4. I should, at the outset, like to convey to you, Sir, the warm welcome and sincere congratulations of the delegation of Burma, and my own, on your well-deserved election as President of the twenty-first regular session of the General Assembly. The delegation of Burma, in common with the delegations of the other Member nations, are confident that you are eminently suited to discharge, with honour and distinction, the onerous functions expected of this high and exalted post. Your vast and lengthy experience of United Nations activities, your wisdom and perception and your persuasive and diplomatic skill will, certainly, stand you in good stead in the discharge of your heavy responsibilities. On behalf of the delegation of Burma, let me express to you. Sir, the hope that under your able guidance and wise counsel all important Issues of this year's agenda will be discussed in the most constructive spirit and that the deliberations in this General Assembly will contribute towards the realization of peace and harmony, and will further strengthen international co-operation and progress.
5. Mr. President, I should also like to take this opportunity to express and convey through you to His Excellency Signor Amintore Fanfani our sincere gratitude and profound appreciation for the able and efficient manner in which he conducted the affairs of the twentieth session of the General Assembly.
6. We are glad to welcome to our midst the newly independent State of Guyana whose addition to the ever-increasing membership of the United Nations yet again illustrates and emphasizes the principle of universality which is so essential to the world Organization. In the same spirit, we extend a warm welcome to our friend and neighbour, Indonesia, on its resumption of full co-operation with the United Nations. We are confident that the presence and active participation of Guyana and Indonesia will contribute to the further development of international understanding and cooperation.
7. It is with reluctance that I now turn from such happy thoughts to the troubles that are besetting the world in which we live. My delegation, in common with others, has on many past occasions drawn attention to the noble aims and principles with which the United Nations was founded, namely, the banishing of war for all time and the creation of a peaceful, happy and prosperous world with justice and freedom for all mankind. It is a sad reflection on the weakness of mankind that, with all his marvelous mastery of science and his almost fantastic advances in technology, man has been unable to overcome the human weakness of fear and suspicion, and, instead of advancing towards the ideals for which he strives, finds his achievements leading him not towards his cherished goal of building a better and fuller life, but towards his own destruction.
8. As we assemble here, the world seems to be drifting into a situation fraught with the most dangerous possibilities. There are signs of growing tension; the state of affairs in most parts of the world has undergone a greater or lesser deterioration. The state of affairs, particularly in South-East Asia, the area to which we belong, is already a source of grave concern, not only to the countries in the region and the parties involved therein but also to all the major Powers and the world at large. The General Assembly is meeting here today under the overhanging clouds of the Viet-Nam war, the shadow of which is blacking out any ray of hope for cooperation and conciliation among the major Powers. It is true that ever since the end of the last World War the world has witnessed a series of crises. In fact, crises come and go so frequently that Member countries have almost resigned themselves to living with them. Developments over the past one or two years have, however, taken a sharp turn for the worse. To quote the Secretary-General, "... the pressure of events if remorselessly leading towards a major* war, while efforts to reverse that trend are lagging disastrously behind" [A/6400].
9. The great Power detente, which seemed until a yeae or so ago to be so promising, suddenly became stalled. Some have called a halt to already-announced programmes to reduce their armed forces and expenditures on armaments, while others have announced measures to augment and strengthen their already considerable military capability. These tendencies, I would say, do not augur well for the future of this Organization nor for mankind. This Assembly has thus been faced with a serious challenge to come to grips with the problems that lie at the root of all these international tensions and crises.
10. In this prevailing world situation, my delegation feels that the only feasible and reasonable foreign policy in relations among States is the policy of peaceful coexistence. We in Burma have all along pursued a policy of peaceful coexistence with all other countries and peoples. Peaceful coexistence as we understand and practise it means that each country should be free to develop itself as it chooses, should respect the right of others so to develop themselves, and should co-operate with others on a basis of equality and mutual benefit and in the quest for peace and harmony and the betterment of humanity. When we say that each country should be free to develop itself as it chooses, we recognize the right of every country freely to choose its own political, social and economic systems and its own way of life, in keeping with its own conditions, needs and potentialities and free from any outside interference or pressure. While the ultimate objectives of peoples may be broadly the same, there are different outlooks, different ways to progress and development, depending on different circumstances and environments. We believe that each country and people if they are true to themselves, have themselves to find their own way, their own path, through trial and error, through suffering and experience. Only then can they really grow and lay a firm and sure national foundation for development and progress. While association with others and an exchange of thoughts and ideas with them may be welcomed, each country should have the right freely to choose its own path. This idea of independence and self-determination is, to us, a very important concept underlying the policy of peaceful coexistence.
