I wish to avail myself of this opportunity to express once again the gratification of my delegation at Mr. Boland's assumption of the high office of President of the United Nations General Assembly. I would like also to pay tribute to the retiring President, my good and respected friend, Mr. Victor A. Belaúnde, of Peru. He served the United Nations well during his term of office. I wish him to know that he will always have the admiration and good wishes of my delegation.
50. My country has strong and unshakable faith in the United Nations. We support the United Nations because it stands for the high ideals of law and justice, peace and security. It is our conviction that there can be no lasting peace if the principle of justice does not prevail, and there can be no peace or security if there is no respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms.
51. The common people in all countries ardently desire peace and abhor war. So long as the common people enjoy individual freedom, dictators cannot rise, still less can they wage wars of aggression. For this reason, before the Second World War all the dictators, both those in Europe and those in Asia, had to suppress human rights and fundamental freedoms in their respective countries. Dictatorial regimes destroy human rights and freedoms and thereby destroy the surest guarantees of international peace and security. Human rights and freedoms are precious in themselves; they become all the more precious in that they help to maintain peace and security.
52. As We take stock of the work of the United Nations in the fifteen years of its existence, our conscience cannot but be troubled by the spectacle of millions of human beings living in conditions of terror and slavery in Eastern Europe, in Tibet on the mainland of China, in North Korea, in North Viet-Nam, as well as in other parts of the world under communist domination, and of the many millions who have been denied the right of religion, the right of freedom of movement and the right of choosing their own way of life. We cannot and should not forget them because, in the first place, they are our fellow human beings who are entitled to enjoy the rights enshrined in the Charter, and, in the second place, it is on the basis of slavery and oppression that totalitarian dictators are enabled to plan, and carry out war and aggression. Recent history has made this demonstrably clear.
53. In its effort to promote international peace and security, the United Nations has been obstructed by misuse of the veto power in the Security Council on the part of the Soviet Union. Yet, despite this, the United Nations has made significant contributions to the cause of peace. The greatest landmark in the history of the United Nations was the collective action authorized by the Security Council in 1950 to counter communist aggression in Korea. It may be recalled that the action was made possible by the absence of the Soviet Union from the Security Council. The United Nations played an important part in the settlement of the Suez crisis of 1956. The work the United Nations has now undertaken in the Republic of the Congo (Leopoldville) to restore law and order will surely go down in history as one of its most significant achievements. But thanks to the courage with which the Secretary-General has carried out his mandate, a start has been made in putting the Republic of the Congo on a stable basis. The Secretary-General has the support of the overwhelming majority of the General Assembly to go ahead with his work of implementing the resolutions of the Security Council and of the fourth emergency special session of the General Assembly.
54. We were shocked by the slanderous and abusive charges which the chief of the Soviet Government saw fit to make against the Secretary-General from this rostrum a few days ago. To call this selfless, conscientious and courageous international public servant an agent of colonialism is to add insult to injury. I am sure that all fair-minded men and women the world over will condemn this utterly unfounded and irresponsible attack on Mr. Hammarskjold's personal integrity.
55. The Soviet delegation did not stop at merely attacking Mr. Hammarskjold. It wishes to abolish the office of the Secretary-General itself. This is the familiar tactic of control or destroy. In proposing that - the Secretary-Generalship should be replaced by a directorate of three, each with the right of veto, the Soviet Union shows that it is not interested in maintaining world peace and security "in conformity with the principles of justice and international law"; it is only interested in making the United Nations a forum for propaganda and a tool of the Soviet Union. When the Secretary-General, by his "preventive diplomacy", tries to keep international rivalry and conflict out of the Republic of the Congo (Leopoldville), thereby preventing any Power, the Soviet Union included, from interfering in the affairs of that new-born Republic, the Soviet Union heaps abuse on Mr. Hammarskjold and tries to reduce the United Nations to impotence. My delegation supports the Secretary-General in his conduct of operations in the Congo.
