March 16, 2007	Friday	Safar 26, 1428

UNITED NATIONS, March 15: Even though China is lumped with world's "major countries", Beijing's UN ambassador Wang Guangya — says he does not get due respect from western powers.

On Tuesday, an exasperated Wang walked out of a meeting of Security Council's five permanent members plus Germany that was considering new sanctions against Iran for its defiance of the 15-member body's demand to suspend its nuclear enrichment activities.

The Council's five permanent members are: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

The reason: The venue of the meeting was changed without prior consultation. He was later told that the meeting had to be shifted because of a fire drill at the UN, but UN officials said that there were no plans for a fire drill.

Wang was also angry that the wishes of non-permanent members, known as E-10, were not being taken into consideration, demanding that they should be involved in the process instead of presenting them a fait accompli .

All ambassadors should be treated with respect, he said, pointing out that the Russian Ambassador on Monday sought a half-hour delay for consultations, but the request was denied. "This is disrespect; we want respect..."

As Ambassador Wang sat in the UN delegates lounge sipping coffee, the UN press corps gathered around him as he suggested that changing venue in cold weather to a location outside the headquarters was unfair. The reporters readily agreed but some of them noted that they had contracted cold while waiting for the diplomats’ comments at the end of P 5 plus one meetings.