I should like first to express once again, on behalf of the Laotian delegation, my heartiest congratulations upon the election of Prince Wan Waithayakon by the General Assembly. This distinction is not only a recognition of his personal merits of heart and mind, but is also a high honour done to a country and a people which are our neighbours and to which we are attached by age-old ties of deepest friendship. I cannot but regard this happy circumstance as most gratifying and auspicious.
38. When on 14 December 1955 the General Assembly of the United Nations voted to admit the Kingdom of Laos to this Organization, the entire Laotian people experienced a feeling of pride such as it had rarely known in the entire course of its history. The people of Laos, a notoriously peace-loving people, had just emerged from ten years of war. Laos was still nursing its wounds, making good its war damage and making a count of its widows and orphans. In these circumstances, its admission to the United Nations seemed like the dawn of a new era and took on the importance of a real peace treaty.
39. At the same time, this preferment by the supreme international body set the seal on the newly-won independence of the Kingdom of Laos and gave assurance that henceforward we should be listened to, understood, aided and protected. It is therefore not mere etiquette which now impels me, as leader of the Laotian delegation to the Assembly, to express our deepest gratitude to those Members of the United Nations which voted for our admission.
40. The admission of the new Members, including ourselves, marks a further step by the United Nations towards our ultimate objective — representation for all the peoples of the world. In this connexion, the delegation of Laos appeals most earnestly for the admission of neighbouring countries, Korea, Japan and Viet-Nam.
41. I think it would not be out of place now to give you at least a brief account of this far-off country, LAOS, which you have invited to sit among you. Actually, the geographical characteristics of my country, the features of its history, its civilization and its ideals will determine what attitude it will take and what contribution it can make to the difficult task we have in common — the task of building for peace. In a word, the external relations of Laos are determined by certain geographical, historical and economic imperatives.
42. Lying along the valley of the Mekong, but without an outlet to the sea, its riches a number of magnificent rice-growing plains as well as picturesque plateaus and mountains, Laos knows the tribulations of a continental country. Although at first sight it is difficult of access, the way in which its mountain and river systems lie, inevitably marked it out as a cross-roads. And, indeed this geographical cross-roads, between the Indian and the Chinese worlds, was the meeting-place of those groups and influences whose struggles and peaceful intercourse were to leave in the river valley one of the branches of the Thai race: the Laotian people. Laos was thus predestined by its geographical position to play the part of a turn-table standing in the very centre of Asia, between different civilizations and ideologies. Thus its fate as a frontier province between the East and the West give it a duty to defend and develop the solidarity of the Asiatic continent, of which it is an integral part, as well as the links which unite that continent with the rest of the world.
43. Historical factors play no less important a part in defining the external relations of Laos than the geographical imperatives I have just outlined. The history of the Kingdom of Laos is the history of a people now more than three million in number, working continually to erect a civilization of its own within the framework of its ancient traditions.
44. Laotian civilization is made up of contributions from many different sources, but it was, and is, founded upon Buddhism. This explains why the Laotian people are not bent upon establishing a materialist civilization. Moulded for centuries by Buddhism, to which they have remained profoundly attached both in their beliefs and in their daily conduct, they find in respect for the spiritual and moral values of the doctrine of the great Sage their consolation, their hope and the light of their life.
45. I would not dwell upon this point if I had not for a long time been impressed by the remarkable similarity, indeed almost identity, in certain aspects, between the principles of Buddhist doctrine and the Charter of this Organization. Pre-eminence of spiritual values, respect for human dignity, mutual tolerance and above all the search for peace with freedom: are these not at once the very principles of the United Nations Charter and the rules laid down by our Buddhist Pancha Shila ?
46. Let us also dispose of the criticism sometimes levelled at this common doctrine, which is too often presented as the canon of passive acceptance and enfeebling idealism. The history of the Laotian people shows that there is no incompatibility between the love of peace and the fundamental desire for independence and unity. For centuries we have vindicated our freedom. Now submerged, now resurgent, the Laotian nation, though imbued with the doctrine of peace, has never renounced freedom. Only yesterday we were at odds with a country to which we are linked by many ties and which remains one of our best friends. Today, as though to mark the achievement of our goal, it is as a fully sovereign State that the Kingdom of Laos takes its place in this Assembly, on an equal footing with all the other Member States in regard to its rights and obligations.
47. Because our civilization has made of us an essentially peace-loving people, because we place tolerance in the forefront of the democratic virtues, because we are and shall remain the champions of justice and freedom, the Laotian people will associate itself with all steps and decisions taken here in the United Nations with the purpose of maintaining peace in justice and freedom.
48. While the Laotian civilization, inspired by the principles of Buddhism, is based essentially on respect. for spiritual values, the Kingdom’s recent accession to independence and full sovereignty has brought it face to face with the serious problems inherent in the status of under-developed countries. Laos has only just begun to develop its resources, and must devote all its energies to exploiting its natural wealth, certainly abundant but still almost untouched, to building a body of skilled technicians, and to combating poverty, ignorance and disease. Any success in raising the standard of living in Laos must depend on these things. We had accordingly to work out a systematic programme to meet our different needs in order of priority. That is why my Government has seen fit to prepare a Five-Year-Plan, which is now being methodically put into effect.
49. The scope of the task as thus defined was such that it obviously could not be carried out on a local basis, but called for international co-operation and economic assistance from abroad, subject always to the proviso that any such assistance was furnished on the basis of mutual interests and strict respect for the sovereignty of the beneficiary State, to echo the Bandung Declaration of 1955. It was stipulated that it must on no account serve as a pretext for economic imperialism of any land.
