The World: Two United Nations Scenarios

THAT annual rite of fall—the struggle over who should represent China in the United Nations—used to be fairly predictable. In past sessions, the drama has swirled around the so-called Albanian resolution, which offers the U.N.'s 127 members a simple choice: Taipei or Peking. This year, with the U.S. not only dropping its opposition to Peking's entry but working for the seating of both governments, the delegates will be able to vote for one or the other —or for both.

This opens the way to an almost infinite number of tactical possibilities. "With good staff work, we might come up with 5,000 scenarios...