124. Mr. President, I am happy to offer you the congratulations of the New Zealand delegation on your election as President of this Assembly. We know that you bring to your high office a mature judgement and a wealth of experience in international counsels, as did your able and distinguished predecessor, Ambassador Pazhwak of Afghanistan.
125. There is much that this Assembly and the other organs of the United Nations can do in a positive way to further the cause of international co-operation. We address ourselves again this year to an agenda which raises many challenging issues. On most of these, New Zealand's position has been fully stated in previous sessions of the Assembly. Accordingly, I shall confine myself here to referring to a few in which New Zealand has a particular interest and to reviewing New Zealand's attitude to one issue — Viet-Nam — which is not on our agenda but which is also of special concern to New Zealand, as a small country of the Pacific, seeking its security through collective defence, and deeply committed to the cause of freedom in its own part of the world.
126. Now pre-eminent among the great issues confronting us is that of disarmament. The arms race, whether nuclear or non-nuclear, whether between the super-Powers or between the smaller countries, is of universal concern. New Zealand has welcomed what has been done in recent years to check that race. In 1963 there was the Moscow partial nuclear test-ban Treaty and early this year the outer space Treaty [resolution 2222 (XXI)] was opened for signature, A large measure of agreement has been reached on a non-proliferation treaty. We believe that the speedy completion of this treaty and its acceptance — including, preferably, all the nuclear weapon States but, if needs must, only the major nuclear States — would in itself contribute to the security of the non-nuclear weapon States, We must all hope that the outstanding issues, notably the safeguards article, will soon be resolved. Important questions and doubts have been raised in the course of the negotiations, such as guarantees for the security of non-aligned States and an undertaking by the nuclear weapon States to move on to the reduction of their nuclear capability. The treaty is of such importance as the next step towards disarmament that we feel that these questions and doubts should not be permitted to obstruct its completion.
127. We would also hope that the way would then be clear to seek agreement on a comprehensive test-ban treaty and measures to limit the arsenals of the nuclear weapon States. New Zealand is strongly opposed to continued nuclear testing in the atmosphere and would once again stress the need for general observance of the partial test-ban Treaty, pending completion of a comprehensive treaty. We have deplored the tests conducted by Communist China; and we have continued to protest against those undertaken again this year in the South Pacific by France, even though there has been no apparent cause for concern on grounds of hazard to the health of the peoples of New Zealand and the Pacific Islands generally. It remains our hope that there will be an early end to all nuclear testing, particularly in the atmosphere.
128. We have seen again in the Middle East the tragic results of failure over the years to solve in equity the political problems of the area. That failure has had profound consequences for this Organization and for the countries of the Middle East. It has deprived neighbours of the opportunity to co-operate in the joint measures which the welfare of their region so urgently demands. Instead, it has carried them far along the road of sterile enmity and conflict. For years the situation has been one of armed vigilance, of open and covert violence, of blockade and boycott, of raid and reprisal. It has meant a constant threat of war and a disastrous competition in armaments. It has condemned the Arab refugees to a generation of wretchedness and misery.
129. New Zealand is not directly involved in the situation in the Middle East except in the sense that all United Nations Members, great or small, are involved in the conflict there. We all have an obligation — and the Permanent Members of the Security Council have a special obligation — to do what can be done to find an enduring settlement. Above all, the Governments most directly concerned have an obligation to seek a solution. Peace is a debt that they owe to themselves and to the world. They cannot risk, the world cannot risk, a fourth round in this contest. The security of Middle Eastern countries within their national frontiers must be firmly established, and it is important that early international action be initiated to ensure that the immediate territorial consequences of the June hostilities do not, through lack of discussion of meaningful alternatives, assume a degree of permanence for which they are not appropriate. To this end, a number of related problems must be tackled: a permanent basis must be found to as sure the refugees a normal life; there must be arrangements acknowledging the international interest in the status of the Holy Places in Jerusalem; the rights of navigation in international waterways must be confirmed.
130. A withdrawal of Israeli forces and an end to belligerency are essential elements in a solution. The United Nations can play a helpful role in bringing about agreed arrangements to which the countries concerned are directly committed, and in supervising them: it should not accept a role which, in effect, insulates the parties concerned from the need to seek, and commit themselves to, such undertakings.
131. The war in Viet-Nam should give us all concern, whatever our geographical region, for all would stand to lose if aggression in any form were to be allowed to succeed. New Zealand, for its part, has treaty obligations extending to South Viet-Nam and it has a direct interest in the security of South-East Asia as a whole. We have therefore joined in the effort to defend South Viet-Nam and in the search for a durable peace. Our concern for Viet-Nam has been shown, not just in recent years, but for over a decade, and not just in military action but in economic assistance. We feel that the principles at stake are of the gravest importance for regions far removed from East and South-East Asia.
