efore the admission of Singapore, Sabah (formerly North Borneo), and Sarawak to the federation on 16 September 1963. Singapore became an independent state on 9 August 1965 and a UN member on 21 September 1965.
- ^ Maldives: Previously referred to as the Maldive Islands.
- ^ Republic of Moldova: Previously referred to as Moldova.
- ^ Myanmar: Name was changed from Burma on 18 June 1989.
- ^ Philippines: Previously referred to as the Philippine Commonwealth (before becoming a republic in 1946) and as the Philippine Republic.
- ^ Saint Kitts and Nevis: Name was changed officially from Saint Christopher and Nevis on 26 November 1986; the UN, however, continued to use the former name throughout the year.
- ^ Sao Tome and Principe: The official UN designation lacks accents; however, the name is constitutionally defined as São Tomé and Príncipe, with accents.
- ^ South Africa: Previously referred to as the Union of South Africa (before becoming a republic in 1961).
- ^ Sri Lanka: Name was changed from Ceylon on 22 May 1972.
- ^ Suriname: Name was changed from Surinam on 23 January 1978.
- ^ Thailand: Previously referred to as Siam.
- ^ Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of): Previously referred to as Venezuela.
Republic of China
China, under the jurisdiction of the Republic of China (ROC) at that time, joined the UN as an original member on 24 October 1945, and as set out by the United Nations Charter, Chapter V, Article 23, became one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. In 1949, as a result of the Chinese Civil War, the Kuomintang-led ROC government lost effective control of mainland China and relocated to Taiwan, and the Communist Party-led government of the People's Republic of China (PRC), declared on 1 October 1949, took control of mainland China. The UN was notified on 18 November 1949 of the formation of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China; however, the Government of the Republic of China continued to represent China at the UN, despite the small size of the ROC's jurisdiction of Taiwan and a number of smaller islands compared to the PRC's jurisdiction of mainland China. As both governments claimed to be the sole legitimate representative of China, proposals to effect a change in the representation of China in the UN were not approved for the next two decades, as the ROC was still recognized as the sole legitimate representative of China by a majority of UN members.
By the 1970s, a shift had occurred in international diplomatic circles and the PRC had gained the upper hand in international diplomatic relations and recognition count. On 25 October 1971, the 21st time the United Nations General Assembly debated on the PRC's admission into the UN, United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 was adopted, by which it recognized that "the representatives of the Government of the People's Republic of China are the only lawful representatives of China to the United Nations and that the People's Republic of China is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council," and decided "to restore all its rights to the People's Republic of China and to recognize the representatives of its Government as the only legitimate representatives of China to the United Nations, and to expel forthwith the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek from the place which they unlawfully occupy at the United Nations and in all the organizations related to it." This effectively transferred the seat of China in the UN, including its permanent seat on the Security Council, from the ROC to the PRC, and expelled the ROC from the UN.
Bids for readmission as the representative of Taiwan
Between 1993 and 2007, the ROC repeatedly petitioned to rejoin the UN as the representative of Taiwan, instead of as the representative of China, using the designation "Republic of China on Taiwan" (used by the Kuomintang-led administration under Lee Teng-hui), "Republic of China (Taiwan)" (used by the Democratic Progressive Party-led administration under Chen Shui-bian), or "Taiwan" (used by the administration u