asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will make a statement on British policy at the current session of the General Assembly towards the admission of China to the United Nations.

Our policy remains unchanged. For many years we have voted for the seating of representatives of the Chinese People's Republic and shall again do so this year.

Will my hon. Friend assure the House that this year we shall not be involved in a procedural wrangle designed to defeat our objective in seeing the Peking Government seated at the United Nations?

We subscribe to the doctrine that this is an "important question". There is no doubt that there are strong feelings within the United Nations and deep divisions of opinion on the matter, and we feel that it should be treated under Article 18, sub-paragraph (2).