The Press TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1961. New Zealand, The U.N., And China

Press, Volume C, Issue 29622, 19 September 1961, Page 13

The Press TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1961. New Zealand, The U.N., And China

Whether New Zealand has changed its policy on the admission of Communist China to the United Nations is less important immediately than the prospect that th 2 Dominion, by involving itself directly in cold war diplomacy, risks aggravating the dangers of disagreement among the

non-Communist countries. Every session of the United Nations General Assembly h_s brought closer critical decisions on whether to seat Communist China and on the future of the Nationalist Chinese representation. Every session has increased the weight of “ neutralist ” influence and reduced the chances of prolonging indefinitely the moratorium on the Chinese debate. New Zealand's determination to forestall at the new session of the General Assembly any move to exploit procedural technicalities on behalf of the Peking Government a"d against the Chinese Nationalists has presumably been formed only after full consultations with the Dominion’s allies, and after general concurrence in the

course to be adopted. An unusually heavy responsibility will be thrown upon New Zealand, although its action is likely to facilitate only an exploration and not the settlement of an extremely contentious issue. In 1959, at the thirteenth session of the General Assembly, the New Zealand representative stated that “ while the Dominion “ agreed that a discussion of “ [Chinese representation] “ was desirable in principle, “ the fact that this was an “ issue on which strong “opinions were held on “ both sides made it impos- “ sible for the New Zealand “ Government to contem- “ plate at this stage a step “ which would result in “ such a degree of disharmony as possil’y to cause “ irreparable damage to the “ [United Nations] organ- “ isation ”, Then and at subsequent sessions of the General Assembly New Zealand

supported the United States’ policy of preventing a formal debate. These decisions represented the view of New Zealand’s Labour Government; but they might equally have accorded with the National Party’s 1960 election policy of opposing United Nations membership for Communist China “ until it shows by “ its actions that it measures “up to the requirements of “the Charter of the United “ Nations ”. In recent months the international climate has changed so fundamentally that a policy announced more than a year ago could well be inappropriate to present circumstances. But the United States is still hostile to Chinese Communist membership of the United Nations. This hostility and America’s continued support for the Chinese Nationalists were reaffirmed unequivocally in August by President Kennedy. Why should it be desirable even to debate the Chinese question—and that on a non-Communist country’s motion—when the Western mind is already made up? Clearly it is to the United States’ and its allies’ advantage to keep the Chinese question in the General Assembly, where a two-thirds majority would be needed to upset the existing arrangement Through the enormous growth of Afro-Asian power, and because of political trends within some older nations, the balance of United Nations opinion is swinging towards increased tolerance of the' Chinese Communist regime. The procedural issue is quite separate from the formidable problems of international relations that hinge upon recognition of the Peking Government. For that reason New Zealand’s resolve to play a comparatively prpminent role may perhaps be appraised more justly as a contribution to the welfare of the United Nations than in the context of the Dominion's commitments to resist world communism.