Please help

fansy, I think the reason nobody has responded to your question yet is that the meaning of the sentence, especially the portions in boldface type, is difficult to interpret without any context.

These are my guesses as to definitions (but not paraphrases, per se):

"working the ground": doing fieldwork that directly involves contacts with ordinary, basic level people, functions, operations, etc. As a parallel, a search for what's wrong with the automobile industry might involve interviewing automobile garage mechanics, not just the CEO of General Motors.

"on-the-ground" diplomacy: making direct contact with, or dealing with, basic level people, functions, operations, etc. This sounds similar to the meaning that the term "grass roots" conveys. In other words, this would be diplomacy at the broad, elemental level - not diplomacy with high-level people or entities.

An illustrative sentence throws me into the dark again


This sentence tells us that people like President Hu or Premier Wen do this sort of -on-the-ground diplomacy.

So does that suggest that this phrase may mean something else?

By the way, the quotation is about what Sarkozy has been trying to do since he became the French President.

fansy,

I admire you for gaining so much knowledge of English and also your dedication and commitment to learning more.

I did some Web-searching about "on-the-ground diplomacy", and here is one instance of this term (which was unfamiliar to me before you posted the query):

"The State Department has begun to recognize the need for American diplomats to be on the ground in hotspots"

The word "hotspots" would refer to places where there is trouble or the threat of trouble. I believe that sentence shows that diplomats would be literally on the ground (at the ground level of a situation), not flying overhead in a plane and observing from far above.

Thus I take the term "on the ground diplomacy" to refer to diplomats being physically present, not merely advising or observing from a plane, a distant office, or taking indirect action through intermediaries ("middle men") instead of being present themselves.

Princess Diana acted through on-the-ground diplomacy, in my opinion.

By the way, the term "on the ground" is seen either with or without hyphens. Both would be considered correct.

Thanks
Dear Aa,
Thank you very much for all your answers. I have worked out the Chinese translation of this phrase, basing on your explanation. Literally, it means "go to a place and see for yourself... and do it by yourself..." it's this sort of diplomacy.
I like this way of learning via internet research and getting answers from friends all over the world.
thank you again.