The problems of present- day international life are so interwoven that, though they are discernible, they certainly are not separate. Consequently, however small and modest the section we intend to choose for consideration, we are inevitably confronted with all as a whole. In every detail the lesson of life and death is put before us. Such an inter-connexion will determine all the deliberations, not only in the plenary but in each of the Committees as well.
169. In such a situation, however modestly any delegate would like to act, he is compelled to deal with issues beyond his reach—one could as well say, beyond his competence. Even when any delegation speaks its mind regarding the local or regional problems of its country, it inevitably will face problems touching the interests of all.
170. What we hear in the course of the general debate about any corner of the world, or about central problems of current international affairs, presents a sorrowful picture of the deterioration of the world situation: deterioration under the shadow and in the direction of growing dangers of a thermo-nuclear holocaust. The choice is tremendous indeed. The words of the President of the United States were wholly justified when he said in this Assembly: "we ... shall be remembered either as part of the generation that turned this planet into a flaming pyre or as the generation that met its vow, 'to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war' " [1013th meeting, para. 94].
171. The questions which arise are, what can representatives to the General Assembly do to reverse the speedy trend towards a thermo-nuclear disaster; what can the Assembly at this session do to stop general deterioration and pave the way for constructive international co-operation. The fourteenth session will be remembered in the future history of the United Nations—provided there is to be such history— as a meeting that put on the agenda of this Organization, and on that of world history, the programme of general and complete disarmament. Also, the fifteenth session will go down in history as having proclaimed the declaration on the liquidation of the colonial system. The present growing deterioration set in after such hopeful resolutions. What is the best this session can do to turn the trends towards improvement? In so far as the sixteenth session is able to translate the words of previous historic resolutions into proper deeds, the process of improvement will be restored.
172. The process of improvement must be restored. My delegation pays much attention to the fact that the present growing deterioration was engendered in a process of a series of favourable developments. I venture even to say that in some respects the whole trend of deterioration is a sort of reaction to general improvements. These facts contain much comfort and much concern; much consolation, but at the same time desolation as well. As for the aspects of concern: the deterioration has overshadowed all the results achieved in recent years through efforts at mutual understanding and has put at stake all that the will for peace and constructive co-operation among nations had firmly established. It has become obvious once again that exasperated forces of destruction may be regenerated against favourable developments, and what is still worse: even in the future one cannot be vigilant enough to prevent new improvements being reversed by powerful groups hostile to the peaceful settlement of controversial issues. But in the view of my delegation, the aspects of comfort are more decisive. Thanks to basic factors of the present-day international strife, the deterioration came about on a basis more favourable to the will for peace than to destructive intentions. The same factors that have given rise to favourable developments in recent years are active below a deteriorated surface, and if the forces of good will are able to do away with actual harmful measures a new era of hopeful co-operation may be inaugurated for the nations of the world. So, the burdens of concern are heavy and justified by stubborn facts, but the reasons for comfort regarding the fruitfulness of efforts at a radical solution of our crucial problems are much more vivid and decisive.
173. These general observations are but faithful reflections of recent developments on concrete sections of the international field.
174. Let me analyse some of these sections. What is the connexion between the unfortunate events of disarmament talks and previous favourable developments in this domain? It is clear that the idea of general and complete disarmament has gained ground all over the world beyond all expectations. When the Head of the Soviet Government, Mr. Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev, surprised—in the pleasantest sense of the word— the fourteenth session of the General Assembly, and world opinion in general, with the idea of general and complete disarmament as the only realistic alternative of mankind to an inevitable ride towards a thermonuclear holocaust, we should remember what the reactions of some quarters here were. In contrast to the general relief of many delegations having most different ideological and political backgrounds, the main Powers of the Western allies mobilized every imaginable argument against the very idea. We had to listen in those months to utterances stating that the whole idea was nothing but Utopia. We had to experience manoeuvres even to avoid using the expression "general and complete disarmament". Without the slightest feeling of reprehension, we have to recall those months for the sake of more comprehensive evaluation of the situation we are in today. The other day we heard the President of the United States say here: "The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us." [1013th meeting, para. 50.] Then he proceeded thus: "Men no longer maintain that disarmament must await the settlement of all disputes —for disarmament must be a part of any permanent settlement." [Ibid., para. 51.] Then, again, he said: "For fifteen years this Organization has sought the reduction and destruction of arms. Now the goal is no longer a dream—it is a practical matter of life or death." [Ibid., para. 52.] He added: "And it is in this spirit that we have presented, with the agreement of the Soviet Union—under the label which both nations now accept of 'general and complete disarmament'— a statement of newly agreed principles for negotiation." [Ibid., para. 58.]
