ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA, 20-22 JANUARY
Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in China on Saturday, 20 January.
Upon arrival in Beijing, the Secretary-General was briefed by Carolyn McAskie, Acting Head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, on her recent visit to Mongolia. The Secretary-General and Ms. McAskie later briefed the press on the humanitarian situation in that country.
While in Beijing, the Secretary-General held talks on Sunday with Minister of Foreign Affairs Tang Jiaxuan, Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China Qian Qichen, and Song Jian, Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Committee. He met on Monday with President Jiang Zemin. Talks ranged from the follow-up to the Millennium Summit and the status of United Nations reform to peacekeeping, disarmament, the Korean peninsula and the Middle East.
On human rights, the Secretary-General welcomed the news that China is expecting to ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights during the first quarter of the year. The Secretary-General also discussed the continuing work on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on technical cooperation signed last year between China and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson. The High Commissioner is expected to continue discussions with Chinese authorities on the MOU with a visit to Beijing shortly.
The Secretary-General attended a lunch on Sunday hosted by Foreign Minister Tang, and dinner that evening hosted by Vice Premier Qian. On Saturday evening, he had attended a Peking Opera performance of "Premier Liu Luoguo".
At a joint press encounter with the Chinese Foreign Minister, the Secretary-General, in response to a question about the transfer of power in the Philippines, said that he was very happy that the change took place peacefully and described it as "a victory for democracy".
The Secretary-General made a last-minute change in his schedule on Monday so that he and Mrs. Annan could visit World Food Programme Chinese staff member Xie Hongyi, 37, in the hospital. Xie was one of the 14 survivors of the 14 January helicopter crash in Mongolia that claimed nine lives, including four United Nations staff members who had been on a mission to assess the needs of the people suffering from a winter emergency. Mrs. Annan told the staff member's 13-year-old son, Yu Xiang, that his father was a hero.
Prior to his departure from Beijing, the Secretary-General had an informal exchange with a group of 15 university students whom he described as the "leaders of tomorrow, the twenty-first century."
The Secretary-General departed Beijing for Tokyo, Japan, on Monday afternoon, 22 January.