Office of the Historian

320/9–353

Memorandum of Conversation, by the United Nations Adviser, Bureau of Far Eastern Affairs (Bacon)

confidential
[Washington,] September 3, 1953.
  • Subject:
  • Credentials Committee for the 8th General Assembly

Mr. Tan called to express Ambassador Koo’s concern about the possible composition of the Credentials Committee at the 8th GA. T. F. Tsiang had reported to the Embassy from New York that he had been informed by Ambassador Lodge that the US would vote on the first ballot for Madame Pandit as President of the GA. The Embassy said that if Madame Pandit won she might select a Credentials Committee which would find in favor of the Chinese Communists and against the Chinese Government representatives. In the Embassy’s view the GA President would probably consult with the UN Secretariat for advice on the selection of the Committee and Ambassador Koo wondered whether there was not something that the US might be able to do in this situation.

I read Mr. Tan Rule 28 of the GA Rules of Procedure which provides for appointment of a Credentials Committee on the proposal of the President “at the beginning of each session”. The proposal would accordingly be made by the retiring President, Mr. Pearson, prior to the election of a new President. I added that I believe it was customary for the President to obtain advice from the Secretariat and in past years the Credentials Committee had been broadly representative of the GA membership geographically and had also reflected the proportionate distribution between recognizing and non-recognizing states [Page 698] among the membership. Thus, in a committee of nine there had been in the past usually no more than three recognizing states and it was to be expected that the Secretariat would advise following a similar pattern this year.

Mr. Tan also mentioned the Chinese Government’s hope that we would support Dr. Shuhsi Hsu for the International Law Commission. I repeated what I had previously told Mr. Tsui (April 20) that while we were not yet in position to make commitments with regard to our slate for the International Law Commission we believed that the Big Five should be represented on the Commission.

R[uth] B[acon]