The End of World War II: Relief and Surprise of the Cold War
The end of World War II on September 2, 1945 brought spontaneous and intense relief around the globe. This was a day the people, fatigued and traumatized by the loss of lives and destruction of their infrastructure, were looking forward to peace and thus, when it finally came, they rejoiced and welcomed the armistice, which had eluded them for long. Putting the past as a bad dream, the people courageously and cheerfully – on the debris of the devastation caused by the war – got on to rebuilding their lives and properties. However, the beginning of the post-World War period came as a rude awakening to the people around the globe and for which they were not prepared; on the ‘dying embers’ of the World War, the clash of ideologies of the United States and Soviet Union had raised its ugly head. For the people around the world, the ‘breaking news’ was of the United States and Soviet Union, two allies who had fought a devastating war shoulder to shoulder and had defeated a fascist and evil ideology, were not only in two opposing camps but headed them; this development was inexcusable and did not bode well for the future. 

It was also during the early post World War II period when Japan, which had been ruling a substantial part of China, agreed to the terms of surrender as dictated by the Potsdam Declaration of July 26, 1945, that China also experienced a painful civil war. This war was fought between the Communists, led by Mao Zedong and the Nationalists, led by Chiang Kai-shek. The Communists defeated the Nationalists and on October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong, the leading Communist leader, declared the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in Beijing. Chiang Kai-shek, the leading Nationalist leader, along with his followers fled to the tiny island of Taiwan, formerly called Formosa. The United States, which had substantial forces in China, led by its successive Ambassadors and senior military commanders had deeply been involved in the civil war in China, from 1945 to 1949; they had contacts with top Communists and Nationalist leaders. The United States had also been active in the post-WW II period to bring about a reconciliation between the Nationalists and Communists. It failed in that effort.
However, during this crucial period, the anti-Communist bias of the United States was also apparent – its tilt, favoring the Nationalists, manifested in terms of providing it substantial financial and military assistance. It was no surprise that the victory of the Communists in the civil war did not find favor either in the White House or in the U.S. Congress, both represented conservatism and not surprisingly, were anti-Communists. This antipathy towards China was also fueled by the Communist Soviet Union’s refusal to withdraw its forces from Eastern Europe, where it imposed its brand of Communist ideology on those states. Subsequently, the Cold War unleashed its heat, which no part on the globe could escape. The United States led the Western states and countries in to the Asian Continent to form an anti-Communist defense alliance and fight wars in Korea and Vietnam. Incidentally, China and Soviet Union’s response was to provide assistance to their communist brethren in the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
Admission of Taiwan in the United Nations: Background and Circumstances
The United States had maintained diplomatic relations with China since the 18th Century. The two-way trade and people-to-people contact, which also included the activities of the U.S. missionaries in China, contributed to enlarging this bilateral relationship. The United States continued its relationship with China well in to the 20th Century. The 1900s witnessed a radical change in China, rather a revolutionary one, which was led by Sun Yat-sen. Sun Yat-sen, a statesman, philosopher and reformist of his period, led the movement to overthrow the decaying Qing Dynasty in 1911. This ended thousands of years of imperial rule and laid the foundation of a Republican China. Sun Yat-sen is considered the first President of China and his China Revive Society, which developed into a political party, Kuomintang (KMT) in 1919, and is also known as the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP). The Chinese Nationalist Party from 1937 to 1945 was headed by Chiang Kai-shek, who also led China through the Second Sino-Japanese War. 
U.S.-China bilateral relationship assumed more significance during the Second World War when United States was fighting with Japan. Japan had been ruling parts of China for many years, this was the period that brought the United States closer to Chiang Kai-shek and his party. Chiang Kai-shek’s close working relationship with the United States was later helpful to him. Subsequently, the United States lent its full support to the Chinese government, led by the Nationalists, when it applied and succeeded in 1945 for the membership of the United Nations (the largest intergovernmental organization, with nearly 200 member states) and its premium body, the Security Council (permanent category). This was the beginning of the United States’ anti-Communist bias and was directed at the Communist Party of China, which was pitted in a civil war against the Nationalists for the control of China. 
