As
China and
Japan Duelt at
11 pm on
Islands, UN
Makes
Difficult to
Cover
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 27
-- Past 11 pm
on Thursday in
the UN General
Assembly,
China and
Japan traded
speeches about
the islands
China
calls Diaoju
Dao. It was a
major UN
moment, but as
is typical,
the UN
botched it,
making it more
difficult to
cover.
Yang
Jiechi the
foreign
minister of
China, a
Permanent Five
member of the
Security
Council, began
his speech
after 9 pm. In
his
penultimate
paragraph
he mentioned
the islands.
Then Inner
City Press was
told to leave
the already
near-empty UN
Media Center.
But
the Japanese
mission, too,
was telling
journalists
that it would
reply to
China's
statement. So
why was the
Media Center
being closed?
Don't
worry, Inner
City Press was
told, there is
a live feed up
on the
third floor.
To not keep
workers later,
Inner City
Press agreed
and
followed, up a
darkened ramp
and past two
cut-outs of
Ban Ki-moon:
one with a
head and one
without.
Viewed
from a photo
booth, the GA
hall was
nearly empty
as Guinea and
then
Peru delivered
their once a
year speeches.
Then came the
rights to
reply.
Iran
went first,
lambasting
Bibi
Netanyahu's
earlier
cartoon about
nuclear
bombs. Then
Japan took the
floor. Since
they were in
the front row,
the speaker's
face could not
be seen, at
least from the
booth. It
seemed clear,
however, that
it was not the
country's
Permanent
Representative
Nishida; it
seemed from
the voice to
be Deputy
Kodama.
Near
the back row
of the hall,
China's
Permanent
Representative
Li Baodong
raised his
country's
flag, as the
name plates
are called at
the UN. He
went back to
1895, and
Japan's loss
in World War
II.
When
Japen re-took
the floor,
they said they
wouldn't reply
in detail. Why
not? China got
the last word,
invoking 1.3
billion
people, and
history. Then
it was over.
The
workers in the
UN breathed a
sign of relief
and headed
down to the B1
level. Through
the garage and
out to the
street, still
blocked with
cement blocks.
"I Instagramed
it," a staffer
said, showing
Inner City
Press his
photograph. It
was a moment
in time,
perhaps a
moment of
history. But
even this, the
UN botched and
made difficult
to cover. And
so it goes
with this UN.
, 
