94. Mr, President, at the outset, the Australian delegation joins in the congratulations to you on your election to the high office of President and we pledge you our confidence and our support.
95. At the outset also, we should like to pay tribute too to the distinguished services given to the General Assembly by the outgoing President, the Foreign Minister of Romania.
96. I should also like to welcome to the body of membership of the United Nations the Kingdom of Swaziland, whose admission to membership Australia greets with great pleasure and had the honour of co-sponsoring. We look forward to the constructive participation of Swaziland in the work of this Organization.
97. This session of the General Assembly meets in discouraging circumstances at a critical time. I say that because, during the past few years, some of us have watched hopefully for signs of closer co-operation and understanding between the great Powers, a lessening of the danger to peace, new possibilities in the control of arms, and international co-operation in trying to raise living standards everywhere. We now have to ask ourselves if those hopes were illusory.
98. The principal recent setback was the aggression by the Soviet Union and some others against Czechoslovakia. It was intervention by force against the wishes of the lawful Government of Czechoslovakia and without the invitation or even the acquiescence of the legislature of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of that country. There is no need for me to outline those events, for they are well known, and I do not want to say anything that will worsen the position of the people of Czechoslovakia, Already the parliament of Australia has unanimously expressed our condemnation of the act and our sympathy with the sufferers.
99. I shall speak now only about some of the implications of those events for the rest of the world. In the first place, new doubt has been cast on the attitude of the Soviet Union towards the provisions of the Charter and the United Nations. The Charter of the United Nations is quite clear in forbidding the threat of force or the use of force against any nation. The Soviet Union has argued, in defence of its action against Czechoslovakia, that relations between the member countries of the Warsaw Pact are an internal matter and not the concern of other countries. What this amounts to is an assertion by the Soviet Union that the members of the Warsaw Pact are not to be regarded as independent Members of the United Nations like other countries and therefore not entitled to the protection of the Charter.
100. The Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union, in his address to the General Assembly last week [1679th meeting] referred several times to the "socialist commonwealth" as a description of the countries covered by the Warsaw Pact, The word "commonwealth" is familiar to us; for many years past it has been applied to the free association of countries which were formerly in the British Empire. An essential element of that Commonwealth is the freedom of any one of its members to leave the Commonwealth if it wishes to do so, and indeed two members have done so in the past. However, the Soviet Union apparently does not recognize the right of members of its own grouping of nations to leave the group, Indeed, Mr. Gromyko and other spokesmen of the Soviet Union have declared against any such right. They have felt it necessary to state that point even though Czechoslovakia had not indicated any intention to withdraw from its treaty relationship with the Soviet Union. So the first cause of our concern is that the Soviet Union disregards — indeed, disavows — the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations recognizing the rights of Member nations to independence and freedom from the threat or use of force.
101. Furthermore, the Soviet Union's action against Czechoslovakia has reawakened distrust of any undertakings that might be given by the Soviet Union. It has brought other countries to consider whether they should strengthen their own defences and their international security arrangements. Today we hear voices in many countries of Europe, including some that are by no means ideologically out of sympathy with the Soviet Union, calling for increased armament and for increased mobilization of forces on that continent. Questions are being raised throughout the world whether countries can safely enter into further agreements on arms control. The attack on Czechoslovakia has been a setback to disarmament, including the control of nuclear weapons. The hope for co-operation between the great Powers, on which the peace-keeping system of the United Nations rests and on which the hopes of so many peoples of the world are based, has also been damaged.
102. Many of us here remember that the occupation of Czechoslovakia was the prelude to war in 1939, and it brought a shiver of grim foreboding to see East German troops entering Czechoslovakia again thirty years later. With such memories in our minds, let me say most earnestly to Moscow that it is important now that the Soviet Union should not abuse the position flowing from the presence of several hundred thousand Russian troops in Czechoslovakia. The recent agreement in Moscow should be carried out in a way that preserves the genuine independence of the Government and people of Czechoslovakia. The eyes of the world are still on that country and on neighbouring countries, Continued threats or pressure are bound to affect the judgement of the whole world on the possibility of co-operation with the Soviet Union — a co-operation which we see as a basic necessity for world peace and as a fundamental of the United Nations Charter.
103. In his speech to this Assembly the Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union spoke again about disarmament. I ask: what hope lies ahead of us? The truth about disarmament is that it is only possible when there is confidence, Frightened nations do not disarm. Nations that do not trust each other do not disarm. Nations that disbelieve what other nations say do not disarm. If any nation comes to this place and proposes to take the lead in a move towards disarmament it can best take that lead by establishing trust — complete trust that its pledged word will be kept, its promises will not be broken, its respect for the principles of the Charter and its observance of the procedure for peaceful settlement laid down in the Charter will be absolute and unvarying. That seems to us to be the path to disarmament.
