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New China's diplomatic struggle to restore the legitimate seat of the United Nations

author:Diplomats say something

Author: Zhang Hongxi served as Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Australia; Deputy Director General and Director General of the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Member of the Preparatory Committee for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress; Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of Tanzania; Consul General of the Chinese Ambassador to New York; Member of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; President and Editor-in-Chief of the World Knowledge Publishing House.

On April 25, 1945, representatives from 50 countries held a United Nations Conference of International Organizations in San Francisco, USA. On 26 June, the Charter of the United Nations was signed. On October 24 of the same year, after China, France, the Soviet Union, Britain, the United States and most other signatories submitted their instruments of ratification, the Charter came into force and the United Nations was formally established.

New China's diplomatic struggle to restore the legitimate seat of the United Nations

▷ The scene of the meeting when the Chinese delegation signed the Charter of the United Nations on June 26, 1945. Source: China and the United Nations

As the founding member of the United Nations Constituent Assembly and one of the members of its bureau, China has made important contributions to the birth of the United Nations. At that time, in the stage of kuomintang-communist cooperation against Japan, the CCP recommended Zhou Enlai, Dong Biwu, and Qin Bangxian to attend the San Francisco conference as members of the Chinese delegation, but Chiang Kai-shek was afraid of the expansion of the communist party's influence and vigorously opposed it.

On March 7 and 9, 1945, Zhou Enlai sent letters to Wang Shijie, who was in contact with Zhou Enlai on behalf of the Kuomintang, and Hurley, the US ambassador to China, who was also President Roosevelt's personal representative, solemnly declaring that the Kuomintang's exclusive use of the quota of delegates to the San Francisco Conference was neither just nor reasonable, and asked to convey it to President Roosevelt. Subsequently, under the pressure of President Roosevelt, Chiang Kai-shek was forced to agree to Dong Biwu (a representative of the Communist Party), Li Huang (a representative of the Youth Party), Zhang Junjie (a representative of the Democratic Socialist Party), And Hu Lin (general manager of the Ta Kung Pao) as members of the league, and signed the charter together with the chief representative, Gu Weijun.

New China took the initiative to attack

On November 15, 1949, Zhou Enlai, as the first foreign minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, sent a telegram to Romulo, President of the 4th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, and Un Secretary-General Rye, declaring that the Government of the People's Republic of China was the sole legitimate government representing all the people of the People's Republic of China, and that the so-called "Chinese National Government" had fled and collapsed and had lost any qualification to represent the Chinese people, and therefore demanded that the United Nations immediately revoke all rights of the "Chinese National Government Delegation" to continue to represent the Chinese people in the United Nations. On the 23rd, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyshinsky spoke at the plenary session of the Ungalacine General Assembly, supporting Zhou Enlai's statement and expressing his refusal to recognize the representatives of the Kuomintang clique.

On January 8, 1950, Zhou Enlai called Romulo and Rey again and transferred to the members of the Security Council: it was illegal for the Kuomintang representative to remain in the Security Council and he should be expelled from the Security Council. On the 10th, the Soviet representative Malik put forward a statement of support for Zhou Enlai in the Security Council, asking the Security Council to make a resolution to expel the representatives of the Kuomintang clique, but the proposal was rejected.

At the same time, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has formed a mission to the United Nations with Zhang Wentian as its chief representative. On 19 January, Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai sent a note informing Romulo and Lai that China had appointed Zhang Wentian as its chief representative to attend the Un General Assembly and the work of the United Nations, and asked him to answer when to dismiss the illegal representatives of the Kuomintang clique and when to allow the legitimate delegation of the People's Republic of China represented by Zhang Wentian to attend the UN Assembly and participate in the work. According to the "Chronicle of Diplomatic Events of the People's Republic of China", in 1950, Zhou Enlai sent more than 20 direct notes and telephoned the responsible persons of the United Nations on the participation of representatives of the Government of the People's Republic of China in meetings of the United Nations and its subordinate organs.

New China's diplomatic struggle to restore the legitimate seat of the United Nations

▷ Premier Zhou Enlai protested against the AGGRESSIVE acts of the United States at the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Cadres' Congress.

The Soviet Union, which had been a staunch supporter of the restoration of the legitimate seat of the United Nations in New China, withdrew from the Security Council on January 10, 1950, on the grounds that it did not recognize the representatives of the Kuomintang clique and could not meet with them, which was tantamount to giving up the veto power as a permanent member of the Security Council. This gave the United States the opportunity to dominate the Security Council, so that after the outbreak of the Korean War in the same year, the United States was easily authorized at the United Nations to form a so-called "United Nations army" and gather its servant countries to invade Korea.

