On November 15, 1971, the Chinese delegation attended the plenary session of the 26th session of the United Nations General Assembly for the first time, and Qiao Guanhua (front row, first from the left) who was then China's vice foreign minister laughed and gave a visual picture of the people
What is the process of China regaining its rightful seat in the United Nations?
Why did the five-star red flag rise at the United Nations seven days after the restoration of its legitimate seats?
Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter Dong Liu
Why was China's representative the first to sign the UN Charter at the signing ceremony? What is the process of China restoring its legitimate seat in the United Nations? After China regained its legitimate seat in the United Nations, why did the five-star red flag rise over the United Nations seven days later?
25 October marks the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the People's Republic of China's legitimate seat in the United Nations, while the previous day, 24 October, is United Nations Day. The historical details of the establishment of the United Nations and the restoration of China's legitimate seat in the United Nations have once again attracted attention. 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 Yangcheng Evening News.
Huang Huikang is also an arbitrator of the Permanent Court of International Arbitration, the chief expert of the Institute of International 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, serving as Chinese ambassador to Malaysia, director of the Department of Treaties 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 UN general assembly, charter special committees and other UN agencies and multilateral treaty negotiations as a representative of China, and has authored more than ten monographs such as "Major Country Diplomacy and International Law with Chinese Characteristics".
Here's what he had to say —
On October 25, 1971, the 26th session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 2758, and the delegates warmly applauded and cheered (data map) Xinhua News Agency
The signing ceremony of the UN Charter lasted more than a dozen hours
The four "founding countries" 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 Dunbatten Oaks Conference.
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 April 25, 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: Song Ziwen, chief representative, And 10 members, including Gu Weijun, Wang Pethui, Dong Biwu, Wei Daoming, Hu Shi, Wu Yifang (female), Li Huang, Zhang Junjie, and Hu Lin. These include representatives of the National Government, the Communist Party, the Democratic Alliance, and representatives from all walks of life.
Why was the representative of China the first to sign at the signing ceremony of the UN Charter? This is because there are a total of 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 was absent from the signing ceremony because of official duties, and Hu Shi refused to sign because he was dissatisfied with some of the provisions of the charter.
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.
After China regained its legitimate seat in the United Nations, the five-star red flag began to fly in the square in front of the United Nations Building (data map) Xinhua News Agency
UN Resolution 2758 restores China's legitimate seat
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, with the obstruction of the United States and other Western countries, the issue of China's representation in the United Nations has not been resolved for a long time, and it 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, raised 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", because the proposal began with Albania and Algeria), jointly sponsored by 23 friendly countries, was put to the vote. 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.
Why do daytime meetings drag on until the evening? Because it was necessary to negate the US "double representation" proposal and other procedural proposals before, the "double Arab proposal" was adopted at 11:20 p.m., 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.
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. From December 1963 to February 1964, Zhou Enlai spent two months visiting ten African countries and forging deep friendships with African brothers. That is why Mao Zedong wittily said that it was the African brothers who brought China into the United Nations. Of the 23 sponsors of the "double Arab proposal", 11 were in Africa, and 26 of the 76 votes in favour were cast by African States.
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.
For the first time, the Chinese delegation made its appearance at the UN General Assembly meeting to amaze the world
The day after the adoption of General Assembly resolution 2758, Mao Zedong personally presided over the meeting to discuss the issue of sending a delegation to the General Assembly. Mao Zedong also personally appointed Qiao Guanhua as the head of the regiment, Xiong Xianghui and Huang Hua as deputy regimental leaders, and immediately organized a delegation to attend the meeting. 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. Ye Jianying also specially wrote a poem "Sending Old Master Qiao to the car" to make a grand move 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 Ungalace, Malik (Foreign Minister of Indonesia), presided over the ungalactic session and welcomed the chinese representatives to attend and listen to the first speeches made by the 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 Hall was thunderous, and representatives of many countries rushed to the front of China's seat to shake hands with Chinese delegates 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 China regains 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. But the situation developed too quickly, and the United Nations headquarters at that time did not prepare the flag of the People's Republic of China at all. Moreover, because Sino-US relations have not yet been normalized, a large five-star red flag in New York that meets the standards of the United Nations cannot be found. 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.
Edit: Zhenglong
Source: Golden Sheep Network