1. Mr. President, to the unanimous praise which has been addressed to you permit me to add that of Laos and myself. Allow me also to express to you our satisfaction at seeing you preside over the work of this twenty-first session of the General Assembly.
2. In the vast continent of Asia, the Kingdom of Laos, like the Kingdom of Afghanistan, is a country without a coast, entirely dependent on its neighbours for access to the sea. That is why, knowing your qualities as a diplomat, your sense of responsibility and your interest in the problems that beset countries which the accident of geography has rendered land-locked, we rejoice on more than one ground at the honour bestowed on you by this assembly in confiding to you the highest of trusts in an international situation that some have described as grave and difficult.
3. My delegation would also like to pay a tribute to your eminent predecessor, Mr. Amintore Fanfani, for the distinction and competence with which he conducted our proceedings. We are beholden to him for a session in which notable progress was made in spite of a sometimes stormy and often tense atmosphere.
4. This year our Organization has been enriched by the admission of a new member, Guyana, which I am happy to welcome. The African countries, the Kingdom of Lesotho and Botswana, which have just been admitted, will — I am sure — make an active contribution to the work of the United Nations, the number of whose Members has now reached the record figure of 121. Nevertheless, the United Nations has not yet completely applied the sacred principles which the authors of the Charter wished to establish as the very foundations of the organization, since certain nations — and not the least important in terms of the influence they have on international affairs — have not yet been able to make their voices heard in our deliberations.
5. We salute, at last, and with joy, the return to our middle of Indonesia, a great Asian country attached to the principles of Panchashila. We are certain that, by its mission and its active role in the concert of nations, it will make a valuable contribution to the relaxation of international tension and to the cause of peace, especially in South-East Asia.
6. The speakers who have preceded me to this rostrum have rightly expressed their concern and dismay at the crises and convulsions shaking our world. The problems of peace, which are the consequences of colonialism, poverty and ignorance, and those stemming from the cold war, whose persistence continues to breed fear and suspicion between States, are still waiting to be solved. Many of these problems, because they have been concealed or approached indirectly or papered over by temporary compromises, are ready to explode at the least disturbance of the balance of forces by the capriciousness of some or the stubbornness of others.
7. In Africa, an out-of-date reactionary colonialism continues to hold sway obstinately refusing to give up its privileges. Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea remain in subjection, under the reign of force and violence. The shameful practices of racial discrimination, which are official doctrine in South Africa and Rhodesia, constitute a challenge and an insult to human dignity. In these countries ail Africa is being most cruelly humiliated. In these countries the authority and prestige of the United Nations are being flouted.
8. In spite of all the disorder, rampant hate and exploding racism, there are still grounds for satisfaction and hope, and even for a measure of optimism. Last year witnessed the emergence in Asia of the spirit of Tashkent after the cease-fire agreed to by India and Pakistan, thanks to the personal efforts of the Secretary-General. The confrontation that had poisoned relations between Indonesia and Malaysia has recently ended as a result of the spirit of cooperation and goodwill that inspires the leaders of those brother countries. The boundary dispute between our neighbours, Thailand and Cambodia, appears to be on the way to a settlement. The Asian Development Bank, whose creation has raised great hopes and opens up new prospects for the economic and social development of Asia, is about to take its first steps. Like the other countries of this region, Laos has great hopes of this new institution, which will become an instrument of progress in the service of co-operation and peace.
9. Unfortunately, along with this trend towards the relaxation of tension and peace, there is in Asia a source of grave conflict — one which is localized, to be sure, in the Indo-Chinese peninsula, more particularly in Viet-Nam and to a lesser degree in Laos, but which, tomorrow, could set ablaze all of Asia and perhaps the whole world. I think that world opinion looks at the situation in these areas in the following way: there is every reason to believe that, step by step, through the insidious process of so-called wars of national liberation, the flame sofa third world war will flame up and destroy us all, unless this process is halted in good time. Some are accelerating this process with the idea of realizing their dream of hegemony, while others use it to experiment with the principles and practices of future wars. General staffs are giving their theories the trial by fire. Troops are being trained and tested; meanwhile, the way to the process of "de-escalation" has not been found.
10. It is said that a balance of terror makes war impossible, but no one can really believe that. We for our part are sceptical, and we believe that the day the die is finally cast, everything will go up in smoke.
11. In Laos we have been suffering for years the immediate effects of the war in Viet-Nam. Through the so-called Pathet Lao forces and in collusion with them, the North Viet-Namese have brought the war to Laos. The celebrated "Ho Chi Minh trail", over which foreign weapons and troops are moved, passes through our territory. It is no longer a secret to anyone that entire North Viet-Namese battalions are operating in our country, attacking our forces, killing our women and children, carrying off our crops and our livestock. A number of North Viet-Namese prisoners belonging to regular units have been captured in engagements with our troops on various battlefields in Laos. Documents taken from the dead and interrogations of prisoners have enabled the Royal Government to furnish incontestable evidence of the presence of increasingly large numbers of North Viet-Namese troops on Laotian territory, and of their interference in the domestic affairs of our country — all in spite of the Geneva Agreements of 1962 on the neutrality of Laos. The International Control Commission created by the Geneva Agreements of 1954 and 1962, to which our complaint against the North Viet-Namese intervention was directed, has recognized in its documents that the facts presented are accurate and our accusations well founded. The Government of the United Kingdom, as Co-Chairman of the Geneva Conference, has in a recent statement placed on record repeated violations of the 1962 Agreements by the Hanoi Government- Recently, before this august assembly, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of India spoke of the situation in Laos, which, he said, was closely linked to that in Viet-Nam. He went on to say:
"There could be no perceptible improvement in one without a corresponding improvement in the other. Should the conflict in Viet-Nam escalate, there is bound to be a corresponding escalation in Laos as well. In such an inherently difficult situation, we appreciate the efforts made by the Prime Minister of the Royal Laotian Government, Prince Souvanna Phouma, to steer a middle course." [1432nd meeting, para. 72.]
