Diplomatic Pouch : With Mike Peters

At the EU Delegation staff Christmas party, EU ambassador to China Markus Ederer invited all staff and their families to a Christmas gathering where donations were collected for two charities.

Money given to China Little Flower helps abandoned infants and severely disabled children, and provides hospice care for children. Clothes, toys and other donations in kind were collected for Roundabout China, which distributes collected donations to people in need. At the party, European staff brought and shared typical food and drink from their 27 countries, and the Chinese staff provided home-made dishes from tiramisu to chilled noodles (lengmian).

The EU Delegation also shared its Christmas spirit with Chinese people in cyberspace. The micro blog of the EU Delegation held a lucky draw on Christmas Eve, giving away a round-trip flight ticket to Europe and many other prizes.

On behalf of Croatian Post, Zagreb's Ambassador to China Ante Simonic received two prizes late last month: Croatian Post "Europe-Children's Books" stamps won the best stamp award in the 10th China Best Foreign Stamp Annual Poll and the honor award for participating in every poll for the past 10 years. Representatives of more than 20 countries participated in the awards ceremony, including Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Lichtenstein, Slovakia and Ukraine.

Hungarian Ambassador Sandor Kusai recently dropped in at the Danish embassy, to brief Ambassador Friis Arne Petersen on Hungary's recent experience in the chair of the EU's rotating presidency. Petersen is also conferring with his counterparts from Poland, which now holds the presidency, and another recent holder, Spain. Denmark assumes the role on Jan 1. Video: See and hear China Daily's interview with the Danish ambassador online at: Chinadaily.com.cn/video.

The new book Socrates-Confucius: Proceedings of Three Conferences on Chinese and Greek Philosophy, which was edited by the embassy of Greece in Beijing, the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) and the Institute for the Advancement of Euro-Chinese Relations, was formally presented in Beijing in December.

Chen Haosu, president of the China-EU Association and former president of CPAFFC, said it was an encouraging achievement to examine basic philosophical questions of Western and Eastern cultures.

Theodore Georgakelos, ambassador of Greece in China, said that the book is a payment of debt to the scholars who contributed to the better understanding of the thought of the two great philosophers.

The EU Delegation in Beijing supported and took part in a commemoration ceremony dedicated to International Human Rights Day organized by the Human Rights Institute of China's University of Political Science and Law. The event was attended by 140 people, including many Chinese and international students, professors from Beijing universities and representatives of EU member states.

Carmen Cano, deputy head of the EU Delegation, praised international collaboration when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was drawn up and emphasized the shared responsibility for all nations to contribute to a peaceful, stable world.

Embassy news can be sent to mike.peters.cd@chinadaily.com.cn