175. Indeed the break-through, the march forward, of the idea of general and complete disarmament surpasses all imagination." It must be so because it is really the only realistic alternative against a thermonuclear catastrophe. The idea gained ground here before our eyes. During the first part of the fifteenth session, when the United States delegation of the previous administration was reluctant to deal with the item, the Indian delegation, together with a number of other Asian, African and Latin American delegations, introduced a detailed draft resolution on general and complete disarmament. At a later stage at the second part of the fifteenth session, when the delegation of the new United States administration asked in the First Committee [1136th meeting] for the postponement of the debate on this issue, giving as a reason its not being prepared for the discussion, the Conference of the Prime Ministers of the British Commonwealth issued a comprehensive statement on the idea of general and complete disarmament. Now, after all these developments, we witness an official proclamation of the United States in favour of general and complete disarmament [A/4880].
176. But here comes the turning point. Parallel to these favourable developments all sorts of threats were unleashed. At a time when the Head of the Soviet Government stated in his letter to Prime Minister Nehru of India and President Nkrumah of Ghana that he was ready for negotiations "at any time, any place and at any level" the most different official sources of the Western Powers went out of their way to show their readiness to launch even a thermo-nuclear war if their interests so demanded. They are even ready to use thermo-nuclear weapons first. Parallel to these declarations all sorts of military preparations took place all over Western Europe, on the territories of NATO countries. Arms shipments and troop movements are to be taken more seriously than mild words.
177. All that we see and hear now should be put in the context of recent history. No one knows exactly why atom bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the very end . of the Second World War; we may know, however, why atom bombs were not used in the Korean war. Having lost the monopoly of atomic weapons, the Western allies could not expect to use them without risking retaliation. From that time on, it was by the growing nuclear and thermo-nuclear power of the Soviet Union that, on several critical occasions and in different regions of the world, great masses of human beings were protected against nuclear and thermo-nuclear disaster.
178. So far it is the thermo-nuclear power of the Soviet' Union that has deadlocked the use of atomic weapons by the Western Powers. Consequently, against growing threats and military preparations of the West, it is the development of thermo-nuclear devices by the Soviet Union that provides the principal protection for the majority of States and for all mankind. After the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Western Powers have no moral basis for challenging the logic of the facts. The new declaration of the Soviet Union regarding the necessity of the resumption of thermo-nuclear tests assures the whole of mankind that the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki may and will forever remain the only tragic experiences of the military use of atomic energy.
179. I apologize for quoting a rather delicate passage from a New York newspaper. I emphasize, the words are not mine. The New York World-Telegram formulated the other day, in its editorial, the following question:
"Why are Americans, collectively, the most unpopular people in the world? It is no exaggeration to
say that this is so: any traveller finds that America is disliked in every foreign land he visits. If, for example, the United States had resumed testing nuclear weapons first, there wouldn't be a whole pane of glass left in any American embassy from Addis Ababa to Zululand."
The question is by no means a private concern of the editor. I could have quoted the Attorney-General of the United States as well, who happened to utter almost the same words in a recent radio interview, and it is. generally known that a special commission has been set up to study the problems related to this question.
180. Now, I think I have to do justice to Americans in. general. The editor, I quoted is certainly mistaken; it is not true that Americans as such are collectively disliked in every country. No, they are not. But it is certainly true that many aspects of the foreign policy of successive administrations are regarded with distrust, and it is especially the armament race introduced and dictated by the United States, first of all its thermo-nuclear policy, that is—to put it mildly- looked upon with suspicion.
