Double Standard

In the United Nations last week two significant issues came to a vote:

> Red China's admission to the U.N. was proposed once again by Russia's Valerian Zorin, despite the much-heralded Moscow-Peking split. Said Nationalist Chinese Ambassador Liu Chieh: "World peace is threatened at this very moment by two international bullies, one of them responsible for the grave situation in the Caribbean, and the other on the Indian border; and yet the first has the effrontery to propose that the second should be seated in this organization." Obviously agreeing, the Assembly rejected Red China by 56 to 42, with 12 abstentions, a slightly larger margin than last year (48 to 36, with 20 abstentions). Eight French-speaking African states made the difference by switching from abstention to no.

> Sanctions against South Africa's racist regime were proposed in an Afro-Asian resolution calling for a worldwide boycott on South African goods, a break in diplomatic relations, and possible expulsion from the U.N. if the Verwoerd regime does not mend its ways. The measure passed by 60 to 16, with 21 abstentions. The vote pointed to a double standard: South Africa's regime, reprehensible though it is, can hardly be considered worse than the Red Chinese tyranny, but 23 Afro-Asian delegates who voted sanctions against South Africa also voted to admit Red China.

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