Text/Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter Dong Liu
50 years ago today, the United Nations General Assembly issued the landmark Resolution 2758, which restored all the legitimate seats of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations, thus having a profound impact on the international landscape and China's development. Yesterday (24 October) was United Nations Day, the day the Charter of the United Nations entered into force.
Why was China's representative the first to sign the UN Charter at the signing ceremony? What is the process of New China restoring its legitimate seat in the United Nations? After New China restored its legitimate seat in the United Nations, why did the five-star red flag rise over the United Nations seven days later?
Huang Huikang, a member of the United Nations International Law Commission and chairman of the International Law Advisory Committee of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, recently told this history in an interview with the Yangcheng Evening News Yangcheng faction.
Huang Huikang studied under Professor Han Depei, a well-known international law scholar, and is currently an arbitrator of the Permanent Court of International Arbitration, the chief expert of the Institute of International Rule of Law of Wuhan University, a high-end national think tank, and a visiting professor of Guanghua Law School of Zhejiang University. He has been engaged in diplomatic work for more than 30 years, served as China's ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Malaysia, director of the Department of Treaty and Law of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, legal adviser of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, special representative of climate change negotiations, etc., and has attended sessions of the United Nations General Assembly, the Charter Committee, the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and other Sessions of the United Nations and multilateral treaty negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations as a representative of China, and has authored more than ten monographs such as "Major Country Diplomacy with Chinese Characteristics and International Law" and "Collective Security System in International Law".
Here's what he had to say —
Why was China's representative the first to sign the UN Charter at the signing ceremony?
The four sponsors of the United Nations are China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States. On 5 March 1945, the "Four Founding Powers" issued an Invitation to convene a United Nations Constituent Assembly to the Allies of World War II in order to formulate the Charter of the United Nations in accordance with the principles set out in the Dumbarton Oaks Conference.
Invited states included 26 states that signed the Declaration of the United Nations on 1 January 1942, 21 countries that signed and declared war on the Axis countries after 1 January 1942, and the 4 countries Ukraine, Belarus, Argentina and Denmark that were admitted during the San Francisco Conference, for a total of 51 countries.
France is a permanent member of the UN Security Council but has not participated in the UN initiation and preparatory process. At the Yalta Conference in February 1945, when the three participating countries (the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union) decided to convene a United Nations Constituent Assembly in San Francisco, they proposed that China and France, together with the Soviet Union, the United States, and Britain, jointly serve as the initiators of the San Francisco Conference. The Chinese government accepted this proposal. France, unable to participate in the consultations of the Dumbarton Oaks Conference and the Yalta Conference, and having just established an interim government after the war, agreed only to participate in the conference, but decided not to serve as the initiator.
On 25 April 1945, the United Nations Constituent Assembly opened in San Francisco with 282 delegates from 50 countries and 1,726 advisers, experts and secretaries. Poland did not attend for any reason. On June 26, 1945, the San Francisco Constituent Assembly was successfully concluded and the Charter of the United Nations was formally signed. Article 23 of the Charter clearly stipulates that the five permanent members of the Security Council are: China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The Chinese delegation to the San Francisco Constituent Assembly consisted of the following members: Chief Representative Song Ziwen, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, and 10 members, including Gu Weijun, Wang Pethui, Dong Biwu, Wei Daoming, Hu Shi, Wu Yifang, Li Huang, Zhang Junjie, and Hu Lin. These included representatives of the National Government, the Communist Party, the Democratic Alliance, representatives from all walks of life, including a female representative.
Why was the representative of China the first to sign at the signing ceremony of the UN Charter? This is because there are 50 delegates to the San Francisco Constituent Assembly, divided into two categories. The first is four "sponsoring countries" and France (five permanent members), followed by 45 other founding Member States. On June 26, 1949, the signing ceremony of the charter was held, and in accordance with the rules of procedure of the meeting, the "five permanents" of the Security Council were the first to sign, and the English alphabetical order of the names of the countries was China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. China ranked first in the "Five Permanents", so the Chinese delegation was the first to sign the Charter. After the signature of the "five permanents", the other 45 founding member states signed in order of English according to the order of the names of the countries. The polish representative re-signed on 15 October of the same year. Thus, there are 51 founding Members of the United Nations.
There were eight Chinese representatives who signed the UN Charter, and the first to sign was Acting Chief Representative Gu Weijun, who became the first person in the world to sign the UN Charter.
Song Ziwen, chief representative of the Chinese delegation, did not attend the signing ceremony due to other official duties. Hu Shi, who was in San Francisco, refused to sign the charter because he was very dissatisfied with some of the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations, mainly the provision of Article 2, Paragraph 7 of the Charter, on "non-interference in internal affairs", because he agreed with the so-called "Above all Nations is Humanity" of the famous American professor Goldwin Smith. From this point of view, Hu Shi can be regarded as the first person to advocate the theory of "human rights above sovereignty" in modern China. In addition, he was not satisfied with the right of a "veto" on the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. Therefore, as an idealistic scholar, Hu Shi decided not to sign.
