| Membership | Former full member |
|---|---|
| Since - until | 1945.10.24. - 1971.11.25. |
| UNSC seat | Permanent (during membership) |
| Permanent Representative |
|
| Membership | Full member |
|---|---|
| Since | 1971.11.25. |
| UNSC seat | Permanent |
| Permanent Representative | Li Baodong |
China's seat in the United Nations and membership of the United Nations Security Council was originally occupied by the Republic of China (ROC) from October 24, 1945 to November 24, 1971, but has since been occupied by the People's Republic of China (PRC).
During the Chinese Civil War, the Communist Party of China repelled the government of the ROC from Mainland China to the island of Taiwan in 1949, where it exercises control to date. On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China (PRC). The representatives of the PRC first attended the United Nations, including the United Nations Security Council, as China's representatives on November 25, 1971, replacing the ROC delegates. As a result, Taiwan does not have the ability to send a Permanent Representative to represent the ROC at the UN. The PRC vigorously opposes any move seen to be endorsement of Taiwan as an independent sovereign state or as a rival "China".
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As one of the "Big Four" allies in World War II (China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States), the Republic of China (ROC) was one of the founding members of the United Nations. Franklin Roosevelt, the former U.S. President, had acknowledged China's war effort in World War II and stated his desire to allow China to "play its proper role in maintaining peace and prosperity" in the world, even though China was not socially influential or military strong[1] [2]. Thus, despite opposition from other leaders, especially Winston Churchill, [3] China became a permanent member of the Security Council from its creation in 1945. [4] In 1949, the Communist Party of China seized power in mainland China and declared the People's Republic of China (PRC), claiming to have replaced the ROC as the sole legitimate government of China and the ROC government retreated to the island of Taiwan (which it gained control of in 1945 at the end of WWII), Quemoy Island, and the Matsu Islands.
Until 1991, the ROC also actively claimed to be the sole legitimate government of China, and during the 1950s and 1960s this claim was accepted by the United States and most of its allies. While the PRC was an ally of the Soviet Union, the U.S. sought to prevent the Communist bloc from gaining another permanent seat in the Security Council. To protest the exclusion of the PRC, Soviet representatives boycotted the UN from January to August 1950 and their absence allowed for the intervention of UN military forces in Korea.
In 1952, the ROC complained to the UN against the Soviet Union for violating the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance of 14 August 1945 and the Charter of the United Nations. The United Nations General Assembly has found that the Soviet Union prevented the National Government of the ROC from re-establishing Chinese authority in Manchuria after Japan surrendered and gave military and economic aid to the Chinese Communists, who founded the PRC in 1949, against the National Government of the ROC. Resolution 505 was passed to condemn the Soviet Union with 25 countries supporting, 9 countries opposing and 24 countries abstaining.
The ROC used its veto once — in 1955, the ROC representative cast the only Security Council veto blocking the admission of the Mongolian People's Republic to the United Nations on the grounds that all of Mongolia was part of China. This postponed the admission of Mongolia until 1960, when the Soviet Union announced that unless Mongolia was admitted, it would block the admission of all of the newly independent African states. Faced with this pressure, the ROC relented under protest.
From the 1960s onwards, nations friendly to the PRC, led by the People's Republic of Albania under Enver Hoxha, moved an annual resolution in the General Assembly to expel the "representatives of Chiang Kai-shek" (an implicit reference to the ROC) and permit the PRC to occupy the China seat at the UN. Every year the United States was able to assemble a majority of votes to block this resolution. But the admission of newly independent developing nations in the 1960s gradually turned the General Assembly from being Western-dominated to being dominated by countries sympathetic to Beijing. In addition, over the years increasing numbers of Western countries chose the PRC over the ROC (notwithstanding the position taken by the USA).
As a result of these trends, on October 25, 1971, Resolution 2758 was passed by the General Assembly, withdrawing recognition of the ROC as the legitimate government of China, and recognizing the PRC as the sole legitimate government of China. PRC received support from two-thirds of all United Nations' members including approval by the Security Council members excluding the ROC. The ROC lost not only its Security Council seat, but any representation in the UN.
The General Assembly Resolution declared "that the representatives of the Government of the People's Republic of China are the only lawful representatives of China to the United Nations". Because this resolution was on an issue of credentials rather than one of membership, it was possible to bypass the Security Council where the United States could have used its veto.
