77. Mr. President, I should like to congratulate you most heartily on your election to the high office of President of the twenty-third session of the General Assembly, and to wish you every success in carrying out that responsible duty. The Mongolian delegation has great pleasure in adding its voice to those speakers who have paid a tribute to the President of the last session of the General Assembly, Mr. Corneliu Manescu, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Romania.
78. The present, twenty-third, session of the General Assembly comes at a time when the international situation is complex and tense.
79. The war waged by the United States in Viet-Nam, the unredressed and worsening consequences of Israel’s aggression against the Arab States and other imperialist intrigues against the forces of peace, national independence. democracy and socialism in various parts of the world continue to aggravate the international situation and to hinder the solution of urgent present-day problems, thus increasing the threat to world peace and security.
80. The colonial war still being waged by the United States against the people of Viet-Nam is causing growing concern throughout the world. The United States Government continues to disregard the world-wide outcry against this barbarous war.
81. Almost six months have elapsed since official discussions initiated by the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam opened in Paris between that country and the United States on the cessation of bombing operations and all other military action against the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam. A satisfactory solution of this problem would open the way to a political settlement in Viet-Nam and to the restoration of peace in South-East Asia. However, through the fault of the United States Government, no progress has so far been made.
82. The United States side, in fact, refuses to discuss the basic issue constructively, but resorts to delaying tactics and procrastination in order to gain time to prepare for a further escalation of its aggression in Viet-Nam.
83. At the same time, the United States representatives, referring to President Johnson’s statement of 31 March 1968 on the so-called limitation of bombing in North Viet-Nam, have been calling upon the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam to exercise matching restraint or reciprocity. This is clearly an attempt to obliterate the distinction between aggressor and victim. Moreover, the United State: is trying to obtain at the negotiating table what it cannot win on the battlefield. This shows what the United States representatives really mean when they speak of securing an “honourable peace” in Viet-Nam.
84. The position of the Mongolian People’s Republic or the Viet-Nam problem is clear. The United States has unleashed a colonial war against the people of Viet-Nam. It must stop that aggression if it really desires a peaceful settlement of the Viet-Nam problem. The United States must unconditionally cease its bombing and.other military operations against the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam. This is not merely the latter country’s legitimate standpoint, which it has steadfastly upheld at the Paris talks; it is the demand of peace-loving opinion throughout the world, including a broad cross-section of the people of the United States. The progress of the Paris talks depends on the United States alone.
85. The attempts of the United States to settle the Viet-Nam question by force have no prospect of success and are doomed to failure. People fighting for a just cause are invincible. The heroic people of Viet-Nam, helped and supported by the socialist countries and all progressive forces throughout the world, are fully determined to uphold to the end their inalienable right to independent development along the path of peace and progress. This is borne out by the powerful and telling blows which Viet-Nam’s armed forces and people have dealt the aggressor and which materially changed the situation in Viet-Nam in 1968.
86. The Mongolian People’s Republic will continue to give the people of Viet-Nam every possible assistance and support in its just struggle against United States aggression, for its homeland, for the cause of peace and for its national independence and social progress.
87. We consider that the well-known four-point proposals put forward by the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam and the political programme of the National Liberation Front of South Viet-Nam, which are based on the 1954 Geneva Agreements, provide an equitable basis for a political solution to the Viet-Nam problem.
88. The Mongolian delegation wishes to emphasize in particular that the United States must recognize the National Liberation Front of South Viet-Nam as the only legitimate representative of the people of South Viet-Nam. This is a major factor in the settlement of the Viet-Nam problem.
89. The situation in the Middle East is becoming increasingly alarming as a result of Israel’s continued aggression against the Arab countries. Israel not only retains possession of the territories it has seized, but is stepping up its acts of provocation against those countries. Israel’s rulers are thus openly defying the clearly expressed wishes of the overwhelming majority of Members of the United Nations, and brazenly refuse to implement the Security Council resolution of 22 November 1967 [242(1967)]. Tel Aviv would obviously never have dared to do this had it not felt that it had the support of certain Western Powers, especially the United States of America.
90. The United Nations must take decisive, effective steps to redress the consequences of Israel’s aggression — first and foremost by ensuring that Israel’s forces are immediately and unconditionally withdrawn from occupied Arab territories to the other side of the demarcation lines existing up to 5 June 1967. Only such a step will pave the way for lasting stability in the Middle East, based on recognition of and respect for the right of each State in that region to independent existence and on the principle of territorial
inviolability and integrity. In this connexion, we wish to state that the Government of the Mongolian People’s Republic supports the constructive proposal of the United Arab Republic for step-by-step implementation of the Security Council resolution of 22 November 1967.
91. The people and Government of the Mongolian People’s Republic still strongly condemn Israel’s expansionist policy and resolutely support the just struggle of the Arab peoples in defence of their countries’ independence and territorial integrity. We in Mongolia follow with genuine fellow-feeling the Arab countries’ efforts to strengthen Arab unity in the struggle to restore peace in the Middle East and defend their own vital interests.
92. The imperialists’ policy of overt interference in the domestic affairs of other countries and suppression of national liberation movements is creating more sources of tension in other parts of the world.
93. United States occupation forces and the puppet régime of Chung Hee Park have turned South Korea into a base from which the United States can pursue its policy of aggression in the Far East and South-East Asia. The United States and the South Korean régime continually violate the terms of the armistice in Korea and intensify their acts of armed provocation against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Clear proof of this is the incident involving the United States spy ship, Pueblo, which was caught red-handed in the territorial waters of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
94. We believe that the basic condition for eliminating this dangerous source of tension and enabling the Korean people themselves to settle the question of their country’s peaceful reunification is still the immediate withdrawal from South Korea of United States and other foreign forces which are there in the guise of so-called “United Nations forces”. In accordance with this belief, the *Mongolian People’s Republic and ten other countries proposed that the agenda of the present session of the General Assembly should again include an item entitled: “Withdrawal of United States and all other foreign forces occupying South Korea under the flag of the United Nations” [A/7184 and Add.1-2]. The Government of the Mongolian People’s Republic considers that the notorious “United Nations Commission for the Unification and Rehabilitation of Korea" should be dissolved. Satisfactory solutions to these problems would help to ease tension in the Far East.
95. My delegation wishes to state once again that the constructive proposals made by the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea for the peaceful reunification of Korea on a democratic basis are entirely in accordance with the aspirations of the Korean people and the promotion of peace in that part of the world.
96. The Government of the Mongolian People’s Republic resolutely condemns the increasingly frequent encroachment by United States armed forces on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Cambodia and Laos. These criminal acts are likely to extend the colonial war in Viet-Nam to the whole of Indochina.
97. The Mongolian People’s Republic, as an Asian country, views with great concern the schemes of the United States and its Asian allies to strengthen its military and strategic position in Asia and the Pacific and, in particular, to consolidate and expand the Asian and Pacific Council as a military-political bloc.
98. A characteristic feature of the present world situation is the increasing activity of the most reactionary and aggressive protagonists of imperialism in the face of the irresistible growth and consolidation of anti-imperialist and progressive forces. Meeting stiffer opposition in such overt adventures as the colonial war being waged by the United States in Viet-Nam, they are resorting to more devious means of pursuing their evil designs against the forces of peace and social progress.
99. The so-called “bridge-building" policy, with its Bonn version, the “new Eastern policy”, towards the socialist countries is the king-pin of world imperialism’s global strategy. The imperialists spare no effort to intensify subversive activities and ideological sabotage against the socialist countries and to dismember the socialist system, which is the decisive factor opposing imperialist reaction and a reliable bulwark of the peoples in their struggle for peace, national independence, democracy and socialism.
100. The unseemly commotion created in the Security Council by the Western Powers over the events in Czechoslovakia, and the defamatory remarks of their representatives here in the General Assembly about the Soviet Union and its allies clearly reflect the consternation and mortification of the imperialists at the collapse of their ambitious plans to prise Czechoslovakia out of the socialist system. Their behaviour has again exposed their insidious schemes to the whole world.
101. In the present situation, where all problems of an international nature are ultimately linked to the struggle between the forces of reaction and war, on the one hand, and those of peace, progress and socialism, on the other, the help given by five socialist States to the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in the defence of its socialist achievements not only met the vital interests of the Czechoslovak people, but was also a timely and effective step in defence of the world socialist system, and of peace in Europe and
throughout the world. The Government of the Mongolian People’s Republic therefore resolutely supported the position taken by the Governments of the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of Bulgaria, the Hungarian People’s Republic, the German Democratic Republic and the Polish People’s Republic in rendering fraternal aid to the Czechoslovak people in their hour of need.
102. The question of European security plays an important part in the efforts to strengthen world peace and avert the threat of a new world war.
103. A key issue in the matter of European security is still the peaceful settlement of the German problem, which can only be based on recognition of the European frontiers established as a result of the Second World War and of the co-existence of two German States—the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany. European security cannot be regarded as sound so long as the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany continues to claim the exclusive right to represent the entire German nation and to redraw the map of Europe. The danger of this policy, which has made Western Germany the main source of a new threat in Europe, is heightened by the fact that revanchist and neo-nazi forces are becoming increasingly active in the Federal Republic of Germany.
104. The existence of the German Democratic Republic, the German people’s first worker-peasant State, exercises an important restraining influence on the dangerous trend in Western Germany.
