442. Editorial Note
On October 26, 1971, Secretary-General Thant had notified the heads of UN agencies of the passage of Resolution 2758 (XXVI) that declared the representatives of the People’s Republic of China to be “the only legitimate representatives of China to the United Nations,” and reminded them of a 1950 resolution recommending that the General Assembly’s decisions concerning representation “should be taken into account in other organs of the United Nations and in the specialized agencies.” Agency heads were to inform him of any actions taken concerning Chinese representation.
The Executive Board of UNESCO was the first to vote to recognize the PRC as representing China in the UN on October 29. The ILO Governing Board followed on November 16. GATT revoked the Republic of China’s observer status on the same date. The ICAO Council followed on November 19. The FAO Council voted on November 25 to invite the PRC to join, and the Board of Governors of the IAEA voted to seat the PRC on December 9.
The Director-General of the WHO put Chinese representation on the provisional agenda for the 1972 World Health Assembly on November 11, 1971. Its Executive Board recommended representing the PRC on January 26, 1972, and the World Health Assembly voted to do so on May 10, 1972. The WMO invited member states to vote on Chinese representation on November 26, 1971, and a majority voted for the PRC by February 24, 1972. The PRC gained representation in the UPU on April 13, in the IMCO on May 23, and in the ITU on May 28. The IBRD and the IMF took no actions concerning Chinese representation during 1971 or 1972. (Yearbook of the United Nations, 1971, pages 133–135, and ibid., 1972, pages 765, 778, 795, 801, 804, 808, and 812)