Pakistan’s Contribution: Standing by the Principles
The 1950s was a period when Pakistan’s priorities were securing its borders and standing firm by the United Nations principles; 1947-1948 Jammu and Kashmir War and related security issues which had arisen, and the resultant United Nations intervention to resolve the dispute was relatively fresh in the minds of the leaders of Pakistan. For Pakistan, balancing foreign policy issues in the ‘heat’ of the Cold War was not an easy task. However, Pakistan, even though holding views close to that of the United States on crucial global issues, was not found wanting when the debate took place on the representation of states in the United Nations. In one of the debates in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), which took place in the 1950s, Pakistan’s argument on the admission of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), was at variance with that of the United States but was a principled one. Sir Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, Foreign Minister of Pakistan, while arguing in a UNGA debate drew the attention of the United Nations members to Article 4 of the UN Charter, which stipulated that “every new member could get admission”. He also further clarified that “it was not about the representation issue” and stressed the point that “China was not applying for her admission; instead, she was already a member, a permanent member of the Security Council, and one of the Big Fives”. Concluding his speech, Sir Zafarullah stated that the “Taiwanese delegation present here was unable to exercise its control over any part of mainland China. The struggle between Chiang Kai-shek’s and Mao Zedong’s forces had already come to an end with a clear victory of the Communists in mainland China. The Nationalists could no longer claim to be the sole legitimate representatives of the Chinese nation”.  However, his proposal was rejected by a majority vote. 
The UNGA disappointment did not deter Pakistan and an opportunity arose to echo close to what Sir Zafarullah had said a few years back. On March 10, 1960, when President Ayub Khan addressing the Commonwealth session in London, stated, “Commonwealth countries would support the Chinese seat in the United Nations”. On March 19, 1960, he told journalists that Pakistan would probably vote for the admission of PRC to the UN in the upcoming session; a proposal which was approved in November of the same year by the cabinet. Pakistan’s principle position gathered pace and it took a radical step when in December 1961 at the UN session, Pakistan overtly supported the PRC to be the sole and legitimate authority of Chinese people in the UN. The then Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's statement was indeed weighty, “It would be beneficial to all mankind if the People’s Republic of China were to become a member of the World Organization. How is it possible for the United Nations to bring to bear the full weight of authority on any issue when the representatives of 650 million people are excluded from its deliberations and discipline?” The reaction of the People’s Republic of China to this statement was statesmanlike; Prime Minister Zhou Enlai while talking to a correspondent of the Associated Press of Pakistan, appreciated “Pakistan’s bold stance that the latter took for a rightful place in the  United Nations and did not follow the U.S.’ position of supporting the Nationalists”.
The strength of Pakistan-China friendship continues to be echoed whenever an opportunity arises. Many decades later, in a function in Karachi, Lin Shang Lin, the Consul General of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) appreciated Pakistan’s support in helping China to gain a seat in the United Nations (UN), “Neither shall we forget it is our Pakistani friends who gave us firm support when China’s legitimate seat was restored at the UN – nor shall we forget it is our Pakistani friends again who upheld justice and lend China consistent and invaluable support on issues bearing on China’s sovereign interests such as human rights, the question of Taiwan and Tibet”.
Admission of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations: Politics of Obstruction 
It was no less than a travesty for the United Nations’ rules of admission when the United States continued to use its veto power to deny the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which controls the mainland, its rightful place in the United Nations; the People's Republic of China is the most populous country in the world. The Nationalist Government (Republic of China, ROC) having lost the civil war in 1949, also lost control of mainland China. Taiwan, as compared to the PRC has a minuscule population. Thus, the Communist-led government of the PRC in mainland China, which exercised its writ on the whole country, continued to be denied of its right to speak in the world’s premier body and Taiwan, a tiny island on which mainland China had rightly laid its claim to be part of China, represented China in the United Nations. The superpower manipulated to deny China its rightful place on the world forum for nearly two decades. This charade continued and Taiwan (ROC) continued to be a part of the United Nations, until it was finally ousted by an overwhelming majority of the Members of the United Nations in 1971, thus ending decades of mockery forced on the United Nations by the United States and like-minded countries. 