Since 1991 the ROC (now commonly known as Taiwan) has re-applied for UN membership to represent the people of Taiwan and its outlying islands only, under such names as "The Republic of China (Taiwan)", "The Republic of China on Taiwan", and most recently (in July 2007, under DPP President Chen Shui-bian) as simply "Taiwan". The ROC has also requested that the UN consider the issue of its representation in other ways, such as granting it status as a "non-member entity", a position currently held by Palestine. Because of the opposition of the PRC which is backed by the majority of UN member-states which follow One-China policies, all such applications have been denied. The ROC continues to call on the international body to recognize the rights of the 23 million people of Taiwan, who since 1971 have received no representation in the UN (except that which the PRC claims to provide), or in its related international affiliates (except, the World Health Assembly which the ROC has participated in as an observer under the name Chinese Taipei since 2009 on an "annual-invite basis").
On 27 July 2007, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon discussed ROC's most recent application for UN membership while meeting in California with Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger:
...membership into the UN ultimately needs to be decided by the Member States of the United Nations. Membership is given to a sovereign country. The position of the United Nations is that the People's Republic of China is representing the whole of China as the sole and legitimate representative Government of China. The decision until now about the wish of the people in Taiwan to join the United Nations has been decided on that basis. The resolution that you just mentioned is clearly mentioning that the Government of China is the sole and legitimate Government and the position of the United Nations is that Taiwan is part of China.[5]
Ban Ki-moon came under fire for this statement from the ROC and, it is speculated, also via non-official channels from the US. The ROC stated that Resolution 2758 merely transferred the UN seat from the ROC to the PRC, but did not address the issue of Taiwan's representation in the UN. The ROC emphasized that the PRC government has never held jurisdiction over Taiwan and that the United Nations has never taken a formal stance regarding the sovereignty of Taiwan. There are unconfirmed reports that Ban's comments prompted the US to restate its position regarding the status of Taiwan. A Heritage Foundation article suggests that the US may have presented a démarche stating among others that:
If the UN Secretariat insists on describing Taiwan as a part of the PRC, or on using nomenclature for Taiwan that implies such status, the United States will be obliged to disassociate itself on a national basis from such position."[6]
The Wall Street Journal has criticized Ban Ki-moon for rejecting the ROC's July 2007 application and regarded Ban's interpretation of Resolution 2758 (that Taiwan was part of China) as erroneous.[7] Nevertheless, Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon's statement reflected long-standing UN convention and is mirrored in other documents promulgated by the United Nations. For example, the UN's "Final Clauses of Multilateral Treaties, Handbook", 2003 (a publication which predated his tenure in Office) states:
[r]egarding the Taiwan Province of China, the Secretary-General follows the General Assembly’s guidance incorporated in resolution 2758 (XXVI)of the General Assembly of 25 October 1971 on the restoration of the lawful rights of the People’s Republic of China in the United Nations. The General Assembly decided to recognize the representatives of the Government of the People’s Republic of China as the only legitimate representatives of China to the United Nations. Hence, instruments received from the Taiwan Province of China will not be accepted by the Secretary-General in his capacity as depositary.[8]
The PRC gained admission into the UN in 1971. This was the 21st time there was a vote on the PRC's admittance. The U.S. tried to expel the PRC, which required a two-thirds vote, but the motion failed and the PRC was admitted into the UN on a vote of 76 in favor, 35 opposed, and 17 abstentions.[9]
There was wide speculation throughout the 1960s and early 1970s that the United States' close ally, Pakistan, especially under the presidency of Ayub Khan, was carrying out undercover diplomacy to instigate Western support to the PRC's entry into the UN. This involved secret visits by American officials to the PRC. In 1971, Henry Kissinger made a secret visit to the PRC through Pakistan.
