1. Background
On November 4, 1980, at the age of 69, Ronald Ronald was 69. Reagan was elected as the 40th (49th–50th) President of the United States (1981–1989). Because he showed his hostility to China in his campaign speech, as soon as he came to power, he began to have diplomatic tensions with China on the issue of arms sales to Taiwan, and reached an impasse.
In January 1981, Deng Xiaoping spoke with Chen Xiangmei, a world-renowned Chinese leader, social activist, and chairman of the American International Cooperation Committee. It clearly pointed out: "First of all, we hope that Sino-US relations will continue to develop, but if we think that China is an insignificant and unworthy country, then the United States is wrong; second, if we think that China is asking for the United States and the United States is not looking for China, it is also wrong; finally, even if Sino-US relations go backwards, we will never make concessions on the Taiwan issue."
Therefore, in judging the hour and sizing up the situation at a high level, we must make a move on the UN stage, knock on the mountains and shock the tiger, take advantage of the legitimate rights of China's permanent members of the UN Security Council, show our right to speak on key international issues, launch a game with the United States in a reasonable and well-founded manner, say a loud "no", show China's voice, and let the United States manipulate the world also hit a wall.
2. Disputes
Just nine months later, UN Secretary-General Kurt Schwarzenegger from Austria. Waldheim, who has been re-elected for another 5-year term, has expired. Objectively speaking, Waldheim's ten years in office have fully demonstrated his diplomatic mediation ability, solved many difficult international problems, and been recognized by the international community. It was also based on a certain degree of ability and self-confidence, coupled with physical condition, that on September 10, 1981, it was announced that he would continue to participate in the election of the next secretary-general of the United Nations General Assembly.
Kurt. Waldheim
In terms of Waldheim's relations with China, China's restoration of the United Nations seat, Waldheim has made a statement in support of China's generous statement, Austria also voted in favor; the key vote in the final showdown with Finland's representative Jacobson when he took office in his first term was also voted by China, which has just returned to the United Nations; after China's return to the United Nations, as Austria's permanent representative to the United Nations, Wald. Heim also delivered a welcome speech; shortly after his election, he became the first UN Secretary-General to visit China; and the UN flag was flown to half-mast on the death of Premier Zhou. He is also a friend of the Chinese people.
However, China, as the right person, believes that since the establishment of the United Nations, the first secretary-general was the Norwegian Trigwe. Rey; the second was Sweden's Dag. Hammarskjöld; the third, though U Thant from Burma, was because of Dag. Hammarskjöld was succeeded by a business trip to the Congo and then re-elected, and by the fourth term Waldheim has been re-elected, if re-elected, then the United Nations has reached 41 years, three of the four secretaries-general are from the developed countries of the West, which is unfair to the vast number of third world countries.
In order to speak out for the people of the third world and uphold justice, China insists on choosing a person from a third world country to serve as the next Secretary-General of the United Nations. Of course, China also has its own candidate target, this person is salim from Tanzania representative Salim Ahmed Salim.
Salim, who served as Tanzania's ambassador to China and North Korea in the 1960s, had very good relations with China, and danced excitedly on the spot after China's return to the United Nations in 1971. In June 1981, with his experience and active performance in the international arena as Tanzania's Foreign Minister and as a representative of the United Nations for nearly a decade, he was unanimously approved by the Organization of African Unity, composed of more than 50 countries, and was elected to represent the African continent as Secretary-General of the United Nations. Therefore, as a permanent member of the Security Council, China has a heavy responsibility of arguing for the countries of the third world on its shoulders and must fight to the end.
The competition for the new UN Secretary-General ultimately fell between Waldheim and Salim, and the two powers standing behind them were the United States and China. The Soviet Union, which claims to be a "natural ally" of African countries, together with the other two permanent members, Britain and France, has always abstained from voting, so a direct confrontation between China and the United States has been formed.
Salim. Ahmed. Salim
3. Rules
According to the rules for the election of the UN Secretary-General, the election of the UN Secretary-General must meet two conditions at the same time: first, to obtain at least 9 votes out of 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council and 10 non-permanent members; second, the 5 permanent members cannot have a single vote against it, otherwise they must be re-elected. At the same time, in order to make the counting of votes easily identifiable, it is stipulated that the votes cast by permanent members in secret ballot must be marked. In addition, the five permanent members, because they have a veto, are special enough not to qualify as Secretary-General.
Fourth, the game
On the morning of October 27, 1981, in the chamber of the Security Council, the first round of voting on the nomination of the Secretary-General began, and the representative of China voted in favor of Salim without hesitation, while the United States also voted in favor of Waldheim, and correspondingly voted against the candidates for support of each other.
The overall results showed that Salim received 11 votes and Waldheim received 10 votes, both of which reached the number of votes selected, but because there was a permanent member against the vote, neither could be elected, only a second round of voting.
Later, due to the U.S. operations, Salim's votes plummeted in the second, third, and fourth rounds, of which only 6 votes were cast in the fourth round, while Waldheim's votes remained stable at 10 votes, but could not be passed because of China's veto.
The fifth and sixth rounds of voting followed, with Salim rising two more votes to 8 and Waldheim both receiving 11 votes, which remained invalid because of the unchanged insistence of the United States and China.
