NEW YORK – Pakistan’s permanent representative to United Nations MaleehaLodhi on Friday hosted a welcome dinner for the new Chinese Ambassador toUN, Ma Zhaoxu, at Pakistan House.

The event was attended by over 30 ambassadors from all regions of the world.

They included diplomats from Italy, Russia, Kuwait, Iran, Mexico, Egypt,Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Lebanon, Argentina, Oman, Peru, Brazil,Jordan, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Colombia, Vietnam, Georgia, and Bangladesh.

Former foreign ministry spokesman and Chinese ambassador to Australia MaZhaoxu follows in the footsteps of Li Baodong, who became Beijing’s topenvoy in Geneva in 2007 and then transferred to the New York post in 2010after two and a half years.

Ma, 54, returned to Beijing last week after a 20-month stint as thecountry’s top envoy to the UN in Geneva.

As China’s point man at the UN headquarters will be at the forefront of amore ambitious and assertive foreign policy under President Xi Jinping.

China’s UN post in New York had been vacant for nearly four months sinceveteran diplomat Liu Jieyi was promoted to the deputy chief of the TaiwanAffairs Office just days ahead of the twice-a-decade Communist Partyleadership shake-up in October.