I shall take only ten minutes of the Assembly’s precious time.
110. At the beginning of this crucial session, it is essential that we keep certain important facts in mind.
111. The first is that the United Nations, for the first time in its history, has decided to use armed force to put down aggression. The application of military sanctions in Korea is in itself an act of the greatest significance. Even more significant, however, is the manifest desire of a growing number of Member States to give the practice regularity and permanence. The wish is not unreasonable, since it springs from a clear recognition of necessity, nor is it impracticable, since the framework already exists, and all that is required is to give life to a hitherto dormant portion of the Charter.
112. My Government welcomes the concrete proposals to this end which the United States Government, through the Secretary of State, has placed before the Assembly. We are prepared to support these proposals on the general principle that the United Nations is greater than any of its organs, and that the United Nations cannot permit the failure of any of its organs to destroy its own existence or threaten the peace of the world. The Organization’s sovereign right of survival becomes doubly paramount when it coincides with the duty to safeguard humanity’s right to live.
113. Under the Charter, the greater Powers, acting in and through the Security Council, have primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. The dead weight of the veto has hampered the effective discharge of this responsibility. The decision on Korea was an outstanding exception, made possible only because there was none to cast the veto. We should not expect this fortunate accident to be repeated, nor leave to luck or chance the possibility of our acting together to combat any future breaches of the peace or acts of aggression. The time has come when the other Member States must endeavour to keep the door for such collective action open at all times through the instrumentality of a stronger General Assembly.
114. The Philippine Government, for its part, has given concrete proof of its support of the principle of collective security by sending troops to help the United Nations forces in Korea. Those troops have actually landed in Korea and may now be in action. And, by the way, the latest news reports are to the effect that the blue and white flag of the United Nations is now flying in the heart of Seoul, the capital city of South Korea. By an act of the Philippine Congress, the troops sent to Korea were organized, equipped and dispatched, to use the language of the enactment, “for service in the enforcement of United Nations sanctions and policies”, thereby making the Philippines one of the first Member States to make part of its armed forces available for duty with the international police force envisaged by the Charter.
115. Our duty is so to develop the residual powers of the General Assembly in matters involving international peace and security that this accidental yet most hopeful beginning towards collective security may be carried to a speedy and successful conclusion.
116. The second fact which we should bear in mind is that the accomplishment of this vitally important duty need not preclude the possibility of agreement by negotiation. I reject the careless thinking behind the unhappily popular notion that peace by negotiation is tantamount to appeasement. We are fighting for the peace and security of the world, and I cannot agree that we should let peace and peaceable intentions become the monopoly, even only apparently, of the States that continually and most vociferously profess them.
117. If these States have any proposals for peace, we should examine them carefully. If the proposals are dishonest, we shall have enough sense, I am sure, to see them for what they are and reject them as we have rejected them in the past. If, on the other hand, there should be even the slightest evidence of sincerity and good faith in such proposals, then we must leave the door open, lest it be said that we betrayed peace through blindness and the hardness of our hearts. This we can and must do without letting down our guard or allowing ourselves to fall into any wicked snares and deceptions. The assurance of our own strength is excellent capital to negotiate with while we can or to fight with when we must.
118. There should be no question of accepting peace on terms dictated by the other side or by any party, for that matter. That would be surrender, not negotiation. We can and will negotiate only on the basis of the terms that were dictated and agreed upon in San Francisco.
119. The third fact is that, in the present state of the world, moral power must be supplemented by adequate military power to maintain a rule of law among nations. In the case of Korea, there was never any doubt as to where the moral authority of the General Assembly lay and still lies. Though that moral authority has now been backed by military force and is, for the moment, overshadowed by it, we should ever remind ourselves that in the equation of force and principle, moral power is and must remain paramount. We must remember that we are fighting in Korea not merely to compel respect for the authority of the United Nations or to restore any particular political regime in Korea. We are fighting in Korea for a way of life — the way of truth, of freedom, and of human dignity — and we want the peoples of Asia, Africa and elsewhere to know that this is the road which we are preparing for them. We must, therefore, look beyond the military victory and formulate even now a programme that will ensure not only the independence but the rehabilitation and unification of the Korean people under a government of their own free choice.
120. This leads us to the fourth fact, which is that the case or Korea is in a sense only a symptom of deeper, more elemental problems affecting the stability and security of all Asia. In many of its aspects, the Korean crisis is the end-product of conditions that are well-nigh universal throughout Asia. Those conditions have long been identified with colonial imperialism in the minds of the Asian peoples, and the reminder that a new and more hateful imperialism now threatens to overrun the region will impress them but little unless we show them that it is not the power to dominate and exploit them that we seek to maintain but rather the opportunity to help them to improve their lot and achieve their freedom. Military victory will give us this opportunity, but only genuine understanding will enable us to exploit it. We must give proof of that sympathy and understanding right now.
121. Beyond the battle for Korea lies the far more crucial battle for the faith of the Asian peoples. Though not as spectacular, this latter battle must be waged with equal resolve and without delay. It is therefore highly important that we should seek and continue all necessary measures to raise the standards of living and to advance the political, economic and social well-being of the peoples of the under-developed countries and the Non-Self-Governing Territories. It is equally important that the principle of seeking counsel with the peoples of Asia on matters that concern them, which was proclaimed by the recent Baguio conference of South-East Asian countries, should be accepted as established policy and meticulously observed in practice.
122. Asia is emerging as one of the principal proving grounds of the United Nations, Korea has already put to the test the determination of the United Nations to maintain the rule of law in international relations, by means of military sanctions if necessary. Greater still is the challenge posed by Asia’s poverty and the remaining chains of Asia’s bondage. The United Nations will gain in strength and prestige to the extent that it can help to achieve in Asia and in other underprivileged regions of the world the noble purposes proclaimed in the Charter — “to reaffirm faith ... in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and ... to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom”. In the final reckoning, the United Nations will stand or fall by its successes or its failures in the places that are in direst need of its assistance and protection.