56. The Soviet Union has used all resources of propaganda to din into the consciousness of the emergent peoples that the Soviet Union is their only friend and that only the Soviet Union can help them to achieve their national aspirations and lead them on to the path of economic prosperity and social well-being. Now, we Chinese people know from years of experience what all this means. More than forty years ago the Soviet Union began to tell us the same tiling. In those days, we were anxious to throw off the yoke of foreign domination in our country. We struggled against colonialism and imperialism. The Chinese nationalist revolutionary movement in the twenties had as its chief slogan, "Down with imperialism, away with the unequal treaties".
57. It was inevitable that many patriotic Chinese, particularly the intellectuals, should be attracted to the Soviet Union. When the Soviet Union offered us economic and military aid, we gladly accepted it. We were told that the Soviet Union asked nothing in return and that it was interested only in helping us complete the national revolution. We found out, when it was too late, that the kind of national revolution promoted by the Soviet Union was but a preparation for the communist take-over. In the communist lingo, national revolution is one in which the Communists, by means of infiltration and subversion, try to wrest the leadership of the revolution from the "bourgeoisie". Once they have taken over the leadership, the national revolution becomes a "proletarian revolution". Lenin spelled this out candidly, and in repetitious detail. The present leaders of the Kremlin have never tried to conceal their intentions in this matter. There is no excuse for leaders of the nationalist movements of today to repeat the mistakes China made forty years ago.
58. At the present session of the General Assembly, sixteen new Member States are participating in its deliberations for the first time. Of these, fifteen are African. My Government and people rejoice in the emergence of Africa on the international scene. Before the year is out, other African nations will achieve freedom and independence and become members of the United Nations. We congratulate the peoples of Africa on their success.
59. We are happy to note that the new African States have won their freedom and independence from the colonial Powers on the basis of mutual sympathy, respect and understanding. This redounds to the credit of both. It is our conviction that the maintenance of close relations between the new States and the former metropolitan Powers, on a footing of freedom and equality, can be of immense benefit to all concerned. It is for this reason that we believe that India, Pakistan, Ceylon and others made a wise decision when they kept their ties with the other free nations of the Commonwealth. We hope that the new French Community will enjoy an equally successful development.
60. Western colonialism, we believe, is on its way out. Although there are still remnants of colonial rule in Asia and Africa, colonialism as a system is dead or dying. Unfortunately, there has arisen a new form of colonialism, far more dangerous and sinister than the Western one, because it operates under the guise of aid to nationalism. This new form of colonialism is none other than international Communism. The Chairman of the Soviet delegation, in his speech before this Assembly [869th meeting], called upon the United Nations to raise its voice in defence of the just cause of liberating the colonies and to take prompt action towards the complete elimination of the colonial regime. He thus poses as the champion of the rights of the colonial peoples. As a matter of fact, international Communism is the most deadly enemy of nationalism. It is not interested in national causes as such. It Is interested only in exploiting the national aspirations of the colonial peoples for its own purposes. It may be recalled that soon after the Second World War a number of Asian countries under European colonial rule gained their independence. When these newly-independent countries were still trying to consolidate themselves, Moscow ordered the Asian Communist Parties to resort to "armed struggle" against them. The situation was believed to be fluid enough to make communist successes possible. The communist attempt to seize power took place in a number of Asian countries, culminating in the Korean war of 1950. The premature uprisings brought discredit to the International Communist movement. For this reason, Moscow shifted from the "tough line" of the 1948-50 period to the "soft line" of today. But the communist objective has not changed. The Communists, as all who read the works of Lenin and Stalin know, have no love for nationalists. They do not hesitate to overthrow any of the legally constituted governments in the newly-independent countries if and when they think the opportune moment has arrived,
61. We Chinese are nationalists. As such, we are also anti-colonialists and anti-imperialists. Until very recently, we suffered imperialist aggression from both maritime and land Powers. We have thousands of miles of common frontiers with Russia. We are therefore acquainted with both types of Russian imperialism — the Tsarist and the Soviet. We know by experience that the Soviet type of imperialism is the worst of all.
