Ouster at the U.N.

Grayer heads at the United Nations recall that a woman once lost her press credentials for practicing prostitution and a male correspondent was barred for slugging one of the delegates. Otherwise, U.N. accreditation has never been a problem for newsmen. A 1946 resolution stipulates that "the press and other existing agencies of information be given the fullest direct access"--language so broad it could cover not only news organizations but propaganda groups as well. Last week, however, the U.N. press corps was in an uproar over the ouster of two veteran correspondents of Taiwan's government-subsidized Central News Agency, obviously at the insistence of Peking's delegation.

C.N.A.'s Tang Teh-cheh, 62, had held U.N. accreditation since its founding in 1945, and Lin Chen-chi, 54, arrived nine years later. Under a directive personally approved by Secretary-General U Thant, both were told without warning a fortnight ago to turn in their press passes. They had to be excluded, Thant decided, because C.N.A. was a "government agency," and the government of Taiwan had been expelled from the U.N. and many of its affiliated organizations. The rationale was plainly political and discriminatory. The East German news agency is also government controlled, and its correspondents are allowed full standing at the U.N. though East Germany is not a member.

Power Politics. Thant's order came shortly after he had hosted a luncheon for Peking's U.N. delegation. Somewhere between the smoked fish and the star-shaped scallion pancakes he was evidently persuaded to bar the C.N.A. correspondents so that Yeh Chih-hsiung of Peking's official Hsinhua agency could cover the U.N. with a clear conscience. Peking does not want its reporters taking part in organizations that allow Taiwanese participation. In Ottawa, Hsinhua has refused to join the Parliamentary Press Gallery because its members will not expel the C.N.A. man.

Lin and Tang also enjoy their colleagues' support, but so far it has done them little good. "This is naked power politics," said Tang. "The Communists brought pressure on Thant, who is Burmese. The Burmese have a saying that when China sneezes they fear a flood. Thant is retiring with a fat pension, and this is his final favor for Burma and Red China."

Arbitrary Step. Louis Foy of Agence France Presse, president of the 243-member United Nations Correspondents Association, maintained that any correspondent of "an established news organization--whatever its name, structure or affiliation and whether its home country is a member of the U.N. or not--is entitled to be accredited, regardless of political considerations, as long as he maintains a professional status." President-elect Warren Rogers, of the National Press Club in Washington, wrote Thant that he was "astonished at this arbitrary, unjust and admittedly politically motivated step."

The protests will probably prove fruitless. The exclusion was a victory for Kao Liang, 47, the smiling public relations chief of Peking's delegation, who was once a Hsinhua correspondent himself. Kao has firsthand knowledge of how it feels to have credentials lifted. Long rumored to be more of an intelligence operative than a reporter (TIME, Nov. 22), Kao lost his accreditation to India in 1960 because of "biased reporting." Not surprisingly, he scooped Western correspondents by a full 48 hours on a pro-Peking coup in Zanzibar in 1964. A year later, while still nominally a newsman, he was expelled from the Central African kingdom of Burundi along with Peking's entire embassy staff.

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