Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, United Nations Affairs, Volume III

340.290/12–2853, Circular airgram

The Secretary of State to Certain Diplomatic Missions¹

confidential
CA–3371.

Washington, December 28, 1953.

• Subject:
• Chinese Representation Issue at Forthcoming ECAFE Meetings.

The Tenth Session of the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE) will meet in Kandy, Ceylon, from February 8 to February 18, 1954. Prior to this session, two of the Commission’s subsidiary bodies will also meet at Kandy. These bodies are the Inland Transport Committee, convening on January 20, and the Committee on Industry and Trade, convening on January 26.

It is expected that the Soviet Union will raise the Chinese representation issue at each of these meetings, probably in the form of a proposal to exclude the representative of the Government of the Republic of China and to invite a Chinese Communist to participate. If any such proposal is made in the Inland Transport Committee or the Committee on Industry and Trade, we believe that the best way to dispose of the proposal would be to declare it out of order on the grounds that these Committees were established to deal with specific technical subjects and not with political questions of the character of Chinese representation, and that as subsidiary bodies of ECAFE, it would be entirely inappropriate for them to consider the proposal and they should be governed by previous action of ECAFE. A firm precedent exists for such an out-of-order procedure in these Committees, since this is the procedure which has been consistently followed in the past by the Committee on Industry and Trade when the Soviet Union has raised the Chinese representation issue. (The Soviet Union has not attended meetings of the Inland Transport Committee and the issue has never been raised in that body.)

If the Soviet Union makes any proposal at the Tenth Session of the Commission designed to exclude the representative of the Government of the Republic of China and to invite a Chinese Communist, we believe that the best way to dispose of the matter would be to adjourn debate on the proposal for the duration of the Session. This is the same procedure followed by the Commission at its last two sessions. In support of a motion to adjourn debates, we would stress that the Soviet proposal should not even be considered since the international conduct of the Chinese Communist regime departs so drastically from normally accepted standards and since this regime shows no respect for the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

The Embassy will realize that by advancing a procedural position along the above lines which avoids a vote on the substance of the Chinese representation issue we can best assure the continued seating of the representatives of the Government of the Republic of China and the prevention of Chinese Communists from participating in any capacity. In addition to countries which recognize the Government of the Republic of China, certain others which recognize the Chinese Communist regime, including the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Pakistan, have supported our position on the Chinese representation issue in UN bodies if the matter is handled on a procedural basis.

In view of the great importance the United States attaches to the continued seating of the representatives of the Government of the Republic of China and the exclusion of Chinese Communists, the Department requests that the Embassy outline the above procedures to the Foreign Office, inquire whether it plans to send delegations to each of the meetings in question and express the hope that its delegations to these meetings will be instructed to support the procedures recommended. However, it is left to the discretion of the Embassies in New Delhi, Djakarta and Rangoon whether such representations would be counterproductive and therefore should not be made.

The Embassy at Bangkok is also requested to keep the Department informed as to the Members and Associate Members which have notified the ECAFE Secretariat whether they plan to attend the three ECAFE meetings.

Dulles

1. Drafted by Paul W. Jones of the Office of UN Political and Security Affairs, cleared with the geographic bureaus, and approved for transmission by the Director of the Office of UN Political and Security Affairs.