62. The Soviet Union is the greatest colonial Power in the twentieth century. Whereas European colonial Powers have given freedom and independence to over 600 million people in thirty countries since the last war, the Soviet Union, on the other hand, has increased its colonial holdings enormously since the signing of the infamous non-aggression pact with Hitler on 23 August 1939. The Baltic States were placed under Soviet colonial rule soon afterward. Other independent States in Eastern Europe came under Soviet domination in the latter part of the last war. Today, the Soviet empire is bigger than it was under any Tsar. We support the complete abolition of colonialism preached by Mr. Khrushchev. Let him set an example for the world by liquidating Soviet colonialism. Let him practise what he preaches by restoring freedom and independence to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as the first instalment of his programme.
63. The Chinese delegation believes in the complete abolition of colonialism. We have always maintained that Western colonial Powers should take a far-sighted view of, and make early concessions to, Asian and African nationalism. We believe nationalism is the most elemental force in the world today. It cannot be stopped or stifled. Sooner or later, all colonial peoples will achieve freedom and independence. It is our conviction that undue delay in solving colonial questions will make their final solution more complicated, more Intractable, and more costly. Therefore, it is our hope that those African countries still under colonial rule will soon emerge as free and sovereign members of the world community.
64. I now pass from colonialism to the question of economic and technical assistance to the less developed countries, a question with which the United Nations is deeply concerned. The Secretary-General in the Introduction to his Annual Report on the Work of the Organization says: "... Far less dramatic in their impact as the economic activities must be, they are of decisive long-term significance for the welfare of the international community. In the end, the United Nations is likely to be judged not so much by the criterion of how successfully it has overcome this or that crisis as by the significance of its total contribution towards building the kind of world community in which such crises will no longer be inevitable.” [A/4390/ Add.1, p, 5.]
65, These are words that deserve our attention. The cause of peace will always be better served if the peoples now living in conditions of poverty, disease, hunger and malnutrition can be brought to enjoy the benefits of modem civilization and maintain a level of living commensurate with the supreme dignity of the human being. Throughout the years, the United Nations has been assigning due importance to the economic problems of the less developed countries. For their economic development, these countries need substantial outside capital and technical assistance. Naturally they look to the United Nations for help. Even with the establishment of the Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance, the Special Fund, and now the International Development Association, the needs of these countries are far from being met. In view of the magnitude of the problem, it may be doubted whether the needs can be wholly met by the United Nations unless extraordinary efforts are made.
66, Nowhere is the need for economic and technical assistance more urgent than in newly-emergent Africa. Nowhere is the problem more complicated and difficult. The President of the United States in his speech before this Assembly on 22 September [868th meeting] pledged his country's assistance in the task of shaping a long-term modernization programme for Africa within the framework of the United Nations. My delegation applauds this statesmanlike programme. We support the policy of channelling all assistance to the African countries through tee United Nations. We believe that in the interests of world peace and of the African countries themselves, the United Nations must forestall any move on the part of any Power or any bloc of Powers to use economic and technical assistance as a form of political and economic penetration,
67, Africa offers the greatest opportunity for the United Nations. The United Nations must make good use of this opportunity to assist the new and emergent States in building social and economic foundations for political freedom. It is the hope of my delegation that the newly-independent African States, with the assistance of the United Nations, will consolidate their political stability so as to make possible the eventual attainment of a self-sustaining economy.
68, We understand both the drives and the difficulties of economic development in the under-developed countries, because we have suffered from the miseries of under-development and have struggled and are still struggling for economic development. During the last fifteen years, my Government has pushed economic development as the first and most important task of Government and of people. Although we are far from our goal, we have come a long way. Fifteen years ago, at the end of the Second World War, Taiwan had an economy almost entirely agricultural: 85 per cent of its people were engaged in farming; the exports of the island were entirely agricultural products. Today, production on the island comes half from agriculture and half from industry and commerce. Farming as an occupation absorbs the energies of less than 50 per cent of the population. In the export trade, industrial products are gaining in percentage over agricultural products. In the supply of food we are now more than self-sufficient; likewise in products of light industry which satisfy the consumers' wants. We are now beginning the development of heavy industry.
69. On a previous occasion I presented to the Assembly [764th meeting] statistics of production in Taiwan, particularly as regards rice, electric power, textiles, chemical fertilizers, oil-refining, cement and electrical appliances. I will not go into statistics today. I wish rather to call your attention to certain important features of our economic development.
