In
Syria Draft,
China's Li
Baodong IDs
"Wording We
Cannot
Accept,"
Proposes
"Taking into
Consideration"
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 2 --
Thirty five
minutes after
Inner City
Press published
the
UN Security
Council's new
Syria draft,
which omits
Paragraph 7(b)
about
"delegation by
the President
of Syria of
his full
authority to
his Deputy,"
China's
Permanent
Representative
to the UN Li Baodong
told
Inner City
Press that
this does not
go far enough.
Inner
City Press
asked Li
Baodong about
his French
counterpart Gerard
Araud's claims
that "we
didn't drop
the transfer
of power...
We are
supporting
the [Arab
League] plan,
and in the
plan you have
the transfer
of
power."
Li
Baodong told
Inner City
Press, "They
agreed to take
out, 7a, b,
c." But,
Li Baodong
continued, in
the "current
wording, there
is a
serious
problem that
we cannot
accept. We may
consider using
wording
like 'taking
the initiative
of the Arab
League into
consideration...
the
Security
Council
supports the
efforts of
Arab League,'
rather than
fully
support."
(c) UN Photo
Li Baodong at
UN, Ban
Ki-moon(s) in
background
Inner
City Press
asked Li
Baodong about
earlier
statements of
a BRICS
diplomat that
"only one or
two members of
the Council
will claim
that the
delegation of
power is
called for by
this
resolution
-- it is
not...
This time
Russia will
hold them to
it."
(Speaking
to
gaggle of
correspondents
as he left the
Council at the
same time as
US Ambassador
Susan Rice,
Russia's
Ambassador
Vitaly Churkin
said it
is heavy
going, but we
are working
very hard.)
Speaking
exclusively
to Inner City
Press, Li
Baodong smiled
and said, "I
talked to some
other
ambassadors,
still they
have problems,
I don't
thing they can
easy get that.
You can expect
there will be
very
heated
consultations."
Watch this
site.
, 
