[By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn]

So, the magnificent old man fights on. Against all expectations, Nelson Mandela has reached his 95th birthday. If there was ever a man who personified the word "indomitable", it is the former South African President.

As a diplomat it was my privilege to meet a lot of important and powerful figures. The one I am most proud of meeting, though, is without doubt Mandela, whom I met in 1993 just before his election as President. After being freed from prison by F.W. de Klerk's regime in 1990, he was clearly the pivotal figure in the process to bring about a peaceful transition to non-racial democracy in South Africa.

As a talented young lawyer in apartheid South Africa, it was clear to him that the law as it stood provided no chance of justice for the black majority. Always dignified, never a rabble-rouser, Mandela nonetheless understood that it is impossible to work within a legal framework which leaves you no possibility of obtaining your rights, and that as a consequence, there was no alternative but to work to overthrow the system. Nor would it always be possible to do so without violence. When on trial for anti-government activities in 1962, he made it clear that he was perfectly prepared to die in the pursuit of his objectives.

Sentenced to life imprisonment, he made it clear that he was not admitting defeat. He adopted, and encouraged his fellow-prisoners to share, a regime of strict self-discipline, study and physical exercise to ensure that when the day came to resume the struggle, the ANC leadership would be fully ready for it. He kept this up even though his lungs were badly affected by conditions in the prison.

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