132. A year ago, the New Zealand representative to this Assembly indicated [1447th meeting] New Zealand’s belief that the people of South Viet-Nam did not want a communist or a communist front government. Events of the past year have confirmed that assessment. In the midst of great difficulties imposed by the war, a number of positive tendencies are at work within South Viet-Nam itself. It has frequently been said from this rostrum that there can or should be no military solution to this conflict. Nevertheless, military means are necessary to make a political settlement possible. It is not only the political progress that has been made in South Viet-Nam during the past year, but also the hard fighting sustained throughout that period, which have together confirmed that North Viet-Nam will not be permitted to impose its own solution by military means.
133. It is widely accepted in this Assembly that a political solution to this conflict must be found through negotiations. Unfortunately, that fact — and I say fact, not hope — has not yet been acknowledged by North Viet-Nam. Many channels are open to North Viet-Nam to make known any reasonable response which would lead to talks. New Zealand is satisfied that no substantive proposition by North Viet-Nam has ever failed to receive the attention that it merited. Again and again, the conciliatory and flexible approach of those who are engaged in the defence of South Viet-Nam has been demonstrated. What is needed is some constructive response from the other side. When that comes, the process of negotiation can begin.
134. New Zealand, for its part, would hope that, even in the present situation, talks could be initiated. If that is not possible, then we would hope that an understanding between the two sides on a number of matching steps, in which, for example, a cessation of the bombing would be balanced by evidence of de-escalation on the other side, might, by reducing military activity without disadvantage to either side, lead to the kind of political climate in which negotiations become possible. But experience makes one doubt the effectiveness of appeals for a unilateral cessation of military action by one side alone.
135. The way to peace in Viet-Nam lies open. Sooner or later, when North Viet-Nam so decides, that way will be taken. We fervently hope that this will happen sooner rather than later. But if the allied policy of firmness and restraint needs to be sustained over a long period, then that must, and it will, be done. The peace to be found will be a negotiated settlement that will secure, not sacrifice, the rights of the people of South Viet-Nam. That peace will be found.
136. The continuation of the war in Viet-Nam is all the more tragic and senseless in that elsewhere in the area we have seen how stubborn problems that had brought tension and fighting can be settled peacefully once the will is evident. New Zealand, which wants not only to strengthen its good relations with all the States of South-east Asia but also to see the closest cooperation among them, welcomed the end of the policy of confrontation that had divided Indonesia from Malaysia and Singapore. We were gratified to see full diplomatic relations restored between them and the reestablishment of partnership among the three countries. We have been greatly heartened also by the moves towards closer co-operation in the area, notably the formation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the continued progress of the Asian and Pacific Council, of which New Zealand is a member.
137. I turn now to the South-west Pacific, which is our immediate neighbourhood. We are a Pacific island people ourselves, deeply interested in the welfare of the other island peoples of our area. There are direct ethnic and cultural links between the Maori people of New Zealand and other Polynesian islanders. As in the past, Polynesians still migrate from their crowded islands to the wider opportunities of New Zealand. Trade is also an important link. We want to see in that area orderly decolonization in accordance with the wishes and interests of the Pacific Island peoples themselves. Economic, political and social arrangements must be workable over the long term. We have helped bring Western Samoa to independence and the Cook Islands to self-government, in complete accordance with the objectives of General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV), and we are assisting in the advancement of our remaining Non-Self-Governing Territories, Niue and the Tokelau Islands, just as rapidly as conditions and the wishes of their peoples permit. An imaginative search for solutions related to the particular circumstances will be needed to meet the requirements of Niue and the Tokelau Islands and, indeed, the other isolated groups of the Pacific, few of which have a significant population or substantial resources. In my delegation's view, the Committees of this Assembly might do well, in looking at the Pacific, to show less concern for dogma and more concern for the practical problems involved. We should not attempt to fit the pattern and the pace of development of the Pacific Territories into a rigid mould. One would hope for a wider willingness to understand the particular problems of the smaller Territories and, I may add, of the comparatively large ones like Fiji and Papua and New Guinea.
138. In this context the New Zealand delegation has read with very great interest the conclusions of the Secretary-General's report drawing attention to the need to consider the future status of micro-States, which the Secretary-General has described as "entities which are exceptionally small in area, population and human and economic resources and which are now emerging as independent States" [A/6701/Add.1, para. 163], It is not necessarily true that the interests and objectives of the people concerned, or of this Organization, are always met by the unlimited expansion of sovereign independence and full United Nations membership. Independence without United Nations membership, or independence within the framework of free association with an existing State, may be appropriate in some cases.
