51. Mr. President, I should like, in the first place, to offer you the warm congratulations of my delegation and my personal hearty felicitations upon your election to this high office. Those who, like myself, have seen you at work for long years in this Organization and admire your outstanding talents and wisdom are confident that the General Assembly and the United Nations stand to gain a great deal from your rich and varied experience. We wish you complete success in your new responsibility.
52. I should like also to place on record the appreciation of my delegation for the valuable services rendered to the United Nations by the outgoing President, the Foreign Minister of Romania.
53. My delegation would like also to express its warm welcome to the new Member, Swaziland.
54. Almost a quarter of a century has elapsed since the Second World War ended and the United Nations, the hope of mankind for a more peaceful and orderly world, came into being. Yet the problems which beset various parts of the globe and our Organization have lost neither their acuteness nor their alarming capacity to upset the precarious peace and the free existence of many nations. Indeed, as the General Assembly convenes for its twenty-third session, there are few tidings over which we can rejoice, and still fewer signs which promise a greater tranquillity to this troubled world or a brighter hope to the countless millions of human beings yearning to exchange the daily life of terror and sudden death for a life of greater security, decency and dignity which they and their families would like to enjoy.
55. Nowhere, from Europe to the Middle East and Asia, does the international situation really present any worthwhile improvement or progress. Rather, nations and peoples, even though they may wrap themselves in new garbs, seem to cling to old habits and the conservatism of by-gone days. The fact that they brandish the garish revolutionary banner cannot hide their motivations, which remain strangely feudalistic. In fact, the Europe of 1968, like that of 1938, seems unable to extricate itself from the worn-out axiom that “might is right”, of smaller nations being crushed or cowed into submission by larger ones with which they are linked by so-called “unbreakable ties” of almost feudalistic fealty.
56. Thus people of good-will and deep conviction in the principles and purposes of the United Nations and the norms of international law were stunned by the news last August that the Soviet Union and four of its Warsaw Pact allies had rushed their armed forces to occupy Czechoslovakia. Their action, taken without the consent, request or knowledge of the Government and leaders of the country, cannot be said to be in conformity with the United Nations Charter and international law. It also demonstrates the precarious existence of small nations around the globe which are at the mercy of larger Powers which put their interests above the rights of other nations.
57. In this connexion, it is opportune to recall the wording of the relevant provisions of the Charter of the United Nations. Article 2, paragraph 4 states:
“All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.”
58. The United Nations Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention in the Domestic Affairs of States and the Protection of Their Independence and Sovereignty also states in explicit terms in its first paragraph that:
“No State has the right to intervene, directly or indirectly, for any reason whatever, in the internal or external affairs of any State. Consequently, armed intervention and all other forms of interference or attempted threats against the personality of the State or against its political, economic and cultural elements are condemned.”
59. It is painful and disappointing to us that the Soviet Union, which is a founding Member of the United Nations and which took the initiative three years ago in inscribing on the agenda the item on non-intervention that subsequently resulted in the Declaration that I have just referred to, should decide in its own wisdom to stifle the United Nations Charter and the provisions in the Declaration which it helped to bring about. This is a sad occasion, in our opinion, for the rest of the world to judge the consistency between words and deeds.
60. The people of Czechoslovakia may be the ones who are immediately affected. But, in the long run, it is the Power that has taken unwarranted action which will continue to suffer grievously in the eyes and minds of the peoples of the world. For it is wrong to assume that, because a country has adopted a certain social system it should be completely isolated from the rest of the world and subjected arbitrarily to the law that the lord and leader of the “commonwealth”, to use the unexpected and novel terminology for that group of nations, may decree. For humanity is one, and no political or social system or doctrine on earth can succeed in breeding separate species of human beings, be it the homo socialis or homo communis. Therefore, even though the Czechoslovak people live under a socialist régime, they evoked the sympathy and compassion of many non-socialist peoples when their rights as a sovereign nation were trampled upon. That is why the call is now heard from many quarters for the immediate withdrawal of the Soviet and other Warsaw Pact allies’ troops from Czechoslovak territory and an appeal is made to the Soviet Union to allow its sister socialist nation and ally to determine its own future and destiny free from external interference and coercion.
