VZCZCXRO9917
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHLH
DE RUEHCN #0203/01 2150101
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 030101Z AUG 07
FM AMCONSUL CHENGDU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2576
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 1354
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 0010
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 0007
RUEHGO/AMEMBASSY RANGOON 0049
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 0435
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0007
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 0713
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 0681
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 0703
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0742
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHJI/AMCONSUL JEDDAH 0005
RUEHLH/AMCONSUL LAHORE 0005
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 3125

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENGDU 000203 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/CM, SCA/PB, AND INR 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  8/2/2032 
TAGS: PREL PINR MASS PK CH
SUBJECT: PRESENTING CHENGDU'S COLORFUL FIRST PAKISTANI CONSUL 
GENERAL 
 
REF: A) BEIJING 2802   B) CHENGDU 124 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: James A. Boughner, Consul General, U.S. Consulate 
General , Chengdu. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  Recently arrived to assume his duties in 
Chengdu, Pakistan's first consul general to southwest China may 
have been picked for his current assignment due to his 
experience in Burma and military background.  The JF-17 fighter 
aircraft jointly developed and produced by China and Pakistan in 
Chengdu brings a steady stream of Pakistani military officers to 
the city which appears to be host to a growing community of 
Pakistani students and businessmen as well.  End Summary. 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
The Debut of Pakistan's Consulate 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶2. (C)  CG paid a call July 31 on Masood Aktar (protect), the 
new Pakistani Consul General to Chengdu.  Although officially 
inaugurated in an opening ceremony on April 18 by visiting Prime 
Minister Shaukat Aziz, who was accompanied by a large military 
delegation, the Pakistani Consulate is not yet completely 
operational and Masood just arrived in Chengdu to assume his 
duties on July 24.  During the April initial opening event 
attended by CG and other representatives of the local diplomatic 
community, Prime Minister Aziz highlighted the close military 
and economic ties between Pakistan and China and noted he was 
particularly pleased to have seen the JF-17 fighter aircraft, 
produced jointly by the two counties at the Chengdu Aircraft 
Industry Corporation, make one of its first public appearances 
at a military parade in Islamabad in March.  Pakistani Consul 
General Masood himself proved to be a most loquacious 
interlocutor.  A bit of a "character," Masood frequently 
interrupted CG's attempts to respond to his questions with a 
continuing series of stories about his own life.  What was 
supposed to have been a quick 30-minute courtesy meeting ended 
up taking close to two hours. 
 
¶3. (C)  Masood stressed in particular he wants to develop close 
ties with the U.S. Consulate because Pakistan and the United 
States are the only two countries with diplomatic representation 
in southwest China that share an identical consular district 
which includes the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).  (Note: 
According to a diplomat at one of the recently-opened European 
consulates here, a Chinese official once told his government 
that no new foreign consulate would be allowed to cover the TAR 
and that it was probably a "mistake" to have granted the United 
States access to Lhasa via a consulate rather than its embassy 
due to the close oversight by Beijing authorities of all 
sensitive Tibetan issues.  End note).  Masood's total staff will 
likely consist of two other diplomatic officers, four 
Pakistani-national support personnel, and between five to seven 
Chinese employees.  The Chinese employees have been identified, 
but will not report to work until the second week of August. 
Masood said he is looking forward to their arrival as none of 
his Pakistani assistants can speak Chinese and they are 
experiencing a great deal of trouble trying to navigate local 
bureaucratic processes.  According to Masood, the primary 
function of his consulate is to support and assist the growing 
population of Pakistani students and businessmen -- he did not 
offer a number -- in Chengdu and other parts of the consular 
district. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
An Interesting Background 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C)  A member of the Afridi tribe of Pakistan's Northwest 
Frontier Province and scion of a local military family, Masood 
volunteered he was originally an army officer and was only 
transferred to the diplomatic service in 1973 following the 
break away of East Pakistan and reorganization by Islamabad of 
 
CHENGDU 00000203  002 OF 002 
 
 
Pakistan's military agencies.  Given Masood's "recognized 
skills" of dealing with the British as a Cambridge graduate, one 
of his first diplomatic postings was in London.  He also served 
at the United Nations, in Mexico City, Rangoon, and most 
recently as Consul General to Jeddah.  Although Chengdu 
represents his first long-term assignment to China, Masood said 
he was part of the Pakistani delegation that accompanied 
then-Premier Ali Bhutto during his 1976 visit to Beijing to meet 
with Chairman Mao. 
 
¶5. (C) While in Rangoon in the late 1980's and 1990's, Masood 
claimed he had "excellent personal relations" with former 
military strongman Ne Win, one of whose houses he rented.  In 
fact, Masood continued, he developed such good relationships 
within the Burmese military leadership that he incurred the 
jealousy of his boss, the Pakistani ambassador.  While proud of 
his work in Burma, however, Masood remarked his just-completed 
four-year tenure in Jeddah really should have earned him the 
"Victoria Cross."  He noted it was impossible not to make 
enemies while trying to carry out his responsibilities to 
protect the interests of the over 600,000 Pakistani nationals 
who lived in the Jeddah consular district.  When "security 
types" at the consulate tried to have him removed, according to 
Masood, it took the intervention of a family friend of his in 
Pakistan's Senate to protect him and save his career.  A 
Pakistani journalist in Saudi Arabia who tried to discredit 
Masood changed his mind after Masood invited him to his 
residence and reminded the journalist about the potential 
unpleasantness of "tribal justice." 
 
------------------------- 
Other Bio Notes 
------------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) Masood is married and has three children -- one son 
(currently a lawyer in Pakistan) and two daughters.  He will be 
joined in Chengdu by his wife and younger daughter.  He enjoys 
classical music, poetry (which he writes in both Urdu and 
English), and collecting oil paintings.  While he claimed to 
have a "easygoing" personality and went on at length about a 
personal philosophy that emphasizes "teamwork" in the office, 
Masood angrily berated one of his assistants in front of CG for 
serving his tea on the left rather than the right-hand side. 
Masood huffed that the unfortunate man, a fellow member of the 
Afridi tribe, should "really know better." 
 
----------------- 
Comments 
----------------- 
 
¶7. (C) Given his relative lack of China experience (at one point 
Masood asked CG what kind of faux pas he should be on guard 
against in local social situations), it was possibly his 
military and Burma background that singled Masood out for 
assignment to Chengdu.  China's border with Burma is in his 
consular district and local authorities have been trying to 
upgrade significantly the region's transpiration infrastructure 
to Burma and other Southeast Asian countries (Ref B).  Our 
friends at the Thai Consulate in Chengdu (strictly protect) tell 
us they have processed about 65 visa applications for Pakistani 
military officers (mostly pilots) during the past year to 
transit Bangkok en route to Lahore.  The Thais find it curious 
that most of the submitted passports are issued at the Pakistani 
Embassy in Beijing and do not contain Chinese visas. 
BOUGHNER