181. For example, the insistence of the United States delegation on debating the problem of a thermo-nuclear test ban as a separate item and the two-Power draft resolution circulated on this item [A/C.l/L.280] will not add much to the prestige of the United States. When the item, was put on the agenda with a great majority of votes [1018th meeting], one could smell the feelings of victory in statements made by certain Western representatives. However, on second thought, the delegation of the United States could have realized that its proposal rested on the moral basis created in the Assembly by the Soviet Union and by all those who had for years worked here for the prohibition of thermo-nuclear weapons. However paradoxical it may seem, it is self-evident that the result of the vote reflected the deep-rooted effects created by those who have consistently fought in the Assembly against the thermo-nuclear policy of the United States. Records of the plenary meetings and the meetings of the First Committee show that efforts were expended here by the Western military allies just to ridicule those who spoke about the harmfulness of atomic radiation. Statements of United States authorities make it unforgettable how many scientists and public' figures of the United States had to undergo all sorts of vexation as allegedly being Communist agents because they spoke out against thermo-nuclear fallout. The present paradoxical situation has a happy by-product, which is that propaganda against thermonuclear tests has received laissez-passer even in the United States. It will also have good effects in the future.
182. People of good will recognize that in front of the thermo-nuclear preparations of the West we have had only one choice: either to look upon the growing dangers of a thermo-nuclear disaster without doing anything against it or to develop further the thermo-nuclear capabilities of the ^Soviet Union against all possible dangers.
183. On our part there is no inconsistency at all. We proclaim with the Soviet Union that it would be better to stop all tests as soon as possible, but the only way to do so is by concluding an agreement on general and complete disarmament under effective international control. As long as the NATO Powers are intensifying their military preparations and staging manoeuvres on the borders of socialist States, we will be com" polled to strengthen our defensive forces not only for our security but also to safeguard peace at large in the interest of all nations.
184. We were told by the President of the United States that a new statutory agency fully endorsed by Congress would work to find an approach to disarmament. Since we heard this statement the establishment of this agency has been made public, as well as its name—Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. The very name of this agency calls our attention to the danger of the fact that the United States again speaks about control of armament and not about control of disarmament. Future negotiations may make it clear whether the name of the agency reflects its real intentions or not.
185. There is an unmistakably comforting sentence in the statement of the President of the United States, He pointed out: w... men may no longer pretend that the quest for disarmament is a sign of weariness— for in a spiralling arms race a nation's security may be shrinking even as its arms increase" [1013th meeting, para. 51]. In other words, even from the point of view of a policy of strength, the present arms race does not represent any real perspective for any United States Government which would like to continue the so-called policy of strength. There is a qualitative change in the world situation today. In the age of intercontinental missiles and of space exploration there is no invulnerable spot anywhere on the earth, not even in the United States. There is no possible new technical invention applied to military purposes that could alter that situation. So the utter hopelessness of any armaments race for certain military quarters in the West is a compelling force to renew negotiations on disarmament with the view of general and complete disarmament under real and effective control.
186. The test of such good will may be rather near. Yes, we have it near at hand. In a memorandum the Government of the Soviet Union has put forward proposals for interim agreements with a view to lessening tensions and creating a certain degree of mutual trust [A/4892]. I refer to only one of them. The Governments of the States members of the Warsaw Treaty Organization are proposing a treaty of non-aggression to be concluded with the Governments of the NATO alliance. My Government is one of the sponsors of this proposal. Representatives of the NATO Powers would say that their organization is of a defensive character, and they usually qualify our intentions as aggressive. Well, the allegedly aggressive Warsaw organization now makes a proposal to the allegedly defensive NATO to sign a pact of non-aggression. Let the NATO Powers test our goodwill and start negotiations with the view of a treaty of non-aggression. The proposal is in the hands of the Governments of the NATO States. In case of a negative reply, people may well ask why such a proposal is not welcomed when the proclaimed intentions are so peaceful?
187. Berlin is no excuse for not signing such an agreement. Whoever would exploit the problems of Berlin and Germany to make excuses for not being ready to negotiate a non-aggression treaty would admit that he has the intention of searching for a solution to these issues by applying pressure of military strength.
