61. On behalf of the Romanian delegation, I should like first of all to extend our cordial congratulations to Mr. Arenales on his election to the office of President of the twenty-third session of the General Assembly; he has been given this high United Nations office in recognition of the outstanding qualities as a statesman and diplomat that have rightly won him universal esteem and admiration. The Romanian delegation takes additional pleasure from the fact that he represents one of the Latin American countries to which the Romanian people feel linked by many spiritual ties, foremost among which I would mention allegiance to the principles of international morality and legality. I extend to him our sincere wishes for a speedy recovery and I hope that he will very soon be able to preside over the meetings of the Assembly once again.
62. The active and tireless part the Secretary-General, U Thant, has taken in the many and varied activities of the United Nations and his steadfast devotion to the precepts of the Charter have won him our complete esteem and well-earned respect. We reaffirm to the Secretary-General our feelings of trust and the assurances of co-operation that it was also our pleasure to extend to him at the meetings of the United Nations Co-ordination Committees that were held at Bucharest last summer.
63. We are also grateful to all the delegations which have addressed words of appreciation to Romania, whose Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Manescu, with the support and considerate collaboration of the delegations of Member States, carried out the duties of President of the General Assembly, a role that fell to the socialist countries during the twenty-second session.
64. At the opening of this session, the Romanian delegation took pleasure in welcoming the admission to the United Nations of its one hundred and twenty-fifth Member: the Kingdom of Swaziland [1674th meeting]. During the general debate, the independence of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea was proclaimed; it is the most recent African State to have achieved sovereignty since the foundation of the United Nations and it now enters the ranks of the coequal nations that form the international community. The significance of the present number of Members of the Organization goes beyond a mere increase in the number of those participating in the joint activities. In our world — the world of independent and sovereign nations that are the prime movers in the development of human society — the increase in the number of fully-fledged participant in international affairs is the realization of the ideal that has always inspired the forces of progress everywhere: the conquest of the right of peoples to determine their own future.
65. The unprecedented scope of the national liberation movement and the accession of scores of new States to a free life of their own is giving new meaning to the sacred concepts of national sovereignty and independence, for the attainment of which the peoples have paid a heavy price in struggles and sacrifice.
66. Those new States, which are devoting their efforts to achieving a completely independent existence, to consolidating their national institutions and to harnessing their material and human resources to further their development, are bringing about innovations in international relations. They are coming onto today’s political scene with the ability to make an original contribution at a time which is the turning point between two eras: the era of relations based on slavery, domination and paternalism, and the era of equal rights among nations. It is a period that marks a qualitative change in international relations. The United Nations Charter, reflecting as it does the essential significance of that turning point in history and drawing upon the lessons learnt from the tragic experience of the last war, is a synthesis of the basic rules of the joint existence of States, that are designed to make the benefits of progress and civilization accessible to each nation and to the international community as a whole.
67. Interdependencies form the keystone of our international community. The need for co-operation to assist each nation’s economic, social and cultural advancement, and the need to create an atmosphere of peace and security through concerted action, require that States should establish numerous and varied links.
68. In such a community, the key to peaceful coexistence among nations and the setting up of a system of relations truly adapted to the level of present-day civilization is to be found in the strict implementation, by everyone and with regard to everyone, of the basic and unanimously accepted principles of international law.
69. International legality is one and indivisible. We are firmly convinced that responsibility for implementing the basic principles of the Charter — independence and national sovereignty, equal rights, non-interference in the affairs of others — rests in equal measure and as a sacred duty with all Member States, large and small, without any exception.
70. The United Nations Charter holds forth its principles as a protective shield to every State, wherever it may be situated in the world, when its independence and sovereignty are threatened and when the sacred right of all peoples to self-determination is disregarded. It is our duty to ensure that that shield is resolutely used to protect the vital interests of nations.
71. Today more than ever, respect for the fundamental principles that must govern relations among States is a sine qua non, both for the unimpeded peaceful advance of all peoples towards progress and prosperity and for safeguarding peace and security, which are the common good of nations.
72. There is an intrinsic and close relationship between respect for legal principles and the safeguarding of peace and security. Indeed, lasting peace and true security for all States can be based only on legal principles. Similarly, an international climate of peace and security is a condition basic to every nation’s ability to act in independence and sovereignty, on an equal footing with all other nations. Understanding, co-operation and peace have triumphed in the world whenever those principles have been scrupulously respected. Conversely, whenever they have been disregarded or violated, disturbances and dangerous conflicts have ensued which have affected both the vital interests of certain peoples and the tranquility and security of all mankind.