Decades of denying the People’s Republic of China their rightful membership in the United Nations and in the UN Security Council is ironic when seen in the historical context; the Chinese delegation in the signing of the Charter of the United Nations in June 1945, also included a representative of the Communist Party of China – a party which later laid the foundations of modern China in 1949. China was one of the founding members of the United Nations. The record of the United Nations reflects that the People’s Republic of China, right after its founding in October 1949, officially approached the United Nations and at the appropriate level. Prime Minister Zhou Enlai of China wrote to Trygve Lie, the then Secretary-General of the United Nations, and Mr. Carlos P. Romulo of Philippines, President of the United Nations General Assembly. In his telegram to the two leading United Nations personalities, Zhou Enlai left no ambiguity regarding as to who shall represent China in the world’s top international institutions. He stated that the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the Chinese people and not only called for the expulsion of the illegal representatives of the ‘Kuomintang clique’ (Taiwan), as they could in no way represent China, but also demanded that the representatives of the government of the People's Republic of China participate in the work of the United Nations. Admission of new members to the United Nations is generally a routinized matter and the states applying have to fulfill certain conditions; the UN Principal in brief states: “Membership in the United Nations is open to all other peace-loving states which accept the obligations contained in the present Charter”. It continues that, “The admission of any such state to membership in the United Nations will be affected by a decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council”. This punch line or caveat was used/misused by the United States, a member of the UNSC, and the just demand of the Chinese people was met with deliberate obstacles and was received in Peking, now Beijing, with much regret and anger. 
The denial to China of its rightful place in the United Nations aptly reflected being one of the leading victims of the Cold War. China, which happened to be led by the Communists, thus came into the clash of ideologies’ crossfire. According to Eisenhower, U.S. President for much of the fifties, “He was completely and unalterably opposed under the present situation to the admission of Red China into the United Nations,” and that, “95 percent of the population of the United States would take the same stand.” This statement had no legal feet to stand on but in the heat of the Cold War, it was like ‘kosher’ to the West. After the founding of modern China (People’s Republic of China, PRC), owing to the pursuit of a policy of hostility towards the Communists, the United States remained opposed to the PRC. This antagonism to the PRC emboldened Nationalist China to continue with its illegality to occupy the United Nations seat. Nevertheless, the government of the People's Republic of China, knowing fully well that the odds were stacked against them, did not give up and made unrelenting efforts to regain China's lawful seat in the United Nations.
It is indeed regrettable that the United States – a superpower which championed justice, fair play, and open society – never thought even once that continuing to prevent China from regaining its lawful rights in the United Nations amounted to double standards. Looking at the record of the United Nations about China’s efforts to be admitted in the premier international body, the United States mainly used procedural manoeuvers to block its admission; the General Assembly was asked to adopt a resolution, according to which, China's representation was an "important question" that could only be decided with a two-third majority of votes in the General Assembly. Ironically, while the 1960s witnessed that under the United States’ pressure, the UN General Assembly succumbed to passing the said resolutions, there was a visible increase in the number of countries that voted in favor of restoring China's seat in the United Nations. In 1970, the number of votes for restoring China's lawful right in the United Nations, for the first time, exceeded the votes of the opposition.
While it is important to place on record the role the United States and its like-minded countries played to place obstacles in the way of China’s efforts to become a member of the United Nations for many years, it is equally significant to peek into the time period to see what was happening domestically in the United States; suspicion of anything communist was the order of the day in Washington D.C. and it impacted the White House and U.S. Congress, which provided the desired oxygen to U.S.’ efforts to forestall China’s entry to the UN. Soviet Union’s falling out with the United States in the post-Second World War period became the initial reason for the anti-Communist wave which later gripped the United States. The emergence of Communist China was viewed as another addition to buttressing the Communist Soviet Union, a much despised adversary. 
Later, this antipathy to the Communists gathered pace in the United States after news surfaced that spies who were U.S. nationals dealing with the atomic program had passed secrets to the Soviet Union. This suspicion of the Communists did not remain confined to one sector of the U.S. society and the attention of the Congress shifted to Hollywood. Based on unsubstantiated news that Hollywood had been invaded by communist sympathizers, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) began investigating many actors, writers, and directors during the 1950s. Alleged communists were placed on a blacklist and barred from working in Hollywood. Thus, not surprisingly, the U.S.’ official position to China’s admission to the United Nations resonated with the U.S. Congress, whose members had no sympathy for the Communists. This aversion towards the Communists prompted Senator Joseph McCarthy to take advantage of this widespread obsession, he even accused the State Department employees of communist leanings. McCarthy and his accusations, which are infamously remembered as ‘McCarthyism’, brought about his downfall and the Senate eventually censured him. Whatever the outcome of McCarthy’s anti-communist campaign, the obsession and hatred to communism had already done its damage to one of the largest countries on the globe and its efforts to an otherwise routinized matter of admission to an international body, which was also its legal right. 
