China is marking its 50th year at the United Nations amid much fanfare with President Xi Jinping saying the decision to “recognise the representatives of the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC as the only legitimate representatives of China to the United Nations … was a victory for the Chinese people and a victory for people of the world”.
India, as it turns out, was among the first countries to congratulate China when it became a UN member on October 25, even calling the absence of the east Asian country from the international body a “perverse mistake”.
After Beijing’s UN entry, India and China, however, almost immediately fell out at the global forum over the India-Pakistan dispute and the formation of Bangladesh.
China also strongly criticised the USSR for supporting India, and this might be difficult to believe now, said “…the Soviet government is the boss behind the Indian aggressors”.
Beijing’s full-fledged support for Pakistan, now established “iron brothers”, at the UN was indicative of rapidly maturing bilateral ties.
On October 27, two days after the PRC’s return to the UN was announced, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, wrote a warm letter to Premier Zhou Enlai.
“On behalf of the Government and the people of India may I convey to your Excellency and the Government and the people of China our felicitations on the restoration of the legitimate right of representation of China by your Government in the United Nations,” she wrote.
“This will make the United Nations more representative in character and will give greater weight to Asia’s participation in the deliberations of any decisions of this organization.”
“We look forward to the PRC playing its rightful role in the United Nations and working in close cooperation with your delegation in the interest of peace and progress in Asia and throughout the world,” she added.
Two weeks later, India’s permanent representative to the UN, Samer Sen, followed up Gandhi’s letter with a speech welcoming Beijing’s inclusion.
“In 1949, the PRC came to power in the great and ancient land of China after a long and sustained revolution. In 1950, India was the first country to propose that, as a result of this change in China, the Chinese seat in the United Nations should be occupied by the representatives of the PRC,” Sen said.
“In spite of consistent efforts by India and an increasingly larger number of states, it has taken the United Nations 21 years to correct a perverse mistake. The fact that we find that today China is fully restored to its lawful rights in the United Nations is therefore a matter of great satisfaction to India,” Sen added in his speech.
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