Evening star., 1949-11-25
China and the u. N.

Foreign Minister Andrei Vishinsky has
done the expected thing in telling the
United Nations that the Soviet Union no
longer recognizes the Nationalist delega-
tion-"these pygmies"-as representatives
of China.
The stage for this statement was set last
week when the Chinese Communist regime
at Peiping formally demanded of Secretary
General Trygve Lie that the U. N. 'immedi-
ately deprive" the Nationalists of "all
rights" to sit as delegation. The demand
which may be assumed to have been
inspired by the Kremlin-now has received
Mr.. Vishinsky's full backing as propa-
ganda prelude to the forthcoming General
Assembly debate on charges that the Soviet
Union, in violation Of solemn treaty
pledges, is guilty of criminal Vaccinations
in China.
This development has been lf-evidently
in the making ever since the Kremlin
recognized the Peiping regime as the only
legitimate government Of China. And
now that the situation in that country
is up for debate, Mr.. Vishinsky and his
underlings in the Soviet bloc can be
counted upon to go all-out in vilifying
the Nationalists, shouting for their expul-
sion from the U. NJ, and beating the
drum not only for the universal recogni-
ton of the Chinese Communists but also
for their seating in the Security Council
and General Assembly.
The tragedy here is that the Peiping-
Kremlin line has considerable strength in
1t. Virtually the whole Of China is now
under the military control of the Com
munists, and the Nationalists have reached
such a point of disintegration that it is
difficult In the extreme to make good
case for the proposition that they are
really capable Of governing and are there
fore entitled to represent the Chinese peo-
pie as one Of the Big Five-with the veto
power-in the United Nations. There is no
point in trying to sugar the pill; Mr..
Vishinsky can let loose powerful barrage
on this subject. -
Nevertheless, the non-Soviet world, as q
whole, has yet to shift its recognition from
the Nationalists to the Reds. Regarding
the latter as puppet of the Kremlin and
hence not truly representative of the
Chinese people, the western Powers have
so far been as one in hesitating to recog-
nize them-a hesitation made even more
hesitant by what has happened in the
Angus Ward case. Further, even If some
of these powers change their minds in
the near future, the chances are that the
United States will be extremely slow about
deciding whether to switch from the Ma
tionalist government to Peiping
ALI of which suggests that the United
Nations may soon find itself in serious
legal snarl. On the one hand, Mr.. Vishin-
sky has in effect unilaterally expelled the
Nationalists from the U. N. On the other,
the United States may hold out for
months against either recognizing or
admitting the Chinese Reds. Yet China
is member of the Big Five, and the
Security Council can take no affirmative
action without the unanimous support Of
those five.
Thus if the Russians boycott the Council
as long as the Nationalists are seated and
if we continue to bar the Peiping regime,
this prime agency Of the United Nations
will be incapable Of arriving at valid deci-
sions, and the resulting paralysis may
easily develop into U. N. crisis OF the
first order.