An international Chinese civil servant

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An international Chinese civil servant

(Xinhua) 08:42, October 25, 2013

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BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- As the UN Day was observed around the world, Xu Haoliang, a UN official appointed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, had a busy day in Beijing.

Since he arrived at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, almost every hour of his three-day visit has been filled with meetings.

Xu, 55, started his UN career in the 1990s, and is now Director of the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific (RBAP) of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

"Mr. Xu has many years of distinguished service within the UNDP," said an announcement issued by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

According to the UN website, there are 459 Chinese staff at the UN Secretariat, accounting for only 1 percent of all staff. The number of senior officials is even lower.

During a 2-hour exclusive interview, Xu told Xinhua that his success comes from a combination of "Eastern diligence" and "Western intelligence".

"Besides working hard," said Xu, "you need to be able to express your ideas well in foreign languages and build your own social network. This way, you can win others' trust and support."

In 1983, Xu left his job at Shanghai Tongji University to pursue higher education in the United States. After gaining a Master's of Science in management from the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey and a Master's in international policy analysis and management from Columbia University in New York, Xu independently entered the UN System.

By 1995, he had completed internships at six agencies and four years later, with a record of strong performance and excellent work ethic, Xu received a formal contract with the United Nations.

Today, he is happy to see many young Chinese willing to join the UN and encourages them to follow his career philosophy. However, he also confessed candidly that an international civil servant might not be the best job for all, as "it is hard to balance career and family".

Xu has held various positions around the world, most recently in New York as the Deputy Regional Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. About 50 percent of his time is taken up by business trips. Even so, he squeezes an hour of his limited private time every day to be on social media.

Last year he opened a personal account @KaifashuXuHaoliang on Sina Weibo, the Chinese answer to Twitter. Most of his posts relate to the UN or UNDP. He is careful with words online and always adds sources to support his opinions. He never imagined that he would reach over 116,000 followers.

"It shows that people have many expectations for the UN, and in return, the UN needs public support. As a UN official living in a big-data society, it is important that I know the ideas and opinions of Internet users."

In recent years, many international organizations, including the IMF and WTO, have begun to take more Chinese nationals into high-level positions. Xu is happy to spread the news.

"I think this illustrates the soft power of the Chinese," he said.

Xu holds that China plays a very important role in United Nations. China's development decisions have high impact around the world. He hopes that China can make significant strides towards true sustainable development and become a good example to other developing countries.

The diversity of the Asia Pacific region makes his work "challenging". He told Xinhua his main tasks are reducing poverty and tackling inequality.

"The core of the Chinese Dream is social justice. The main concept, 'enabling everyone to build better lives,' is in line with the UN's mandate, as is the harmonious development of society."