China's top-ranking U.N. diplomat Sha Zukang rather undiplomatically launched a drunken rant against U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon during a dinner at a U.N. retreat last week which left officials cringing, according to reports.
"I know you never liked me, Mr. Secretary-General," Sha reportedly said during his roughly 15-minute rant at the retreat in Austria. "Well, I never liked you, either."
According to reports, Ban nodded awkwardly as other U.N. officials tried to convince the 62-year-old Sha to put down the microphone. Yet Sha, who was appointed the U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs in 2007, insisted on continuing -- and, as if for good measure, he then laid into American U.N. official Bob Orr. " I don't really like him," Sha said. "He's an American, and I really don't like Americans."
Fortunately, a presumably worse-for-the-wear Sha likely realized he'd let the mask of diplomacy slip amidst the liquor the next day, and requested a meeting with Ban, during which he was said to be "deeply apologetic," according to Farhan Haq, the acting deputy U.N.
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