This is the sixth time in a quarter of a century
that I have had the honor to come to this rostrum
to defend before the representatives of Member
States the interests of my country and its people.
2. Today, as on the last occasion when I
addressed the Security Council, in 1979,'
following the occupation of Kampuchea by the
armed forces of the Socialist Republic of Viet
Nam, it is for the very existence of my country
as a free and sovereign State that I seek to be
the spokesman before the Assembly.
3. I wish at the outset to express my most
respectful good wishes to the President of the
Assembly. May I be permitted to salute very
respectfully Mr. Kittani, and congratulate him
very cordially on the outstanding leadership he
provided at the thirty- sixth session of the
General Assembly and on his great ability, sense
of fairness and integrity I extend respectful
good wishes to the Secretary-General, whose high
sentiments and deep devotion to the cause of
justice and peace we all admire.
4. May I be permitted also to salute the
delegations present here, amongst which it is my
honor and privilege to count many faithful
friends, in the name of my country, its Coalition
Government and all patriots who struggle in
acutely difficult circumstances, but with fierce
determination, for the liberation of their
country.
5. Contrary to certain false allegations,
our Government is not a Government in exile. All
its members live and fight in the interior of our
national territory, side by side with our heroic
fighters. For, despite the efforts of a powerful
Vietnamese army in control of Kampuchean
territory, we have liberated and solidly held
large zones not only near the Thai frontier, but
also in several regions of the south-west and the
north-east of our country.
6. Last July I myself visited my compatriots
in three liberated zones, travelling by car, on
Coot and on elephant, deep into the interior of
our country. Everywhere I was welcomed by
well-armed and disciplined military units and by
tens of thousands of civilians, amongst whom I
had the satisfaction to note an impressive number
of little children.
7. My country and its Coalition Government
wish to express their profound gratitude to the
United Nations for having, since 1979, rejected
the pretensions of the regime installed by a
foreign Power in our capital, a Power which seeks
to obtain the seat of Kampuchea in the Assembly's
midst. Here everyone —including those who support
its candidature to this seat—knows that that
regime has no real existence, that it is under
the control of Vietnamese occupying authorities
and that it depends in everything and for
everything on the protection of two foreign
nations.
8. To recognize the puppet regime of Phnom
Penh would in fact mean: first, accepting the
permanent foreign domination of our country,
which has been a Member in its own right of the
United Nations since 1953, and reducing it to the
position of a colony of Powers which shamelessly
violate the Charter of the United Nations and
treat with contempt its resolutions seeking the
immediate and unconditional withdrawal of
foreign forces from our territory; secondly,
giving to many other countries—not necessarily
all of the third world—that are also occupied by
foreign forces the sad certainty that they are
forever condemned to an anachronistic
domination; and, thirdly, augmenting the state of
tension and risk of conflict in our region.
9. Kampuchea occupies on the geographical
plane a strategic position of primary importance.
I have sought in the past to make it a buffer
State between two categories of State with
opposing ideologies. We now know that the ravages
of war have extended from Viet Nam to Kampuchea
and they threaten to spread even further to the
west.
10. Independent, non-aligned and neutral,
accepting no foreign bases on its territory, my
country could have constituted a major element in
the peace not only of the peninsula, but of the
totality of southeast Asia and even of East
Asia. On the contrary, a Kampuchea becoming a
colony and a military base for two expansionist
and hegemonist Powers constitutes a menace, as
the years of the future will prove, to the
stability, peace, security and progress of
nations and peoples of the entire region and
could well provoke an armed conflict with
incalculable consequences between the great
Powers whose interests are in conflict in Asia.
11. As members of the Assembly know, I have
often been the object of verbal attacks, of a
mixture of contempt, sarcasm and abuse on the
part of the leaders of Hanoi and their allies. I
shall not reply to those attacks but shall limit
myself to recalling that in Asia there certainly
did not exist, before 1970, a non- communist
leader who was more sincerely a friend of Viet
Nam than I was, one who rendered spontaneously
and voluntarily so much important help to the
Vietnamese patriots of North and South in their
struggle for independence in their country.
