The CCP shot down a Cathay Pacific passenger aircraft and surprised the arena. The pilot was once now not punished (photograph)

In 1954, the shooting down of a passenger plane by a Chinese military plane shocked the world and forced Beijing to pay huge sums of money. The downing of the passenger plane also damaged the possibility of China joining the United Nations. Republican Rep. Walter Judd, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the incident was another reason why communist China cannot join the United Nations.