Mr. PADILLA NERVO said that the fourth session of the General Assembly was opening at a time when the international political atmosphere was decidedly calmer than that which had prevailed at the opening of the third session in Paris.
51. The event which had led to President Truman to make his speech of 23 September had stirred public opinion, even though the great Powers had doubtless already taken that event into account in their policies. It would not, therefore, affect the auspices under which the current session was opening.
52. The news should lead the Assembly to make a renewed effort at its current session to prevent an unbridled atomic arms race and open the way to the conclusion of an agreement for effective international control of atomic energy, since the very serious problems which had kept the world in a state of unrest since the end of the war were still unsolved and represented a grave threat to peace. The disputes or situations which had been brought to the Assembly’s notice and which had disturbed or were likely to disturb international peace, had not progressed towards favourable solutions except where the great Powers had been in agreement, as had happened in the case of Palestine, of Kashmir and of Indonesia.
53. The problems on which the great Powers still held stubbornly opposed points of view, such as the international control of atomic energy, the regulation and reduction of armaments, the organization of the armed forces of the United Nations and the admission of new Members, were still -unresolved and had not progressed one step towards solution. Nor had it been possible as yet to create a propitious atmosphere of mutual trust in which those problems might be reconsidered without fear or suspicion.
54. How was it, then, that despite such obstacles and despite the continued existence of the unfavourable circumstances and events referred to, the opening of the fourth session of the General Assembly was marked by a more peaceful political atmosphere than that of the previous year? What influences had led to the relative slackening of international tension? What were its causes? How could the Assembly use the auspicious pause for the better achievement of its task?
55. The Secretary-General said in his annual report that the fear of war had decreased. The President of the General Assembly had made a similar statement (220th meeting), exhorting the Assembly to take advantage of the improvement by renewing its efforts on the lines of its resolution 190 (III), introduced by Mexico and unanimously adopted on 3 November 1948, which urged the great Powers to settle their differences by peaceful means.
56. Why could the fear of war be said to have decreased? Why were nations and Governments no longer facing current problems in an atmosphere of confused panic, but with coolness and a constructive attitude? The nature and operation of the causes should be analysed.
57. It was a fact that regional arrangements for co-operation and mutual aid had strengthened, in the nations concerned, the confidence in international brotherhood and had simultaneously reinforced the faith of each and all in their individual and collective capacities. Hence, alarm and despondency concerning the immediate future had lessened.
58. In addition, there could be no doubt but that the determining factor in that improvement in the international political atmosphere was the welcome fact that the great Powers had resumed their consultations and negotiations in the Council of Foreign Ministers, which had been suspended for eighteen months, That single fact, though seemingly unimportant, that direct contact among Powers, that entering upon the path which the Charter had indicated for the pacific settlement of disputes, meant that it was the intention of the great Powers to attune precept and practice and to listen to world opinion, which desired beyond all things that its faith in the principles of the Charter should be confirmed in everyday action.
59. The resumption of negotiations in the Council of Foreign Ministers and the efforts of the great Powers to come to terms regarding Berlin and with respect to the peace treaty with Austria, were tire real cause of the relative improvement in the international situation; those facts showed the General Assembly the aim which it should pursue during the current session, and the use which it could and should make of the powerful moral influence of the United Nations.
60. Nobody failed to realize that the General Assembly, by unanimously adopting its resolution 190 (III), which appealed to the great Powers to increase their efforts toward peace, had exerted that moral influence with satisfactory results. That resolution, in addition to having been a moderating factor which helped to decrease existing tension, had set in motion other conciliatory forces; it continued to be the expression of the unanimous will of the United Nations and a basis for further and more effective efforts towards international conciliation and the establishment of lasting peace.
61. Mr. Acheson, the representative of the United States, had told the General Assembly (222nd meeting) that his Government could be depended upon to contribute fully to the creation of the necessary conditions of confidence and, with their attainment, to play its full role in the regulation and reduction, under effective safeguards, of armaments and armed forces. He had added that the policy of the United States in that important matter was in full conformity with the General Assembly resolution 190 (III), which was aimed at securing the composition of differences among the major Powers and the establishment of lasting peace.
62. At the 225th meeting, Mr. Schuman, the representative of France, had said that although the Council of Foreign Ministers had failed to reach an agreement on Germany, it seemed to have opened the way to the conclusion of a treaty with Austria, a treaty which would make it possible to put an end to the military occupation of that country and to restore to it its real sovereignty. Thus at least in that respect, Mr. Schuman had continued, the wish expressed in resolution 190 (III), adopted by the General Assembly on the initiative of the Mexican delegation, and of which the President had appropriately reminded the Assembly in his opening speech, would be fulfilled.
63. The great Powers should persevere in that attitude, and the General Assembly, for its part, should help and encourage them to retain it, for thus alone would the world believe in progress, slow perhaps, but sure, towards the building of a world order of freedom, peace and well-being for all,
64. The Government and the delegation of Mexico reaffirmed their faith in the United Nations and their intention to co-operate in the everyday tasks and in the achievement of the noble purposes of the Organization.
65. The Government and delegation of Mexico were justly proud and greatly encouraged to note that their initiative, as embodied in a unanimous resolution of the General Assembly, had been the humble origin of a great moral force in the service of conciliation and peace.
66. Mexico was engaged on far-reaching domestic enterprises. Every year, thanks to government programmes which were carried out systematically, the realization of the people’s aspirations reached new heights in the fields of labour, production, health and culture. In international relations, Mexico cherished no territorial ambitions and no plans for domination or for unilateral or unfair advantages; it could pride itself on the reward it received for that policy in the friendship and quiet confidence bestowed upon it by other nations.
67. Those circumstances had enabled Mexico to guide its activities in international bodies by the desire to serve the universal cause of peace, whose triumph, as President Aleman had said recently, could be achieved neither by the intimidation of the weak by the strong, nor by the forced subjugation of peoples to ideological principles conflicting with their historical tradition.