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representative urged all member States to refrain from giving economic or military aid to the Chinese Communists, and recommended that no Communist regime in China should be accorded diplomatic recognition. A joint resolution was then adopted which laid down the general principles which should govern the relations of member States with China, including respect for the political independence of China, and the right of the Chinese people freely to choose their political institutions and maintain a Government independent of foreign control, as well as willingness to refrain from seeking special privileges or spheres of influence in China. However, there was a general feeling in the Assembly, shared by the New Zealand representative, that this resolution failed to deal adequately with the particular questions raised by the Chinese delegate, and it was decided to refer the issue for examination and study to the Interim Committee, which should report to the next session of the Assembly, or, if necessary, bring the subject to the notice of the Security Council. The Interim Committee subsequently decided to take no immediate action in the meantime. The Assembly's action did not, however, dispose of the question of Chinese representation in the United Nations, which has since assumed particular importance. In January a proposal put forward by the Soviet Union to expel the Chinese Nationalist representative from the Security Council was rejected. As a result, the Soviet delegate withdrew from the Council, announcing that he would not participate while the Nationalist Government continued to be represented, and that his Government would not recognize as legal any decisions taken in his absence. Similar Russian action took place in meetings of other United Nations organs agencies. In all cases where New Zealand was represented hef delegates voted against the Russian move. At the end of the period covered by this report, no way out of the impasse created by the question of Chinese representation was in sight. 5. Indo-China World attention has been focussed on the struggle for power in Vietnam between the French and the Government of Bao Dai on the one hand and the Communist-dominated Viet Minh organization led by Ho Chi Minh on the other. With the recent recognition of Bao Dai by the United Kingdom and the United States of America, and of Ho Chi Minh by the Soviet Union and the Communist Government in China, this conflict has assumed a wider significance. Under the terms of the various agreements and treaties concluded within the year between France and the States comprising the former colony of Indo-China—i.e., Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia—it was agreed that these territories should have the status of Associate States