12. After the invasion of my country by the
army of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam I
reminded the leaders of Hanoi of the assurances
of eternal gratitude and promises of
unswerving respect for the independence,
neutrality and territorial integrity of my
country given many times orally and in writing by
the leaders of Hanoi, to remind them of their
commitments.
13. At the end of 1979 and the beginning of
1980 I wrote three long letters to my friend
and former companion-in-arms , Pham Van Dong,
head of the Vietnamese Government, to propose
bilateral negotiations between his Government
and myself, either in Hanoi or in any other town
of his choice, in order to resolve peacefully the
differences between our two nations. I stated in
my correspondence that, in the event that the
Socialist Republic of Viet Nam would agree to
restore to Kampuchea its independence and its
right to self-determination, our Government,
which would result from the popular consensus,
following free elections held under international
control, would not fail to establish, on a basis
of equality, co-operation and friendship with a
Viet Nam that is a neighbor and a brother.
14. I waited in vain during the three years
for a sign of good will on the part of Hanoi,
accepting even accusations made by certain
compatriots about my pro-Vietnamese indulgence.
To my patient efforts in seeking a peaceful
solution and re-establishment of mutual
confidence by complete neutralization and
international control and guarantees for my
country, the leaders of Hanoi replied, or caused
replies to be made, that they would not negotiate
with a man who no longer represented anything ,
who was politically finished , and that the
situation in Kampuchea was irreversible .
15. Yet today as yesterday, I feel no hatred
towards Viet Nam. 1 have never ceased to
recognize that the geographical position of our
two countries makes them neighbors to the end of
time and that they are, because of this,
compelled to understand each other and to listen
to each other. This understanding, however, can
be established only between equals and not
between servant and master.
16. The present Government of Hanoi does not
accept this analysis. It has chosen to forget,
and how quickly, the repeated help that our
people and I myself have rendered during a
crucial period to the people of Viet Nam in their
struggle for independence and reunification. It
has also very quickly forgotten—this is even more
serious—that the support ft has received in this
struggle from a large part of the international
community resulted from the fact that it appeared
to be the innocent victim of colonialism and
imperialism. Today, this very Viet Nam, restored
in its territorial unity and independence,
indulges, in its turn, in imperialist and
colonial rule. It goes so tar in its arrogance
as to make serious threats against some of the
neighbouring countries, which quite rightly are
concerned about its expansionism.
17. We have all noticed that in his last tour
of Southeast Asia, the Minister for Foreign
Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam has
permitted himself to issue, in respect of certain
countries that he has visited, threats thatare
hardly veiled, simply because these countries ask
Viet Nam to withdraw its troops from Kampuchea
and to let the people of Kampuchea regain their
right to self-determination.
18. The Vietnamese Minister has accused
certain Governments of the member countries of
the Association of South East Asian Nations of
interfering in the internal affairs of
Kampuchea, but, as we know, it is Viet Nam which
has interfered in a shameless fashion in our
internal affairs, occupying our country with
large numbers of troops and appropriating to
itself material parts of our national resources,
whereas ASEAN has only asked our occupying Power
to let Kampuchea become yet once more the master
of its own destiny.
19. President Ho Chi Minh, at whose funeral I
was the only head of State present to pay my
respects, loved to say that nothing is more
precious than independence and liberty . This
adage, one now sees, is to be applied, according
to his successors, only to their own country,
which arrogates to itself the right to confiscate
the independence and liberty of its immediate
neighbors—our country, Kampuchea, and an
unfortunate Laos—whilst waiting to attack other
nations which may be militarily weaker.
20. In so far as Kampuchea is concerned, it
is clear that the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam
seeks to retain it indefinitely under its heel by
the intermediary of a puppet Government which can
refuse it nothing.
