IO files, SD/A/3690
Position Paper Prepared in the Department of State for the United States Delegation to the Ninth Regular Session of the General Assembly1
Elections to the Security Council and ECOSOC
the problem
During the Ninth Session it will be necessary to elect three states to the Security Council and six states to ECOSOC.
united states position
A. Security Council
| Retiring Members | Candidates | U.S. Slate |
| Colombia | Peru | Latin American choice |
| Denmark | Belgium | Belgium |
| Lebanon | Iran, Iraq | Iran (assuming Iraq officially withdraws) |
B. ECOSOC
| Retiring Members | Candidates | U.S. Slate |
| Argentina | (Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Dominican Republic, Mexico) | Latin American choice |
| Cuba | Latin American choice | |
| China | China | China |
| France | France | France |
| Belgium | Netherlands, Poland | Netherlands |
| Egypt | Afghanistan, Egypt, Philippines, Burma | Philippines |
comment
A. Security Council
The United States has made strong representations to United Nations Members for support for our position against the seating of the Chinese Communists. Before reaching decisions on the Security Council slate, and also the ECOSOC slate discussed in Section B below, the [Page 595] positions of the candidates on the Chinese representation issue were seriously taken into account.
It has been our usual policy to support the Latin American candidates preferred by the Latin American group for the Security Council seats held by countries from that area. Peru is now the only candidate and would be satisfactory to us as a successor to Colombia.
Denmark’s seat has always been held by a Western European state. Belgium claims the support of all the Western European countries plus Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey. The Department has informed the Belgian Embassy of United States support for Belgium’s candidacy.
Lebanon’s seat has always been held by a Middle Eastern state. Iran claims the support of the countries of the Arab League, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Turkey. However, Iraq, which was originally a candidate, has not yet officially withdrawn. When Iraq definitely withdraws, it would be desirable to inform Iran that we will support its candidacy.
B. ECOSOC
As in the case of the Security Council, it has been our usual policy to support the Latin American candidates preferred by the Latin American group for the seats being vacated by countries from that area.
China and France will undoubtedly be candidates for reelection since the permanent members of the Security Council have always been represented on ECOSOC.
The Netherlands is a candidate for Belgium’s seat. Poland is also a candidate, presumably for this same seat. The United States, of course, strongly opposes Poland’s election. Belgium’s seat has always been held by a Benelux country. Moreover, we want to maintain the present balance in the Council between developed and under-developed countries. For these reasons, and in view of the strong resentment of the Dutch over our position on the Presidency of the Assembly, it is desirable to support the Netherlands rather than a country from some other area to succeed Belgium. The Department has informed the Netherlands Embassy of United States support for the candidacy of the Netherlands.
Egypt is a candidate for reelection and Afghanistan, Burma, and the Philippines are also candidates. The United States has informed the Philippines that it would give its candidacy active support. There is no South-East Asian country on any major United Nations Council, and the Philippines can be expected to continue to support our position on the Chinese representation issue. (The Philippines had also indicated some interest in election to the Security Council. The Department sent an enquiry to Manila the end of June asking whether the [Page 596] Philippines was actually a candidate far both Councils. Although the Philippine Foreign Office has never given us a definite answer, its delegation in New York indicated that the Philippines was interested only in ECOSOC.)
- The slates described here were approved by the Secretary of State about Sept. 3 (UNP memorandum to USUN, Sept. 3, UNP files, lot 59 D 237, “Slates”).↩