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An 'exclusive mandate' is a government's assertion of its legitimate authority over a certain territory, part of which another government controls with stable, ''de facto'' sovereignty. It is also known as a claim to sole representation or an exclusive authority claim.

Contents

Germany from 1949 to 1990

Federal Republic of Germany

German Democratic Republic (1949-1990)

China

Korea

Vietnam

Germany from 1949 to 1990

Federal Republic of Germany

From 1949 until 1973, the Federal Republic of Germany insisted on its exclusive mandate for the entire German people. This claim was initially based solely on the government's mandate by virtue of free elections. In a statement made before the German Bundestag, German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer asserted this mandate as early as October 21, 1949, in response to the constitution of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) coming into effect. The Secretary of State Summit of the three western powers on September 18, 1950 in New York, supported Chancellor Adenauer's claim.
When the Soviet Union proclaimed the sovereignty of the GDR, the German Bundestag once again unanimously insisted upon its exclusive mandate to govern the entire German people. At the Treaties of Paris (''), at which the Federal Republic of Germany was admitted into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the allied nations adopted the position which the three western allies had already confirmed at the nine-power conference in London: that the Federal Republic had the exclusive right to act on behalf of the entire German people in matters of foreign policy. The western nations thereby accepted the exclusive mandate of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Judicially, the claim was based on the view that the German state as a whole had been preserved, and that hence no two German states could exist. The German Democratic Republic was therefore merely German territory, which was occupied by a regime that had been put in place by the Soviet Union, thus lacking autonomy. According to an alternate view, the GDR was in a state of civil war with the "actual" German government, based in Bonn, and therefore could not be recognized as a state under international law. A third, the so-called "Umbrella-State" theory, entails the existence of two German fragment nations, under the umbrella of the German Reich, which had never actually been annihilated; this theory arose in the late 1960's and was confirmed in a ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany of 31 July 1973 regarding the "Basic Treaty" outlining principal neighborly relations between East and West Germany.
Aside from such considerations pertaining to international law, the reunification-clause of the German constitution suggested that international recognition of the German Democratic Republic was to be avoided, so as not to sever the constitutional mandate to a unified German state.
The exclusive mandate was reaffirmed in the Hallstein Doctrine, according to which the Federal Republic broke diplomatic relations with states that maintained diplomatic relations with the GDR.
Initially, asserting an exclusive mandate was a strictly observed policy. Over time, especially after the administration's transition to a social-liberal coalition led by Willy Brandt in 1969, the exclusive mandate was softened, as it severely limited the Federal Republic's domestic and international autonomy.
With the admission of both German states to the United Nations in 1973, matters regarding the exclusive mandate were no longer relevant. Regardless, the Federal Republic of Germany did not recognize unique citizenship of the German Democratic Republic until the GDR ceased to exist in 1990, and generally considered East Germans to be German citizens; refugees were therefore not extradited. In addition, visitors from the GDR would receive a West German passport upon request, for example, in order to ease travel to the United States. After the fall of the Berlin wall in November 1989, East Germans were greeted with Begrüßungsgeld (100 West German Deutsche Mark) and could travel freely within West Germany, while West German access to the East was still hindered for some weeks by visa and the Mindestumtausch mandatory minimum exchange of 25 DM.

German Democratic Republic (1949-1990)

The constitution of the German Democratic Republic also acknowledged that Germany is an indivisible Republic, and thus only one German citizenship. The GDR, therefore, was also founded on the premise of being the de facto sovereign of the entire German Republic, and thus did not recognize the existence of the other German state. In 1974, however, the reunification clause was stricken from the GDR's constitution. Thereafter it assumed the simultaneous existence of two separate German states. The GDR needed to erect the Berlin wall in 1961 to prevent Germans moving freely within Germany. The socialist state ceased to exist within a year after the fall of the wall in 1989 when its states joined the Federal Republic in the German reunification of 1990.

China

Main articles: One-China policy

Since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, the Republic of China was limited to the Island of Taiwan and few off shore islands, while the People's Republic of China controlled the mainland, and since 1950 also the Island of Hainan. Both Chinese governments claimed sovereignty over all of China. Until 1971, the Republic of China was a permanent member of the UN Security Council with veto power. Since then, however, it was excluded in favor of the People's Republic of China, and since 1972, it was excluded from all UN-subcommittees as well. Since the death of Chiang Kai-shek in 1975, Republic of China no longer aggressively asserts its exclusive mandate and most of the world's nations have since broken their official diplomatic ties with Republic of China (except for 25 nations as of 2005). Nevertheless, most nations, as well as the People's Republic government, continue to maintain unofficial relations.

Korea

In 1948 North Korea and South Korea began to stake claims to sovereignty over all of Korea. In 1991, however, both nations joined the UN, as part of their reconciliation policy.

Vietnam

The Democratic Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed in 1945; the Republic of Vietnam gained its independence from France in 1954. North and South Vietnam both staked claims to all of Vietnam until South Vietnam unconditionally surrendered to North Vietnam in 1975.