![]() "Hi, Punch," call out several men at the bar, all editors for U.S. Singapore exports almost everything from clothing to stereos to the United States, and an exchange of goods, as well as views, with American consumers is of the utmost importance to the ambassador from Singapore.Īfter the meeting, he returns to the embassy to read his mail then goes to lunch at Le Jardin, a West End restaurant where he is well known. The representatives are concerned with the economic doldrums in the United States. Instant coffee and Coke are served, along with the sugary Thai pastry called golden hair, while information gathered that morning from the newspapers is discussed and views exchanged. They are joined by representatives of Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. #Upper volta barbados driverNow his driver takes the ambassador, his minister- counselor and his first secretaries for politics and economics to the Thai embassy for a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). He obtains information from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. The objective is to determine who might be our next president and what that might mean for Singapore, an island at the foot of Malaysia where 2.5 million people live within a mere 235 square miles, and many Asiadollars rest in resplendent new skyscrapers.Īfter breakfast, the ambassador is driven to the embassy, where he reads the cables arriving from Singapore during the night. "I wanted an informed, dispassionate observer." "I didn't want to get information from an insider's insider," he says. Then he is driven in a pale yellow Mercedes 280E, belonging to the Republic of Singapore, to the Supreme Court cafeteria -"an excellent place for breakfast, by the way"- where he obtains information from a former Democratic congressional aide about Democratic candidates for the presidency of the United States. On this particular morning he begins gathering information at 6:30 by reading the newspaper in his home, owned and furnished by the Republic of Singapore. He uses two hoary devices- exchanging views and gathering information. "The key thing is to get a feeling for the political scene," says Ambassador Coomaraswamy, of his duties. Punch Coomaraswamy is the ambassador himself, a slight 56-year-old former speaker of lthe Singapore parliament who wears the requisite pin stripes, glasses with serious black rims and an air of unfaltering discretion. The name, Punch Coomaraswamy, echos through the halls with sibilant regularity. On the wall hangs a photograph of the prime minister and his wife. A bulletproof glass box enables the receptionist to check out visitors before admitting them to the embassy of Singapore. yes, that's right, in Belize.Īll of which brings us eventually to the doorstep of a townhouse on R Street, on the wrong side of Dupont Circle. "Why don't you do Belize?" But unfortunately the ambassador from Belize is also the financial secretary of Belize and is presently working on the budget in. "Belize!" suggests a member of State's Central American desk. "We handle all the affairs of Liechtenstein," says a member of the Swiss Embassy, a bit of cultural paternalism to which our very own State Department is not immune. Speak very slowly." The cultural attach,e of Upper Volta, however, doesn't like the idea of a reporter hanging about. "Why you pick Upper Volta?" Because it has only three representatives in the United States. "Ha!" shouts the secretary to that country's ambassador. ![]() The ambassador to the United States from Tuvalu resides permanently in. The ambassador to the United States from the Kingdom of Tonga has the very good taste to live in London. The ambassador from Nauru does whatever he does in Melbourne, Australia. These ambassadors to the United States do seem hard to find. "I'm afraid the ambassador's presently in Barbados," says a spokesman for His Excellency Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, referring to the caller as, "Mister Whoever-You-Are." "I attend many important functions," says the ambassador from Antigua and Barbuda, which maintains one of the smallest embassies in Washington, consisting of His Excellency and a secretary.īarbados has a somewhat larger embassy, if a bit less diplomacy. ![]() How fares Lilliput in Brobdingnag? That is, how do small embassies operate in Washington? Are their ambassadors, pinstriped against the oncoming canap,es, like those other powerful fellows residing in spiny concrete palaces? What do the emissaries from the smaller countries do all day, anyway? ![]()
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