104. We would welcome and be responsive to any move which would be likely to bring about a reduction in the economic burden that armaments place on the economies of all nations, any move which would replace a system of security resting on the deterrent influence of armed strength by a system resting on the certainty that procedures of peaceful settlement of disputes would be followed. But the smaller nations of the world want more than words. If the approach to disarmament is to be step by step, then each step must be seen to be effective. It is not enough in establishing confidence to promise to perform an act of disarmament or to offer to submit to control. There is the need too for effective inspection and verification to show that the step has in fact been taken and that the control has in fact been applied and obeyed. Above all, there has to be faith that proposals for disarmament are made not to serve the advantage of one but to lessen the dangers of all.
105. I turn now to another recent development that seems to us to be a setback to the hopes of mankind. I refer to the growing disillusionment in many of the highly developed countries about economic aid, In some of the major donors of economic assistance, public and parliamentary opinion has shown reluctance to maintain the volume of aid at its past levels, There are criticisms of the past effectiveness of aid and of the extent to which those who receive aid are making use of it or adequately developing their own resources. Those are not solely criticisms of those who give; some of the fault lies with those who receive, and all of us are open to criticism if we have failed to co-operate wisely and effectively.
106. The starting point surely is that the need is still there and the need is very great. For its part, the Australian Government has each year been increasing its international economic assistance and, in the current financial year which began in July, it has made a further increase.
107. There are three aspects of our concern about international aid, One is that the world volume of aid should not fall. The second is that aid should be given in the best form and applied in the most effective way. Third, and over all, is our growing recognition that, behind the present need for economic and technical assistance to the weaker countries, there lie more fundamental problems which create the need for aid but which will not themselves be solved simply by giving aid. I shall take those in turn.
108. In regard to the form of aid, it is disappointing that some of the international assistance shown in statistics may in fact bring limited benefits. I have in mind, for example, aid which takes the form of loans bearing, in some cases quite considerable rates of interest. I feel I can talk bluntly about this because all the economic assistance given by Australia, and appearing in the international statistics alongside the name of Australia, takes the form of grants which are not repayable at any time and which do not carry interest or any other such burden, I am not, of course, arguing against any international loans or credits. Some loans or credits may be the appropriate form of finance, having regard to the nature of the projects involved or the position of the countries concerned. What I am drawing attention to is the tendency of many donors to describe as international aid what should really be described as old-fashioned banking loans. In certain developing countries the volume of their debt is building up to high levels, and some of them have already reached the point where they face the problem — or in the not-too-distant future they will face the problem — of having to try to negotiate some refunding of their debt.
109. It is also an unfortunate necessity that in present circumstances so much of international aid has to be diverted to relieving immediate distress, brought about either by natural disasters or by human blunder, and such aid does little to bring a permanent change for the better in the conditions of those who receive it. We have to look for the chances to make international aid serve a constructive purpose.
110. Whether aid is a stimulus to development or a palliative of distress, consideration has to be given in both giving and receiving countries to whether the best use is being made of the resources devoted to aid. Are the receiving countries applying the best techniques and policies when they make requests and when they carry out their projects? Are the donor countries making available the right sort of assistance, and are they following appropriate economic policies to complement the aid? The effectiveness of existing international organizations also needs to be regularly reviewed, and lessons drawn from past experience.
111. It would seem to us, too, that the time is overdue to show greater international imagination in using the newly developed scientific and technological skills of mankind in this field. Let me give only one illustration. A remarkable enlargement of the hope for increasing food supplies in lands of rapidly growing population has come in recent years with the development of new strains of grain, for example, the Mexican wheat, which has resulted in a spectacular increase of production in several Asian countries and elsewhere. We submit that we all need to do more to ensure that advances in science are applied in a practical way to the problems of underdeveloped countries.
112. As I indicated earlier, however, the problems of economic need have to be looked at in a much wider context than international assistance, Not only are some of the donor nations growing, tired of giving: some of the weaker nations, which also have independent minds, are growing tired of receiving, because they do not want to be permanent pensioners. The object of our international effort should be, not simply raising living standards, but also making it possible for each country to sustain those standards through its own efforts. Hence it is most important to provide access to markets for the less-developed countries. Expansion of world trade, the maintenance of prices for primary production, and the avoidance of violent short-term fluctuations in the prices of primary products — those are the sort of aims that, we submit, we ought to have. A lot has been done in those fields over a period of many years by international commodity agreements and in other ways, but a great deal more has to be done. The UNCTAD Conference earlier this year was in many respects a disappointment. It illustrated — and I think this is the important lesson to be drawn from that Conference — the practical limitations which result when countries range themselves along barriers according to whether they are developed or less-developed. Australia, which can be regarded for certain purposes as developed and for others as underdeveloped, tries to see many of these matters from both sides, and we have ourselves taken a forward step in improving access to our markets for the products of less-developed countries.