61. Similarly, in South-East Asia, there are those who claim to follow a progressive course. but who, in fact, cannot shake themselves free from the most obnoxious tradition of the past: colonialism. Their aims are merely to step into the shoes of the Western colonialists who have already left the region and thus to prolong, if not to perpetuate under a new label and false pretences, the old-style colonialism. Pretending to be progressive and even revolutionary, the totalitarian régimes in Asia are, in fact, the most reactionary and retrograde that have ever existed. For under the misnomer of national liberation, they seek nothing more than to impose their control and domination over unwilling peoples by committing brazen aggression as well as subversive and other illegal activities against South Viet-Nam, against Laos and even Cambodia, as well as against may other South-East Asian countries, including my own. Because of such shameless actions, a war is now raging in Viet-Nam, from which the aggressors must be repelled. For the same reason North Viet-Nam, one of the sources from which aggression was launched has been subjected to air attacks to reduce its capability to commit further depredations and unwarranted assaults against the South. The bombing of military installations in the North has produced the desired result and has induced the aggressive régime of Hanoi to agree to enter into preliminary talks instead of persisting exclusively in obtaining a military solution to the Viet-Nam situation. The bombing is therefore not an end in itself, but a means to bring about the peaceful conclusion of the conflict.
62. Those who are realistic and who genuinely desire peace — a full and complete peace, not half a peace — will urge not only the cessation of air bombardment of North Viet-Nam but also the immediate halting of indiscriminate slaughter of innocent civilians, of women and children in many cities of South Viet-Nam as a result of aimless rocket attacks and mortar fire by the communist attackers. The peace-loving people of South-East Asia, who abhor the war which has been imposed upon them by those who seek to satisfy their lust for conquest, want an end to the fighting not merely in the air over North Viet-Nam but everywhere in South Viet-Nam, in Laos and in many other places in Asia. Therefore those who truly and honestly stand for peace will not fail to apply a single moral standard of
judgment to all acts of war now being perpetrated in South-East Asia. Otherwise, the suffering people of Asia will look upon them as blatantly false prophets of peace seeking to further their selfish personal or ideological aims.
63. Already the restrictions in air attacks against North Viet-Nam have given the Hanoi régime considerable advantages which an impartial analyst of the Asian situation, Professor P. S. Honey, has described as relieving the tension in the population of North Viet-Nam, enabling the Hanoi authorities to repair shattered communications and to restore the heavily damaged port of Haiphong to normal use as the principal inlet for foreign aid.
64. If, therefore, a total halt in the bombing of North Viet-Nam without a corresponding communist reduction in the hostilities in South Viet-Nam were to occur, it would have the effect only of increasing the war potential of the Hanoi régime and that of the Viet-Cong with incalculable risks for the defensive side in South Viet-Nam. Furthermore, a one-sided halt in air attacks against the North will not bring about an end to the hostilities. As can be judged by the attitude presently adopted by the North Viet-Namese in the course of the current talks in Paris and the recent statement by the Soviet Foreign Minister, the other side will almost certainly claim that even such a concession will not be sufficient to induce Hanoi to negotiate more seriously and in substance. The North Viet-Namese will require further concessions, such as the recognition of the National Liberation Front as the sole qualified representative of the South Viet-Namese people, and the complete withdrawal of external forces which are helping South Viet-Nam defend its independence and integrity.
65. To consent to those demands would be hardly different from surrender. In order to accomplish such a purpose, I believe that the South Viet-Namese would need no help from outside. If they wished to do just that — which I know they do not — they could do it themselves. They would require no assistance from the United Nations, or from any other Government. The nations of Asia, and now those of Europe, are fully conscious of the limitations of the world Organization and are aware that the United Nations cannot save them from external aggression or internal subversion. All they ask is that no arrangement be made under the blue banner, or any national flag, serving as a flag of convenience for the smooth delivery of free nations to aggressive totalitarian régimes.
66. Under existing circumstances, peace will be restored in Viet-Nam and in the rest of South-East Asia only if North Viet-Nam and its supporters renounce their designs of expansion and conquest, or if their capacity to carry out these nefarious schemes has become substantially reduced. In the meantime, the defending free nations have no alternative except to persist in their present heavy responsibility.
67. There is a forgotten area of the world, an area where the saddest kind of tragedy has for years been played out and is still being played out. The plight of the Tibetan people came up three times for consideration by the General Assembly, the last time during the nineteenth session, not so very long ago. But it may already have slipped altogether from the minds of many people; or if it does remain, it remains only as a vague memory.
68. Meanwhile, the systematic and brutal persecution conducted against the fundamental human rights and freedom of the Tibetan people by the Peking régime has continued unabated, perhaps with increased intensity. The launching of the cultural revolution wreaked even greater havoc in the distinctive cultural and religious life of the spiritual people of Tibet. Revered places of worship have practically all been destroyed or converted into headquarters for conducting suppression and oppression. Famine and starvation stalked the land and wiped out the native Tibetans at the same fast rate as forcible exile or murder by the Peking authorities. Only the fortunate few managed to flee to neighbouring countries to seek asylum.
69. In fact, the systematic genocide of an ancient race with a rich and distinctive culture is being efficiently carried out and yet, unlike some other issues on which the United Nations Members voiced deep indignation, the situation in Tibet at present causes hardly a ripple of concern in the United Nations, which bases its existence, inter alia, on the promotion of fundamental human rights and freedom. One is surely entitled to ask: Where is the conscience of mankind on this issue?
70. We deeply deplore the tragic development in Tibet and strongly hope that practices which lead to the deprivation of the fundamental human rights and freedom of the Tibetan people will cease.
71. The delegation of Thailand also views with increasing concern the unresolved and dangerous situation still obtaining in the Middle East. Anomalies of the most blatant kind continue to exist there, as has been pointed out in the past by several delegations, including my own, and yet those immediately concerned seem reluctant to move towards a realistic and just solution. No wonder, therefore, that the Jarring mission has to tread most warily and most patiently and cannot be expected to achieve any swift success. But the mission, in our opinion, is still the best hope for a solution to the knotty problem, or at least our best means of keeping a volcanic situation from erupting.
72. My delegation considers that one of the most tragic facets of the Middle East situation is the plight of the innocent civilians, especially the refugees, who have been driven from their homes and their land and have, in addition, to endure enormous suffering brought about by the relentless conflict between the more militant of their own kind. Whereas, in all other facets, only the rules of international law and international relations are called into question, with the refugees and the civilians it is humanity itself which now is the question.
73. Equally tragic is the plight of civilian victims caused by local conflicts in the eastern part of Nigeria. My delegation wishes to express its fervent hope that a reasonable settlement will soon be arrived at and that the Nigerian people will be spared further suffering and hardship.
74. Humanity is the big question with the situation in another region fraught with dangerous possibilities, the southern half of the continent of Africa. The people and Government of Thailand can see no justification whatsoever for the policy of apartheid which continues to be pursued by the racist minority group in southern Africa. My delegation has consistently deplored and condemned the apartheid policy. We are disturbed that the numerous resolutions of the General Assembly in this direction have had almost no practical effect. On the contrary, the pattern of apartheid seems to become more hardened and even more varied and vicious. It is now being used not only to suppress the human rights of the people of South Africa, but also to perpetuate the rule of the South African
Government over the people of Namibia, in total defiance of the United Nations resolutions on this matter.
75. It is furthermore difficult to expect that this disease of racial segregation cum colonialism can be contained within the area under the effective control of South Africa. Where similar situations exist, the same methods are bound to be used and it is so with the area of Southern Rhodesia under the illegal régime of Ian Smith. The intransigent attitude of the Smith régime and its continued ability to exist in spite of the sanctions of the United Nations owe much to the moral and physical support given to it by neighbouring Governments.
76. Although prevented by distance and circumstances from exerting more effective or immediate pressure, my Government has faithfully carried out the sanctions imposed by the United Nations on the two régimes and we are dismayed that no better results have been achieved. My delegation, however, will continue to support further measures which this General Assembly may decide to apply against such inhuman policies.
77. There is no need, however, to despair that perennial questions will remain forever so in the present framework of the United Nations for, in the past year, we have seen one instance when a general will to succeed has resulted in rapid progress in a perennial subject—that of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. The achievement of the resumed twenty-second session of the General Assembly and the conclusions of the Conference of Non-Nuclear-Weapon States are indeed, as several speakers before me have termed it, truly historic, not only for the United Nations but for mankind as a whole.
78. The Government of Thailand welcomes the emergence of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons [see resolution 2373(XXII)] and endorses its spirit. Obviously, there are flaws in a treaty of this nature which even its most ardent admirers would admit and, in coming to a decision on the matter, the Government of Thailand would regard most of these flaws with sympathetic understanding. We cannot, however, be less than inflexible in matters which affect the vital security of our nation, and the security pledges by the three nuclear Powers which accompany the Treaty as yet beg many difficult questions, fundamental to which is, of course, the very large doubt whether universal and unrestrictedly valid rules do exist as to respect for the sovereignty and the right of self-determination of nations. Such rules are already embodied in the principles of the United Nations Charter, but there are those near and dangerous to Thailand who neither practise nor subscribe to the principles of the Charter. There are also Members of the United Nations which profess strict adherence to the Charter principles and yet, by their actions and unacceptable justifications, have shaken the confidence of the community of nations about their real respect for the security and independence of other States, specially small and non-nuclear ones such as ours.
79. Another perennial problem of the United Nations, the question of peace-keeping operations, seems now to have taken over the position of being the slowest moving as well as affording the least expectation of success. The constitutional rigidity which created the problem in the first place still blocks any significant and real progress, and the deliberations of the last session of the General Assembly and the Special Committee on Peace-Keeping Operations during the past year could not produce anything more than an agreement to study a small observer-type aspect of the question.
80. My delegation considers the lack of progress towards an agreement on this question as a great tragedy for the United Nations, for it not only impedes future actions by the United Nations in the field which must be its strongest raison d’être — that of keeping the peace in this world — but it also calls into question the validity of a Charter which is obviously subject to ambivalent and seemingly irreconcilable interpretation. My delegation thus believes that a decisive step towards the solution of this question is long overdue and that a positive result would immeasurably raise the prestige and effectiveness of our Organization in the areas where such a rise is most urgently needed. For that reason, we would willingly join in any movement towards that end which offered a reasonable chance of success.
81. Parallel with problems of international politics and security are those of international economic co-operation. In this connexion, the preamble of the United Nations Charter proclaims the determination of the peoples of the United Nations “to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom” and “to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples".
82. We should, therefore, expect that those countries which are in a position to help, namely, the developed countries, be more sensitive and responsive to the legitimate needs and aspirations of the less privileged peoples who are far from being a minority but constitute instead the overwhelming majority of mankind. However, it is a matter of regret to note that the policies and activities of the developed countries offer little inspiration to the developing countries. On the contrary, the former, and particularly the larger Powers, have grown more inward-looking, more assertive about their own rights, and more reticent about their responsibilities. The communications gap between the rich and the poor nations is still as wide as the income gap. In our view, development and mutual help would lay a firm and concrete basis for peace-building in the world.
83. Therefore, it is our considered view that the developed countries should renew serious attempts to deal with, among other things, the question of international trade. Obviously, since the future and stability of the developing countries depend on expanding their exports of agricultural and manufactured goods, the developed countries should do more to help them to attain these desired goals, at least by allowing their access to the markets of the developed countries. I need hardly mention here that about 85 per cent of the export earnings of the developing countries come from primary products. But the market for these exports remains sluggish and subject to considerable price fluctuations. Besides this, most of the primary products exported by the developing countries must compete with commodities produced and exported by the rich countries.
84. In this connexion, elimination of agricultural protection in the highly developed countries could usefully stimulate the exports of the less developed countries. Although complete elimination is unlikely in the foreseeable future, a timely and prompt follow-up on the beginning made in connexion with the Kennedy Round of negotiations would be helpful.
85. It is in this context of discouraging facts and prospects that the highly developed countries must try to understand and appreciate the efforts of the developing countries to meet the requirements of social progress and economic justice. These requirements, which amount to human aspirations or rising hopes, cannot be kept in check indefinitely.
86. While the present drive for economic development has been and is being conducted on all fronts, the United Nations, by virtue of its wide scope and world-wide activities, may play a vital role in creating conditions of stability and social and economic well-being which are necessary for peaceful and friendly relations among nations. As is generally known, we are now living in a world in which the forces of nature have been channelled to greater productive use. It is our hope that these unprecedented forces will serve to ensure the welfare and security of mankind rather than contribute to its misery and destruction.
87. It can be seen from the foregoing that our Organization has its hands full and has to face innumerable delicate and weighty problems. At the same time, the means placed at its disposal, especially in regard to its peace-keeping role, have been greatly reduced by those who are in the best position to lend their support. While we have to be realistic and conscious of this Organization’s limitations brought about by the larger and more influential Members, we smaller nations still place our abiding faith and support in the United Nations, in its ideals and purposes, as the only existing hope of humanity for a better existence.
88. For us, the only politics we can indulge in, as our contribution to and participation in the Organization, is the politics of peace and international co-operation. That is why, fully realizing the shortcomings and limitations of the United Nations, a small country like Thailand, with its modest resources, has borne more than its fair share in making the United Nations as effective and functional an Organization as possible. Thailand has offered for the past two decades or so numerous facilities to many United Nations regional agencies which are presently located in Bangkok, our capital city, as well as substantial contributions to various United Nations programmes. At the same time, and in order to further the aims of the United Nations of supporting and promoting regional interdependence and co-operation, Thailand has been working tirelessly with its neighbours to forge and enhance the implementation of the idea of regional solidarity and partnership. Towards that end, Thailand has helped in the creation of many regional organs such as the Association of Southeast Asia, which has recently been merged with the newly established Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as well as larger groupings of nations such as the Asian and Pacific Council.
89. In so doing, our objective is not to supplant the United Nations with these regional organizations, but rather to strengthen the hand of the world Organization by supplementing and complementing the latter’s functions and activities. I regret to say, however, that these peaceful and constructive efforts have been constantly undermined and hampered by those expansionist régimes which desire to make division and dissension between the nations of the area a permanent feature of the Asian continent. Their motivations are evident. They are following the old adage of “divide and rule”. Without these multifarious impediments, Southeast Asia and perhaps the entire Asian continent, could become a small world of harmony where military alliances and military bases and installations would inevitably yield their places to peaceful co-operation for the economic and social progress of the people.
90. If these military alliances and their corollary are still required, it is because of the threats and acts of expansion and conquest by those aggressive and predatory régimes. It is nevertheless our hope that our determination to preserve our freedom and independence and to bring to fruition a future life of progress and well-being will ultimately convince those militant leaders who still dwell on the past by following the old policy of imperialistic domination that a more profitable path lies in working together and co-operating together instead of seeking mutual destruction. If they can renounce the old feudal policy of suzerain overlordship, the free nations of Asia will undoubtedly let them join in constructive endeavours for the tranquillity and progress of our part of the world.
91. If such a settlement can be arrived at in the future, the ideals of the United Nations will be greatly enhanced and its lofty principles will receive a more meaningful expression. We are convinced that these ideas and ideals which seek to project themselves into the future will replace and outlive the old concept of power politics and international inequality.