Why is China a member of the UN Security Council?

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China (at the time) was one of the "Big Four" Allies (France was not) during World War II. (The "United Nations" originally meant the united, anti-Axis nations.) It's true that the "Big Three" were the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union, but there were a number of much weaker, plausible "number four" states, including China, France, and Poland (the latter two were German-occupied, with large Free French and free Polish contingents). Of these, China was the strongest and most important. France was "number five," added at the end of the war. This hierarchy was put forth by U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who planned on having China as a counterweight after the war against British and French colonialism, and prophetically foresaw China's rise to world power (although in a different form than he envisioned).

Although China wasn't very successful in World War II, it played an important role in tying up the Japanese forces, acting as the Pacific "anvil" to the Americans' "hammer." As in Europe, the Americans fought only one fourth of the Japanese army (but most of its navy), with China absorbing most of Japan's remaining power. China's capacity in this regard was demonstrated only six years after World War II, when China spearheaded the "anti-UN" (basically anti-US) efforts in Korea.

In order to win World War II, the Axis had to defeat all three of America's major allies; Britain, the Soviet Union and China. Suppose the second worst case scenario, that the Germans had conquered the British Isles (e.g. by submarine warfare) in 1944, and European Russia by the end of 1945. Then America would be the leader of "Free British" forces in India, "Free Russia" forces in Siberia, and "free China." By mid-1945, the Allies had actually recaptured the Philippines, plus parts of Indochina and modern Indonesia, and Japan's Pacific Islands. Then Eisenhower's "Normandy" invasion could have instead liberated Japanese-occupied China in 1945, in cooperation with local Chinese forces. A "United Nations" of North and South America, China, India, Siberia, Australia, and today's ASEAN nations (even if Britain, Russia, Africa and the Middle East were lost to the Germans) would probably have sufficed to wage and win a "Cold War" with the Axis. Take China out of the equation and the "Allies" lose. (This is a thesis of my unpublished World War II book, "Axis Overstretch.")

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I thought it was because FDR demanded it. The USA was in fact fighting in China against Japan prior to Pearl Harbor. The Russians had a non aggression pact with Japan until the final days of World War 2. Since no one really wanted a United Nations anyways I'd call this one a "Presidential." Unlike Russia, Great Britain and France (to a very limited degree) the USA placed no territorial demands on anyone as a result of its Victory in World War 2. We wanted the dollar as the World's global reserve and deterrence to prevent another Pearl Harbor...all of which the USA did in fact get. The postwar US economic boom was the biggest in US History and didn't involve "imperial anything" until the 1980's. Turned out to be great news for Japan and Germany ironically...but they will never be members of the Security Council sad to say. South Africa, Brazil and India still have a long way to go too.

Saudi Arabia is a possible #5 tho.

Upvote:5

The Peoples Republic of China was not originally on the security council, as it did not exist in 1945 at the time the security council was created. The Peoples Republic of China inherited the Republic of China's seat on the council when it took over the ROC's place in the United Nations in 1971.

Originally the United States supported the ROC's place on the security council. The reasons for this obviously are subject to interpretation and were highly political. Possibly one factor was that the council was going to include Britain and France (both former colonial powers) and the US saw the ROC as an ally and counterweight to the European presence on the council. Also, the US may have seen the need for an Asian representative on the council.

This latter motivation, having all continents represented, is also suggested by the fact that the United States also supported having Brazil on the security council, although this was firmly opposed by Britain and France.

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