113. In brief, my case on aid is this. Let the nations of the world try to increase, rather than diminish, the volume of international assistance, Let us keep constantly under critical review the organization and policies of international aid, so that they will be best fitted to changing situations. Above all, let us look at aid in the widest economic context, with aid forming one element in achieving the aim of higher living standards and self-sustaining national economies.
114. In passing, while I respect the value of the work which is being done by various agencies in this field and commend them for it, I do want to express a simple wish regarding some of the reports that are submitted to us. I do wish that some freshening wind would blow away the jargon in which international public servants cloud their thinking. We need the simplicity of language of the hungry man, the man who knows the meaning of one word, "food". The use of terms like "extrapolations", "conceptual trends", "political parameters" and such like, tends to mask the basic fact of poverty. I fear that the use of such terms often gives a grand but false sense of achievement to those who use the long words while it does nothing to lessen the pain that gnaws at the bellies of those who want something to eat. I suggest that plain words in our reporting may help us to keep our eyes on the plain facts.
115. As we look around the world today, the Australian delegation shares the deep concern of other Members of the United Nations at the unresolved conflict in the Middle East, the hostilities inside the territory of Nigeria, the deep and difficult problems of race relations in Africa. If I do not comment on these and other situations, it is not through lack of awareness of the dangers or lack of concern with the outcome but rather because at this stage in this particular debate I could say little that has not already been said clearly and better by other speakers. So I turn, in the final section of my speech, to a part of the world with which we in Australia are more intimately concerned, of which we have a more direct knowledge, and on which we can be expected to make a contribution: Asia and the Western Pacific.
116. We have often said, as many of our Asian neighbours have said, that developments in Asia are of vital importance to the whole world. Enormous populations live there, growing in numbers as the problems of disease are overcome. The population of Asia is greater than that of the rest of the world put together, and it is not merely rising rapidly but is often doing so in countries where there is already pressure on limited production — for the second problem of this region is to develop its latent resources, both physical and human. In Asia are ancient civilizations, the source of much that is prized in the civilization of the rest of the world, and the human talent in Asia could be a precious asset to all mankind.
117. I have already said this region is important to the rest of the world. I will say more than that. If the countries in it cannot solve their social and economic problems and work out stable and peaceful relationships with one another, then the peace and prosperity of the rest of the world will be in jeopardy. But if they do solve those problems, then the rest of the world will find that its other problems have also been eased.
118. Those Asians who have become free and independent are making a valiant and hopeful attempt to shape the life of their own peoples in their own countries according to their will. Throughout the face of Asia today the positive and constructive element is nationalism. These free and independent newly-emerged nations want to keep their freedom and independence. They want an Asia that is not under the domination of any Power, and not under the threat of the domination of any Power, an Asia where free and independent countries can make their own decisions and carry out their own decisions. We in Australia share that aim; we also want to see that. That requires an Asia where there is security and political stability and, with political stability, some real opportunity for the Governments to get on with the main job of making life better for their own peoples, It will be an Asia of change — of great economic and social changes, where the standards of living can rise, and where the economies will be economies of progress and growth, both in the way in which they affect the people who live there and the way in which they affect the outside world.
119. One of the most hopeful developments in the region has been the growth of regional co-operation, some of it under the auspices of the United Nations — particularly through the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East and the regional offices of the specialized agencies — and some of it through other regional bodies, such as the Association of South-East Asian Nations and the Asian and Pacific Council. It is, in our view, healthy at this stage of the region's development to have a number of organizations with varying membership and with varying, though I hope not conflicting, purposes, and which take account of the different historical backgrounds and differing stages of economic development already attained by the countries of the region. Regional co-operation is essential for the future security and welfare of Asia, and no local quarrel or dispute should be allowed to develop in such a way as to block or impede that co-operation.
120. What does disturb the free countries of the region is the possibility that they will not be allowed time and opportunity to build their independent national institutions, to carry out economic development, and to weld their regional relationships and their harmonious dealings among themselves. What they fear are outside threats, or armed attack, or, more likely, subversion from outside. The principal source of threat today is seen as communist China; the current area of active conflict is Viet-Nam.