The PRC has been sparing in its use of the Security Council veto, only using it six times: in 1972 to veto the admission of Bangladesh (which it considered a rebellious province of its ally Pakistan), in 1973 (in conjunction with the Soviet Union) to veto a resolution on the ceasefire in the Yom Kippur War, in 1997 to veto ceasefire observers to Guatemala (which accepted the ROC as legitimate),[10] in 1999 to veto an extension of observers to the Republic of Macedonia (same),[11] in 2007 (in conjunction with Russia) to veto criticizing Myanmar on its human rights record[12] and in 2008 (with Russia) to veto sanctions against Zimbabwe.[13]
Since its first dispatch of military observers to the United Nations peacekeeping operations in 1990, the PRC has sent 3,362 military personnel to 13 UN peacekeeping operations. In 1999 it sent a team of civilian police to East Timor as part of the UN force there. Also, the PRC sent another team of non-combat military force to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Since the end of the Cold War, the PRC has notably not attempted to use the UN as a counterbalance against the United States as Russia and France have done. In the 1991 Gulf War resolution, the PRC abstained, and it voted for the ultimatum to Iraq in the period leading up to the 2003 War in Iraq. Most observers believe that the PRC would have abstained had a resolution authorising force against Iraq in 2003 reached the Security Council.[14][15]
When an enlargement of the Security Council was discussed in 1995, PRC encouraged African states to demand their seats as a countermove to Japan's ambitions, thereby killing the initiative.[16]
In human rights issues, the PRC has been increasingly successful at maintaining their positions. In 1995, they won 43 percent of the votes in the General Assembly; by 2006 they won 82 percent.[16]
Since 1993, the ROC has made attempts to rejoin (or, as worded in its proposals, "to participate in") the UN, but because of the implacable opposition of the PRC, backed by a majority of UN member states (which adhere to One China policies) the ROC has consistently been denied. From 1991 until 2008 the question of the ROC's representation was raised on the UN agenda committee by its diplomatic allies, but always failed to get sufficient votes to get on the formal agenda. Since 2008, the current administration in Taipei has dropped these attempts.
Some proponents of Taiwan independence suggest that if the government in Taiwan were formally to renounce its claim to be also the government of mainland China and outer Mongolia, and rename itself the Republic of Taiwan, this new state could then be admitted to the UN. However, if Taiwan were to take this step, the international community would be placed in a difficult position, caught between the PRC's claim that Taiwan is a province of China and the right of the people of Taiwan to self-determination. The resolutions proposing ROC representation since 1991 make it clear that it no longer seeks to represent all of China, but only the people of Taiwan. In the bids to join the UN under President Lee Teng-hui, the ROC called itself the "Republic of China on Taiwan". Under Chen Shui-bian, the designation has been "Republic of China (Taiwan)", and the most recent application by President Chen (July 19, 2007) used only the designation "Taiwan". Chen was quoted saying that "Taiwan is a sovereign state, and should join the United Nations by the name Taiwan".
Skeptics point out that the PRC still has a Security Council veto and would likely be firmly opposed to any kind of international recognition of a Taiwanese state. They also point out that the UN has been reluctant to admit any state whose sovereignty is disputed, although Palestine has been granted observer status. The PRC has condemned any move to enter as "Taiwan" as a political trick to promote Taiwan independence, though it firmly opposes Taiwan's entry under any moniker whatsoever.
Although the ROC no longer actively asserts its claim to be the government of the whole of China, it has not renounced that claim. Taiwan independence supporters argue the ROC not renouncing its claim is mainly because the PRC has publicly stated that any movement to change the ROC constitution would be seen as a move towards declaring independence, and thus a reason for military action. Given the PRC's attitude, even having the General Assembly admit the ROC or "Taiwan" as an observer (as has been done with Palestine) would be problematic. The case of Palestine is distinguishable from that of the ROC, because of the UN's commitment to a two state solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict, and no such commitment to the Taiwan issue.
The ROC reapplied for full UN membership on Sept. 18, 2007. On September 15, 2007, over 3000 Taiwanese Americans and their supporters rallied in front of UN in New York City to demonstrate their support for the ROC's entering the UN.[17] At the same time, over 300,000 Taiwanese people rallied in Taiwan to make the same plea.[18] The ROC has also won the backing of many Members of the European Parliament on this issue.[19] Whether large numbers of Chinese rallied against the moves was not widely reported on in the Western press.
In 2008, two referenda by the ROC to support joining the UN failed because of low voter participation (see Republic of China United Nations membership referendum, 2008). The United Nations subcommittee on September 17, 2008, once again ruled it would not let the General Assembly consider the ROC's request for permission to join U.N. activities.[20] However, shortly after the setback for the ROC at the UN, the United States and the European Union both expressed their support for "Taiwan" (neither recognises the ROC) to have "meaningful participation" in UN agencies that would not require statehood, such as the World Health Organization.[21]
In 2009, for the first time in 17 years, the ROC did not submit a bid to join the United Nations as a member.[22]
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