The Hemisphere: Alliance Upheld

The results of a Gallup poll announced last week revealed a well-obscured fact about a serious argument between the U.S. and Canada over the question: Should Red China be seated in the U.N.? Most adult Canadians, the poll showed, have only the fuzziest notion of what the argument is all about. A full 11% thought Red China already had a U.N. seat; 41% did not know. Among the minority who did know, 57% favored seating Peking. This meant that in Canada's voting population as a whole, only 27% clearly favor a U.N. seat for the Chinese Communists.

The response was quite different from what many politicos and editors have been clattering about for weeks. They had produced a picture of overwhelming sentiment in favor of a policy change on Red China, overwhelming disagreement with the U.S. The general council of the United Church of Canada called for admitting Red China to the U.N.; politicians took to the stump to attack the U.S.

Before the U.N. meeting there was genuine high-level concern in Washington that Canada might not support the U.S. resolution to postpone for another year U.N. debate on Red China's admission. Wisely, Washington applied no pressure. Great Britain, however, did, arguing that Western unity was at stake.

Last week Ottawa made public its decision. External Affairs Secretary Sidney Smith marched to the General Assembly podium and put Canada squarely behind the U.S. resolution on Red China's ad mission. Said Smith: "Peace cannot be won by giving in to force. That is a lesson people of my generation have learned at heavy cost."