139. Even the brief review I have offered of some of the issues of the day can leave no doubt that peace is under violent threat in many parts of the world. Our first concern must be with what this Organization can do to reduce that threat. But that cannot be our exclusive concern. As you yourself remarked in your opening address, Mr. President:
"... the problem of peace and security is indissolubly linked to the fulfilment of most people's legitimate wish for well-being and progress." [1560th meeting, para. 71.]
140. Without physical security, national and international welfare is in danger. Without economic progress, national and international security is in danger. There is a direct link between national economic wellbeing and capacity to meet the obligations of United Nations membership. The material circumstances of each country set the limits within which it is able to play its part in the economic and social programmes of this Organization and in the larger United Nations design for strengthening the peace.
141. For many countries — but for none, perhaps, more than for New Zealand — economic health depends on an ability to export a small number of primary products at fair prices. Countries highly dependent on exports of primary products — and that includes virtually all developing countries as well as my own — face great problems in getting reasonable access to international markets. Restrictive conditions of access, which are now all too prevalent, severely limit marketing opportunities, and for many primary products result in unduly low prices in those markets that remain open. About one quarter of New Zealand's national income and almost all our export earnings come from the sale abroad of only three commodities — all primary commodities — wool, meat and dairy products. Since the beginning of 1966, falling prices have resulted in a worsening of about 10 per cent in New Zealand's terms of trade. That has, of course, gravely affected our economy and especially our balance of payments.
142. At this point I should like to refer to the situation confronting Western Samoa. The Assembly will be fully aware that, under a treaty of friendship between New Zealand and the independent State of Western Samoa, New Zealand has from time to time, at the request of Western Samoa, represented that country's views in international bodies. On this occasion the Western Samoan Government has asked us to express its growing concern at the continuing lack of progress in attempts to achieve some stability in world commodity trade.
143. Eighteen months ago the Samoans experienced a devastating hurricane, and as a result their exports have suffered a severe set-back; they have not yet recovered even to pre-hurricane levels. Quite fortuitously, the price of cocoa, one of Samoa's three main export crops, has been at a satisfactory level for the past two years or so and this has been of considerable assistance to them in their battle to rehabilitate their agriculture after the hurricane. Copra prices have unfortunately not been nearly as satisfactory. The history of Samoa's trade in these two commodities has been characterized by violent price fluctuations. There are now indications that the cocoa producers and consumers are prepared to renew their efforts to negotiate a cocoa agreement, and this news has been welcomed. But Western Samoa, a small developing country with considerable financial problems, has suffered as much as any country from the instability of world commodity trade. It looks to the larger countries, which are able to exert a greater influence on the course of world trade, to work towards the price stability which the developing agricultural producers so sorely need.
144. My own Government has long believed that a coordinated international approach to commodity problems is essential. We also hold that the needs of a hungry world can be met only through such an approach, since we have to work together for the most rational use of food production resources. New Zealand therefore attempted to secure the conclusion of a general arrangement in the field of dairy products during the GATT Kennedy Round negotiations. The problems of agriculture were, however, largely set aside in the final stages of the Geneva talks, and New Zealand, like other agricultural exporters, had to register profound disappointment at the outcome. The challenge is nevertheless still there, and New Zealand is actively seeking the basis for a negotiated arrangement on dairy products which takes into account the need for joint action by the developed countries in the field of food aid.
145. We should regret it exceedingly in New Zealand if the decline in our terms of trade were to limit our capacity to contribute as we should like to valuable international programmes. We should regret it all the more because we believe that there has to be more, not less, international co-operation in all fields of action. Small countries, New Zealand among them, have special reason to know this. This knowledge is at the heart of our Charter, which points us on the road we should all try to follow. Most of our international activity takes place, of course, outside the United Nations. What is important is that our actions, wherever they may be taken, should be in conformity with the Charter and should further its aims. Clearly, there is room for a more deliberate effort to achieve this.
146. If United Nations Members have a duty to ensure that their policies outside the Organization meet the aims of the Charter, equally there is an obligation on them to ensure that what they do collectively inside the Organization is constructive, practical and realistic. The United Nations should not merely interpose itself between the parties to a conflict and their duty under the Charter to seek an agreed solution through their own actions. The United Nations should not merely mobilize majorities behind unenforceable proposals that appear to take no account of the realities with which we have to live. The United Nations should net merely content itself with adopting declamatory resolutions that pay scant regard to the means, the costs and the consequences of their implementation.
147. I have presented in outline the major factors that influence my Government's approach to some of the important issues of the present day. The basic principles underlying New Zealand's policies and actions are: support for the purposes of the United Nations Charter, resistance to aggression, defence of the rights of small States, participation in collective security arrangements, and assistance to other countries in their economic and social development. We shall continue to be guided by those principles in the future, as we have been guided by them in the past.