On
Syria, China's
Li Baodong IDs
"Wording We
Cannot
Accept,"
Counter
Proposes
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 2 --
Forty 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,"
Chinese
ambassador 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.
, 