12. Of course, some delegations will cry down our evidence as fabricated. But we are used to such denials; they will not be the first, for the world is full of them.
13. The General Assembly itself must certainly still vividly recall other, perhaps more dramatic, instances of such an outcry, too noisy to be sincere, when irrefutable evidence — always challenged, to be sure — was produced against those who violate the principles of the Charter and openly mock repeated condemnations pronounced by the General Assembly. My delegation, which is becoming accustomed to these disavowals, will not dwell on the odious character of such practices. Accusations and counter-accusations do not serve the interests of peace. We know that for some the Agreements of 1954 and those of 1962 are nothing but scraps of paper. For twelve years there have been disputes about those Agreements, about words, in order to conceal ambitions, camouflage expansion, incite rebellion, and supervise subversion.
14. That is why the people of Laos, subjected to various pressures and hard hit by prolonged fighting, ardently desire peace. They want an end of interference in their internal affairs, wherever it comes from. They steadfastly seek the friendship of their neighbours in order to arrive at reconciliation and concord as part of the neutrality which has been recognized and guaranteed by thirteen Powers. The Royal Government, over which I have the honour to preside, will spare no effort to destroy the wall of suspicion and doubt, to overcome the obstinate deafness of certain nations and to induce them to find a solution to the tragedy of Viet-Nam.
15. To this end it is prepared to open talks with all its adversaries to reach a modus vivendi permitting the gradual establishment of peace and stability throughout South-East Asia. In the same spirit I solemnly appeal to the opposing parties to seek a negotiated settlement of the problem of Viet-Nam. In this era of interdependence, there can be no military victory. The road to peace leads inevitably past the negotiating table. It would be a tragic mistake, sheer folly, for any of the parties to believe that it can emerge with a complete victory by force of arms or destroy a political regime in the hope of changing the status quo. Such a belief is futile and dangerous to peace, for it serves the interests of those who control the forces of war and, at the same time, undermines the principles of peaceful coexistence. Since the war is not producing and will not produce either victors or vanquished, since by its unforeseen consequences and its hidden connexions it poisons international relations and is preventing any progress, both in the negotiations for general and complete disarmament and the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and in the efforts to achieve understanding and cooperation, why not stop the massacre, the devastation and the chaos? The preconditions and the false pretexts only serve to prolong needlessly the indescribable sufferings of the peoples. Throughout the world voices are being raised with ever-increasing energy and insistence to demand peace by negotiation. Have not His Holiness the Pope, the Secretary-General and many Heads of State made appeals for peace that have impressed the world by their force and sincerity? The people of Laos, who are a direct victim of this raging war, appeal, through me, to the parties to the conflict to negotiate. The sooner they sit down at a conference table, the better.
16. In our opinion the Geneva Agreements of 1954, whatever one may say about them, furnish an honourable basis and a valid framework for negotiating peace in Viet-Nan. It is essential to return to these Agreements, to improve the control and supervision machinery in order to increase their effectiveness and to adapt the Agreements to take account of the interests and the wishes not only of the people of Viet-Nam but also of all the other peoples of Indochina. We believe that a guaranteed neutralization of the entire peninsula would constitute a valid framework for laying the permanent foundations for peace in South-East Asia. The neutrality of the Laos of 1962 would find in such an expanded neutralization a stronger and surer basis, enabling our people to be safe from foreign intervention and to move towards a harmonious development of their relations with neighbouring countries.
17. I have referred in this statement to general and complete disarmament, the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, colonialism and many other subjects on which nations are at odds and by which their genuine desire to collaborate in the building of a fraternal world community can be measured. But all the resolutions concerning such problems cannot be given effect unless the main problem, that of peace, is really settled. International co-operation cannot be fruitful unless confidence prevails among States and they are convinced that a general and definitive peace is certain. Alas, we are still far from that goal. The situation in our country is a vivid and deplorable demonstration of that fact. Unless we win this fight against war, both the large and the small nations, and mankind itself, will be sounding their own death-knoll.
18. I would not wish to conclude my statement without expressing the keen regrets of my Government and my people at the decision of the Secretary-General not to continue in office for another term. We fully understand the noble and profound reasons for his decision, which reflects a struggle of conscience. We have known his devotion to the cause of peace, his high-mindedness, his personal modesty and his keen sense of responsibility too long not to feel that his departure will be a great loss to the United Nations at a time when the world situation requires the greatest cool-headedness and the greatest wisdom. Because of the • crises afflicting the United Nations in recent years, we for our part should have liked to have U Thant continue to serve as the guardian of the world’s conscience. But if his wish is otherwise, we can only defer to it. However, we shall take the liberty, although he has recommended extreme moderation in eulogies, of expressing to him again the regrets, the esteem, and the admiration of the Laotian people for the contribution he has made in his post to the relaxation of tension and the promotion of peace and international co-operation.