121. I have said many times, andI repeat again today, that I see as the greatest task for us in Australia — and I suggest for other countries too — the task of seeing the mainland of China fitted into the family of nations. But that is not a task to be attempted from one side only. The mainland Chinese too have to make moves of conciliation and peace. Hitherto, unfortunately, they have threatened their neighbours, whether to the south
or east or to their west and north. Along their borders are unease and apprehension and even, on occasion, armed clashes, Their neighbours have found within their borders interference in internal affairs and an overflow of the "cultural revolution". Communist China has not been willing to make any reciprocal move to overcome its separation from much of the diplomatic life of the world, and those nations which are in diplomatic relations with Peking have had their representatives in very many cases subjected to humiliation, harassment and isolation. It seems to us that the problems of relations with the mainland have to be seen in a wider context than simple recognition of Peking or the seating of Peking in the United Nations.
122. The future of the region will be greatly, in our view, affected by the outcome of the conflict in Viet-Nam. For some years past the North Viet-Namese and persons trained, directed and co-ordinated by them have engaged in a programme of infiltration, subversion, and ultimately armed invasion of the South, taking advantage of the tropical terrain and of the techniques of guerrilla warfare. They have followed a policy of terrorism and sabotage, with the deliberate purpose of eliminating local officials and leaders of
national culture, of frightening off the populace from supporting the régime, and of destroying the factories, bridges, and other things necessary to contribute to the economy and administration. It has been a campaign to destroy South Viet-Nam's economy and administration so as to prevent the people from choosing any future other than a communist one; to attempt to create such a state of despair that the people will settle for anything, however unpalatable, in order to have an end to the present state of affairs.
123. The internal situation of the Republic of Viet-Nam has to be judged against that background, The majority cf the population have remained loyal to the Government. Elections from the local level up to those for the Presidency were held last year. Though the communists launched a wide attack on the cities last March — the so-called Tet offensive — and though they called on the people and armed forces to rally to them and confidently expected them to do so, the people nevertheless continued to support the Government in Saigon. The failure of that Tet offensive demonstrated that the great majority of the people of Viet-Nam do not support the communists — though of course that fact will carry no weight with those who believe in the right of a dedicated minority to impose its will on the majority even if force and terror have to be the instruments. I repeat, the majority of the South Vietnamese people have shown clearly they do not want communism. Those countries which are giving military support to the Republic of Viet-Nam, including Australia, are helping a country which is the victim of aggression from another State, North Viet-Nam, and are trying to preserve the freedom of choice about their future for the people in the South.
124. Talks are at present taking place in Paris between representatives of the United States of America and of North Viet-Nam, with the objective of opening a way to a settlement. I hope they will be the first step on the road to a just and lasting settlement. In the meantime, fighting continues in Viet-Nam with continuing loss of life and a continuing destruction which we all deplore. I hope that there can be reciprocal reduction in warlike acts — and I emphasize the word "reciprocal", because it would not be fair or safe for one side only to make the reduction without any response from the other side. In saying that, I recognize quite clearly that the solution in Viet-Nam has to be a political one. The Republic of Viet-Nam, the United States, Australia, and the others with them, are not aiming at a military solution in the sense of conquest and an imposed peace. We have publicly stated, again and again, that there is no desire, no intention to destroy or replace by force the communist Government of North Viet-Nam. President Johnson has even offered to include communist Viet-Nam in a programme of international economic assistance for the reconstruction and development of the region if an acceptable settlement is achieved. It is North Viet-Nam that is trying to win a military settlement. It is they who have as a war aim the destruction of the Government of the Republic of Viet-Nam and the complete take-over of the country regardless of the will of the people.
125. We all want the fighting in Viet-Nam to end. But it is important how it ends. If it ends in one way, it means a setback to hopes in Asia; it means a perpetuation, over a longer period, of the conflicts and the crises in Asia; it means the subjection of millions of people in Asia; it means a deterioration in the prospects of global as well as regional security. That would be the result if it ended in one way. But if it ends in another way, with the people of South Viet-Nam able to choose their own future freely, it means that the chances are increased of lessening the crisis and of moving more hopefully towards some better future.
126. In conclusion, in facing the current problems of the world we take the Charter of the United Nation as the guide. The Charter is the core of the United Nations, and the activities and machinery of the Organization are valid only so far as they accord with the Charter. The purposes and principles in the Charter are as valid today as they were in 1945 when the Charter was drafted. When the Organization or its Members try to depart from the Charter, we find ourselves in difficulties. When we try loyally to observe the Charter, both in its positive aspirations and in its restraints, the cause of constructive international co-operation is advanced.