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Zhang Ham Zhi, Interpreter, Chinese Foreign Ministry, on:
China’s membership in the UN
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When Kissinger visited Beijing in October 1971, the general assembly had not discussed a resolution of China's membership yet. In the course of the discussion this issue was brought up, and China insisted that China should be admitted into the UN to replace Taiwan. Kissinger's answer was that the United States would support the admission of China’s full membership in the UN after Nixon's visit, which meant the general assembly in 1972. President Nixon was scheduled to visit China in February 1972 and the next general assembly meets September 1972. The Chinese didn't really believe that China's membership would be solved that very year. So on this question actually we agreed on the point that China would be admitted into the UN after Nixon's visit. When the resolution was adopted finally, that China was admitted into the UN to replace Taiwan, it really came as a surprise, because the Chinese were not prepared. Kissinger didn't believe that the resolution could be adopted, and the interesting thing was that the resolution was adopted on the day Kissinger was leaving Beijing. I think he was leaving Beijing very early in the morning, and the resolution was adopted just a few hours before his departure. The White House was very confident that the resolution would not be adopted until after Nixon's visit. The resolution was adopted because many of the Afro-Asian countries, actually, either abstained or voted yes, or just left the meeting place. And China was admitted into the UN.
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