the meeting was superfluous there was nothing of any substance discussed that couldnt just as easily have been dealt with in a thirty-second telephone call but about midway through the allotted half hour the ambassador dropped in to give us a short speech on how grateful we should be to mr. boaz and his usia staff for their arranging this visit and how honored we should feel knowing that our program at beida was one of the few stops on the tour these people were making through china .