When the Cold War Ended and the UN Finally Started Working

Imagine showing up to a new job and the Berlin Wall falls. That’s basically what happened to Chan Heng Chee.

This is part of my retelling of “50 Years of Singapore and the United Nations” (Tommy Koh, Li Lin Chang, Joanna Koh, 2015, ISBN: 978-9814713030).

A Rookie at the Right Time

Chan Heng Chee was Singapore’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations from February 1989 to February 1991. Just two years. But those two years turned out to be some of the most important in modern history.

She came straight from the academic world. First woman ever appointed as a Singapore ambassador. And from day one, she was thrown into the deep end.

She had read the political science textbooks. She had studied the memoirs of past UN Secretaries-General. None of that prepared her for what was about to happen.

Senior diplomats at the UN kept telling her: pay attention. Something big is coming.

They were right.

Why the UN Was Stuck for Decades

To understand why those two years mattered so much, you need to know why the UN was basically broken before that.

The UN was created in 1945 after World War II. The whole idea was simple: the world needed a system to stop countries from invading each other. The UN Security Council was supposed to be the enforcer. It had the power to label a country an aggressor and take military action.

But here’s the problem. The five permanent members of the Security Council - the US, Soviet Union, UK, France, and China - each had veto power. And once the Cold War kicked off, the Soviet Union and the US were on opposite sides of everything. So any time one side tried to do something, the other side vetoed it.

The UN was gridlocked. For decades.

The only time the UN actually took military action during the Cold War was in Korea in 1950. And that only happened because the Soviet Union was boycotting the UN at the time. They were protesting the fact that Taiwan, not mainland China, held China’s UN seat. So when North Korea invaded South Korea, the Soviets weren’t there to veto. A UN force of 16 countries was assembled.

The Soviets quickly realized their mistake. They came back and started vetoing everything again. The US then pushed through a “Uniting for Peace” resolution - basically a backup plan saying if the Security Council gets stuck, the General Assembly can step in.

But for most of the Cold War, the UN couldn’t do much of anything. It was, as one historian put it, a depressing start.

Gorbachev Changed Everything

Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the Soviet Union in 1985. He introduced “glasnost” (openness) and “perestroika” (restructuring). He wanted to reform communism, not kill it. But once people got a taste of freedom, they wanted more.

By mid-1989, Eastern Europe was loosening up. Gorbachev chose not to send in tanks to crush the protests. On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall came down.

That changed everything at the UN. The two superpowers that had been blocking each other for 40+ years were suddenly willing to talk. To cooperate. To actually let the Security Council do its job.

Chan Heng Chee had a front row seat.

The Cambodia Problem

One of the biggest issues on Singapore’s plate was Cambodia.

Here’s the backstory. In December 1978, Vietnam invaded Cambodia. At the time, Cambodia was under the Khmer Rouge - a brutal regime. But regardless of how terrible the Khmer Rouge was, one country invading another is a clear violation of international law.

For ten years, ASEAN (the group of Southeast Asian nations including Singapore) ran a campaign at the UN General Assembly to pressure Vietnam to pull out of Cambodia. They couldn’t go through the Security Council because the permanent members couldn’t agree. So every year, they pushed a resolution through the General Assembly instead.

The sides were clear. ASEAN, the US, and China on one side. Vietnam, the Soviet Union, and India on the other.

Before Chan Heng Chee left for New York, Singapore’s Foreign Minister told her it would be harder this time. Vietnam had already pulled its troops out in 1988. But it left behind a puppet government led by Hun Sen. ASEAN wanted a full political settlement, not just a withdrawal.

The Foreign Minister told her: try not to lose more than one or two votes compared to last year.

She did better than that.

The 1989 resolution passed with 124 yes votes, 17 no, and 12 abstentions. That was actually a wider margin than the previous year (122 yes, 19 no, 13 abstentions). The Foreign Minister sent the Singapore UN Mission a bottle of champagne.