21. It is in the face of these facts and in
this dramatic context that I find myself
compelled to commit myself to a tripartite
coalition at this juncture and to join, pacifist
though I am, the armed struggle so that our
country may one day become once more master of
its destiny.
22. The United Nations was good enough to
adopt, in 1979, 1980 and 1981, precise and
unambiguous resolutions showing the way to be
followed to resolve with justice the problem of
Kampuchea, a problem which would not exist but
for the greed of Viet Nam on the political and
territorial planes.
23. In 1981 the International Conference on
Kampuchea was held in New York, under the
auspices of the United Nations; the Declaration
and resolution of the Conference^ conform to
equity, justice and the Charter of the United
Nations, as well as to the best interests of
Kampuchea and Viet Nam and to those of the
peoples of the entire region.
24. The Coalition Government of Democratic
Kampuchea cannot accept, any more than our
compatriots, that another conference should be
arranged by the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam,
which profits from the support of the Soviet
Union and the allies of that great Power. The
primary effect of such a further
conference—where, naturally, the puppet regimes
of Phnom Penh and Vientiane would be seated—would
be to sidetrack the situation in Kampuchea by
declaring it finalized and thereby causing to be
recognized de the regime of Heng Samrin, docile
creature of Hanoi. Obviously there can be no
question that Democratic Kampuchea and
peace-loving nations committed to freedom and
justice would fall into such a trap.
25. If the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, a
Member of the United Nations, really wishes to
contribute to the return of peace and stability
in the region, there is no other solution but to
respect United Nations resolutions and
participate in the future work of the
International Conference on Kampuchea. It is not
in any way sufficient to announce, as was done
recently by Viet Nam, a partial retreat of its
forces of occupation in Kampuchea in order to
lessen the tension in our region; the reality of
such a retreat has not been proved. As a matter
of fact, many fresh troops were recently sent
from Viet Nam into Kampuchea to reinforce the
Vietnamese occupying forces.
26. I repeat that only the complete
withdrawal of Vietnamese forces of
occupation—withdrawal to be followed by free
elections held under the control of the United
Nations permitting the whole of our people to
designate their deputies, senators, ministers,
head of State and political regime—would
constitute an honest solution to the problem of
Kampuchea. Aslong as the Socialist Republic of
Viet Nam refuses to take its troops out of
Kampuchea, my Government will oppose with all its
force the politics of fail accompli. We know all
too well that for the past three years our
country has been gagged, that all political
opposition is repressed and that opponents are
sent to prison or disappear without leaving a
trace.
27. Chemical weapons, especially toxic gas,
are frequently used against the resistance
fighters and the inhabitants of villages which
have escaped Vietnamese control. The forces of
occupation appropriate to themselves ever more of
the natural riches and goods of Kampuchea and
send a growing number of Vietnamese immigrants to
colonize our fertile lands and rivers rich in
fish but from which the legitimate owners have
been driven away.
28. Vietnamese propaganda has strenuously
sought —and not without success—to make Western
observers who are permitted to enter Kampuchea
believe that this country, occupied but not
submissive, enjoys a freedom and a well-being
which it has not known for a long time. This is
but a facade denounced by other journalists who
have been in the region and who, in spite of
multiple obstacles placed in their way, have been
able to make in-depth studies of the real
position.
29. I have been telling representatives that
the only option which we have is to take up arms
to protect our national sovereignty. I know that
here and there people mock our struggle and say
that we are too weak to challenge the powerful
Vietnamese expeditionary forces. Weak or not, we
have the sacred duty to struggle with all our
strength against the occupying Power.
30. I would not predict a victory in either
the short term or medium term, but I can assure
representatives that we shall battle on to the
end, without hate but with an unbreakable
resolution. Those foreigners who impose their
domination on our country and exploit it to their
profit will perceive early or late that there
will never be peace and that the land of
Kampuchea will heat up ever more under their feet.
