Video: 'SYND 26-10-71 DEBATE ENDS ON CHINA'S ENTRY INTO UNITED NATIONS'

(Monday, October 25, 1971, 11:17 p.m. EDT) — In a tense and emotion?filled meeting of more than eight hours, the General Assembly voted overwhelmingly tonight to approve United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758, admitting the communist government of mainland China, known as the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and to expelling the United States-backed Kuomintang (KMT) Nationalist Government, based primarily on the offshore island of Taiwan.

Moments before the vote, Liu Chieh, the Republic of China representative, announced from the rostrum that his government would take no further part in the proceedings of the Assembly. He received friendly applause from most delegations, and then led his delegation out of the hall.

The vote, which brought delegates to their feet in wild applause, was 76 in favor, 35 opposed, and 17 abstentions. The vote was on a resolution sponsored by Albania and 20 other nations, calling for the seating of Beijing as the only legitimate representative of China and the expulsion of “the representatives of Chiang Kai? shek.”

Thus, the United States lost — in the 22nd year — its battle to keep the Republic of China in the United Nations. This development, which came with dramatic suddenness, was denounced by the chief American delegate George H.W. Bush as a “moment of infamy.”