Posted on 06/08/2003 12:12:29 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
China has awarded its diplomatic personnel in Iraq for "their outstanding performance prior to the Iraq war," the state media reported on Saturday. Chinese Ambassador to Iraq, Zhang Weiqiu was granted a first class merit citation and the other six diplomats were awarded second and third class merit citations in a ceremony on Friday.
Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing attended the ceremony and praised the diplomats' successful completion of their tasks in Iraq, Xinhua news agency reported.
By March 17, before the war broke out, the embassy staff in Baghdad succeeded in evacuating all Chinese citizens from Iraq amid the tense atmosphere.
On March 18, Zhang and six fellow officials relocated to neighbouring Jordan to continue their work and returned to Beijing on May 22 after the work was completed.
Zhang was quoted by the official Xinhua news agency that the Chinese government hopes the Iraq issue will be resolved peacefully and the embassy in Iraq will be reopened as soon as conditions permit.
The Chinese embassy in Iraq was looted in the aftermath of the fall of the Iraq regime led by President Saddam Hussein. According to Chinese foreign ministry sources, the embassy suffered serious damage in the looting.
I, for one, would be interested to know more about the nature of this work, which could be done from Jordan during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
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