Around the Korean War, the US occupation of Taiwan and the encroachment on our airspace, China and the Soviet Union cooperated with each other and waged a sharp struggle against the United States and other countries at the United Nations. Britain, Australia, and other countries jointly put forward the "eight-power proposal," and the United States put forward the so-called "United Nations Military Report" to justify their acts of aggression. Zhou Enlai, in his capacity as foreign minister, telephoned the United Nations and asked for a representative to be sent to the United Nations meeting to accuse the United States of aggression against our country.

New China's diplomatic struggle to restore the legitimate seat of the United Nations

▷ On November 28, 1950, Wu Xiuquan, Special Representative of the Chinese Government, attended a meeting of the United Nations Security Council.

On November 28, 1950, Special Representative Wu Xiuquan made a speech at the United Nations Security Council accusing the United States of armed aggression against Taiwan, China's territory, and his speech was the first victory of New China in the United Nations. However, the United States tried every means to obstruct Wu Xiuquan's activities in the United Nations and manipulate the Security Council to refuse to discuss Wu Xiuquan's proposals, causing the United Nations General Assembly to adjourn the meeting indefinitely, and Wu Xiuquan had to leave New York in mid-December to return home.

Since then, New China has never ceased its struggle for its rightful seat in the United Nations, and in addition to the support of the socialist countries headed by the Soviet Union, it has carried out a series of diplomatic work to gain the support of the independent countries of the Asian, African and Latin American nations, as well as european countries. Until November 28, 1950, Wu Xiuquan announced at the United Nations Security Council that 16 countries had approved of China's entry into the United Nations.

New China's diplomatic struggle to restore the legitimate seat of the United Nations

▷ The United States manipulated the UN General Assembly to shelve the representation of New China on the grounds of "postponing discussions" and "impromptu opportunity."

In the course of the deliberation of the 5th session of the United Nations General Assembly in 1950 on the issue of China's representation, the United States manipulated the General Assembly to adopt Canada's proposal to establish a special committee of seven countries to consider China's representation, and as a result, the issue of China's representation was shelved. On November 13, 1951, the United States manipulated the 6th Session of the United Nations General Assembly to recommend to the General Assembly through the General Committee that it "postpone the consideration" of any resolution that "dismiss representatives of the Chinese Nationalist Government from the Congress or accept representatives of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China to represent China in the General Assembly."

Since then, until the 1960 sessions of the United Nations General Assembly, the United States manipulated the United Nations to use similar language to shelve resolutions on the issue of China's representation, and refused to include the issue of "China's representation in the United Nations" raised by the Soviet Union, India and other countries on the agenda of the General Assembly. In 1961, the old method of "postponement" and "shelving" did not work, and the United States proposed that the so-called "important issues" case need to be passed by a two-thirds majority, continuing to stubbornly obstruct the restoration of China's legitimate seat.

We will unswervingly uphold the "one-China principle."

The United States felt that it would be difficult to blindly obstruct New China's entry into the United Nations, so it played a new trick and insisted on retaining the status of the representative of the Chiang Kai-shek clique in the United Nations, and agreed to accept New China into the United Nations on this premise.

In this regard, on November 15, 1957, Premier Zhou Enlai said in a conversation with the envoys of various countries in China: "Now, I want to talk about why the United States has shifted to the manufacture of 'two Chinas.'" The focus of the problem is that the United States wants to take Taiwan into its hands... New China will always be officially recognized by most countries in the world, which is an inevitable trend. Because China exists and develops, and it must always exist and develop. The United States wants to form 'two Chinas' before this day comes and put Taiwan in its hands. ”

"In the International Committee of the Red Cross, the representative of the United States openly said that since this organization has two Vietnamese and two North Koreas, why can't it have two Chinas... We absolutely cannot tolerate such a situation. ”

Therefore, we are no longer in a hurry to achieve success on the issue of joining the United Nations, but we will never waver in adhering to the "one-China" principle, and we must expel the representatives of the Chiang Kai-shek clique from the United Nations before we can enter the United Nations. A protracted battle has been waged for this.