70. First, we have deliberately chosen to give first priority to agriculture, second to light industry and third to heavy industry. We have found this order of priority best suited to our needs and capacities. By observing this order of priority, we have not had to impose on our people a long period of further tightening of their belts. The improvement in the standard of living is immediate; it parallels economic development.
71. Second, in trying to improve agriculture we have relied on land reform and the application of modem science and technology to farming. The farmers on the island now own the land they cultivate. They are independent. They reap what they sow. Believed of the burden of land rent, they work hard and accept readily the changes which the Government scientists offer to them. In the improvement of seeds, in pest prevention, in conservation of soil and water, in the rotation of crops, in the application of fertilizers, in the improvement of farm animals and tools — in these and in other matters scientists and technicians find their services appreciated and accepted by the farmers. We have not found it necessary to introduce the class struggle into the countryside, nor have we had to resort to collectivization or regimentation. We have found the independent farmers good, producers and happy citizens. We have further found them ready, nay, eager, to co-operate with the Government in the promotion of education and health. Illiteracy and the common diseases will soon be eliminated,
72. Third, we have maintained a mixed economy, government ownership existing side by side with private enterprise. Compared with Western Europe and North and South America, we have probably practised, in Taiwan, a large measure of socialism. Tiffs is partly a matter of choice and partly a matter of necessity. But we have adopted an experimental attitude in this matter. Probably the sector of private enterprise will grow faster than the sector of public enterprise. However, we intend to keep railways, electric power, oil-refining and chemical fertilizers in the public sector.
73. Fourth, in the economic development of Taiwan, we have benefited much from economic and technical assistance from the United States. We have found this assistance totally disinterested. United States monopolists have not crept in. Chinese sovereignty is still perfectly intact. Neither the United States Government nor private United States capitalists have sought to own or control any important or vital enterprise on the island of Taiwan. United States private capital has, in some cases, gone into partnership with Chinese private capital or with my Government.
74. In this fight against poverty we have gained much valuable practical experience. We have on the island a respectable corps of engineers, scientists, administrators, and managers who have worked in conditions similar to those found in many underdeveloped countries. We would be happy to make the services of these men available to other countries, either through the United Nations regular programme of technical assistance or on a bilateral basis.
75. I now come to the problem of disarmament. At the last session of the General Assembly the outlook for successful steps towards disarmament seemed more favourable than it had been for a long time. In March 1960 the Ten-Nation Committee on Disarmament, established on 7 September 1959, met in Geneva. For a time it seemed that some kind of agreement could be reached. But the optimism was ill-founded. In the latter part of June the communist members of the Committee walked out on the negotiations just at a time when the United States was about to submit new proposals.
76. Disarmament is a complex question. It requires patience and goodwill. In September 1959 the Soviet Union offered the General Assembly a grandiose scheme of total disarmament to be achieved in four years [see A/4219], The proposal has been repeated at this session of the General Assembly [see A/4505].
77. My delegation believes in disarmament. We are convinced that if we are "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war", as the Charter obliges us to do, there is no choice but to put an effective stop to the present dangerous armaments race. We believe that disarmament is both urgent and feasible. There is no harm in envisaging total and complete disarmament as the final goal; but to wrangle over the immediate abolition of all armaments is to become bogged down in empty talk. The test is practicability. The most practicable procedure, it seems to my delegation, is to appraise honestly the various specific proposals that have been submitted. An agreement, even one of a minor character, is better than no agreement at all. A series of minor agreements can add up to major gains. It is only through the stage-by-stage reduction of armaments that the final goal of complete disarmament can be achieved.