188. The most critical point of the present world situation is indeed the German and Berlin question. There is no doubt about that. But it would be a mistake to think that the origin of the crisis lies in the proposal to sign a peace treaty with both German States and to settle the abnormal West Berlin situation. Such nonsense has been invented here to mislead delegations that are not closely linked with the recent history of Central Europe. It has been invented to convey to those who are not acquainted with the situation in Central Europe the impression that the new proposals are a threat to an existing peaceful situation there. On the contrary, in the true sense of the word, never since the Second World War has the peaceful situation been settled there. And we, the nations of Eastern Europe, have had to experience much trouble even in the post-war period, precisely because of the unsettled German situation. When we speak nowadays about the necessity of signing a peace treaty and doing away with the remnants of the Second World War, our concern is not simply to settle unsettled legal formalities but we wish to extinguish the live embers left from the Second World War in the interest of the German people itself and in the interest of the world's security at large.
189. At the end of the Second World War, theoretically speaking there were two possibilities for Germany. Either the agreement between the great Powers of the anti-Hitler coalition should stand to ensure the democratic development of a peaceful and demilitarized Germany, or the traditional military, political and economic forces of revanchist German quarters should regain power and create a revengeful State endangering the East and the West alike. What really happened is a third solution. Since in the West, with the assistance of the Western Powers, the Federal Republic of Germany was created, opening far- reaching possibilities for old Hitlerite elements to recapture their former strong positions, in the East the 'German Democratic Republic has developed, faithfully abiding by the principles agreed upon by the Powers allied in the fight against Hitlerite Germany. Nations of the world owe much to the existence of the German Democratic Republic for securing peace against all dangers emanating from revanchist circles of the Federal Republic of Germany. Even Western Powers, especially those bordering upon West Germany, owe a great deal for their security to the existence of the German Democratic Republic.
190. In the heart of the German Democratic Republic, in one section of Berlin, under the cover of military occupation by Western armed forces, all sorts of hostile and demoralized elements are engaged in subversive activities against the German Democratic Republic and other countries of Eastern Europe.
191. The still glowing embers of the Second World War should be done away with in order to bring about peace in Central Europe at long last. The proposals for a peace treaty and for a settlement of the abnormal situation in West Berlin do not disturb any peaceful situation. On the contrary, the proposals have been made in order to bring peace to where there has been no peace so far.
192. The arrangements envisaged for a peace, treaty with both German States would not harm the interested Powers, and they would safeguard the rights of the West Berlin inhabitants as well. This has been stated in most official form by competent representatives of the Governments of the German Democratic Republic and the Soviet Union. As the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union said in this debate:
"The Soviet Government and the Head of that Government, Nikita S. Khrushchev, have repeatedly
declared the United Nations could also serve as a guarantor of the status of the free city. To that end the status of the free city could be officially registered with the United Nations, and other forms of United Nations participation in the guarantees of the freedom and independence of the free city could also be envisaged. The Soviet Government is ready to agree to the use of troop contingents of neutral States or United Nations troops as guarantors of the status of the free city." [1016th meeting, para.71.]*
He also said:
"In the implementation of our proposal for a peace treaty there is no question of banning access to West Berlin or of a blockade as some people try to assert. No, the free city of West Berlin would have the right to establish ties with any country of any continent."
193. The intentions of the proposals are favourable to all those interested in the peace and security of Europe. It is rather difficult to understand why certain Western Powers are bursting with indignation. The alarming noise is becoming more dangerous day by day. Troops and armaments are being mobilized and accumulated along the bonders of the German Democratic Republic. Provocative demonstrations and ostentatious visits are being organized in and around West Berlin. The irresponsibility behind all these measures is enormous because the slightest miscalculation on the part of any local commander may inflame a tremendous pyre in the heart of Europe that could lead to a world conflagration. What is the use of these alarming noises?
194. Should one suppose that the Western Powers, having no realistic and proper policy for settling the German question as a whole at the present moment when they inevitably have to face the reality of the two German States in order to safeguard their prestige, wish to show that they could achieve by their so-called firm stand and fighting spirit what in any case would come about through peaceful negotiations ? Should one say that we are witnessing another sort of Laotian experience in a European milieu? We can remember, and we should remember, that the crisis of Laos started with a declaration of neutrality of the lawful Government of Laos. Against this policy of neutrality Western forces organized all sorts of counter- measures; later they applied most ostentatious military and naval demonstrations. And after all this they were compelled to come out with the same slogan of neutrality against which they vociferated before.