The special feature of the signing ceremony of the Charter of the United Nations is that the 282 delegates of the 50 delegations to the meeting signed the official languages of the Charter in Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish, so the signing ceremony lasted for more than ten hours, which is unprecedented in the history of diplomacy. The signing ceremony of the Charter of the United Nations is of great significance, and all the delegates involved in the conclusion of the Charter can leave a strong mark on history.
On October 24, 1945, after the deposit of the instruments of ratification of the Charter by the Soviet Union, Ukraine and Belarus, the total number of ratified states had reached 29, including 5 permanent members of the Council. The Charter of the United Nations entered into force on this day. The 2nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly in 1947 designated 24 October as United Nations Day to commemorate the founding of the United Nations. "Un Charter Day" (also known as "World Charter Day") is 26 June of each year, the day the Charter of the United Nations is signed.
What is the process of New China restoring its legitimate seat in the United Nations?
Under international law, in the event of a change of power, China's seat in the United Nations should be inherited by the People's Republic of China. However, under the obstruction of the United States and other Western countries, the issue of New China's representation in the United Nations has not been resolved for a long time and has been blocked from the united nations for 22 years.
Beginning in the second year after the founding of New China, some friendly countries, such as the Soviet Union, proposed to deliberate on the "issue of China's representation" at the annual session of the UN General Assembly. In this regard, the United States initially adopted the strategy of "deferring discussions" and repeatedly postponed the consideration of the issue of China's representation. In the 1960s, the international pattern underwent major changes, and the US "de-escalation" strategy was difficult to sustain. As a result, the United States played a procedural trick in the UN General Assembly, listing the issue of China's representation as an "important issue", and the relevant resolutions required a two-thirds majority of member states. In 1971, the United States deliberately threw out the "dual representation" proposal in a vain attempt to create "two Chinas" in the United Nations, but it ended in failure.
Over time, some colonies became independent, especially in Africa in the 1960s, when 17 African countries declared independence. At the 26th session of the United Nations General Assembly, held on 25 October 1971, the draft resolution entitled "Restoration of the legitimate seat of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations" (historically known as the "double-Arab proposal", since the sponsors, led by Albania and Algeria), were put to the vote, jointly sponsored by 23 friendly countries. At 11.20 p.m. on the same day, the "Double Arab Proposal" was successfully adopted by an overwhelming margin of 76 votes in favour, 35 votes against and 17 abstentions, and decided to "restore all rights of the People's Republic of China, recognize the representatives of her Government as the sole legitimate representatives of China in the United Nations Organization and immediately expel Chiang Kai-shek's representatives from the seats illegally occupied by it in the Organization and all the organs to which it belongs." This is the landmark United Nations Resolution 2758.
The 76 countries that voted in favour were: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Bhutan, Botswana, Bulgaria, Myanmar, Burundi, Belarus, Cameroon, Canada, Ceylon, Chile, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Ghana, Guinea, Guyana, Hungary, Iceland, India, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Kuwait, Laos, Libya, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen), Congo, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, Sudan, Sweden, Syria, Togo, Tedo, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, Tanzania, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Zambia.
The 35 countries that voted against were: Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Central Africa, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Costa Rica, Dajome, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Gabon, Gambia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Ivory Coast, Japan, Cambodia, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malta, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Paraguay, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Eswatini, United States, Burkina Faso, Uruguay and Venezuela.
The 17 countries that abstained were: Argentina, Bahrain, Barbados, Colombia, Cyprus, Fiji, Greece, Indonesia, Jamaica, Jordan, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Panama, Qatar, Spain and Thailand.
The Maldives and Oman did not vote.
Why do daytime meetings drag on until the evening? Because before that, it was necessary to repudiate the "double representation" proposal of the United States and other procedural proposals. It was already 11:20 a.m. when the "double-Arab proposal" was passed, which was a historic moment. After the 26th session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted the "double Afghanistan" proposal to restore the legitimate rights of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations, the representatives of all countries that voted in favor stood up for a long time and applauded. Salim, Tanzania's representative to the United Nations at the time, was even happier than dancing in the conference hall. Led by Salim, many African representatives also jumped up together, and everyone applauded and hugged together, and the venue was boiling. This is unique in the history of the United Nations.
The reason why Africa has been able to support China so strongly is because the founders of New China's diplomacy, represented by Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai, have attached great importance to friendly exchanges with Africa from the very beginning. Premier Zhou Enlai visited ten African countries for two months from December 1963 to February 1964. A deep friendship has been forged with african brothers. That is why Chairman Mao once said that "China was brought into the United Nations by African countries." Of the 23 sponsors of the "double-Arab proposal", 11 were In Africa, and of the 76 votes in favour, Africa had 26 votes. Without the full support of these 26 African countries, the time for New China to restore its legitimate seat in the United Nations would have been postponed.
