Ted Lipman (born 1953) is a former Canadian diplomat. He served in numerous roles including ambassador to

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

Life and career

He was born in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and was raised in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, the United Kingdom, and

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. His father was English and his mother was Russian. Lipman took Asian studies at

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

and studied Chinese history at

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...

. In 1976, he became a member of the

Canadian Department of External Affairs Global Affairs Canada (GAC; french: Affaires mondiales Canada; AMC)''Global Affairs Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (). is the department ...

. Positions held by him there have included special projects liaison in the Corporate Planning Division, deputy director of the East Asia Trade Division, and director general of the North Asia Bureau. Lipman's first work in Asia was to serve the Canadian embassy in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

from 1977 to 1980. Lipman then became the first Canadian trade commissioner in South

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

from 1982 to 1985. Other positions held by Lipman include Canadian consul general in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

from 1995 to 1999, and minister at the Canadian embassy in Beijing between 1999 and 2001. Lipman became executive director of the

Canadian Trade Office in Taipei The Canadian Trade Office in Taipei (CTOT; french: Bureau commercial du Canada à Taipei; ) is Canada's trade office in Taiwan, which functions as a ''de facto'' embassy in the absence of official diplomatic relations in which Canada recognized t ...

in 2001, and held that position until 2004. Lipman has also worked in the United States three times: as a member of the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

, as a consul and trade commissioner in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and as a consul in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. Despite being an immigrant to Canada, Lipman has commented that he has no difficulties in representing the country as a diplomat, stating that "Canada is a very free and fair country where people of various backgrounds thrive and that's part of our success." In 2011 Lipman retired from the diplomatic service. He is currently the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation, providing professional leadership to the foundation as it carries out its dual missions: promoting Chinese culture, and encouraging a deeper understanding of Buddhist philosophy in contemporary society.

Family

Lipman is married to famous Chinese singer Zhu Zheqin, better known by her artist name Dadawa.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lipman, Ted 1953 births Living people People from Rio de Janeiro (city) Brazilian people of English descent Brazilian people of Russian descent Brazilian emigrants to Canada Canadian people of Russian descent Canadian people of English descent University of British Columbia alumni Peking University alumni Ambassadors of Canada to South Korea Ambassadors of Canada to North Korea 20th-century diplomats 21st-century diplomats