Editing Hallstein Doctrine (section)

===Exclusive mandate===
The government of the Federal Republic of Germany claimed to speak for the whole German people; this was re-iterated in a number of declarations.<ref name="KilianW_2001"/>{{Rp|18}}  In the New York Declaration of 18 September 1951, the [[Allied High Commission|western occupying powers]] had declared that they "regard[ed] the government of the Federal Republic of Germany as the only German government freely and legitimately constituted and therefore entitled to speak for the German nation in international affairs".<ref name="KilianW_2001"/>{{Rp|20}}

The Federal Republic of Germany did not recognize the German Democratic Republic and maintained diplomatic relations with neither the German Democratic Republic nor the other Communist states of [[Eastern Bloc|Eastern Europe]].