Out of the great importance attached to the friendly relations between China and Africa, since 1991, the first stop of the Chinese foreign minister's visit at the beginning of each year must be Africa, which has continued for 30 years and formed a fine tradition.
Why did the five-star red flag rise at the United Nations seven days after the restoration of its legitimate seat?
The day after the adoption of General Assembly resolution 2758, Chairman Mao Zedong personally presided over the meeting to discuss the issue of sending a delegation to the General Assembly. Chairman Mao said, "In the past, when it was said that there was no hurry to enter the United Nations, it was the old imperial calendar, and it did not count, and now if you do not go, you will be separated from the masses." We must learn from Ah Qing's sister-in-law and not be humble and unassuming in international exchanges. Chairman Mao also personally appointed Qiao Guanhua as the head of the regiment, Xiong Xianghui and Huang Hua as deputy heads of the regiment, and immediately organized a delegation to attend the meeting. Premier Zhou Enlai demanded that the delegation not regard itself as a big country, hold consultations on an equal footing, refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, and follow the principle of equality of all countries, big or small. Marshal Ye Jianying also specially wrote a poem "Sending Old Master Qiao to the car" to make a grand march for the delegation. Many of the new diplomatic concepts and propositions put forward by China's diplomacy since then are in line with China's diplomatic traditions.
The first appearance of "Mr. Joe" in the United Nations General Assembly can be described as a stunning world. On November 15, the President of the 26th session of the Unipotentiary General Assembly, Malik (Foreign Minister of Indonesia), presided over the ungalactic session and welcomed the new Chinese representatives to visit and listen to the first speeches of the new Chinese representatives. The Great Hall was full, and Qiao Guanhua, head of the Chinese delegation dressed in Zhongshan costumes, walked up to the rostrum with great enthusiasm and delivered an inspiring speech on behalf of New China with a sonorous and powerful voice.
After Qiao Guanhua's speech, the applause in the Great Hall was thunderous, and representatives of many countries rushed to the front of China's seat to shake hands with the representatives of New China and congratulate them. The scene photos taken by xinhua reporters and the famous "Joe's Smile" photos captured by The Associated Press reporter recorded the wonderful moments at that time.
After New China restores its legitimate seat in the United Nations, it is logical that the five-star red flag should be raised over the United Nations the day after the resolution is adopted. However, the situation developed too quickly, and the Flag of the People's Republic of China was not prepared at the United Nations Headquarters at that time. Moreover, because Sino-US relations have not yet been normalized, there is no large five-star red flag in New York that meets the standards of the United Nations. Therefore, from October 26, the stainless steel flagpole that originally flew the Chinese flag had to be very conspicuously empty.
In order to raise the Chinese flag as soon as possible, the United Nations Secretariat produced a five-star red flag the same size as the flags of other Member States by the end of October, based on the collected drawings. On 1 November 1971, seven days after the adoption of General Assembly resolution 2758, a bright five-star red flag was raised for the first time over United Nations Headquarters.
What is the abbreviation of New China?
States Members of the United Nations generally do not adopt the full name of their english name, usually using abbreviations. For example, the United States is abbreviated as United States at the United Nations, and the first English letter is U. The United Nations generally arranges the list of States Members of the United Nations in the order of 26 letters in English and the order in which they are placed by registered ballot. At the same time, in order to reflect fairness, the seating arrangement of each session of the United Nations General Assembly is carried out by drawing lots to determine the first English letter at the beginning of the ranking, so that representatives of countries with lower names have the opportunity to sit in the front row.
On October 29, 1971, U Thant, then Secretary-General of the United Nations, telephoned Ji Pengfei, then Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, asking for a quick notice that "the English names of the People's Republic of China are in alphabetical order."
The full English name of the People's Republic of China is People's Republic of China. There are two options for abbreviation, One is People's Republic (People's Republic) and the other is China (China). According to the rules, the presidency of the Council rotates among 15 members in alphabetical order of country names for a term of one month, and if People's Republic is adopted, China will rotate the presidency of the Security Council for the month of November. But we are unfamiliar with the situation and are not competent. If it is referred to as China, it is the same as the abbreviation when representatives of the Chiang Kai-shek clique illegally occupied seats in the United Nations.
After Ji Pengfei asked Premier Zhou Enlai, Premier Zhou said that the country under the qing dynasty government was called China, and the English was China. After the Xinhai Revolution, on January 1, 1912, Dr. Sun Yat-sen was inaugurated as the provisional president in Nanjing, the name of the country is the Republic of China, the English is Republic of China, referred to as China, the English is still China. On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was established, and the abbreviation is still China, or China in English. There is only one China, Taiwan is part of China, and The English abbreviation of China in the United Nations should be China.
Following Premier Zhou's instructions, Ji Pengfei re-reported Wu Dan on October 31. However, October 31 was Sunday, and the United Nations raised and lowered the flags of Member States every Monday to Saturday, but did not raise the flag on Sunday, so that the five-star red flag was raised for the first time over the United Nations on November 1 of that year.
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Editor-in-charge | Wei Li Garden