Voting was suspended again, and on November 4, after six days of consultations, appeals, and various behind-the-scenes communications, the Security Council held another seventh and eighth rounds of voting, with Salim receiving 9 and 8 votes respectively, and Waldheim having 10 votes in both rounds, but due to the intransigence of China and the United States, there was still no result.
Due to the disappointment of African countries in the so-called "natural allies" of the Soviet Union, seeing that China did not insist on changing its attitude after two rounds, as it did in the previous two elections for the secretary-general, but wanted to fight to the end for the countries of the third world, it felt extremely precious, and when they saw the Chinese representatives at the meeting, they gave thumbs up and expressed their approval. Of course, there are also countries with different opinions that insist on China's position so much, believing that it is time to stop, thinking that China will also retreat from difficulties like the previous two times, and the stalemate has turned around.
However, this time they were disappointed, the Chinese delegation used various occasions to make clear its position, the United Nations member states have reached 157, non-aligned countries accounted for 2/3, African countries 1/3, since the establishment of the United Nations, the four secretaries-general, only one is from Asia, the remaining three are Europeans, which is extremely incompatible with the composition of the United Nations, the role played by the countries of the third world, China's insistence is to safeguard international political fairness and justice, did not give the countries of the third world "to make face", It is not "deliberately creating trouble".
It was at this critical moment of great discussion that Ling Qing, China's representative to the United Nations, received instructions from Deng Xiaoping at home, summing it up in four words: Strive to the end.
With the backbone of the heart, the Chinese representatives are more confident in their positions and propositions.
On 17 November, after the voting had been suspended for more than ten days, the contest resumed, and the Security Council held eight rounds of balloting in one day, resulting in 11 votes in the first round of Waldheim and 10 votes in Salim, 10 votes in the second round Waldheim and 9 votes in Salim, and 9 votes in the last 6 rounds of Waldheim, and 8 votes in Salim.
Although the votes of the two were slightly variable, Waldheim always led, but a constant factor led to blind busywork, which is the chinese and American ways to go their own way.
For 21 days, 16 rounds of voting, and with all three other permanent members abstaining, China confronted the United States head-on, each insisting on its own candidate for secretary-general and vetoing each other. In the history of the United Nations, there is no precedent for daring to hit the United States to the end, but in the end there must be an end.
At this time, various compromises were also proposed, some saying that Waldheim should be re-elected for another year or two to ease the stalemate, and some saying that he would let the two of them share the next term of office for two and a half years each.
When there was a statement that China was ready to accept the second option, the Chinese representative quickly issued a statement: "Under no circumstances will China's position of supporting the Third World change, and what China cannot tolerate is the control and manipulation of UN affairs by one or two superpowers." This amounts to another commitment to the countries of the third world.
In the absence of a conclusion on both compromises, it was Waldheim who made concessions first. Because the relationship with China is also quite good, he personally approached Ling Qing, China's representative to the United Nations, hoping to understand China's next attitude. Ling Qing made no secret of his views on Waldheim and said bluntly: "What China adheres to is principle, China's attitude is not aimed at you personally, the United Nations has only been established for 36 years, you alone have served as secretary general for 10 years, which is already a high honor, and it is reasonable for China to support the candidate for secretary general of third world countries."
Through this conversation, China gave Waldheim a confession, which finally made him change his attitude and give up the competition for the next secretary-general; and Salim also knew that at this point in the stalemate, he would not be accepted by the United States, so he had to withdraw from the election at the same time. The stalemate lasted for more than a month, and the election of the Secretary-General, which had failed after 16 rounds of voting, took a turn for the better.
Fifth, the curtain falls
On 9 December 1981, the United Nations Security Council announced nine other candidates for secretary-general: Iran, Argentina, Peru, Guyana, Panama, the Philippines, Mauritius, Ecuador and Colombia – all third world countries.
On December 11, 1981, a new round of elections was held, from Peru, South America. De Cuéliar became the next Secretary-General. Judging from the third world countries that have signed up for the election, China's clear-cut attitude has obviously played a big role, causing some developed European countries to abandon their ideas.
Since China's purpose of fighting for legitimate rights for third world countries has been achieved, this time, China has undoubtedly voted in favor, while the United States has no room for maneuver because the single candidate is a third world country. When de Cuéllar was sworn in after his successful election, he said with deep feelings about the hard-won and fortunate election: "I will not forget that I came from a developing country".
Javier Perez de Cuéllar
Deng Xiaoping personally met with the new UN Secretary-General and explained China's foreign policy in depth.
Conclusion
"Either the east wind overwhelms the west wind, or the west wind overwhelms the east wind." This confrontation between the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the United States finally won the rights it deserved for the countries of the third world, and won a diplomatic victory on the international stage.
Eight months later, the August 17 Communiqué was reached on the 8/17 Communiqué on the arms sales of the United States to Taiwan between the United States and the United States, which, together with its predecessors the Shanghai Communiqué and the Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations, became the basis for the development of Sino-US relations. In the 8 years of Reagan's presidency as US president, the emergence of the honeymoon period of Sino-US relations, in addition to the constraints and interest considerations of the three documents, among them, China gave him a "ma wei" on the UN stage at the beginning of his presidency, which obviously has a certain relationship.
September 15, 2021