A founding member of the United Nations and one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, China made important contributions to the founding of the United Nations. In June, 1945, the Chinese delegation, which included Dong Biwu, representative of the Communist Party of China, signed the Charter of the United Nations. After the founding of New China, however, owing to the pursuit of a policy of hostility towards New China by the United States, China's seat in the United Nations was still occupied by the Chiang Kai-shek clique overthrown by the Chinese people. The government of the People's Republic of China made unremitting efforts to regain China's lawful seat in the United Nations.


After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Chinese Premier and Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai sent telegrams to both the secretaries general of the United Nations and presidents of the UN General Assembly in which he stated that the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the Chinese people, called for the expulsion of the illegal representative of the Kuomintang clique that could in no way represent China and demanded that the representative of the government of the People's Republic of China participate in the work of the United Nations. However, the just demand of the Chinese people met with deliberate obstruction, mainly from the United States.


In September, 1950, manipulated by the United States, the 5th UN General Assembly voted down resolutions on the restoration of the lawful rights of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations respectively put forward by the Soviet Union and India. It decided to set up a special committee composed of seven countries, namely, Canada, Ecuador, India, Iraq, Mexico, the Philippines and Poland, to review China's representation. It was also decided that pending a conclusion reached by the committee, China would still be represented by the representative of the so-called Republic of China in the United Nations.


In 1951, under the manipulation of the United States, the 6th UN General Assembly voted down a resolution on putting on the agenda of the General Assembly the restoration of the lawful seat of the People's Republic of China put forward by the Soviet Union and other countries. It also passed a resolution on postponing the review of China's representation. Until 1960, the United States arbitrarily used the tactic of postponing review to obstruct deliberation on the resolution on the restoration of the seat of the People's Republic of China. The Chinese government condemned these practices of the United States. It predicted with full confidence that no force on earth could change the existence and development of the People's Republic of China and that its lawful rights in the United Nations would certainly be restored. As the international status and influence of the People's Republic of China steadily rose and as more newly independent countries in Asia and Africa joined the United Nations, it became increasingly difficult for the United States to prevent deliberation of China's representation in the United Nations. When the resolution of the United States was put for vote at the 15th UN General Assembly in 1960, 42 countries voted for it, 34 countries voted against it and 22 countries abstained. The American resolution passed with a slim majority of only eight votes. The United States realized that it could no long expect to prevent the UN General Assembly from deliberating China's representation.


In 1961, the 16th UN General Assembly decided to put China's representation on its agenda, which was a breakthrough in overcoming the obstacles placed by the United States in the way of restoring the lawful rights of New China in the United Nations. To continue to prevent China from regaining its lawful rights in the United Nations, the United States employed procedural maneuvers and got the General Assembly to adopt a resolution according to which China's representation was an "important question" that could only be decided with a two third majority votes of the General Assembly.


While throughout the 1960s the UN General Assembly passed the "important question" resolutions under the pressure of the United States, the number of countries that voted in favor of restoring China's seat in the United Nations kept rising. In 1970, the number of votes for restoring China's lawful rights in the United Nations for the first time exceeded votes of opposition.


In July, 1971, the United States continued to attempt to block the settlement of China's representation in the United Nations. In addition to putting forward a resolution on the "important question" with the Sato Eisaku government of Japan to the 26th UN General Assembly, it cooked up a resolution on "dual representation", namely, accepting the representative of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations but retaining the representation of "the Republic of China" in it. In response to this open attempt to create "two Chinas" in the United Nations by the United States, the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a solemn statement on August 29. It was pointed out in the statement that to restore the lawful rights of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations and expel the Chiang Kai-shek clique from the United Nations were two inseparable aspects of the same question and that China would never allow the creation of "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan" in the United Nations.


On October 25, the 26th UN General Assembly rejected the "important question" resolution with 59 votes against, 55 votes for and 15 abstentions. It proceeded to pass with an overwhelming majority of votes(76 votes for, 35 votes against and 17 abstentions) a resolution sponsored by Albania, Algeria and other 21 countries, which decided to restore all the lawful rights of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations and immediately expel the representatives of the Kuomintang clique from the United Nations and all its affiliated agencies. This is the famous UN General Assembly Resolution No. 2758, which brought about a thorough and fair settlement of China's representation in the United Nations politically, legally and procedurally.


The restoration of China's lawful rights by the 26th UN General Assembly represented a major victory won on this issue through protracted struggle by China and many justice upholding third world countries and other countries. It was a major breakthrough in China's diplomacy and marked the complete failure of the anti-China forces in their attempt to block the restoration of the lawful rights of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations.