We are gathered from the four comers of the earth for the second session of the General Assembly of the United Nations to discuss and solve a number of difficult problems. This session is particularly momentous because the United Nations has reached a point where its future development and possibly its very existence hang in the balance.
People everywhere are deeply disturbed by the general political and economic situation in the world today, and have expressed a sense of disappointment and disillusionment in the United Nations as an organization capable of meeting a global emergency.
However, let us not overlook the fact that the United Nations is not a sovereign body or a super State; it cannot be stronger than the total strength that its Members are willing and able to give it. The imperfections of the United Nations are really the imperfections of its Members.
We have on our provisional agenda a wide range of problems, some of which are of extreme urgency, such as the Palestine question and the Greek situation. There are other momentous questions which have not hitherto been brought before our Organization but which now call for the serious attention of this Assembly, for example, the question of Korean independence, which General Marshall mentioned yesterday.
If, by our collective wisdom and good will, we are able to find just and satisfactory solutions to these problems, it will instantly enhance the authority of the United Nations and will give fresh hope to the peoples of the world and inspire them in their desperate struggle to bring order out of chaos. This, I submit, is the noble and arduous task of this Assembly.
The carefully prepared reports of the various organs of the United Nations give a clear picture of the work and achievements of the Organization and indicate the nature of the problems with which this Assembly will have to deal.
The Security Council, which is entrusted with the great responsibility for maintaining international peace and security, has laboured strenuously, though not always successfully. The failings of the Council have generally been attributed by its friends, as well as by its critics, to the existence of the veto.
The Chinese Government considers the so-called veto power, which the permanent members of the Security Council possess, not so much a special privilege as a special obligation. This power imposes an extraordinary responsibility upon the permanent members to try at all times to reach unanimous agreement on all matters of substance. During the past two years China, although it holds that power, has never exercised the veto power in the Security Council. Moreover, at the last regular session of the General Assembly, the Chinese Government made certain concrete proposals calculated to prevent immoderate use of the veto power. China believes in the collective wisdom of the majority of the members of the Council, and considers that, unless it is a matter of vital concern, no single member should, by one negative vote, paralyse the work of the Council. Every effort should be made by this Assembly to bring about agreement as to the proper application of the provisions of the Charter concerning the veto power.
However, the existence of the veto power, or rather its immoderate use, is only one of the factors which contributed to the difficulties in the Security Council Even if the Charter of the United Nations were so amended as to modify or abolish the veto powers there would still remain the basic threat to the Organization, namely, the tendency of the world to split into blocks of nations who consider their differences to be irreconcilable.
It cannot be denied that the recent trend has been for the world to split into opposing camps instead of growing into a united and integrated community, the “one world” envisaged and fervently hoped for by the authors of the Charter at San Francisco, If that trend is allowed to continue unchecked, the United Nations will inevitably become a mere forum of public debate. The United Nations can be an effective organization for maintaining peace only if its Members are willing and ready to subordinate the interests of individual nations to the nobler and greater interests of humanity.
Time was when the individual was a law unto himself. Time was when a national State was an absolute sovereignty. The time now has come when all individuals and all nations are so interdependent that they have to think of the common interest of the human race, lest they sink and perish together.
Today, inside the United Nations as well as outside it, internationalism remains' a weak voice in the midst of clamorous exhibitions of national pride and prejudice. Unless the Members of this Assembly think in terms of internationalism rather than nationalism, no peace can be assured.
Now let us consider the work of the Economic and Social Council, Everywhere in the world today peoples are yearning for economic betterment and social progress, China is gratified to see that the United Nations has made great strides in initiating a comprehensive international mechanism for the handling of economic and social problems.
During the year, the Economic and Social Council has practically completed the organization of its main structure. A glance at the names of its various Commissions — Human Rights, Economic and Employment, Social, Transport and Communications, Status of Women, Fiscal, Statistical, Population and Narcotics — is sufficient to indicate the wide range of questions covered in its courageous endeavour.
It seems to the Chinese delegation that during the coming year this Council should give due attention to promoting orderliness and co-ordination in the extended activities of its many Commissions and Sub-Commissions. While the Constant challenge before the Security Council is conflict, the constant threat before the Economic and Social Council may well be confusion. This emphasis on clarification and evaluation of purposes and procedure, in respect of the activities of its individual organs, should become the constant preoccupation of the Economic and Social Council in the coming year.
Finally we should like to speak about the Trusteeship Council. The Chinese Government is happy to observe that the International Trusteeship System has been inaugurated and that the Trusteeship Council is in operation. In the view of the Chinese delegation, the inauguration of the trusteeship system marks the beginning of a great movement towards the building of a wholly free world. It is to be noted that under the provisions of the Charter three categories of territories are to be placed under the International Trusteeship System. Up to the present, however, not all the territories under League mandate which have not yet achieved independence have been placed under the trusteeship system. No territories detached from former enemy States have been placed under that trusteeship system, and no Non-Self-Governing Territories have been voluntarily placed under that system. Therefore, although the trusteeship system has been inaugurated, it has yet to become a comprehensive and effective instrument as envisaged by the Charter.
Our task is arduous and our responsibility is great. They call for determined efforts and a renewed spirit of co-operation on the part of all of us to make this session a real success. As the representative of a nation that has known the devastation of war in the fullest measure and is still bleeding from the wounds of battle two years after victory, I am firmly convinced that the United Nations, as the guardian of peace, must not and cannot fail.