At UN, Chinese Painting Mirrors Quiet Council Role, Carrying Veto for Sudan, Leaving Blank Space

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, December 17 -- In Chinese painting, it was explained Monday night in the UN's lobby, much of the page is left blank. Alongside a demonstration by Wang Shuping, attended from outside the UN by Henry Kissinger and by a number of countries' ambassadors, the analogy of under-statedness was to China's approach to the Security Council. Whereas other Permanent Five members push their positions and display their bona fides at nearly every change, China even when blocking proposals in the Council rarely explains why.

            A recent example was a draft Presidential Statement calling on Sudan to arrest two indictees of the International Criminal Court. Several P-5 diplomats complained about what they called China's obstruction. China's Ambassador Wang Guangya chose not to come to the media stakeout and explain his country's opposition, perhaps seeing no need. Later on December 7, Inner City Press asked Amb. Wang about his position. "It's simple," he said. "Since there is going to be the meeting in Lisbon" of the African Union, the EU and UN, "we should see what happens there first." One may not like the position, but there it is.

China's Wang Guangya, who like Wang Shuping lets emptiness speak

            As it happens, Sudan's Ambassador was at the painting exhibition opening Monday night. He told Inner City Press the UN's Darfur mission budget is still not done, and it is nearly the holiday. Likewise Angola's Ambassador Ismael Gaspar Martens told Inner City Press there are still unanswered questions, including about the UN's $250 million no-bid contract with Lockheed Martin for Darfur. At the exhibition, diplomacy ruled the day. UK Ambassador Sawers put in an appearance; Chinese Ambassadors Wang and Liu chatted animatedly with Swiss Permanent Representative Peter Maurer. That war crimes charges have swirled around Kissinger was noted by more than one wag in attendance.

            A Chinese mission staffer was asked if Kissinger's appearance sprang from his interest in Chinese painting. "You can believe that if you want," was the response. Kissinger is "a Friend of China," through thick and thin, it was said. The paint used by Wang Shuping was thin, the most watery of water-colors, as he sketched an eagle flying over a mountain. Ambassador Wang Guangya mugged for the cameras, as if the painting had been done by him. The media covering the event, nearly all from China, snapped photographs then ran to computers to file stories. At the UN, China leaves blank much of the space it controls.

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Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.  Video Analysis here

  Because a number of Inner City Press' UN sources go out of their way to express commitment to serving the poor, and while it should be unnecessary, Inner City Press is compelled to conclude this installment in a necessarily-ongoing series by saluting the stated goals of the UN agencies and many of their staff. Keep those cards, letters and emails coming, and phone calls too, we apologize for any phone tag, but please continue trying, and keep the information flowing.

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