China and the United Nations

The Republic of China was one of the founding members of the United Nations and a permanent member of the Security Council from its creation. But in 1949 the Communist Party of China seized power on the mainland and declared the People's Republic of China. The Republic of China government withdrew to the island province of Taiwan, where it has continued to rule ever since.

Until 1991, the Republic of China actively claimed to be the sole legitimate government of China, and during the 1950s and 1960s these claims were accepted by the United States and some (though far from all) of its allies. While the People's Republic was an ally of the Soviet Union, the US had an interest in preventing the Communist bloc from gaining another permanent seat in the Security Council.

Until 1960, the Republic of China representative to the Security Council vetoed the admission of Mongolia to the UN on the grounds that Mongolia was part of China. In 1960, the Soviet Union announced that unless Mongolia was admitted, it would block the admission of all of the newly independent African states. Faced with this pressure, the Republic of China relented under protest.

From the 1960s onwards, nations friendly to the People's Republic, led by Albania, moved an annual resolution in the General Assembly to transfer China's seat at the UN from the Republic to the People's Republic. Every year the United States was able to assemble a majority of votes to block this resolution. But the admission of newly independent developing nations in the 1960s gradually turned the General Assembly from being Western-dominated to being dominated by countries sympathetic to Beijing. In addition, the desire of the Nixon administration to improve relations with Beijing to counterbalance the Soviet Union reduced American willingless to support Taiwan.

As a result of these trends, in October 1971, Resolution 2758 was passed by the General Assembly, withdrawing recognition from the government of the Republic of China on Taiwan as the legitimate government of China, and recognising the government of the People's Republic in Beijing as the legitimate government of the whole of China, thereby also recognising Taiwan's status as a province of China.

The Resolution declared "that the representatives of the Government of the People's Republic of China are the only lawful representatives of China to the United Nations." Because this resolution was presented as an issue of credentials rather than that of membership, it was possible to bypass the Security Council where the United States and the Republic of China could have used their veto.

Since 1991, the government on Taiwan has asserted that it wishes to rejoin (or, as it styles its proposals, "to participate in") the UN. But because of the implacable opposition of the People's Republic, this is unlikely. Every year since 1991 the question of Taiwan's representation has been raised on the UN agenda committee by Taiwan's diplomatic allies, but has always failed to get sufficient votes to get on the formal agenda.

Proponents of Taiwan independence claim that if the government on Taiwan were formally to renounce its claim to be the government of China, and declare the existence of an independent state of Taiwan, Taiwan could then be admitted to the UN. Certainly if Taiwan were to take this step, the international community would be placed in a difficult position, caught between the People's Republic's internationally recognised claim that Taiwan is a province of China and the right of the people of Taiwan to self-determination.

Sceptics, however, point out that the People's Republic still has a Security Council veto and remains firmly opposed to any kind of international recognition of Taiwan unless the government on Taiwan recognises the People's Republic's sovereignty. Although the government on Taiwan no longer asserts its claim to be the government of the whole of China, neither has it formally renounced that claim, not has it shown any willingness to submit to Beijing.

In the 1990s, Taiwan sought to gain representation at the UN by subsidising developing nations such as the tiny Pacific state of Tuvalu. This strategy has come under criticism within Taiwan because it is seen as expensive and generally unsuccessful.