Section 16. United Nations stands at a new turning point
At the 26th session of the General Assembly last autumn, the participation of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations, which was a long-standing problem, was realized.
With the participation of the People's Republic of China, which is a nuclear power with one-fourth of the world's population, it is believed that the United Nations has reached a new turning point. In the first place, the major progress made towards achieving the "universality" of the United Nations-the gaining of substance as an organization of the whole world-in itself opens up new future prospects for the United Nations. In the second place, the type of balance that existed in the United Nations among the United States, the Soviet Union and the small and medium nations-a situation which operated as a factor to emasculate and, in a certain context, to make routine the debates relating to political problems in the United Nations-is expected to be shaken by the participation of the People's Republic of China.
On the other hand, as a result of the participation of the People's Republic of China, the multi-polarized and complicated realities of international relations will be directly reflected in the forum of the United Nations, and the discord in opinions among the big powers, such as was seen on the occasion of the Indo-Pakistan dispute, will be brought intact into the United Nations, probably making the discussions in the United Nations even more complicated and difficult.
As if to symbolize this turning point, former Secretary General U Thant completed his term and retired on December 31, 1971, and Dr. Kurt Waldheim of Austria took office as the new Secretary General.
1. Participation of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations
Because the yes votes exceeded the no votes on the so-called Albanian Resolution at the 25th session of the U.N. General Assembly in November, 1970, and because a succession of countries began to recognize the People's Republic of China upon the termination of the Cultural Revolution, it began to be recognized in international society that the time was nearing for the People's Republic of China to participate in the United Nations.
In this situation, mainly the nations of the Asia-Pacific region, beginning with the United States and including Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines and Thailand, believed that, although they might welcome the participation of the People's Republic of China, it would not be appropriate to take away the seat of the Government of the Republic of China to make place for the People's Republic of China. Thus, these countries actively negotiated both inside and outside the United Nations with countries concerned to propose an appropriate provisional measure in the United Nations.
On the other hand, the People's Republic of China itself and the co-sponsors of the Albanian Resolution and other countries insisted on the stand that the sole legitimate representative of China was the People's Republic of China and that, in admitting it to the United Nations, the Republic of China Government should be expelled. Thus, the curtain went up on the 26th U.N. General Assembly in 1971 in the midst of active diplomatic maneuvers on the part of both sides.
At this session, the countries which wanted to let the People's Republic of China participate in the United Nations as the sole legitimate representative of China were in the majority, and the proposal by the United States, Japan and others which tried to make the ousting of the Republic of China Government an "important question" requiring a decision of a two-thirds majority was defeated by a small margin. Thus, the plenary session of the General Assembly on October 25 decided to give the People's Republic of China the right of representation in the United Nations (before the vote was taken, Foreign Minister Chou Shu-kai of the Republic of China delivered a farewell speech and the delegation of the Republic of China walked out of the Assembly Hall), and the Republic of China lost its U.N. seat.
Subsequently, the question of Chinese representation was taken up in the specialized agencies of the United Nations, and the right to represent China in UNESCO, ICAO, ILO, etc., was transferred one after another to the People's Republic of China. Furthermore, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) decided to invite the People's Republic of China to become a member (the Republic of China was not a member).
The delegation of the People's Republic of China, with Vice Foreign Minister Chiao Kuan-hua as Chief Delegate, began to participate in the discussions of the General Assembly (and of the Security Council) from November 15. The General Assembly, at that time, was waiting for the arrival of the delegation of the People's Republic of China, and the majority of the items on the agenda had not been disposed of. It was as if the Security Council, too, had been waiting for the participation of the People's Republic of China, and began taking up various problems one after another.
The People's Republic of China which participated in the discussions of the General Assembly and the Security Council concentrated its activities this year mainly on political problems. The very harsh criticism thrown at the Soviet Union, particularly with respect to the disarmament issue and the Indo-Pakistan problem, attracted general attention. The People's Republic of China this year did not participate in the Second Committee, which deals with economic problems in which the small and medium nations are most vitally interested, and therefore it did not create a situation in which it would lead the developing countries vis-à-vis the developed countries.
At any rate, it is believed that the full-scale activities of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations would be unfolded in and after 1972, The People's Republic of China has declared that it will be the ally of the small and medium nations and smash the hegemony of the big powers. Thus it is expected that its actions will have a big effect on the position in the United Nations of the United States and the Soviet Union (and Britain and France) as a matter of course and also of such countries in Asia as Japan and India. Furthermore, its actions would be watched because they could affect the future course of the United Nations.
On the other hand, there are still limitations to the solidarity of the so-called small and medium, countries which form the nucleus of the non-aligned group of nations. It is expected that there will be quite a bit of hesitation, or even resistance, to "challenging the superpowers" in the form advocated especially by the People's Republic of China.
2. Activities of the United Nations
Of the activities of the United Nations in 1971, that which attracted the most worldwide attention was its efforts to settle the dispute between India and Pakistan which had developed into an armed clash.
It probably cannot be denied that the resolutions adopted by the General Assembly and the Security Council calling for a cessation of armed conflict in the Indian subcontinent and the trend of international opinion as revealed in the process of discussion in the United Nations had exerted an intangible pressure on the parties to the dispute and other nations connected with them-particularly those countries which depend to a great extent on a good international image. Nor should it be forgotten that expectations are placed on the United Nations to play some kind of a role in future efforts to settle the situation.
With respect to disarmament, the long expected draft of a convention prohibiting the development, production and stockpiling of biological weapons was completed at the Disarmament Committee in Geneva. The 26th General Assembly adopted a resolution recommending this treaty.
The activities of the United Nations in the economic, scientific, social and cultural fields also continued on a steady course. Progress was made in the preparations for the holding of the third UNCTAD in April 1972, for the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in June of the same year, and for the Conference on the Law of the Sea in 1973.
The 26th U.N. General Assembly also decided to increase the number of seats on the Economic and Social Council from the present 27 to 54, and simultaneously adopted a resolution to strengthen its functions. This indicates that the importance of the role of the United Nations in economic development questions has become widely recognized, and, at the same time, it has great significance as part of the movement to reexamine the role of the United Nations in response to the demands of the times and, if necessary, to make revision. (However, the expansion of the seats on the Economic and Social Council requires an amendment of the Charter, and quite some time will be required to accomplish that.)