At
Li Baodong's
Farewell,
Memories from
Africa to
First Ave, P3
&
Pakistan
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July
22 -- There
are many
farewells in
UN-world; some
are
less sincere
than others,
and some are off
the record.
That for
China's
Li Baodong on
Monday was
neither: the
goodbyes were
genuine,
and none told
Inner City
Press is was
anything but
on the record.
The
speeches were
hardly
earth-shaking,
but the
speakers' list
was
noteworthy.
The Permanent
Representatives
of France and
UK, both
there, did not
speak. After
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon, who
joked
about Li
Baodong's able
wife Lu Hailin
having the
ultimate veto
and
wished they
soon have a
grandchild, a
son, the
line-up
included the
US and Russia
- then
Pakistan and
Kazakhstan.
Pakistan's
Masood
Khan was
introduced by
Li's also able
Deputy Wang as
a Chinese
speaker,
and he ended
in that
language.
Before that,
he told
consummate
diplomat's
diplomat
stories, of
how posting
overlapped,
and a single
praise led to
being treated
like a VIP for
four years.
Rosemary
DiCarlo
of the US
joked about
soccer;
Russia's
Vitaly Churkin
reminisced
about the
bonds build
through double
vetoes. He was
energetic, but
not as
intentionally
funny as at
another recent
comparable
setting. But
that was off
the record, as
the Mission at
issue took
pains to point
out to Inner
City Press but
apparently not
others not
visible at
Li's farewell.
Kazakhstan's
speech
and silver
plaque was on
behalf of the
International
Association of
Permanent
Representatives
-- who knew?
-- and its 176
members. Who's
not a member?
Afterward over
dumplings,
watermelon and
shrimp (not in
that order),
Burundi's
Permanent
Representative
Hermengilde
Niyonzima
explained his
morning
Security
Council speech
to Inner City
Press (click
here for
earlier story).
Herve
Ladsous
quickly
disappeared. Deputy SG
Jan Eliasson
was in the
house.
Newsy,
Inner City
Press
remembers
hearing Li
Baodong's
stories of
nitty
gritty
diplomacy in
Africa, while
standing in a
line in an
airport
covering a
Council trip
in Africa.
Also sitting
on a bus while
Susan
Rice gave a
rah-rah speech
to South Sudan
army recruits
in an
induction camp
closed soon
thereafter for
corruption.
That night,
while the
Press stayed
in the Beijing
Juba, the rest
of the Council
was in a
fancier place
with George
Clooney. But Li
Baodong was in
the
Beijing Juba.
Where else
should he be?
What
Inner City
Press is most
left with is
the memory of
Li Baodong
strolling up
First Avenue
in the dead
zone north of
the Chinese
mission, in a
short sleeved
shirt looking
at the river.
He told Inner
City Press
that he likes
to take a walk
after dinner.
He was alone,
without
security.
He was, as he
said in his
farewell
speech, just a
regular New
Yorker, a
resident of
First Avenue.
And for a
diplomat,
that is saying
a lot. We wish
him well.
Watch this
site.
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