[KS] His Excellency ZHAOXING LI to speak, China: Hub for Humanity and Peace
icas
icas at dvol.com
Wed Apr 26 01:14:31 EDT 2000
April 25, 2000
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Sang Joo Kim
His Excellency ZHAOXING LI
Ambassador of the People's Republic of China
to the United States
to speak on
China:
Hub for Humanity and Peace in the New Century
at
ICAS Spring Symposium & ICAS Dinner
Humanity, Economy and Technology
May 1, 2000 Monday
Irvine Auditorium Amado Recital Hall
University of Pennsylvania
3401 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Dear Friend:
We are pleased to share with you that His Excellency Zhaoxing Li,
Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to the United States
will deliver a keynote speech, "China: Hub for Humanity and Peace
in the New Century"", at the ICAS Spring Symposium & ICAS Liberty
Award Dinner on May 1, 2000. Other keynote speakers include:
Robert Cook-Deegan, David Farber, Lawrence R Klein, Jerome J Shestack,
C Sarah Soh, and William Wolman.
Ambassador Zhaoxing Li was born in Shangdong Province, the hometown of
Confucius. He graduated with honors from the prestigious Beijing
University with a major in Western Languages and Literature. Later he
obtained his MA at Beijing Foreign Studies University, formerly known
as Beijing Foreign Languages Institute, a cradle of Chinese diplomats.
As a senior diplomat, the Ambassador began his diplomatic career in
Africa. During the 1970's, he spent seven years in Kenya. In the
1980's, he was assigned as First Secretary and charge d'affaires a.i.
of the Chinese Embassy in the Kingdom of Lesotho. He laid a firm
foundation for the relations between the two countries during the two
years when he was charged with the responsibility of establishing the
Chinese Embassy there. From 1990 to 1993, he visited 33 African and
Middle East countries when he was the assistant foreign minister in
charge of that region.
Ambassador Li is also an expert on multilateral affairs. From 1993 to
1995, he was the Chinese ambassador to the United Nations. As the
representative of Chin --one of the permanent members of the Security
Council, Ambassador Li played a unique and important role in the world's
most important international organization by helping maintain the world
peace, and prevent and mediate in regional conflicts. During these
two years, Ambassador Li built a profound friendship with then
Ambassador Madeline Albright as colleagues. He had twice assumed the
role of the Chairman of the Security Council. He directly participated
in the re-democratization of Haiti, and was involved in many rounds of
negotiations with the then Haitian president. Representing China, he
had delivered around 300 key speeches on crucial issues concerning Iraq,
Somalia, Burundi, Rwanda, Cyprus, and Central Asia, as well as issues
on arms control, climatic change and human rights. In the conference
room of the Security Council, the "Li Bell" named after Ambassador Li
is still in use to remind people of being punctual at meetings.
>From May 1995 to March 1998, Ambassador Li was serving as the vice
foreign minister in charge of the China-U.S. relations, the United
Nations and international legal affairs. He personally experienced the
ups and downs of the Sino-U.S. relations from 1995 to 1997. During
that period, he had led delegations to the United States many times
for political consultations with the U.S. government, and attended the
four summit meetings between President Zemin Jiang and President Clinton
in the last four years. He ahs been a witness of the process in which
Sino-U.S. relations have evolved from a low point to the current steady
improvement and development.
Ambassador Li's U.N. background also brought him many titles and
responsibilities. He had been the Deputy Director of the China
Organizing Committee and the Deputy Head of the Chinese delegation to
the Fourth United Nations Conference on Women. As the only male leading
official representing China at this conference, he had played a very
positive and unique role in organizing and convening this most widely
represented conference in the U.N. history. Ambassador Li had also
been the Deputy Head of the Chinese delegation to the 48th and 49th
U.N. General Assembly, and the consultant to the 50th, 51st and 52nd
General Assemblies.
Ambassador Li had also been a leading member representing at the First
Asian-European Meeting, three times at APEC's Ministerial Meeting.
Ambassador Li had assumed leading roles as vice chairman in the China
Committees of more than ten international organizations, such as UNESCO,
the Framework Convention of Climate Change, the International Convention
of Anti-Desertification, the Chemical Weapon Ban Treaty, the South Pole
Committee, and the International Environmental Cooperation Committee.
He had also been the Deputy Director of the Organizing Committee of the
World Gardening Exposition, and the member of the National Anti-Drug
Committee.
In his leading posts, Ambassador Li had represented China in many
presidential inaugurations as the special envoy of the Chinese
government in countries such as Argentina and Ecuador, and led Chinese
delegations to visit 101 countries in five continents.
Ambassador Li was also a nationally renowned spokesman of the foreign
ministry. From 1985 to 1990, he had been the ministry's spokesman while
concurrently serving as Deputy Director General and later Director
General of the Information Department. Even today, there are still
many Chinese calling him Spokesman. He has a lot of journalists
friends, and is always willing and happy to meet journalists.
Ambassador Li is also a literature enthusiast. During his college
years, he was an adorer of Shakespeare. If he had not chosen foreign
service as his life-time profession, he could have well become an expert
in Shakespeare. He is now the honorary chairman of the Chinese
Shakespeare Society, and the guest professor of Beijing University
and Nankai University. Ambassador Li is also a scholar of good literary
attainments. His first essay appeared in literature journals in
Shanghai when he was only a teenager. The most widely read newspaper,
the People's Daily, published his articles in as early as 1960's, and
he has since been writing poems and essays for many Chinese newspapers
and journals. His writings include many articles on human rights, and
literary comments on the artistic styles of the American writer Mark
Twain, the British writer Fielding, and the Russian writer Turgeniev.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Sang Joo Kim / signed
Sr. Fellow & Executive Vice President
ICAS
http://www.dvol.com/~users/icas
Institute for Corean-American Studies (aka ICAS) is a non-profit,
non-partisan, and private educational and research organisation. It is
non-agent of any government and solely supported by voluntary
contributions. ICAS promotes pertinent relations and conducts
appropriate activities to enhance cooperation and to pursue peace and
prosperity. Further information about ICAS and some examples of
previous activities may be found on the ICAS website
(http://www.dvol.com/~users/icas). Thank you.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
More information about the Koreanstudies
mailing list