195. I should not like to misuse statements of public figures of the United States. Many of them could be quoted as reflecting the actual reality of the two German States. I cannot help quoting one. I hope I shall not do him an injustice. Mr. Walter Lippmann defined the origin of the difficulties of the West in a must candid and condensed way:
"The Western (European) Governments, knowing that the main architects of that policy (on Germany) were men who wanted only to stand firm and stand pat, saw no future in what they were told was the [United States] policy. Since August 13, when the un- realism of the policy was revealed, there has been a sufficient revival of positive thinking in Washington to open up the grim deadlock of the nuclear deaf mutes."
196. In the noise of the alarming events created by Western military moves and continued threats, not much concrete indication of a revival of positive thinking is to be seen as yet. However, one should hope that a new era of positive thinking will really come to open up the deadlock of the nuclear deaf mutes, and it will be realized that confusion will not decrease if new confusing factors are added and the lack of realistic political thinking cannot be concealed by military demonstrations. It would be beneficial to the general world situation if all interested Powers recognized the necessity and possibility of signing a peace treaty with both German States and of settling the status of West Berlin through reasonable negotiations. This development is inevitable. No doubt about that, because all the real and decisive forces of the present European situation are working in this direction. If, for the time being, the Federal Republic of Germany and some Western Powers do not heed the necessity of time, a separate treaty with the German Democratic Republic will be concluded.
197. The Hungarian National Assembly, which is in session these days, has adopted a declaration on this point in which it states: "The need of international security makes it imperative for present-day history to give in 1961, at long last, a satisfactory answer to this, one of the most important questions of international life."
198. The people and the Government of Hungary have close and friendly relations with the people and Government of the German Democratic Republic in the political, economic and cultural fields alike. We expect the conclusion of the peace treaty in the near future to open a new era of friendly co-operation of nations in Europe. We look forward to the time when both German States will be Members of this Organization. After the full recognition of the two sovereign German States their legally established Governments may pave the way for their co-operation and for one or another form of federation.
199. Delegations in this Assembly coming from different continents of the globe will certainly understand that in the present situation we, the nations of Central and Eastern Europe, are especially and deeply interested in the peaceful settlement of controversial issues related to the German situation. We live in that part of the globe where two world wars started. In our endeavours to liquidate all causes of war forever, one of the most immediate tasks is to eradicate the dangers of war in connexion with the German situation. The mutual understanding that may be strengthened even in this general debate may contribute to extinguishing the dangerous vestiges of the Second World War which otherwise could easily turn into the germs of a third world war.
200. The deepest cause of the present deterioration of the world situation lies in the steady process of liquidation of the colonial system. Monopoly capitalists interested in colonial exploitation use all their influences with Western political circles in order to stop and if possible to reverse, or at least to divert, the historical developments tending towards the national independence of all peoples living under colonial rule. For the socialist countries it would be easy to establish better relations with some Western Powers if we were ready to bargain with them over their colonial interests. At the expense of nations emerging from colonial subjugation, we could be on more favourable terms with colonial powers. They have already acquiesced in the fact that socialism is a definitely established system in our countries. The main reason for their antagonizing the socialist States lies in their fear that the very existence and growth of the socialist countries will accelerate the liberation movements of colonial territories. The economic and cultural contact of socialist countries with the newly independent nations are not based on profit business and are not hampered by any political strings. An unprecedented, new type of unselfish co-operation among nations is being shaped that is entirely unimaginable from the point of view of monopoly capital. An ever-growing deep feeling of solidarity is being born between socialist nations and nations on the way to new development. And this feeling of solidarity is growing regardless of their differing social and political systems.
201. The General Assembly at this session will certainly continue to deal with the problems regarding liquidation of the colonial system. There were some indications during the last session that certain colonial Powers would like to utilize the cause of anti- colonialism for their cold-war intentions at the expense of peoples under genuine colonial rule. There have been indications of such attempts already in this debate as well. Such attempts make it even more evident that the colonial Powers deal with the problems of liquidating colonial rules only when they are inevitably compelled to do so, but even then they try to exploit the debate for stirring up cold-war controversies in order to shelve the real issue.
