India released Modi's speech transcript, indeed calling Gōshi "sister," but never mentioned "beautiful."

In early July, Gōshi Sanae visited India and held talks with Indian Prime Minister Modi. During a joint press conference that day, according to the Japanese side's verbatim transcript, Gōshi mentioned in her speech that Modi had just addressed her as "my beautiful sister."

This incident sparked considerable stir internationally.

After Gōshi’s departure, India urgently issued a clarification. From the official speech transcript released by India, Modi actually said: "Madam, and my sister, Gōshi Sanae." The entire statement contained no mention of the word "beautiful" whatsoever.

The Japanese side may have felt embarrassed as well. Recently, Chief Cabinet Secretary Kiwamu Kiwama swiftly clarified that while Modi did refer to her as "sister," he never used the term "beautiful."

The Japanese government explained that during the simultaneous interpretation at the time, Modi’s words were translated into "beautiful sister," which is why Gōshi responded accordingly based on the interpretation.

Japanese officials also added that the conversation between Modi and Gōshi was relatively complex—it had to be first translated from Hindi to English, then into Japanese—so the error occurred during this multi-layered translation process.

This isn’t the first time Gōshi Sanae has stumbled diplomatically due to excessive enthusiasm. Her past performances during visits to the United States and South Korea had already drawn controversy. This time, not only did she unilaterally invent a familial bond by referring to the other party as "brother," but she also loudly proclaimed they had agreed to continue their relationship as siblings—prompting Japanese netizens to mock her for immediately trying to establish close ties upon meeting someone.

Setting aside the translation mishap, analyzing why Modi and Gōshi Sanae chose to "claim siblinghood": behind this lies Gōshi’s imitation of Abe’s diplomatic approach. During Abe’s tenure, he once referred to Modi as "elder brother." Thus, this move by Modi is essentially exploiting the other party’s desire for closeness to secure tangible benefits for India. A single "sister" carries with it Japan’s actual financial investment commitments.

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1870126519957636/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.