Defining China: Beijing, Taipei, and the United Nations' "China Seat," 1949-1992

Clark, Keith Allan

doi:https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-bxf9-y964

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Defining China: Beijing, Taipei, and the United Nations' "China Seat," 1949-1992

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After the Second World War, two states claimed to represent the same nation: “China.” This work examines how the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Communist Party of China (CPC) competed to represent China and the international consequences of that competition. The CPC’s victory in the Chinese Civil War (1946-1949) led to their founding the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in Beijing in 1949, while the KMT reestablished the Republic of China (ROC) in Taipei, Taiwan. Consequently, “China” was a contested concept as both the KMT and the CPC developed distinct models of “China” to support their legitimacy, and the UN was a key venue for demonstrating international legitimacy. In this work, I investigate the CPC’s and the KMT’s vying interpretations of China from 1949 to 1992 by assaying both parties’ interpretations through local newspapers published in China and Taiwan, party-mouthpiece publications, periodicals meant for foreign audiences, and UN documents. The UN encourages, unintentionally, state adherence to established narratives of the nation. Before 1971, the KMT presented its state as the inheritor of Chinese traditions and culture. The CPC presented its state as one that freed the Chinese nation from the shackles of the past. After the UN passed Resolution 2758, however, both parties' models of China shifted. The CPC became more dedicated to presenting the glory of the Chinese nation's past, while the KMT became less beholden to the fiction they represented a nation whose roots stretched back unbroken through antiquity. The only way to understand how the change in UN representation affected each state is to examine both parties’ post-1971 claims to represent China. By going to the ROC’s 1992 democratic reforms, I analyze both parties’ definitions of China with and without access to the world body to show how UN membership, or lack thereof, shaped their constructions of China and how those constructions, in turn, shaped their domestic and foreign policies. Going beyond 1971 also illustrates shifting Chinese attitudes towards the UN and theories of diplomacy in both states. “Defining China” enhances literature on Chinese foreign relations, Cold War international relations, and nationalism.

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