202. The way monopoly capitalists look on problems of economic under-development, when they are not confronted by so many delegations to the United Nations interested in the matter, may be seen in a report presented recently to the Finance Ministers of the States members of the International Finance Corporation. The American president of the Corporation, Mr. Garner, stated that the fault of poverty lay with the nations that are poor. He dismissed as a cause of under-development even the past history of colonialism. He said: "Economic development or lack of it is primarily due to differences in people and in their attitudes." Of course, he was very much for private establishments. He even said: "Government-to-government financial aid cannot successfully be used to gain and hold political advantages for the country supplying the funds." This is how monopoly capitalism is speaking even today.
203. To help oppressed peoples to get rid of the powerful influence of the monopoly capital of the colonizing Powers is not only a humanitarian action towards them; it is also beneficial to the family of nations in general, because the representatives of the newly independent nations are deeply interested in lessening world tensions, liquidating war dangers and securing constructive co-operation among nations. Therefore, the General' Assembly would act to the benefit of peaceful development in general if it translated into deeds the words of the declaration on the liquidation of the colonial system adopted by the General Assembly at its fifteenth session.
204. The present session of the General Assembly has the great chance of turning the United Nations into a veritable world organization by restoring the lawful rights of the People's Republic of China in its ranks. So far it has really been an awkward situation for the General Assembly to deal with world problems without the participation of lawful representatives of one-quarter of the whole population of our globe.
Those who have acted here in the name of China have not been and could not be recognized as such even by those who have so far prevented the delegation of the Government of the People's Republic of China from taking its place here.
205. The former practice of the United States delegation of barring any debate on the representation of China would not work this year, because the sense of reality of the delegations would reject any such manoeuvres known from previous sessions. We are met here with a new strategy. It is an open secret. Newsweek, in the 25 September issue, stated:
"After a long summer of bargaining the U.S. delegation was ready with a new and complex strategy to block Communist China. It was launched .. .when New Zealand, with the obvious approval of the United States, proposed that the question of Chinese representation be debated by the Assembly... The United States'... recommendation will be that the whole matter go to a committee which will study all questions of U.N. reorganization until next year. Thus, in effect, U.S. strategy is to gain a new postponement, but by different tactics."
206. The General Assembly would only do harm to this Organization, to the world situation in general., and even to the United States, if it yielded to these new tactics.
207. The other day a book was published in the United States under the title Awakened China, the Country Americans Don't Know, written by Felix Greene, an American reporter of British origin who has recently travelled in many parts of China. There is a sharp contrast between what he saw there and what he had heard here about China. In the face of this discrepancy the author states on page 389:
"I ... do not believe you can fake a whole country, and I think in all significant respects this book presents a fair and honest account of what is going on in China today. If this is so, or if only half the facts that I have presented, or even one-tenth of them, are true, then it becomes clear that the American people have been most seriously misinformed .... A nation which allows itself to be deluded to this extent is on a dangerous path."
No doubt, this applies even more to this Organization. If it allows itself to be deluded once again, it chooses a dangerous path. It is clear that the People's Republic of China will grow and develop from all points of view of political and economic life even without the United Nations. The United Nations, however, is not able to fulfil its tasks without the participation of the People's Republic of China.
208. As to the problems of reorganization of the functions and structure of the Secretariat, my delegation would like to offer two observations for consideration. Since the establishment of the United Nations, as a result of the growing membership and the tasks entrusted to the Organization, the functions of the Secretariat have increased and changed in character. The Secretary-General is qualified by the Charter as the chief administrative officer of the Organization. Owing to the growth of the Organization, this originally purely administrative function has become more and more of a political character. In the complexities of the present world situation, administering the implementation of Security Council decisions and General Assembly resolutions demands from the Secretariat more and more political activities. Even formal administration has become a whole series of political actions.
209. If that is so, as it certainly is, then it becomes necessary to apply the same spirit in reorganizing the functions and structure of the Secretariat as is reflected in the Charter.
