# Soviet Union boycott of the United Nations

From January 13th, 1950 to August 1st, 1950, the Soviet Union boycotted the United Nations by having their diplomat, Yakov Malik, not attend any United Nations Security Council meetings. The boycott originated because of a dispute over the representation of China in the United Nations. The Soviet Union demanded that representatives of the People's Republic of China (PRC) be seated in the United Nations Security Council while the United Nations and its allies on the council recognized representatives of the Kuomintang and the Republic of China. After the Soviet Union lost a motion to seat the PRC in the UN on January 13th, 1950, it decided to boycott the organization. This was an attempt to prevent the Security Council from acting until it gave into the Soviet demand, but it backfired on the Soviet Union when the Security Council passed resolutions that the Soviet Union would have blocked had it been in attendance.

## Background

China was a founding member of the United Nations at the San Francisco Conference in 1945. At the conference in April 1945, T.V. Soong, Wei Tao-ming, V. K.Wellington Koo and Wang Chonghui from the Kuomintang and Dong Biwu of the PRC were present. The entire Chinese delegation was present at the closing conference in June, and the Charter of the United Nations was signed by the Chinese President Chiang Kai-shek in August 1945. After the PRC had established a government of the People's Republic of China, the PRC demanded on 18 November 1949 that the United Nations recognize them as the government of China and the representatives of the Kuomintang be expelled from the United Nations. The same month the Soviet Union seconded the request of the PRC, arguing that the Kuomintang controlled only a fraction of China, and refusing to take part in the first committee of the General Assembly of the United Nations. The request of the PRC was not considered; however, a resolution from Australia, which demanded that the Chinese people choose their political institutions freely and without foreign influence, was approved.

## Boycott

On 8 January 1950, the Premier Minister of the PRC Zhou Enlai transmitted a letter to the United Nations Security Council in which he requested that the Security Council should not legally recognize the Kuomintang. On 10 January, the Soviet Union then formally introduced a motion to exclude the representatives of the Kuomintang from the Security Council.
After on 13 January the Soviet Union's motion to seat the PRC instead of the Chinese Nationalists (Taiwan) did not achieve a majority the Soviet ambassador, Yakov Malik, walked out of the meeting and claimed that he wouldn't return as long as Tsiang Tingfu, the representative of the Kuomintang, was a member of the Security Council instead of a representative from the PRC. The Soviet Union threatened not to acknowledge any decision taken by the Security Council while the Chinese Nationalists were part of it. Later, the Soviet Union also boycotted other UN bodies in which representatives of the Kuomintang were seated. During the Soviet boycott, the Security Council adopted a resolution which allowed for the deployment of UN troops to the Korean war in defense of South Korea against the attacking communist North Korean forces (Resolution 83).

## Aftermath

The Soviets questioned the legality of Resolution 83, as in their view it was only approved by six votes due to the absence of the Soviet Union and the PRC (the Soviets refused to recognize the vote of the Kuomintang in the Security Council). The Soviets argued that all five permanent members of the Security Council were to be present on any decision of an important matter. However, the International Court of Justice ruled that an absence of a member of the Security Council during a voting session was regarded as an abstention and therefore the resolution was legal. In late July, the Soviets informed the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Trygve Lie, that on 1 August, Soviet Permanent Representative Yakov Malik would assume the presidency of the Security Council.