China-United States: The Crucial Thaw and Pakistan’s Vital Role
It is generally accepted, and history is a witness, that only those leaders can take a highly challenging and unpopular decision who are known to have made their careers denouncing that particular issue. Richard Nixon, the late President of the U.S., was one such politician who was known to be a leading anti-communist and as a Congressman co-authored the "Subversive Activities Control Act of 1948.” (The Mundt-Nixon Bill, named after Congressmen Karl E. Mundt and Richard Nixon, formally the Subversive Activities Control Act, was a proposed law in 1948 that would have required all members of the Communist Party of the United States to register with the Attorney General). However, the Senate did not act on the Mundt-Nixon Bill, and it failed to be passed. Nevertheless, Nixon, the future President’s strong opinion on communism and its sympathizers became apparent. Thus, even a leading ‘soothsayer’ in the forties, looking into a crystal ball, could never have ever contemplated predicting that after two decades Richard Nixon would go the extra mile to reach out to Communist China, but that highly unexpected event did take place in the next two decades. History also records the pivotal role played by Pakistan in the historic United States-China breakthrough; a landmark event in modern history. The two states, who had been in a state of incommunicado for years, decided to bury the past and reached out to each other, away from the public glare. As agreed between the United States, China and Pakistan, the whole process of negotiation was kept secret. Pakistan was the ‘bridge’ that both the states trusted to tread, send and receive their messages from. This process, relatively unique in the 20th Century, finally brought the much desired and sought rapprochement between the United States and China. Another significant development which was evolving and did not escape the sharp eye of Nixon also proved to be a catalyst to move faster ahead. It was during this period that the Sino-Soviet relationship had fallen apart due to the disputed Zhenbao/Damansky Island, the Chinese and Soviet forces had clashed on that disputed Island in the frozen Ussuri River. Thus, Nixon availed the opportunity to take advantage of a growing schism within the communist world. 
China’s Admittance to the United Nations: A Wrong Finally Corrected 
In terms of China’s admittance to the United Nations, July 1971 is significant and coincidental. Henry Kissinger, the U.S. Secretary of State, made his secret trip from Pakistan to China on July 8, 1971. On July 15, 1971, 17 UN members led by Albania requested that a question of "Restoration of the lawful rights of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations" be placed on the provisional agenda of the twenty-sixth session of the UN General Assembly. History records that placing this request gathered pace in the coming months, finally leading to the historic wrong being corrected. 
The historic U.S.-China breakthrough of July 8, 1971, left no surprise that it had the potential for the United States to mellow its stance on China’s admission to the United Nations; the lament was that the next session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), however, did not witness that development. Rather, the United States was adamant that if the Peoples' Republic of China is to be admitted then the Republic of China (Taiwan) – its protégé – should continue with its membership of the UN. Thus on August 17, 1971, the United States requested that a second item, "Representation of China in the United Nations" be placed on the provisional agenda as well. In brief, it meant that the People's Republic of China should be represented and at the same time provisions should be made to ensure that the Republic of China was not deprived of its representation. However, the United States was unable to realize its desire. 
To put an end to the ‘two Chinas’ proposition, twenty-two UN members succeeded in convincing the UN Secretary-General to distribute, as an official Assembly document, a statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China dated August 20, 1971. The Chinese government’s written statement declared that the Chinese people and government firmly opposed the ‘two Chinas’; ‘one China, one Taiwan’, or any similar arrangements, as well as the claim that "the status of Taiwan remains to be determined". They declared they would have absolutely nothing to do with the UN in such scenarios.