105. The Government of the German Democratic Republic firmly and consistently pursues a policy of international peace, friendship and co-operation, thus making a constructive contribution to European security.
106. The interests of peace and security in Europe, where two devastating world wars have broken out, require all European States, irrespective of differences in their political and social systems, to strive to establish a system of collective security. The 1966 Bucharest Declaration of the Socialist States and other constructive proposals made by those countries offer a sound basis for a satisfactory solution to this important issue.
107. In the present international situation, the most important task in safeguarding international peace and security is to eliminate the threat of nuclear war by stopping the arms race and banning and destroying nuclear weapons. The conclusion of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons [resolution 2373(XXII)] was an important step which helped to create favourable conditions for progress towards nuclear disarmament. The
Government cf the Mongolian People’s Republic was among the first to sign that Treaty, regarding it as an international instrument expressing the desire and determination of all peoples to prevent the perilous spread of weapons of mass destruction.
108. In our view, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons accords with the interests of all countries and imposes mutual obligations on nuclear and non-nuclear Powers alike. The early signature and ratification of this Treaty is therefore of great importance for strengthening world peace.
109. New measures must be taken soon to stop the arms race and bring about nuclear disarmament. Of great significance in this respect is the memorandum of the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics concerning certain urgent measures to stop the arms race and achieve disarmament [A/7134], which was placed on the agenda of the twenty-second session of the General Assembly as an urgent and important matter.
110. The Mongolian delegation considers that this memorandum contains constructive proposals and is a clearly defined programme for the efforts of peace-loving forces to avert the threat of a nuclear war and to create favourable conditions for general and complete disarmament. The Soviet Government is again introducing — in addition to proposals on other pressing disarmament problems — a proposal for prohibition of the use of chemical and bacteriological weapons [1679th meeting, para. 41]. This is a particularly timely move, as the United States is using chemical weapons in Viet-Nam. We fully share the concern expressed by many representatives here about the accelerating pace of chemical and bacteriological armament in a number of Western countries, especially the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany.
111. The Government of the Mongolian People’s Republic still believes that the United Nations must make more strenuous efforts to implement the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples [resolution 1514(XV)]. The year 1970 will see the tenth anniversary of this historic decision by the United Nations; before then effective measures must be taken to liberate the fifty million human beings who are still languishing under the yoke of colonialist and racist régimes.
112. Our Government is deeply concerned at the failure to implement many important United Nations decisions in regard to decolonization and the eradication of racism and its most evil manifestation, apartheid. The main reason for such an anomalous situation is the opposition of the alliance of colonial Powers and racist régimes. A particularly serious situation has developed in southern Africa. The illegal régime in Rhodesia and the racists in the Republic of South Africa, allied with the Portuguese colonists and backed by the imperialist Powers, are not only strengthening the colonial bastion in that region, but are increasingly threatening the independent States of the African continent. This threat must be countered primarily by united efforts on the part of all Africa’s anti-imperialist and progressive forces.
113. We also believe that a major counter-measure to the joint efforts of the forces of colonialism, neo-colonialism and racism should be closer and fuller co-operation between the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity in implementing the United Nations Declaration and other decisions on decolonization.
114. An important place in the Organization’s activities should be assigned to problems of international economic co-operation and of strengthening the economic independence of new States. The second session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development at New Delhi showed that the United Nations will have to make further efforts to promote equitable and mutually advantageous economic co-operation among States, regardless of
their social and economic structure, in order to eliminate the invidious system of discrimination in international trade and to create conditions conducive to the economic advancement of the developing countries.
115. The Mongolian People’s Republic is in favour of strengthening the United Nations as an instrument for peace and international co-operation, and is opposed to any attempts to violate or revise the fundamental principles of the Charter of the United Nations. Observance of the principle of the universality of the United Nations is of major importance.
116. Our delegation, as in the past, advocates the speediest restoration of the legal rights of the People’s Republic of China in the United Nations and the expulsion of the representatives of the Chiang Kai-shek régime from all United Nations bodies.
117. The Mongolian People’s Republic is also in favour of admitting both German States to the United Nations. The German Democratic Republic, which informed the United Nations long ago of its desire to become a Member of this Organization, fully complies with the Charter requirements regarding membership. The firm adherence of the German Democratic Republic to the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations, its consistent efforts to promote international peace and security, and its extensive international co-operation, backed by a high degree of economic, scientific and technological potential, are proof that the country would be an active and effective Member of this Organization.
118. I have briefly outlined our Government’s views on certain basic international problems, which are burning issues in the present-day world. The agenda, of course, includes many items on which my delegation has not given its views, although they are unquestionably of great interest to us, and we hope to have an opportunity to speak about them in due course.
119. I would like to assure you that the Mongolian delegation will, as in the past, do its utmost to contribute fully to the success of this session of the General Assembly.