200. Editorial Note

On October 1, the U.N. General Assembly considered whether to include the question of Chinese representation in the United Nations on its agenda. Ambassador Wadsworth presented the U.S. case against inclusion. Immediately thereafter, Chairman Khrushchev responded angrily to the U.S. statement. At one point, General Assembly President Boland interrupted him, declaring that the Soviet leader’s remarks about Generalissimo Francisco Franco were “unparliamentary and out of order, and as such should not appear in the official record.” Khrushchev took exception to Boland’s statement, but his comments about Franco were nevertheless omitted from the verbatim record of the meeting.

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Later in his statement, Khrushchev asked:

“What is it that those who oppose the rights of China in the United Nations want? They want only States with one type of social system to be represented in the United Nations. They do not like the People’s Republic of China and the socialist system. But what will happen if the socialist countries leave the United Nations, to set up their own international efforts on behalf of peace?”

Several delegates, including Wadsworth, responded to Khrushchev’s comments. For a record of these proceedings and the texts of the statements made during them, see U.N. doc. A/PV.881. For Khrushchev’s account of the meeting, which apparently combines this incident with one occurring on October 11, see Khrushchev, Khrushchev Remembers: The Last Testament, pages 472–473.