The crucial UN General Assembly’s Resolution 2758 was passed on October 25, 1971, in response to Resolution 1668 that required change in China's representation in the UN to be determined by a two-thirds vote, referring to Article 18 of the UN Charter. Even though the adoption of the resolution seemed already unavoidable, the U.S. still voted against the resolution but was in a minority position. Taiwan found itself isolated. The resolution recognized the People's Republic of China (PRC) as "the only legitimate representative of China to the United Nations" and removed the collective representatives of Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China (ROC) from the United Nations. Seventy-six countries voted for the People's Republic of China (PRC), thirty-five voted against and seventeen abstained. Pakistan was one of the leading countries voting for China. The UN record reflects that Pakistan’s voting had been consistent since the 1960s to support China’s admission. 
Probably, if not in the 1971 UNGA Session, then in the next session, the United States would have found a way for PRC, its ‘new friend’, to join it in the Security Council; China is to be credited for its maturity and foresight to not have made a big fuss of U.S.’ stance to its admission in the UN. Looking at the historical background, the beginning of 1970s, United States saw the geopolitical opportunity in moving closer to China in a strategic move against their common adversary – the Soviet Union. The United States eventually broke formal relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan) in 1979, but the strategic shift in the early 1970s, combined with a large number of newly independent former colonies that had some ideological solidarity with Beijing, turned the tide once and for all against Taiwan. However, Taiwan did not give up and continued with its ‘two Chinas’ farce, and it was finally buried in 2007. On July 23, 2007, Secretary-General of the UN Ban Ki-moon rejected Taiwan's membership bid to "join the UN under the name of Taiwan", citing Resolution 2758 as acknowledging that Taiwan is a part of China. 
China and the United Nations: A Responsible Conduct 
The People’s Republic of China spent the first two decades defending its credentials to be admitted to the United Nations, but its last decade as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council has been praiseworthy, to say the least. China’s increasingly active role in the United Nations reflects changed foreign policy priorities as well as pragmatic considerations. Multilateralism has become central to China’s efforts to project its influence abroad, pursue its interests and cultivate its image as a “responsible great power”. Fully conscious of its responsibilities as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, its growing economic power and political clout, who opposes the use of force to resolve disputes, China’s contribution to peace can be measured in its peacekeeping missions in troubled spots around the world and the Iran Nuclear Agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The JCPOA is a landmark accord reached between Iran and several world powers, including China and the United States in July 2015. Under its terms, Iran has agreed to dismantle much of its nuclear program and open its facilities to more extensive international inspections in exchange for billions of dollars worth of sanctions’ relief. In brief, it has made the world much safer.
China’s approach to peacekeeping has evolved considerably since it assumed its UN Security Council (UNSC) seat in 1971. China is one of the few major powers that contributes to peacekeeping forces around the world and also actively contributes to supporting counter-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden. China’s motivation for supporting and participating in peacekeeping showed its traditional adherence to non-intervention. China provides the much-needed personnel as well as political support and momentum for peacekeeping at a time when both conflicts and peacekeeping operations are becoming more complex.
Meeting Expectations and Looking Ahead
Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the country spent the next couple of years to consolidate the revolution and focus on the social sectors i.e., health and education, which impacts the common man. Some experts on China, especially in the West, do not tire writing as to how China was many decades back and the conditions of the common man. If these experts had their way, they would have liked China to be frozen in time. However, countries like China, whose written history had recorded that it was one of the world's foremost economic powers for most of the two millennia, from the first to the 19th century, has never remained content with the present; its leaders, equipped with a vision, mustered the courage to move forward even when the odds were heavily stacked against them and the country. As time progressed, there were clear signs of China taking a visibly high trajectory to break the shackle hold of the image of a poor developing country. Two top leaders, Deng Xiaoping and Xi Jinping, have contributed to China’s spectacular rise as the second global economic power. While China’s standing is held in awe around the globe, the United States feels threatened; the U.S. has calculated that China shall in time replace it as the global ‘numero uno’ power. This tussle between the United States and China is a natural phenomenon; global history is replete with such a power struggle between various powers and empires. People around the world only desire that this competition, which appears mostly to be in the economic domain, remains peaceful and does not take the shape of deep antagonism. The reason is that the world does not have the appetite for another round of Cold War and its dreadful consequences. 