73. Among the requirements that are of primary and permanent importance in the peaceful development of relations among States, priority must be given to the elimination of the threat and use of force, as also of any other form of interference in the affairs of other nations.
74. Many tragic ordeals, two of which have assumed world-wide dimensions during the first half of this century, bear witness to the fact that the use of force in relations among States has had disastrous consequences for mankind. Those ordeals bring out in strong relief the need to concentrate efforts on establishing and strengthening relations based on respect for each nation’s personality, for such relations can free the world from conflicts and from fear.
75. Recourse to methods based on the threat or use of force can be abolished only through absolute respect for the principles of international law. That means that not only the use of armed force, as an extreme form of violation of the fundamental rights of peoples must be banished from international life, but all the manifestations under cover of which force can act in inter-State relations, particularly political, economic and other pressures that impede the normal progress of international relations and that in the end can be reduced to one common denominator: violation of the sovereignty and of the equal rights of States.
76. The relevance today of the precepts enshrined in the Charter is revealed both by the discussions at this session and by the work our Organization has undertaken for the codification of the principles that should govern relations among States, in particular the eschewing of the threat or use of force, the settlement of disputes by peaceful means, non-intervention in domestic affairs, equal rights and the duty to co-operate in accordance with the Charter, the right of peoples to self-determination and the carrying out in good faith of obligations assumed under the Charter.
77. The efforts that the United Nations is making to define those principles, which have long been a part of positive law, and the solemn adoption of those principles by States, are part of the concern that is being shown to consolidate international legality.
78. To be sure, in order to establish and buttress legal principles designed to govern international relations, it is not enough to define them and to incorporate them into international instruments and documents. They must be steadfastly supported and strengthened through the persevering work of all States to transform concepts of justice, equality, freedom, rapprochement and co-operation among nations into realities.
79. Romania, centring its foreign policy around friendship and collaboration of many kinds with the socialist countries to which it is joined by common interests in building a new society and by a common social end political philosophy, is methodically pursuing a policy of understanding and co-operation with all States based on reciprocal respect for sovereignty, national independence, equal rights and mutual benefit, as also non-interference in domestic affairs.
80. The President of the Council of State, Nicolae Ceausescu, speaking of the co-ordination policy of the Socialist Republic of Romania, stated:
"Romania, a socialist country engaged in a large-scale process of economic and social construction guaranteeing to the Romanian people advancement along the road of material and spiritual civilization and rounded development of the human personality, is expressing in its foreign policy practices its total and faithful adherence to the concept of development and co-operation among nations and is making an active contribution to the exploration of all roads and all effective methods for collaboration and understanding among States.”
81. An unchanging factor in Romanian foreign policy is its firm and complete allegiance to the principles of law and international morality. Those are the principles upon which the Romanian Government bases its bilateral relations with all States and its approach to any problem of international life.
82. In its relations with the countries of the continent to which it belongs, Romania is cultivating standards of peaceful joint existence and good-neighbourliness. That, in our opinion, is the surest way towards European security and towards the solution of the great political problems that are still outstanding. We believe that disputed European questions, albeit complicated by the inheritance of the cold war, whose military and political sequels are such that the settlement of those questions is a lengthy task fraught with obstacles, can and must be settled by reasonable methods, through direct talks and negotiations based on respect for each State’s independence, with any use of force ruled out. In order to achieve those aims, it is more than ever necessary to act to promote the development of collaboration and friendship among the European nations so that the process of détente may go forward and that a return to the cold war may be avoided. That also requires the creation of an atmosphere of mutual respect and truth and the mobilizing of all sound forces which stand for peace and progress on the continent.
83. Within the framework of the efforts it is making to promote European peace and security, Romania is giving special attention to the development of its traditional bonds of friendship with the nations within its own geographical area and is constantly striving to strengthen and to broaden good neighbourly relations among the Balkan States in order to maintain and foster a system of co-operation and understanding in that region. Along with other European socialist countries, Romania drew up and ratified the Bucharest Declaration in 1966, which stated that:
“Realization of the common striving of all European Nations presupposes the responsibility of each state, big or small, irrespective of its socio-political system, and its contribution to the development of proper co-operation between sovereign, independent and equal states.”
84. We feel that problems of European security must be approached realistically, on the basis of the changes brought about on the continent in the aftermath of the war, and on the basis of the existence of the two German States. The recognition of the German Democratic Republic by all European States and the establishment of diplomatic relations with both German States is imperative, as is the creation of the requisite conditions to enable them to participate on an equal footing in the positive solution of European problems. The admission of the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany to the United Nations would, in our opinion, help to normalize relations between the two German States and would contribute to European détente, and it would have beneficial effects on international life.