11. Another equally important idea or concept in peaceful coexistence is that each country should scrupulously respect the right of every other to develop itself as it chooses, to determine its own way of life. This concept of non-interference needs to he stressed in this connexion, for there has been and still is a tendency for a great many countries to interfere with others, to bring pressure to bear upon them, and to want these others to line up with them. This stress on non-interference of any kind, be It political, economic or ideological, is extremely important in the context of the prevailing world situation today. Much of the tension in the world today can be traced to attempts by a country or a group of countries to interfere in the internal affairs of another country. Such action often evokes reactions from opposing outside forces. It is often also the case that disputes and dissensions within a country or between countries, and the resulting instability, open the door to foreign intervention. Whatever the reason may be, foreign intervention, history shows, creates more conflict and causes more tensions, and does not help create conditions for peaceful adjustment or settlement of national or international disputes and situations. An important pre-condition to the maintenance of peace and security in the world is therefore for all countries scrupulously to respect, both in words and in action, one another's freedom and way of life and to refrain from interference in one another's internal affairs.
12. If the Assembly could, through consultation and wise counsel, attain a common understanding of the basic problems that lie at the root of all the present international tensions and conflicts, and formulate, on the basis of the principles outlined above, appropriate modalities for co-operation in resolving them, Member nations would have a firm foundation on which to build up a relationship of friendship, mutual understanding and co-operation among themselves.
13. Let me turn now to some of the important items which this year’s Assembly is faced with and which require our collective understanding and co-operation in finding a way to a solution.
14. The first is disarmament. This is a problem shared by all nations, big and small. For the last two decades men have dreamt of a world-wide peace and security system based on general and complete disarmament; and yet, during that period the race for armaments has become one of the greatest scourges of humanity. Various measures intended to lead to complete and general disarmament, including a total ban on nuclear weapons, have been proposed, discussed and deliberated upon in many a session of the General Assembly of the United Nations and in the disarmament conferences at Geneva and elsewhere. The Government of the Union of Burma welcomes all initiatives towards disarmament. We do, however, realize that so long as nations cannot dispel their sense of mutual distrust, fear and suspicion, and so long as the balance of terror is the order of the day, general and complete disarmament is a remote ideal. We had, however, expected and hoped that with moral pressure coming from all directions, both within and outside the United Nations, and with the interest and sympathy of humanity at large, it would still be possible for the major armed Powers to ensure some chances of success in reaching the ultimate goal of complete and general disarmament by seeking gradual and phased agreements. It is from this point of view, and with this understanding of developments in the field of disarmament, that we have participated in the Eighteen-Nation Committee on Disarmament at Geneva and have become a party to the partial nuclear test-ban treaty of 1963. The progress of the talks since 1963 has, however, been most discouraging. The Eighteen-Nation Committee on Disarmament, functioning with seventeen members and without two major Powers, which are also members of the "nuclear club", has met in Geneva in almost continuous session from January to August this year, its attention focused mainly on the achievement of a comprehensive nuclear test-ban and on the prevention of the spread of nuclear weapons — the dual task entrusted to it at the twentieth session of the General Assembly. Despite all the talks on the dangers of nuclear weapons and their proliferation and the need to conclude an early agreement, and despite all the professed wishes to have one, the most the Conference has been able to achieve is a clarification of the respective positions of the two super-Powers and the consolation that the search for an agreed formula is still continuing. We are conscious of the frustration and discouragement felt by all over such an impasse and are deeply convinced of the need for a compromise on the part of the two super-Powers if an agreement is to be reached. While all must persist in efforts to bring about a reconciliation, my delegation would strongly urge the Powers concerned to make the necessary adjustments in their positions, with a view to facilitating the early conclusion of agreements on these two important issues.
15. Efforts to prepare the groundwork for the holding of a world disarmament conference as called for by the General Assembly have also not been able to make much headway. The degree of success would no doubt depend on the extent of enthusiasm on the part of the major armed Powers and on the relations among them. For, after all, proposals made for international disarmament, while they necessarily interest all peace-loving nations, must be primarily intended for application by those nations, the intensive nature of whose armaments is properly the object of all disarmament proposals.
16. While speaking of disarmament and of the need to solve international conflicts, we feel that it is most unrealistic and unwise for this august Assembly to ignore the existence of the Government of the People's Republic of China. The absence of the representatives of China inevitably means that world problems — and more specifically, Asian problems, political, military or otherwise — cannot be dealt with realistically by the United Nations or its specialized agencies. It is widely recognized that no disarmament treaty, nor any settlement affecting Asia, is meaningful in present-day circumstances without the participation of the People's Republic of China, The fact that the People's Republic of China continues, to our regret and concern, to be deprived of its rightful seat in the United Nations and in the many forums of international discussion, violates the norms of universality and mutuality which regulate relations among nations. Speaking specifically of the United Nations, we believe that the strength and effectiveness of the Organization depends to a large degree on the extent to which it reflects the world as it really is. An Organization which refuses to accept one of the major political facts of life of today's world to the extent of ignoring the existence of a Government which has so clearly and so long established its authority over a population embracing a quarter of the human race, imposes a severe handicap on itself and weakens its own authority. My delegation feels that the time has come for us in the Assembly to eradicate this glaring anomaly which has seriously retarded the effectiveness of this Organization as an instrument of peace and security and of international co-operation.