What made the difference? The Cold War was ending. The Soviet Union was pulling back. It was no longer willing to back Vietnam’s position. By 1990, the resolution passed by consensus, and the Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 668. The permanent five members finally agreed.

In February 1992, the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) was set up. A peacekeeping operation to oversee elections and help Cambodians choose their own government.

After a decade of gridlock, the whole thing wrapped up surprisingly fast.

Iraq Invades Kuwait

The biggest issue during Chan Heng Chee’s time at the UN was Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990.

This was the first clear case of one country invading another in the post-Cold War era. And for Singapore, it hit close to home. A big country swallowing a smaller one? Singapore lives with that fear every day.

Iraq had actually gotten away with something similar before. When it invaded Iran in the early 1980s, the US looked the other way because Iran had just overthrown the Shah and taken American hostages. The Soviets didn’t push back either because Iran had criticized them over Afghanistan. So the Security Council basically let it slide.

That might have made Saddam Hussein think he could do it again.

But in 1990, the mood at the UN was completely different. The Cold War was over. The Security Council was actually working.

Within hours of the invasion, the Security Council condemned Iraq and demanded an immediate withdrawal. Within days, it passed Resolution 661 - a massive package of sanctions. A committee was formed to enforce them.

People at the UN were genuinely excited. This was what the organization was supposed to do all along.

When Saddam Hussein refused to budge, President George H.W. Bush put together an international coalition. The Security Council authorized military action through Resolution 678. Singapore joined the coalition.

Singapore was in full compliance with the sanctions. Chan Heng Chee gave speeches across the US explaining why small states take this kind of aggression so seriously. US military planes flew through Singapore for refueling on their way to the war zone. The Singapore Armed Forces sent a 30-member medical team - called Operation Nightingale - to support the Allied Forces at King Khalid International Airport in Saudi Arabia. It was the first time Singapore had ever activated a peace support operation.

The Gulf States and other Middle Eastern countries noticed. Singapore’s relationship with them grew stronger because of it.

The Excitement Didn’t Last

Here’s the thing Chan Heng Chee noticed. After the Berlin Wall fell, everyone expected the world to get simpler. People talked about a “peace dividend.” Traditional military rivalries would fade. The new issues would be things like human rights, the environment, refugees, migration.

Some of that happened. Those issues did get more attention.

But the old problems didn’t go away. Iraq proved that within months of the Wall coming down. Then Yugoslavia broke apart. Ethnic wars erupted in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Chemical weapons became a growing concern.

The UN was called in to deal with all of it. And it got stretched thin. Peacekeeping missions, humanitarian relief, political settlements - the demand was endless but the resources were not.

The old rivalries between big powers started showing up again too. Not as sharply as during the Cold War. But they were there.

The brief moment of unity at the Security Council started to fray.

What Singapore Learned

Chan Heng Chee left the UN in February 1991, just as the ground war of Operation Desert Storm began. In those two short years, she learned a lot.

Singapore had a strong reputation at the UN. It was seen as effective and active, especially for leading the ASEAN effort on Cambodia. Working with both the US and China on the same side was an unusual experience.

But the biggest lesson was about relationships. With or without the Cold War, personal connections matter in diplomacy. Especially at a place like the UN where so many countries are trying to work together.

And global crises, as painful as they are, can also be opportunities. The Gulf War helped Singapore build stronger ties with Middle Eastern countries. The Cambodia vote showed that a small country could lead a coalition and win.

The Bottom Line

This chapter is a snapshot of a very specific moment. The Cold War ended. The UN, after decades of being stuck, suddenly worked the way it was supposed to. For a brief window, the Security Council could actually agree on things. It was exciting.

But it didn’t last. The world got more complicated, not less. New problems piled up faster than old ones could be solved. And the big powers slowly went back to their old habits.

Still, that window mattered. It proved the UN could function when the political will was there. The question has always been whether that will can be sustained.

Chan Heng Chee was there to see it all happen. Not bad for a two-year posting.

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