The U.N. Security Council and the Korean Conflict

One thing I find rather interesting about the Korean Conflict is the fact that the United States and China had directly fought each other. The fact that the USSR and the US never fought each other during the Cold War is stressed by most historical accounts. However, I do not understand why the conflict between China and the US is played down so much. They were both permanent members of the Security Council. I think that's why I was surprised that this disagreement had not led to an all-out war. I also amazed that the United Nations did not fall apart when conflicts like this arose since the UN was made up of communist and democratic nations.

Of course, I think the Chinese delegates to the UN at the time did not represent the Communists of China. I read somewhere that the USSR had made motions to replace the Chinese delegates, but these motions were not passed through the '50s. I guess China did not really fight back against the containment of communism. The Chinese were more upset by having the war so close to their borders. I guess it all depends on if you would consider the Chinese UN delegates to support the Chinese involvement in the conflict. Either way it seems like MacArthur pushed the Security Council into a rather dangerous position.