New China's diplomatic struggle to restore the legitimate seat of the United Nations

▷ Beijing in the early days of the founding of New China

At the beginning of the founding of New China, we adopted the method of negotiating the establishment of diplomatic relations one by one for countries outside the socialist system, and did not adopt the usual practice of naturally continuing diplomatic relations without the need for negotiations with countries with the original government. Because although some countries recognized the new China, they continued to maintain diplomatic or consular relations with the Chiang Kai-shek clique that had fled to Taiwan, and continued to support the Chiang clique in maintaining their original seats in the United Nations. This will form a situation of "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan" and legitimize the continued existence of the Chiang Kai-shek clique.

Therefore, in the negotiations on the establishment of diplomatic relations, we demand that the other side must sever diplomatic or consular relations with Taiwan, and that in the United Nations we must support the expulsion of the Chiang Kai-shek representatives and recognize New China as the only legitimate representative, otherwise we would rather not establish diplomatic relations or only establish chargé d'affaires relations, especially for European countries.

New China's diplomatic struggle to restore the legitimate seat of the United Nations

▷ In July 1954, Premier and Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai met with British Foreign Secretary Eden during the Geneva Conference.

On September 17, 1954, the Norwegian negotiators sent a note to our Deputy Foreign Minister, Zhang Hanfu, saying that Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden had reached an agreement on the restoration of the representation of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations at their meeting in Reykjavik on August 31.

On 23 September, the Norwegian side sent a letter to our side that the representative of Norway voted against the US proposal to postpone the discussion of the representation of the People's Republic of China at the 9th session of the UN General Assembly. On October 5, China and Norway agreed to establish normal diplomatic relations and exchange ambassadors.

On October 8, 1955, Premier Zhou pointed out at a banquet for the Governor general of Hong Kong, Ge Lianghong, and the British chargé d'affaires au Nien-ru that if Britain voted in favor of restoring Our legitimate status and rights at the United Nations, then Sino-British relations could be improved.

On October 25, 1955, Premier Zhou said in a meeting with a Belgian delegation of industry and commerce visiting China: There is no problem in normalizing Sino-Belgian relations on the Chinese side, but there are some problems on the Belgian side, for example, it is necessary to exclude the "representatives" of the Kuomintang group in Belgium and not to recognize the status of the Kuomintang group in the United Nations. China is willing to establish diplomatic relations with other countries, but is not in a hurry to establish diplomatic relations, and if the other side does not agree to our demands, we can wait.

Premier Zhou also pointed out that Britain and the Netherlands recognized New China and severed diplomatic relations with the Kuomintang clique, but supported the Kuomintang clique in the United Nations and did not recognize the status of New China; this is not a complete recognition of New China; we have only semi-diplomatic relations with them, and only the agency is stationed in the capital of the other side.

Seize the opportunity to work with the heads of the United Nations

General Ambassador Geng Biao was our first ambassador to Sweden. In January 1953, the Representative of France nominated The Swedish Deputy Foreign Minister Hammarskjöld as the second Secretary-General of the United Nations. Premier Zhou immediately called back to instruct Ambassador Geng to hurry up and meet with Kazakhstan and strive to make efforts to restore china's legitimate seat after he takes office. Ha designated a secret meeting with Ambassador Geng at the Royal Library in Stockholm in the early morning of January 7.

Ambassador Geng briefed Kazakhstan on the revolutionary history of our country, explained the inevitability of the overthrow of the Chiang Kai-shek clique and the fact that it no longer has the right to represent Chinese people in the United Nations. Ambassador Geng also talked about the chinese communists' cooperative relations with the United States in World War II, including his personal participation in receiving the US observation group to the base areas led by the Chinese communists and his experience in dealing with the United States with the "Military Mediation Executive Department." He pointed out that it was unreasonable for the United States to obstruct New China's entry into the United Nations.

Ambassador Geng's remarks impressed Hammarskjöld and deepened his understanding of the new China, praising "Your Excellency the Ambassador for his diplomatic skills." He said: Sweden established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China very early on and severed relations with the Kuomintang authorities. As Deputy Foreign Minister of Sweden, I fully agree with the views expressed by the Ambassador. But as Secretary-General of the United Nations, this requires patience and time, and your country needs to be prepared to accept the reality that it does not want to accept.