85. We are also of the opinion that we must proceed on the basis of recognition of the existing frontiers and of each State’s clearly expressed commitment not to attempt to alter those frontiers.
86. With a view to furthering European security, real and effective methods can be used that are designed to establish the necessary framework for finding and applying viable solutions to the complex problems that are still outstanding. Foremost among those methods are the continuation of the dialogue between the responsible leaders of European States and increased co-operation, at various levels, among all countries. The United Nations can make a valuable contribution to that end by promoting rapprochement and harmonizing points of view.
87. An encouraging beginning in that direction was made when the General Assembly, on the initiative of nine European countries, including Romania, adopted in 1965 the well-known resolution [2129(XX)] in which the General Assembly:
“Requests the Governments of the European States to intensify their efforts to improve reciprocal relations, with a view to creating an atmosphere of confidence which will be conducive to an effective consideration of the problems which are still hampering the relaxation of tension in Europe and throughout the world;” and
"Emphasizes the importance of maintaining and increasing contacts between those States for the purpose of developing peaceful co-operation among the peoples of the European continent, with a view to strengthening peace and security in Europe by all possible means.”
The provisions of that resolution, which was widely acclaimed by European States, are today as timely as ever.
88. The principles designed to govern relations among States are universally applicable.
89. The violation by force of the right of the Viet-Namese people to solve their own problems in complete sovereignty continues to be a source of legitimate concern to all mankind.
90. By consistently working in favour of the exclusion of the use of force in the settlement of international disputes and in favour of the establishment of relations based on respect for the independence and territorial integrity of each country, Romania has steadfastly supported the just struggle of the Viet-Namese people. The Romanian Government has repeatedly stressed the need to put a complete and unconditional end to the bombings and other acts of war against the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam, a free and independent State, and to establish the necessary conditions to ensure that the Paris talks may achieve positive results, that the Viet-Namese people may be allowed freely to decide their own future and that that source of tension which is threatening world peace and having a negative effect on peaceful co-operation among States may be eliminated.
91. For nearly twenty years, a hotbed of tension has been kept alive in another region of the Far East — Korea. We feel that it is high time the United Nations dissociated itself from any action that could exploit its authority and prestige to justify unilateral interests and that it should proceed without delay to restore the conditions that will enable the Korean people to achieve their legitimate aspirations: the peaceful and democratic reunification of their country and the exercise of their inalienable right to choose their own future. That can be achieved only through the withdrawal of the foreign troops that are occupying South Korea under cover of the United Nations and by the disbanding of the United Nations Commission for the Unification and Rehabilitation of Korea.
92. It is an error to rely solely on the therapeutic effect of procrastination and to wait for time to overcome crises without any determined effort being made to guide affairs towards a peaceful settlement. Time can all unaided lead to the prolonging and worsening of disputes.
93. Concerned as it is about the enduring nature of the hotbed of conflicts in the Middle East and the constant accumulation of factors that are maintaining the tension in that area, Romania has expressed its confidence in the possibility of a rational and just settlement based on the right of each State to territorial integrity, sovereign existence and security. It is still in favour of a settlement in that same spirit.
94. The problems to be solved in the Middle East are of course complex, but we are firmly convinced that their solution is to be found only through peaceful means, through negotiations.
95. The interests of the peoples of the Middle East urgently demand that normal relations based on coexistence and co-operation should be established in that area and that differences should be settled by the withdrawal of troops from the occupied territories and by respect for the security and independence of each State in the area.
96. We are of the opinion that the resolution [242 (1967)] unanimously adopted by the Security Council on 22 November last, representing a collective effort, establishes the principles for a political settlement in the area. It forms the basis for the mission that has been entrusted to Mr. Gunnar Jarring, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, to whom delegations have expressed their encouragement and confidence. We share the opinion expressed from this rostrum that we now have an opportunity that must not be lost. Since the earliest antiquity, Mediterranean wisdom has known that lost opportunities are like spoken words that, once gone, can never be recaptured.
97. Among the principles that make up the framework of relations among equal and sovereign nations, international co-operation — one of the basic concepts of the United Nations Charter — is playing an increasingly active part in present-day international relations.
98. It could not be otherwise is an era that bears the imprint of radical changes that have been brought about by great contemporary scientific and technological discoveries.
99. No country can be immune to the action of the laws of human progress or stand aloof from the quickened and multi-lateral course cf world relations. The same laws are at the basis of the constant widening of the area for co-operation, both horizontally, as a result of the participation in international law of new, independent entities, and vertically, owing to each State’s increased part in the ever more active and more varied exchange of material and spiritual values.
