Stanley Johnson: Kompromat

Hilary Douglas, MP for Taunton and a rising star in the Conservative Party, had already been nominated as his successor as Secretary of State and was expected to take up her post in the Department of the Environment later that day.

‘No, Miss Douglas’s people have already said that she couldn’t do it. She’ll barely have had time to put her feet under the desk. Besides, you’re in the programme, and down to speak on the first day. Look!’

Joyce quickly searched for the link. Together they looked at the screen. The headline, as posted by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, read:

‘China’s top politician Zhang Fu-Sheng will meet next week with foreign leaders at the Eco Forum Global Annual Conference 2016 in Xian, capital of Shaanxi Province in Central Asia. The leaders include Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) Prime Minister Roger Wolf, Lucas Behrman, President of the National Council of Switzerland; Deputy President of Kenya, Madison Mboyo; and former UK Secretary of State for Environment, Edward Barnard. Zhang Fu-Sheng will formally open the World Eco Forum.’

Joyce Griffiths hadn’t finished. ‘The Embassy is also trying to set up a private meeting between you and Mr Zhang Fu-Sheng. They said Zhang is a member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo. They hinted that Zhang was a big cheese. I’m not an expert but I can tell you that in China a member of the Politburo Standing Committee is a very big cheese indeed.’

Three days later, Barnard took his seat in the huge Xian International Congress Centre with ten minutes to spare. He had been escorted through the VIP entrance and then ‘fast-tracked’ through security, but even so the formalities took time. With Zhang Fu-Sheng scheduled to do the honours, no one was taking any chances.

There were giant screens behind the podium. In that vast cavernous hall, one man standing before a lectern could seem small and insignificant. Most people, the evidence indicated, like watching the giant screen rather than the tiny man.

Right up front in the VIP row, Barnard watched and listened to Zhang’s opening address.

‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ Zhang began. ‘Honoured delegates, honoured guests from overseas, it gives me great pleasure to declare this important congress open.’

As Zhang spoke, the giant image on the screen behind him changed and was replaced by a shot of the audience. To his surprise, Barnard suddenly saw himself in close-up, staring at the stage. Where the hell was that camera, he wondered?

And then he spotted it, mounted on a wire above the stage, able to traverse the whole stage from left to right and back again.

When, for a second time, he saw himself in close-up, he waved discretely. I could be at a football match, in one of those crowd shots, when people in funny hats or paint on their faces suddenly realize they are being filmed. He had an almost overwhelming temptation to stick out his tongue and waggle his hands behind his head, but he thought better of it. He might not be a minister of the Crown any longer, but he still had to behave.

Listening to Zhang through his headphones, Barnard was impressed by the clarity and conviction with which the man spoke. A year earlier, China had stuck its neck out. It had bonded together with the United States to force through the international agreement on climate change in Paris at the end of 2015. Now that agreement was at serious risk of collapsing even before it had entered into force. Ron Craig, the most likely Republican candidate, had made it clear that he believed global warming to be a ‘giant hoax and an attack on American jobs’. Craig had threatened that if he ever became president he would pull the US out of the Paris Agreement and even out of the parent Climate Change Convention, which had been adopted way back in 1992 at the United Nations first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Barnard was expecting to hear some tough retaliatory language from Zhang, but whatever the Chinese minister might have thought privately, he went out of his way to respect the conventions of diplomacy. Opening speeches are meant to be uplifting, not full of venom.

‘China,’ he said, ‘will always put ecological environmental protection as an important area of opening up to the outside world, and will fulfil international environmental conventions, as well as taking on international obligations. It will continue to participate in global cooperation to combat climate change, and make important contributions to global ecological security.’

When he had finished his speech, Zhang bowed three times to acknowledge the applause, and then followed one of the conference ushers to the seat reserved for him in the VIP row. Martial music echoed from the loudspeakers.

As Zhang walked along the front row, Barnard stood up to greet him as he passed. ‘Great speech. Fantastic,’ he said.

Zhang bowed and walked on. But at the dinner, later that evening, he sought Barnard out and found time for a private word.

‘Ah, Mr Barnard, how good of you to come. We are so pleased to have been able to cooperate with the United Kingdom on these environmental issues. We hope that cooperation may continue even in changed circumstances. But of course China will never intervene in the electoral process of another country.’

For a moment Barnard wondered whether Zhang was making a joke at Russia’s expense, since Russia’s habit of intervening in other countries’ elections was fairly well documented. That very day, he had seen a report on CNN about thousands of ‘leaked emails’, most of them featuring Caroline Mann, the most likely Democratic candidate in the upcoming US election. The consensus was that the leak was most likely to have originated from Russia and that it could severely damage Mann’s chancing of winning the election.

Zhang lingered for a moment. ‘We hope the Annual Xian Environmental Forum will in time come to be seen as an alternative to the World Economic Forum at Davos in Switzerland. That is why it is so important to us that foreign guests such as you attend this event. We want it to be the “go-to” event of the environmental year.’

It was after 11:00p.m. when Barnard finally returned to his hotel room. Within seconds the telephone rang.

‘Please forgive me for phoning you so late. My name is Li Xiao-Tong. I am calling you on behalf of senior minister Zhang Fu-Sheng. Minister Zhang would like to invite you to accompany him early tomorrow morning on a special visit to the famous Terracotta army.’

‘That’s wonderful. I’m down to give my speech at twelve noon. Would we be back in time for that?’

‘Yes, of course,’ the voice at the other end of the line assured him. ‘Great honour to accompany such senior minister. Meet in lobby 6:00a.m.?’

As he put the phone down, Barnard felt doubly elated. First, it was obvious that Zhang had a message to convey, though what that message was remained a mystery. Second, he was going to have a personal out-of-hours viewing of the Terracotta Army, far from the crowds of tourists who would invade the site as soon as the gates were officially opened.

His wife, Melissa, had been extremely envious when she heard he was going to Xian.

‘I long to see the Terracotta Army,’ she had said. ‘Lucky old you. Do please take some photos.’

Li Xiao-Tong was already waiting for him when, on the dot of six the next morning, Barnard merged from the lift into the glittering lobby of the Xian Hilton.

‘Minister Zhang is already in the car.’ Li ushered him to the door.

The city was stirring as they drove east. Street vendors had already taken up their positions. The tea-houses were opening. Barnard caught a glimpse of the great Buddhist pagoda, towering over the city’s ancient walls.