Leader of the Chinese delegation to United Nations, Chiao Kuan-hua (left) and Chinese permanent representative to the UN Huang Hua (right) present their credentials to UN Secretary General U Thant in New York 16 November 1971.
Siddharth Chatterjee
The United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 2758, restoring the lawful seat of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations, on Oct 25, 1971.
In doing so, it restored one-fourth of humanity to the world's foremost multilateral institution, making the UN whole. Fifty-five years on, that decision endures as a defining milestone in the evolution of the international order.
The anniversary arrives at a sobering moment. Armed conflicts grind on across several regions, geopolitical rivalry is growing, trust among major powers has frayed, and humanity faces a convergence of challenges — climate change, pandemics, food insecurity, technological disruption and widening inequality — that no border can contain.
