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I asked my proficient friend if this sentence was 病句 or not:

我尊重中国的工程公司。

He replied：
Someone like a President could say this, and it would be OK. Were a normal person (仆人？） to say this, it'd be considered 不礼貌. Why is this?

I asked him (we were speaking in Chinese) but I think I missed his point, so I'm asking the kind community here on StackOverflow.

The usage examples on Youdao have what seem to be similar sentences. For example:

在我们国家中工会受到人们的尊重。

Labour unions are respectified in our country.

Is the difference the inclusion of 我？

谢谢！

First you have to know the difference between 尊敬 (respect) and 尊重(respect)

尊敬 is respect with admiration. For example, "I respect my teacher"; "I respect scientists"

尊重 is respect with acceptance or tolerance, mostly treat as equal. For example, "the court respect the defendant's right to remain silent" ; I respect your opinion (although I think it is stupid); I respect women's right (although I think men are superior)

I would not go as far as saying it is impolite to use 尊重 when you should use 尊敬; it is just not respectful enough

Beside 尊重 is not 尊敬, the problem with the sentence "我尊重中国的工程公司" is that we don't know in what aspect you respect Chinese engineering companies. Is it their reputation? If it is their reputation, then what kind of reputation you are referring to?

The topic: 'Chinese engineering companies' is just too general to pinpoint what is the respectable element, we need something specific, for example, "I respect Chinese engineering companies' innovative thinking"

"在我们国家中工会受到人们的尊重" implies people respect the union; not unlike the way you respect your neighbors

"在我们国家中工会受到人们的尊敬" implies people respect and admire the union. We all know the union's reputation is protecting labor's right against big companies' unfair treatment of their workers

Note:

尊敬/ 敬佩 = respect and admire; 敬重= respect and value; 佩服 = admire; 尊重 = respect (as equal)

我尊重中国的工程公司 sounds fine to me. But I would expect, most likely, it's been said by foreigners, because it naturally puts an emphasis on 中国的. The sentence conveys the idea that the speaker is impressed by 中国的工程公司. It might be because those 中国的工程公司 he dealt with provided good services, quality and etc.

Put it into a bit context:

我尊重中国的工程公司, 因为他们有一流的建造工艺和良好的信誉。

By the way, I don't see it being impolite(不礼貌) in any sense here and  a normal person is 普通人 or 正常人, not 仆人.

I am almost certain given your explanation that the reason why your friend said 不礼貌 has nothing to do with the original difference between 尊重/尊敬.

But yes, the meaning of 尊重 is a bit alienated in today's political environment, likely due to the abused translation from Respect to 尊重. Just as Tangho points out "respect with acceptance or tolerance, mostly treat as equal.", this aspect of respect is 尊重, too in the reports nowadays. Daily usage of 尊重 is quite the same with 尊敬. But the word sounds a bit harsh, especially from a foreigner addressing something like a Chinese company, conjuring people of repugnant vocabulary of the politicians from the western world such as "We hope Chinese government give due respect to..." or "We respect the diversity of ..." etc. but truely conveying the intention of interference or exact the opposite of respect. Since in these cases respect are often simply translated as 尊重, inevitably 尊重 is alienated and should be used with discretion.

And that means he/she thinks since as an individual, you are not on parity with a corporation, adding the marred meaning of 尊重, you somehow do not have the qualification to make such a comment.

That is similar to this meme：

Anything but 尊重 will do, sinse they don't imply ill things and arouse uncomfortable feelings. Or you may specify the reason why you respect it to substantiate your good will.