31. We are not making war on the Vietnamese
people. We are fighting for peace and the
restoration of independence and freedom to our
country which is now reduced to slavery. We do
not want a Pax Vietnamica or a Pax Sovietica
but simply a peace of free men.
32. We ask nothing from others. We ask but
restoration of our national sovereignty and our
territorial integrity; and once that is achieved,
we solemnly commit ourselves to living in perfect
peaceful coexistence with all our neighbors—and
first amongst them Viet Nam—as with all other
countries which respect us, no matter what their
political and social systems may be. Is that an
unreasonable demand, an impossible pretension?
33. We proclaim solemnly before the Assembly,
in conformity with United Nations resolutions,
that as soon as Viet Nam has totally withdrawn
its troops from Kampuchea all will be possible in
friendship between our two countries.
34. We are ready to sign with Viet Nam a
treaty of peace and non-aggression implying
recognition and respect for the territorial
integrity of the two neighbouring nations within
their present frontiers. This is a just proposal
that I make today to the leaders and the people
of Viet Nam in the name of our Coalition
Government. I am satisfied that, if they would
but listen to this appeal of reason, the people
of South-East Asia, as well as the peoples of the
whole world, would feel the most genuine
satisfaction—for not only would peace and harmony
return to the Indo-Chinese peninsula but also
potential major conflicts would thereby disappear.
35. Unfortunately, the reality is that the
Socialist Republic of Viet Nam is far from
seeking to explore the way of reconciliation and
peace. It seeks to propagate a very curious
concept of an international conference charged
not to solve the situation in Kampuchea, but to
consider the security, the peace and neutrality
in South-East Asia .
36. May I draw to the attention of the
representatives now present that the
international conference proposed by the Vietnamese
would logically mean side-tracking and avoiding
the central issue of Kampuchea, because
delegates to such a conference would find
themselves, right from the start, required to
recognize, , the puppet regime of Heng
Samrin, functioning under the orders of Hanoi and
Moscow.
37. It seems evident to me, as it must seem
to you, that no country which loves justice and
freedom could, without reneging on its ideals,
participate in such a meeting which has as its
only aim to serve the egotistical interests of
two Powers in their expansionist and colonialist
enterprises.
38. Who, in effect, menaces the security and
peace and the stability of South-East Asia, if it
is not Viet Nam which, with the powerful help of
the Soviets, has stationed its forces in
Kampuchea, menacing henceforth Thailand and other
peaceful member countries of ASEAN, as well as a
number of countries further away?
39. It must be clear that any conference
interested in peace and stability in South-East
Asia must necessarily resolve, as a priority,
the situation in Kampuchea . This done, my
country, having found its independence and its
freedom to act, there would remain no problem to
resolve in South-East Asia, since no country
adjacent to or a neighbor of independent an/1
neutral Kampuchea has anything to fear from us.
40. ASEAN, to which I must render my most
profound homage for its political sense and its
courage, has refused with reason to sign the pact
of non- aggression that Viet Nam proposes. Such a
pact would have the same disastrous effects as
that which was signed in Munich in 1938 by
Chamberlain and Daladier in the hope—tragic
illusion—of mollifying Hitler and Mussolini. Such
a pact would be but the prelude to further
aggression between countries and peoples who
subscribe to it.
41. Representatives will understand why no
international conference is imaginable if the
first item on the agenda does not deal with the
situation in Kampuchea and does not seek to put
an end to the occupation and colonization of my
country by Viet Nam, with the multi-faceted
support of the Soviet Union. If this problem is
not dealt with and resolved, there is really
nothing to discuss, there is nothing to be done
but to bend the knee before the diktat of Hanoi
and Moscow.
42. It would be lamentable to participate in
a Vietnamese conference which will have present
as representatives of Kampuchea the regime of
quislings of Phnom Penh put in place by the
Vietnamese leaders and protected by the powerful
Vietnamese army of occupation.
43. To accept the Vietnamese fail accompli in
Kampuchea would be to accept the law of the
jungle. This law is already in force in many
countries which tragically today are reduced to
slavery by a great Power.