100. According to the view that we share with many other countries, international co-operation has a precise and clearly defined role to play, namely, to promote, strengthen and protect the constructive effort of each people and the concern of each State to enable its economy, culture and science to profit from the opportunities being offered by modern civilization.
101. International economic exchanges and relations must assist in creating and in strengthening the material basis for national sovereignty and independence and in reinforcing the security of States against any tendency to make use of superior strength for purposes of subjection or domination.
102. Economic and social activities, as an integral part of United Nations work to achieve the goals set by the Charter, namely, the fostering of peace and progress for all peoples, must be conceived as a general strategy designed to encourage and support national efforts devoted to progress and to eradicating the anachronistic phenomenon of under-development and the evils accompanying it, such as hunger, disease and ignorance, the perpetuation of which is incompatible with contemporary world civilization.
103. The test of the effectiveness of the co-operation programmes put into effect under United Nations auspices lies in the extent to which these programmes are helping to narrow the gap between the national development levels of nations.
104. In addition to perpetuating the economic and social backwardness of many countries, the tendency of the economic, scientific and technological gap to widen — a trend that has been stressed with justifiable concern by many representatives at this session — is such as to create new types of dependency at the international level while favouring the maintenance of neo-colonialist practices. This phenomenon, which is giving rise to new sources of division and tension in present-day society, has long-term consequences that affect world peace itself.
105. The alarming prospects that that trend appears to be creating for the future of a large part of mankind make it imperative that the international community should adopt firm corrective measures.
106. We should like to emphasize that it is each country’s individual responsibility that is the prime factor in the development of national economic potential, and that calls for structural changes to meet the modern demands of progress; at the same time, however, we consider that today it is a basic and real necessity of international life to provide the developing countries with abundant and effective support through various types of economic, technical and scientific assistance.
107. We are convinced that the needs of the developing countries, as specified at the New Delhi Conference, can be met through the implementation of the principles that were formulated back in 1964 in the Final Act of the first session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, namely: equality, complete sovereignty over natural resources, non-discrimination in trade relations among States. That is the basis on which international economic co-operation can be broadened and we think it is useful to stress that point now that the time for proclaiming a new United Nations Development Decade is drawing near.
108. The main incentive for progress is man; he is both the subject and the object of the efforts that are being made to build a better, more just, more secure and more prosperous world. In our opinion, no economic development plan should underestimate the importance of solving social problems, for any progress achieved in one of those areas is closely bound up with the improvements that come about in the other.
109. We should like to express our gratification at the fact that one of the ideas that we had the privilege of submitting for the consideration of the Economic and Social Council — that concerning emphasis on the role of the human factor and on the training of personnel in development techniques — was so well received and that it is being included as a matter of priority in future United Nations programmes.
110. It is important that this year, which has been officially proclaimed the International Year for Human Rights, attention should once again be drawn to the necessity of creating the essential conditions for the fulfilment of the individual in every sphere and for ensuring complete respect for human dignity.
111. In expressing its complete solidarity with peoples struggling against colonialism and neo-colonialism and for national freedom and independence, Romania strongly condemns the racial discrimination and the policy of apartheid being practised by the governing circles in Southern Rhodesia and the Republic of South Africa, as also the policy of colonial oppression that is being carried out in Angola and Mozambique.
112. At a time when this Assembly was proclaiming the United Nations Development Decade, for the purpose of fostering the economic progress of the developing countries and closing the immense gaps that separate those countries from the industrialized States, the world has witnessed another decade, that of armaments, contrary — we need hardly say — to the recommendations and ideals embodied in all our joint resolutions.
113. The first Decade, the Development Decade, achieved some modest results, although the goals that were set were not very ambitious. In contrast, the other decade, the armaments decade, although it was not proclaimed, made unprecedented strides and swallowed up vast resources, amounting to the astronomical sum of $1,500,000 million.
114. How can we fail to be concerned at the fact that during the first eight years of the Development Decade an increase Of $2,000 million in aid was accompanied by an increase of $60,000 million allocated to military spending, which this year reached the incredible sum of $180,000 million — although we cannot say that in 1968 States enjoyed greater security than in 1960.
115. If we consider the fact that with those sums of money great projects designed to improve man’s lot could have been carried out, that every newly manufactured weapon being stored in the military arsenals in which the world abounds is a denial of human well-being and that every scientist working in the field of weapons development represents an intellectual resource removed from the efforts mankind is making to place the hitherto untapped resources of science at the service of man’s prosperity and happiness, it becomes clear that on the eve of the Second Development Decade there is but one choice to be made: disarmament. Disarmament, which is demanded by the very course of history and by the needs of our era, will enable every human and material resource to be devoted to wiping out the phenomenon of under-development and to the achievement of general economic growth.