17. Yet another problem that confronts us at this session and which requires our serious attention, with a view to bringing about an urgent solution, is the problem of peace-keeping. In it, issues both of constitutional and financial nature are involved, and unless a solution can be found, serious implications for the United Nations, as well as for its effectiveness as an instrument for peace in the world, are bound to arise. To us as small countries, small both in size as well as in strength and with economic and military power negligible in terms of international standards, the only hope is in the United Nations, and we naturally desire to see the Organization developed into a really effective instrument for the prevention of war as well as for the maintenance of peace. My delegation firmly believes that the Security Council has the "primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security", and, in accordance with this firm belief, we wish that the Security Council could act on behalf of all Member States. We would, however, most emphatically add that should the Security Council be unable to initiate a peace-keeping operation in the face of the veto of one or more of its permanent members, then the General Assembly has no other alternative but "to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace".
18. With regard to the financial aspect, while generally entertaining the view that costs for maintaining peace and security should of necessity be the responsibility of all Member States, we are inclined to believe that a formula satisfactory to all could still be worked out in a spirit of co-operation and conciliation.
19. I should now like to touch on the situation still prevailing in some parts of Africa today. It has been said in recent times that, the winds of change having swept over the world, colonialism is already a dead issue. On looking around, however, especially in Africa, we find that colonialism, while dying, is still kicking about in its deathbed. Portuguese Africa, Southern Rhodesia and South West Africa are glaring examples of this. The evil seeds colonialism has sown have also sprouted in many other forms. The difficulties and problems of newly independent States are being exploited in attempts to maintain unequal relationships, particularly in the economic field. Economic pressure and domination, interference, racial discrimination and the threat to use force are but some of the devices used to strangle newly founded independence. To us, colonialism means domination or exploitation of the weak by the strong, whether political or economic, whether overt or insidious. We take a stand against colonialism in all its manifestations, in whatever shape or form. The call for the unconditional, complete and final abolition of colonialism has yet to be totally implemented.
20. The economic and social problems of the world are no less a menace to the world than the threat of war. Unless gross inequalities in wealth and social injustices are corrected, they will prove to be potential sources of friction and strife. The United Nations Development Decade in its first half has failed to meet even its modest targets. In fact, the rate of growth in developing countries as a whole has fallen from the level of the preceding period, while their populations have continued to grow at alarmingly high rates. The result is that the gap between the per capita incomes of the developing countries and those of the developed countries has further widened instead of narrowing. Economists may have sophisticated theories to explain this strange phenomenon of the rich getting richer while the poor get poorer, but to us laymen it just does not seem right. There must be something intrinsically wrong in the world system of economic relations which permits this increasing bipolarization of the world into the North and the South while we have not yet overcome the problems of the division between the East and the West, And what has the United Nations done about this?
21. To be fair in answering this question, one must admit that the United Nations has done much in the organizational sphere. Apart from setting up a number of branches and institutes for training and research within the United Nations system of organizations, it convened a United Nations Conference on the Application of Science and Technology for the Benefit of the Less Developed Areas, and subsequently it established an Advisory Committee on the Application of Science and Technology to Development.
22. Most important of all, it called the historic United Nations Conference on Trade and Development at Geneva in 1964, which led to the establishment of institutional machinery within the United Nations to deal with problems of trade and development on a continuing basis, in the form of a recurring United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and a permanent Trade and Development Board. Most recently, the United Nations has decided to establish an autonomous organization for the promotion of industrial development, to be known as the United Nations Organization for Industrial Development. The only major gap which, regrettably, exists and is also the most vital in the United Nations system of developmental organizations, is a United Nations capital development fund, which would be a truly multilateral source of capital aid to crown all the other existing efforts in international co-operation. But merely to establish the international machinery of development without the accompaniment of a genuine will to work it for the benefit of all concerned would be no more than a demonstration of Parkinson's Law on an international level. The international machinery for development has been brought into being largely as a result of the united efforts of the developing Member countries of the United Nations. It is now the duty of the developed Member countries of the United Nations to work that machinery so as to bring about the results for which it was intended.
23. Burma has all along supported the development activities of the United Nations and is now playing its part in the United Nations Development Decade. But we hold the view, shared by many others, that the right of peoples and nations to control and freely dispose of their national wealth and resources must be internationally respected. This right is indeed vital to their economic development. Democratic procedures which afford no position of privilege are as essential in the economic as in the political sphere. Any discriminatory measures taken against developing countries, on grounds of differences in socioeconomic systems, are contrary to the spirit of the United Nations Charter and constitute a threat to the free flow of trade and to the peaceful development of nations. Guided by these principles of sovereignty over natural resources and of self-reliance, we would be glad to co-operate in any international development activity which would not interfere with the countries' policies, programmes and priorities.
24. Before concluding, let me extend our warm congratulations to the new African States of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland on their accession to independence. Botswana proclaimed its nationhood today, Lesotho will become independent on Tuesday next, and Swaziland in the near future. We look forward to welcoming these new States in our family of nations.