43. States Members of the United Nations—at least
those for whom the principles of freedom,
independence, justice and peace still
matter—must have at heart, I am sure, the need to
cry Halt to the Vietnamese occupation and
colonization of Kampuchea by adopting the
resolutions and in taking measures which would
require Viet Nam, which we once respected, to
return to a sense of honor which, we hope but
momentarily, it has so singularly failed in.
46. We are very conscious of our limitations
and of the fact that our own problems concern us
in such absolute priority that we cannot pretend
to concern ourselves with the problems of others.
But as, of course, our country has always been a
Member of the United Nations, I trust I will be
permitted to indicate briefly our position on
certain problems of major, importance.
47. I would at the outset express the sincere
gratitude of my country and our people to
nations which have generously welcomed our
refugees and, in the very first place, to the
Kingdom of Thailand, which has carried a very
heavy burden in the name of duty to humanity in
granting a haven of refuge and protection against
threats to hundreds of thousands of our
compatriots who fled slavery, misery and death.
I thank equally, with all my heart, the other
countries of ASEAN for their active support and
their diplomatic and other assistance to our
cause.
48. I salute also the other States which have
welcomed a large number of our refugees and
permitted them to escape despair, as well as the
many countries which have made generous gifts and
given assistance from which our compatriots have
benefited and benefit today. At the same time, I
salute and thank the Secretary-General, the
International Red Cross, UNICEF and other
humanitarian organizations for all they have
done, are doing and will be doing for our
refugees and other compatriots in their need.
49. I respect the Vietnamese people, dragged
against their will into a colonialist adventure,
although for many years now they have found
themselves plunged into difficulties without
number and from all sides and of all kinds, which
their Government is in any event obliged to
recognize, and which have provoked the tragic
exodus of hundreds of thousands of boat people .
50. I do not consider that I have a right to
ask the Western Powers to cease providing
humanitarian aid to our neighbors, innocent
victims of the dreadful conduct of their
Government. But I have the right, in the name of
the people of Kampuchea, to ask all countries
which are not accomplices of Vietnamese
colonialism forthwith to cease granting to the
regime of Hanoi financial, economic and material
aid which risk being used not to help the unhappy
people of Viet Nam, but inevitably to encourage
their leaders to persevere in their enterprise
against my people and my country.
51. We reaffirm our total solidarity with our
brothers and sisters, the Afghan people, who like
us are involved in a struggle to enable their
country to exercise again its inalienable right
to self-determination. We support equally the Lao
people, our brothers and sisters, who desire to
recover Lao independence and liberty.
52. We reaffirm our total solidarity with our
brothers and sisters, the Palestinian people, who
are suffering appalling trials for the rebirth of
their country. We continue to recognize
officially the Palestine Liberation Organization
[PLO] as the legal representative of the
Palestinian people and nation.
53. We firmly support our brothers and
sisters, the Korean people, in their legitimate
aspiration for a reunification of their country
now divided against its will, and we warmly
support the wise and patriotic proposals of
Marshal Kim Il Sung, President of the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea, so that the
reunification may take place through a peaceful
and independent process.
54. It is our ardent hope that the two
brother countries at present in conflict with
one another, Iraq and Iran, will seek a peaceful
solution to their problems and realize, in peace,
their necessary reconciliation.
55. Deeply moved by the unmerited disasters
and innumerable loss of human lives which Lebanon
has suffered—a State which heretofore was the
Switzerland of the Near East—it is our ardent
hope that its sovereignty and territorial
integrity will at last be respected and the
foreign armed forces will withdraw without delay,
leaving the Lebanese people the opportunity to
resolve their problems alone.
56. We renew our fraternal solidarity with
the valiant people of Namibia who, under the
leadership of the South West Africa People's
Organization [SWAPO], are waging a just struggle
for national liberation against the colonialist
and racist regime of Pretoria.