To Create a New World? American Presidents and the United Nations

United States held its nose and allowed the seating of the offensive Pol Pot government. ⁴⁴

In its dealings with China and the Soviet Union, the Carter administration, even given the president's early suggestions that he would fully engage the United Nations and concentrate on multilateral and cooperative policies, tended, like those that had preceded it, to act unilaterally, apart from UN environs. Nonetheless, American treatment of China and Russia did have repercussions within the larger international community, did affect our posture in the United Nations, and—as we will see below—resulted in the playing out of consequential issues within the UN.

Nixon had initiated the opening with China, but he had not officially normalized relations with Beijing. Although the United States regularly dealt with the People's Republic of China in its capacity as a permanent member of the Security Council, Washington continued, at least technically, to recognize the regime on the island of Taiwan. Once again Carter moved forcefully to resolve an unsettled policy, while at the same time underscoring U.S. interest in courting the third world.

The president intended to exchange ambassadors with the People's Republic of China at the most feasible time. In May 1978, he sent Brzezinski to Beijing where the national security adviser met with Foreign Minister Huang Hua. The two reaffirmed the basic principles of the Shanghai communiqué and agreed on a common "position on global and regional hegemony," a not very subtle reference to the Soviet Union, much favored by the Chinese, and fittingly appropriate to Brzezinski's own predilections. After visiting the Great Wall, just as Kissinger had done before him, Brzezinski met with Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping, the acknowledged leader of the Communist Party and of the People's Republic. They agreed privately on procedures to effect normalization between the two countries. Upon his return, Brzezinski appeared on the television interview program Meet the Press, where he criticized Russian

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