Face is the respectability and/or deference which a person can claim for himself from others, by virtue of the relative position he occupies in his social network and the degree to which he is judged to have functioned adequately in that position as well as acceptably in his general conduct. (Ho 1975:883)
With such an intertwined history featuring any number of military actions, it’s a wonder either nation is speaking at all to the other. Let’s all hope this current sabre-rattling is only just that.