50. We take pleasure on this occasion in paying a tribute to the generous spirit of understanding shown by the two great States which have contributed so effectively to the implementation of our plan — France, with which we have such long-standing bonds of friendship, and the great democracy of the United States; and we should like to include in this tribute the work of the United Nations in providing technical assistance, and the valuable contributions made by our partners in the Colombo Plan.
51. I should also like to stress the interest with which Laos is following the development of plans for the peaceful uses of atomic energy. The proposals made by President Eisenhower in the General Assembly on 8 December 1953 [470th meeting] is in keeping with the generous and liberal traditions of the United States, and will go down in world history as one of the most sincere acts of faith in international peace and cooperation. It was a step whose boldness and breadth of vision captured the imagination of peoples the world over; and already it is beginning to achieve results. A great hope has been born, particularly in countries like Laos which are anxiously watching the steadily increasing gap separating them from the more highly industrialized countries. In acceding to the Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency, my country’s purpose is to signify its sincere endorsement of the high-minded aims pursued by that organ.
52. Because of the historical, geographical and economic needs which we have just outlined, the foreign policy of Laos is directed towards the defence of the very principles of the Charter upon which the United Nations is founded. I would go further: for a small State like ours, the United Nations constitutes the strongest guarantee that might shall not prevail over right. We look to the United Nations as the supreme court which will protect us against all trespass and all threats, as the bulwark of our freedom and of the freedom of all States which refuse to conceive of a return to the law of the jungle, in international relations.
53. Our anxiety at the danger which we feel is threatening this Organization to which we are so strongly attached is therefore understandable. It seems to us that since the Korean War, the vital interests of certain great Powers have never been so violently in conflict, and that the conflict has never been more dangerous to world peace. The United Nations is thus being put to a severe test. It must either succeed in dealing with the present crises in Hungary and the Near East, in which case its authority will emerge stronger from the ordeal, or it will fail, and if it does its days are most certainly numbered. We are not presuming to suggest remedies or to offer advice. But we would venture, in face of the grave dangers threatening the United Nations, to address a strong appeal to all Member States, whether large or small, and to urge upon them to do all in their power to ensure the most rapid and effective enforcement of the decisions taken by our Organization.
54. Let us make no mistake, the destiny of the United Nations at this moment depends more than it ever depended upon its ability to take effective action. In that connexion, we can only welcome the recent creation of the United Nations Emergency Force under the high authority of our Secretary-General. We hope that it is only a first step, and that this nucleus of a world police force will develop into an effective instrument of action, a real armed force in the service of peace.
55. But our satisfaction is not entirely unqualified. While we regard the despatch of this international police force to Egypt as a welcome event, we cannot altogether help being surprised at the casualness, not to say indifference, with which certain States seem to accept the flouting of the Assembly’s recommendations in Hungary. We place all our hopes in the efforts of the Secretary-General to solve this problem; but we cannot help thinking that time is passing and that it would be just too easy to accede to the requests of the Assembly when the heroic battle which the valiant Hungarian people are now waging in defence of their liberties has ended for lack of combatants.
56. I therefore have the honour to inform this Assembly, on instructions from my Government, that the Kingdom of Laos has decided to make the troops of one company available to the United Nations Emergency Force. The Kingdom of Laos wishes thereby to give evidence of the high esteem in which it holds the untiring efforts of our Secretary-General in the defence of international peace and justice. It also wishes, by this gesture to demonstrate its confidence in the future of our Organization and its desire to associate itself with any action taken to strengthen international co-operation.
57. I have also beet! instructed by my Government to respond to the appeal addressed by our Secretary-General to all Member States, calling upon them, in accordance with the resolutions [1004 (ES-II), 1006 (ES-II), and 1007 (ES-II)] adopted by the General Assembly on 4 and 9 November 1956, to participate to the greatest extent possible in the relief action to help the Hungarian people. The Government of the Kingdom of Laos has decided to contribute the equivalent of one million French francs to this magnificent relief work. By this modest gift it wishes to show its deep sympathy with the sufferings of a people which refuses to let itself be enslaved, and to give evidence of its faith in international solidarity.
58. Our Organization still has of course only very limited powers of action. This being so, we would venture to draw attention to another and no less grave danger to its effectiveness: passion and the lack of self-control. It is a fact well known to all international organizations that over-ambitious decisions are often fated to remain a dead letter; and in the case of problems as grave as those before this Assembly, inability to obtain results would be tantamount to condemnation.
59. Do not misunderstand me: there can be no question of yielding on principles, since any concession there would be cowardice; but a clear distinction must be drawn between principles and methods of implementation. It is in the choice of the appropriate means of settling the present crises that realism is needed. If the solutions proposed are to be practicable and enforceable, they must spring not from the heat of passion, but from the will to obtain results, not from the desire to win an empty and fruitless propaganda victory, but from wisdom and moderation. It is only by such means, it seems to us, that we shall be able to exorcise that evil spirit which has haunted so many international organizations, and which caused the death of the League of Nations, namely; failure due to over-reaching.
60. In this year of crucial significance for the future of our Organization, millions of human beings throughout the world are to commune together to celebrate the memory of our revered master, Buddha Sakyamuni, and on the occasion of his 2500th anniversary, to extol the abiding values of his teaching. May our small State recall a precept which has been handed down to us full of age-old wisdom: “the middle road is the road of vision and enlightenment; it leads the way to lucidity, serenity and peace”.