Roll Out the Carpet

Early one morning last week General MacArthur unleashed a U.N. offensive which he hoped would clear North Korea of all Communist troops, both native and Chinese. Twelve hours later, before the U.N. drive in Korea was halted, a British Overseas Airways Stratocruiser touched down at New York’s International Airport. A strip of tawny carpet was quickly rolled out between the airliner and the airport terminal. Out of the plane and onto the carpet marched the nine members of Red China’s delegation to the U.N. Security Council.

At the head of the Chinese procession strode General Wu Hsiu-chuan, director of the U.S.S.R. and Eastern European Division of the Peking Foreign Office. Waiting at the airport customs shed Wu & friends found Russia’s Jacob Malik. As he gave Wu the glad hand, Malik drew a sheaf of papers from his pocket and handed them to the Chinese leader. A few minutes later Wu distributed the same papers among waiting newsmen. On each sheet was a copy of what purported to be Wu’s own first public statement to peace-loving people in the U.S.

Three days later Wu made his first appearance before a U.N. meeting. Wu and two of his assistants strode into a morning session of the Political & Security Committee while Russian Delegate Andrei Vishinsky was charging the U.S. with aggression against Formosa. With a broad smile, Vishinsky interrupted his speech to welcome “the legal representatives of the government of China.”

Seated behind a desk topped with a blue & white nameplate that said “People’s Republic of China,” the Chinese heard the rest of Vishinsky’s blast against the U.S. and a rebuttal by U.S. Delegate John Foster Dulles.

Later the same day seven members of the Chinese delegation marched in for their Security Council meeting. The Chinese listened intently for 2½ hours while Russia’s Malik and U.S. Delegate Warren Austin argued whether the Council should discuss the Formosan question alone or the Korean and Formosan problem jointly. In the end the U.S. view that Formosa and Korea should be discussed simultaneously won out, and it was agreed to seat the Chinese Reds at the Council table. In one weekend, the Chinese Reds had punched a 20-mile hole in the U.N. line in Korea and an even bigger hole in the diplomatic front resisting the admission of Red China to the U.N.