116. In the present circumstances, disarmament is a sure way to achieve a lasting peace and equal security for all States of the world, factors that are essential to the vast process of development to which man in our century is entitled to aspire. We consider that, in order to deal successfully with the disarmament problem, political determination, reciprocal trust and sustained efforts must be united to achieve a co-operation with which, we are convinced, all peoples of the world are concerned.
117. Given the complexity of the problems and the extent of their repercussions, general disarmament, within which category we give nuclear disarmament priority, cannot be achieved all at once. For that reason, the Romanian Government is in favour of implementing, concurrently with efforts aimed at general disarmament, measures of a partial and temporary nature capable of bringing about a relaxation of tension in international relations and in other respects promoting the achievement of the final goal.
118. The conclusion of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons [resolution 2373 (XXII)], to whose drafting Romania, along with other States, made a constructive contribution, must be seen as a stage in an uninterrupted process that is directed towards the achievement of radical disarmament measures.
119. For the first time, the non-proliferation Treaty embodies both in spirit and in letter the legal obligation of the State to:
“... pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control” [article VI].
120. Under the provisions of the non-proliferation Treaty, non-nuclear-weapon countries accept the highly responsible obligation to refrain from manufacturing or acquiring nuclear weapons. In the light of an arms race that is increasing both qualitatively and quantitatively, the principles upon which the Treaty is based and the equal right of peoples to peace and security require that non-nuclear-weapon States should be given guarantees of real security until existing nuclear stockpiles have been completely liquidated and the nuclear threat has thus totally disappeared. At the same time, those States must be able to enjoy fully and without hindrance the great benefits being created by the peaceful utilization and application of atomic energy, for the promotion of their peoples’ progress and prosperity.
121. The Conference of Non-Nuclear-Weapon States that recently concluded its work at Geneva strongly set forth the need to satisfy those legitimate demands of the non-nuclear-weapon States.
122. We share the conviction that the United Nations must persevere in its efforts directed towards the adoption of measures to meet the requests those countries have made, particularly in connexion with the guarantee of their security, the unresiricted use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and broad international co-operation in that field, together with the adoption of resolute disarmament measures.
123. The agenda adopted by the Eighteen-Nation Committee on Disarmament, an agenda that recognizes the priority to be given to measures for nuclear disarmament, as also the Soviet Government’s memorandum of 5 July 1968 [A/7134], which appears on the agenda of the present session [item 94] and which puts forward some suggestions that can serve as a basis for future disarmament measures, provide an opportunity for beginning serious discussions with a view to arriving at the agreements on disarmament that are so urgently needed owing to the increasing threats that are being posed by the present increase in the rate of arms proliferation.
124. In keeping with its position of principle, Romania is determined to participate to the utmost in the efforts that are being made to bring about disarmament, and, first and foremost, nuclear disarmament.
125. The founding of the United Nations is a manifestation of the struggle mankind is waging to ensure the primacy of law over force and to introduce a code of rational conduct in inter-State relations.
126. Under the provisions of the Charter, the United Nations was given broad powers in the matter of maintaining international peace and security. Nevertheless, it is a fact that this Organization, which was set up to give a faithful reflexion of the realities of the day, does not yet fully correspond to the ideal that inspired its founding, that of universality.
127. A basic condition for strengthening the United Nations lies in the correction of a serious error which is also a flagrant injustice and discrimination against one of the founding States. I am speaking of the fact that the Government of the People’s Republic of China is prevented from occupying its proper place in the United Nations as the representative of China. There can be no doubt that lasting solutions to the great problems facing contemporary society cannot be found without the participation of the People’s Republic of China. We consider that the time has come to put an end to that situation, which is extremely harmful to the Organization’s basic interests, by restoring that country’s legitimate: rights and by expelling the Chiang Kai-shek envoys from the seat they are illegally occupying. It is only thus that the Organization’s responses to the various questions that will be placed before it will acquire the necessary authority and effectiveness.
128. Romania is participating with confidence in United Nations activities and is desirous of co-operating with other States in strengthening the prestige and increasing the effectiveness of the Organization.
129. Dedicated to the spirit and to the principles of the United Nations Charter, Romania is determined to strive resolutely for the triumph of the ideals of peace, friendship and understanding among peoples and to contribute to its utmost to the solution of the political, economic and social problems that are today a matter of concern to every Member of the international community.