78. It must be recognized that the possibilities for disarmament are conditioned by the state of technology and the climate of international confidence. Modern technology is advancing at so fast a pace that what is new and effective today may become useless and obsolete tomorrow. This is particularly true in the nuclear, missiles, and rocket fields. Neither the United States nor the Soviet Union can afford to be left behind in the development of newer and better weapons. The race is therefore definitely on. Nor can surprise attack be ruled out. With mass-destruction weaponry, some people may reason that it is quite within the capabilities of the attacking country to knock out in one lightning stroke the retaliatory power of the country attacked. In the present climate of mutual mistrust, it is essential that disarmament must be inspected and controlled. Any agreement on disarmament, unless accompanied by a system of controls, is not worth the paper it is written on,
79. My delegation favours stage-by-stage disarmament, not only because it is the most practicable procedure to go by, but also because it is more amenable to effective control. Guided by these considerations, my delegation will heartily join all peace-loving nations in promoting disarmament.
80. My delegation is grateful to the delegations of the Federation of Malaya and Thailand for having requested the inclusion of an item entitled "the question of Tibet" in the agenda [see A/4444]. It is not my intention to go into a detailed discussion of the question of Tibet here. I leave that to the proper occasion later. I wish now merely to make some brief observations about the tragic fate of the Tibetan people since last year. Through ruthless suppression, the Chinese Communists have succeeded in transforming Tibet out of all recognition. They have used the class Struggle to carry out the so-called land reform programme, which is only a prelude to total collectivization. The traditional Tibetan way of life has been uprooted. The right of the Tibetan people to religion has been forcibly violated and their right to exist as a distinct national or ethnical group has been denied. There has been mass killing of Buddhist monks and other leaders of Tibetan society. The International Commission of Jurists in Geneva has recently issued a documented report on Chinese Communist atrocities against the Tibetan people. I commend that report to the attention of the General Assembly.
81. At this point, I wish to remind the Assembly that the brutalities practised by the Communists in Tibet have been practised by them in other parts of China. The social and economic programme of the Communists in Tibet is identical with their programme in China proper.
82. The drive for imperialist expansion on the part of the Chinese Communists has given evidence of an aggressiveness sharply at variance with their professions of loyalty to the "spirit of Bandung". I am sure that a number of Asian delegations in fixe Assembly can testify to this. In a recent pronouncement of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, published under the title "Long Live Leninism!", the Chinese Communists have frankly proclaimed that war is inevitable. They believe that, with the tremendous growth of the so-called socialist camp, the victory of Communism is not far off. They would not hesitate to use war and violence to achieve their final victory. It is clear that no country sharing common frontiers with China is safe from Chinese Communist aggression on this or that pretext.
83. The Chinese Communist regime is dedicated to the "historic mission" of bringing all Asia under communist domination. Recently it has extended its nefarious activities beyond Asia to Africa and Latin America, it is the greatest menace to international peace and security.
84. At home, the Chinese Communist régime has spawned a gigantic system of terror and torture, surveillance and repression, the like of which the world has never known. In my statement before the Assembly in September 1959 [812th meeting], I described the inhuman system of the so-called "people's communes". Through this system the people have been reduced to the level of the inmates of a zoo. The family as an institution has been abolished. Men and women are now living in dormitories and eat in common mess halls. They are no longer members of families but of a labour brigade, a company or a platoon. Men and women rise at the call of the bugle and march to work in military formation. After twelve to fourteen hours of field work, they retire again at the call of the bugle to a meagre meal in the mess hall and then to sleep in the barrack-like dormitories. This diabolical system has now been extended from the rural areas to the cities. As a result, the whole country has literally become an over-sized slave camp.
85, The Chinese Communists are engaged in a mad race of industrialization. They find that they must squeeze the last ounce of energy out of the farmers in order to finance industrialization. They believe that collectivization and regimentation can facilitate the squeeze process. But as they resort to repression, the farmers lose all incentive to produce; indeed, in many cases, the farmers, ill-fed and over-worked, lose the physical capacity to produce. The Communist regime is caught in a vicious circle of its own making.
86, Under such intolerable circumstances, it is not without reason that there is a boiling, seething, and ultimately irrepressible mass of resentment among the suffering people. Eleven years of unlimited propaganda and unlimited indoctrination have failed to reconcile the people to the regime. The day will surely come when they will rise in revolt against their oppressors. When that day comes — and we have not the slightest doubt that it will come — the Government of the Republic of China now in Taiwan is duty bound to come to their aid. We Chinese will yet see the day of national liberation,