like about those markets. Now journalists, hedge firm manager have been arrested for allegedly scaremongering about the stock market. To us in the west, that is very shocking.
佩斯頓：習近平主席表示希望使中國經濟更加現代化，使市場更加自由化。自由市場的一個重要組成部分就是，人民應該能自由地表達對市場的意見。而在中國，一些記者和基金經理因為涉嫌制造股市恐慌被逮捕。這對西方人來說是十分令人震驚的。

Ambassador Liu: I think Chinese people enjoy, you know, freedom of speech. The cases you have mentioned are those who involve in violation of law. You know, China is a country ruled by law. And…
劉大使：中國人民享有言論自由。在你所說的案件中，那些人違反了法律。中國是法治國家。

Peston: But I said much scarier thing about British markets than they said about Chinese market. Do you think the British Government should arrest me?
佩斯頓：我說過關于英國市場很可怕的話，比那些人說中國市場的話要可怕得多。你覺得英國政府應該逮捕我嗎？

Ambassador Liu: No. It's not only about the mad comment about the market. It's also about, you know, making…sending the rumors, causing disturbances in the market. And you know, China and Britain are run by different rules of game. And maybe in some of the cases in Britain, it's not a violation of criminal law. But in China, you know, it constitutes a wrong-doings. So they have to be held accountable for their wrong-doings.
劉大使：那些人不僅僅是發表評論。他們制造謠言，引起市場恐慌。中英兩國國情不同，法律制度也不盡相同。一些行為在英國可能不違法，而在中國則不同，如果違法，就要受到懲處。

Peston: Ambassador, many thanks!
佩斯頓：非常感謝，大使先生。

Ambassador Liu: Thank you for having me.
劉大使：謝謝。

Newsnight is a popular BBC 2 current affairs programme which specialises in indepth analysis and robust cross-examination of senior politicians. Robert Peston has been the Economics Editor for BBC since 2013.
“新聞之夜”是英國BBC電視二臺知名時政類訪談節目，以深度分析和激烈辯論著稱，在英政界和知識界影響較大，全球受眾廣泛，英國及世界政要和精英經常接受該節目專訪。主持人佩斯頓2013年任BBC經濟主編至今。

（來源：外交部網站，編輯：Helen）