China’s role in the United Nations, since its dramatic entry in October 1971, is being appreciated. The United Nations not only acknowledges China’s responsible role in contributing to the much-needed peace in troubled spots around the world but also credits China for its continued active participation in the international development cooperation to promote global development programs, which have yielded remarkable results. The United Nations particularly credits the strong leadership of President Xi Jinping, due to which China has placed top priority to people’s well-being in all social sectors. The United Nations goes the extra mile in highlighting the eradication of extreme poverty and ensuring food security in China. The organization mentions the year of 2020, where China met its deadline of lifting 98.99 million rural residents out of poverty; they were living below the current poverty line, and thus met one of the leading targets of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals ( SDG 1), ten years ahead of schedule. The United Nations also acknowledges that China has shouldered its responsibilities in contributing to the international development cooperation and invites attention to the efforts of promoting cooperation in using the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), has provided assistance to more than 160 countries and international organizations in combating COVID-19, as well as donating and exporting pandemic response supplies to over 200 countries and regions. 
For the last few years, China and the United States are experiencing an adversarial relationship, in which the media is sharing stories regularly. The situation which aggravated during the Trump Administration saw no change after he departed from the White House; the same pattern is being followed to date. The continuous tension between the two countries has spilled from trade matters and global issues to criticism of certain domestic matters in each other’s countries. There is not a single issue on which the two states, who are the leading economic powers, can agree on, at least the two have yet to publically share. The oddity is that China and the United States share a commonality of Permanent Membership of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), which should have been reflected in working together on the global issues of concern and ironing out their differences. The strain between China and the United States shows no sign of abating and is reflected in the recent meeting that took place in the Northern city of Tianjin between senior Foreign Office officials of the United States and China; the frayed relations between the two countries have worsened in the months since an initial diplomatic meeting of senior Foreign Office officials which took place at Anchorage, Alaska in March 2021. 
The challenge for China and the United States is to find common ground to work together and climate change is one global issue on which both the states can find ways to cooperate. As members of the United Nations, it is their duty, as the United Nations gives Climate Change top priority “Climate change is an inevitable and urgent global challenge with long-term implications for the sustainable development of all countries”. There is precedence for China and the United States as they have closely worked together; the U.S. and China in the aftermath of the September 11 attack had a clear unanimity on the threat of terrorism and both states worked diligently in the anti-terrorism coalition. It is ironic that in the post-World War II period, many Western European states, which include Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, rose from the ashes with the help of U.S., massive financial assistance (Marshall Plan) and became impressive economic powers and there was no global concern on this positive development. However, China’s spectacular economic rise, which it owes to the guidance of its leaders and hard work of its people, is looked at in the U.S. and some of its like-minded Western states, with utter concern and scorn. History testifies that the economic rise of most states around the globe has been peaceful and China's gradual but impressive economic climb on the global ladder too has eschewed a non-peaceful path. Thus, China shall welcome a better understanding of its economic trajectory and avoid any course by other states which might jeopardize its plan of a peaceful rise. The Chinese leadership, over the years, has taken steps to calm down concerns around the globe and to build a supportive international environment for its ascendancy. 
The United Nations reflects a shining example of the comity of nations – irrespective of color or creed, big or small – united to ensure a peaceful world that focuses on fighting the dual curse of hunger and disease. Unfairness does tend to creep into the comity of nations when they are asked to take sides amongst their ranks. Developing members of the United Nations, on account of resource constraints, are generally vulnerable to the global politics of ‘push and pull’. Strangely, even developed states have not been able to avoid this ‘political pitfall’; at the 13th June 2021, G7 Summit in the United Kingdom, some of the G7 members made direct and indirect references to China, an action they could have avoided. As the COVID-19 scourge shows no signs of slowing down, the World Health Organization (WHO), a specialized body of the UN is spearheading the ‘war’ to defeat this menace and save lives with the full support of its members. Therefore, the UN desires to focus on critical issues and can ill afford dissension in the ranks of the UN members, especially the Security Council. The United Nations members are crying out for sanity to prevail and beseech the Western states to refrain from their negative stance towards China.  

The writer holds a Masters in Political Science (Punjab University) and Masters in Diplomatic Studies (UK). He has served in various capacities in Pakistan’s missions abroad and as an Ambassador to Vietnam and High Commissioner to Malaysia. He is on the visiting faculty of four mainstream public universities in Islamabad and Adviser to the India Centre at the Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad.
E-mail: [email protected]