New China's diplomatic struggle to restore the legitimate seat of the United Nations

▷ On the evening of January 10, 1955, Premier Zhou Enlai hosted a banquet for the unintended Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld, who was about to leave Beijing. Hammarskjöld was the first UN Secretary-General to visit China. The picture shows Premier Zhou and Hammarskjöld meeting a glass at a banquet. Source: China and the United Nations

On 25 March 1953, Hammarskjöld was elected Secretary-General of the United Nations. On December 19, 1954, the director of the Royal Library of Sweden, Welles, invited Ambassador Geng to his luncheon, and Ambassador Geng "happened to meet" Hammarskjöld, who had returned to China for leave. The two discussed the entry of Kazakhstan from Guangzhou to Beijing via Delhi, India.

On January 5, 1955, Ha was "entrusted by the United Nations" to beijing to hold talks on China's trial of the US espionage case and the visit of his family to China. Zhou Enlai met him the same day that Ha arrived in Beijing. Ha visited the Forbidden City and other places of interest in Beijing, and watched the Peking Opera "Three Forks". After four talks, the two sides issued a communiqué saying that the talks were beneficial and hoped to continue the contacts.

New China's diplomatic struggle to restore the legitimate seat of the United Nations

▷ In April 1955, Premier zhou Enlai and foreign ministers attended a meeting of 29 countries in Asia and Africa in Bandung, Indonesia.

Luo Qingchang, then deputy director of Premier Zhou's office, wrote an article entitled "A Hammer to Make a Decision," in which he said that during the 1955 Asian-African Conference, Malik, a protocol officer of the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, contacted Zhou Enlai many times, and "was deeply moved by Zhou Enlai's great political wisdom and courage and his character in absolute sincerity, humility, enthusiasm, and erudition, and Zhou Enlai also respected him and established a tacit friendship between them."

In September 1971, Malik, as Indonesian Foreign Minister, prepared to go to New York to serve as executive chairman of the 26th session of the United Nations General Assembly. When he was passing through Hong Kong, out of respect and friendship for Premier Zhou, he specially entrusted a friend to bring a message to Premier Zhou, indicating his deep concern for the Restoration of the legitimate rights of the United Nations by the People's Republic of China and expressing his willingness to contribute to this end. Malik is ready to send a personal adviser to Beijing to seek the opinion of Premier Zhou on the specific consultations on the cooperation between the two sides, and he himself will stay in Hong Kong and wait for an echo. Premier Zhou immediately asked me to arrange a special plane to bring Mr. Malik's advisers to Beijing, and I would talk with him on behalf of Premier Zhou, and we should keep it absolutely confidential to the outside world. ”

Malik's personal adviser is Situ Meisheng, a patriotic overseas Chinese who lives in Macau and has had a deep personal relationship with President Sukarno and Protocol Officer Malik in Indonesia. At that very session of the General Assembly, Malik made up his mind on the rostrum and announced the adoption of a bill to restore all of our country's rights at the United Nations.

"Friends bring my country to the United Nations"

On October 25, 1971, the 26th session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 2758, initiated by 23 countries, including Albania and Algeria, by 76 votes in favor, 35 against and 17 abstentions, restoring all the rights of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations, recognizing her government representatives as the sole legitimate representatives of China in the United Nations Organization, and immediately expelling Chiang Kai-shek's representatives from their illegally occupied seats in the Organization and all the organs under it.

There are 26 African countries that voted on China's side, the largest number of votes from all continents. Chairman Mao said happily that it was mainly the brothers of the Third World who brought us into the United Nations.

New China's diplomatic struggle to restore the legitimate seat of the United Nations

▷ On October 25, 1971, the 26th session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 2758 to restore the legitimate rights of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations. The picture shows the venue of the United Nations General Assembly at the time of the adoption of the resolution. Source: China and the United Nations

In fact, after Kissinger's secret visit to China was issued on July 16, 1971, and announced that President Nixon would visit China, more than 40 countries that had been restricted by the United States from establishing normal diplomatic relations with China had established diplomatic relations with China before the United States. Therefore, the vote in favour of restoring my country's position in the United Nations is highly anticipated.

It took 22 years, from Wu Xiuquan being obstructed by the United States to inviting Qiao Guanhua, who was personally killed by Mao Zedong, to give a speech at the United Nations. Friends carried us into the United Nations with songs and dances, and Qiao Guanhua laughed at the meeting of the Ungain General Assembly, which was the triumphant song of victory in this diplomatic struggle.

-End-

Text | Yanhuang Chunqiu, No. 10, 2021

Author | Zhang Hongxi

Image | Source network except for labels

Edit | Diplomat says something xiao ha

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