320/11–151
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State for United Nations Affairs (Hickerson)
Subject: The Chinese Representation Question in the Sixth General Assembly.
| Participants: | Mr. F. S. Tomlinson, UK |
| Mr. J. D. Hickerson, UNA | |
| Mr. W. P. Allen, EUR | |
| Mr. L. Henkin, UNP1 |
Mr. Tomlinson reported the views of Foreign Minister Eden on this question along the lines reported in our Embassy’s telegram 2141.2 He stressed particularly that his government was reluctant to make any revisions in the moratorium agreement, which had been carefully designed to achieve a delicate balance between UK views on the substance of the question and their desire to accommodate the view of the US. The essence of their view is that they could not support a resolution which recognizes the right of the Chinese Nationalists to represent China in the United Nations but were willing to postpone consideration of the question indefinitely. They were not prepared to agree to postponement for a long period, and the Sixth Session of the General Assembly might last a long time.
I read to Mr. Tomlinson our proposed recommendations to the Secretary on this question as contained in the Department’s telegram Delga [ Gadel ] 49 November 2.3 I stressed that we were not insisting that the resolution explicitly recognize the right of the Chinese Nationalists to continue to represent China but that as a practical matter it would have to be made clear that this result would follow. The resolution we would like to see would postpone consideration of the question for the duration of the Sixth Session in Paris. As we see it this is the only way of maintaining the moratorium without allowing the Soviet Union to harass and embarrass us by repeatedly raising this question throughout the course of the Assembly. Since Mr. Eden’s chief objection to our proposal is his fear that, like the Fifth Session, the Sixth might last all year, we are fully prepared to make clear that postponement of consideration would be only for the duration of a session of normal length in Paris.
Mr. Tomlinson indicated that he did not know how his government would react to our suggestion. He thought that if Mr. Eden was prepared to accept the proposal in principle, the formula “for the duration [Page 273] of the Sixth General Assembly Session in Paris” would seem a satisfactory way of framing it.