210. When the principles of the functioning of the Security Council were conceived, the founders of this Organization kept in view the necessity of the co-operation of the five great Powers for the sake of peace and security. The basic intention was that this Organization should help the five great Powers to cooperate in all major world issues. The difficulties arose when a group of Member States departed from this principle and tried to use this Organization for the power policy of one group of States against another group of States. Even today the principle of the consensus of the five great founding Powers is disputed by those quarters which would like to use this Organization against its main purposes and against some Member States.
211. Deeply convinced that the principles of the Charter are right and that they are the best precondition for further fruitful activities in this Organization, we think that the same principle is to be applied in reorganizing the Secretariat.
212. If the Secretariat can be reshaped in such a way as to reflect the main composition of this Organization, this will open new possibilities for the United Nations in the International field. This Organization may truly be a guarantee of the peaceful" coexistence of Member States with differing social, economic and political systems. The Charter itself is a reflection of the principles of peaceful coexistence of States with differing systems. Exactly in the present state of deterioration of the world situation we have every reason to emphasize the validity and the true perspectives of the idea of peaceful coexistence.
213. One of the distinguished speakers here, although maintaining the necessity of peaceful coexistence, regards this very principle as the most sterile and negative conception of international life produced in the twentieth century. Well, peaceful coexistence has as much content as coexisting nations may be able to bring together.
214. In the present situation, peaceful coexistence is the form of constructive competition of the two systems existing in our world today. On our part, the competition is really constructive. In all fields of international contacts we wish to strengthen friendly feelings, among nations. Of course, we are convinced that through this competition socialism will prevail all over the world, but we realize—and we do not mind—that faithful representatives of capitalism profess the same conviction regarding their own system. Let us show the results of our respective systems in a constructive competition for the betterment of human life, but without interfering with the domestic affairs of each other.
215. Just here I must say a special word regarding the so-called question of Hungary, since once again, as a routine act of the United States, it has been placed on the agenda of the General Assembly.
216. Frankly speaking, we are not too much interested in this fact. I say so with all respect for the United Nations. Moreover, not only are we not too much Interested in it, but even to the United States Government it would seem more agreeable if it could get rid of it. It was introduced by the United States delegation as a piece of unfinished business. In its present form on the agenda it is in itself contrary to the political intentions of the United States regarding Europe. However, the United States delegation does not know how to finish it. I am speaking quite frankly. The recent facts in this respect are the following.
217. When I left Budapest for this session of the Assembly, the Charge d'affaires of the United States came to the airport upon his own initiative to see me off. No protocol rules required such a gesture, since I am h6re exclusively on account of the United Nations. Therefore, I paid due attention to that gesture of the United States. This happened on the very day when the United. States delegation presented its proposal to the Secretariat for the inclusion of the so-called question of Hungary.
218. Many representatives here will remember that, for three weeks or so during the resumed fifteenth session, the General Assembly did not work at all; we just waited for the results of the Soviet-United States talks regarding a possible debate on the question of disarmament. Nevertheless, at the end of the session the representative of the United States stated that it was for lack of time that the question of Hungary was not debated. This summer important negotiations were conducted with the President of the General Assembly at its fifteenth session and with some delegations here—among others, with authorities of the United States—about a possible visit of Mr. Boland to Hungary. Everybody seemed to be happy. Then, at the last moment came the United States proposal. The explanations for the change of mood were whispered into the ears of our diplomats in very brief terms; you know, it is because of Berlin.
219. We are ready to make it easy for the United States to get rid of this question without losing face. But it is also clear that until this question is removed from the agenda we are riot in a position to negotiate. We have much patience. We have plenty of time, and time is working for us. I repeat that in favourable conditions we are ready to help the United States Government to get rid of this "cold-war" issue.
220. In this spirit of co-operation, my delegation wishes that at this session the General Assembly may do away with all "cold war" issues and concentrate every effort upon eliminating the causes of the present deterioration and consolidating international peace and security.
221. Last but not least, Mr. President, I wish to extend to you and to the other officers, on behalf of my delegation, our congratulations and our best wishes that under your guidance the Assembly , at this session, may work successfully towards strengthening the forces of peace.