37. Mr. PANYA (Laos) (translated from French): Mr. President, may I add the modest congratulations of Laos to those already offered to you by previous speakers upon your election to the presidency of the thirteenth session of the United Rations General Assembly. Modest as it is, this tribute is a recognition not only of your outstanding qualities of statesmanship but also of your good sportsmanship. We all remember that last year by withdrawing in favour of Sir Leslie Munro you preserved the unanimity of this Assembly which is so necessary to the harmony of our work. Conscious as we all are of your brilliance and efficiency, we have not even a momentary doubt of your success in your delicate mission.
38. May I also take this opportunity to express our sympathy to His Excellency Mohammed Ahmed Mahgoub, Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Sudan, and hope that his turn will come very soon.
39. If my colleagues were to cast their minds back to the speech which the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Laos made here a year ago in similar circumstances [698th meeting], they might suppose that we Laotians were lacking in imagination. But the real issue facing our Organization has not changed. According to the United Nations Charter our task is "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war". Unfortunately the founders of our Organization were over-optimistic and this year our task is once again to save all generations now and in the future. Today it is in Formosa that peace is threatened; yesterday it was in the Middle East.
40. During the past ten months the world has been amazed by the immense progress made in human knowledge. Why then are there millions of human beings whose standards of living can hardly be regarded as worthy of their dignity as men and women and who can see no hope of an end to their misery? Why has our amazement at the brilliant and spectacular achievements of science been succeeded by feelings of fear rather than joy? Why do we feel horror and foreboding before the wonderful feats of the artificial satellites? For a year the great fear in the world, far from growing lighter, has lain each day more heavily on our thoughts and our deeds.
41. We boast that we shall soon be able to leave this earth, yet we can do nothing to ease international tension. Far from being able to look forward to a long period of prosperity — the vaunted golden age which technology seems to hold out before us — we await fearfully the onset of catastrophe.
42. For some months now it has seemed as if there and been some unwritten and unacknowledged law proscribing that each storm that arises and then subsides shall be followed by a new turbulence. Hardly had the noise of gunfire died down in Lebanon than there arose the sound of the bombardment in the Formosa Strait. How then can this lurking fear be removed from the hearts of men?
43. This situation suggests some comments on the efforts which the United Nations must make to put an end to the dangerous situation which we are facing- efforts bearing on our methods of work but calculated above all to make the responsible Governments more aware of the daily fear of a third world war in which the human race is living.
44. When, in the face of our inability to settle the political disputes which are the aftermath of the Second World War, we see how rapidly technological difficulties have been overcome, we are forced to recognize that none of us, whether politician or diplomat, has shown enough adaptability. We should take the scientists as our models and display the same tenaciousness, boldness and imagination in managing our affairs.
45. Earnestness, perseverance, patience? Certainly, we need all these. But we Laotians do not feel that they are enough. The moral purpose of each one of us and the philosophical ideas inherent in the political theories which each country claims for itself must play their various parts in bringing peace to the human spirit. Only the principle of the love of human beings for one another, with which Buddhism, as well as other philosophies and religions, is imbued, can create the atmosphere which would give our work a chance of success. I declare openly: any doctrine of hatred, any theory which sets one man against another in the name of so-called historical science, not only fails to alleviate the wrongs which it denounces, but jeopardizes the very survival of humanity as a whole for the benefit of the so-called happiness of future generations.
46. We know well that nothing can be gained from visits to other planets, while there are still human beings who do not enjoy even the most elementary rights such as those codified by our Organization in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
47. Thus 1957, which should have been a year of hope, was the year of chaos.
48. It is only fair to acknowledge that the role of the United Nations in the settlement of disputes has been of some importance; the Middle East crisis is a recent case in point. The unanimity which was displayed in adopting the resolution proposed by the ten countries of the League of Arab States [resolution 1237 (ES-III)] at the time of the third emergency special session is evidence of the value of our Organization. I should like to point out here that the Government of Laos has followed closely all the missions which the Secretary-General has undertaken in the best interests of peace; although his great modesty is known to me, yet I should like to congratulate him publicly on the energy and ability he has displayed wherever international tension required his presence. In the Middle East, as elsewhere, he has carried on the work of conciliation and pacification and we are justified in saying that he has served the cause of peace well. Thus, despite the pessimism which coloured my words when I first spoke, there is a promise of better things thanks to the United Nations, which has helped to limit the effects of situations fraught with danger.
49. I should next like to deduce the lesson from the events of the year which has just passed and to stress what, it seems to me, must be the principal aims of this thirteenth session of the General Assembly.
50. Until now the main task of our Organization has been the restoration “of peace whenever it has been threatened. But has it tried with sufficient tenacity to persuade nations "to practise tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours"? How can we develop such tolerance in a world armed to the teeth? Nations must first agree to disarm; the fear which destroys mutual confidence must be dispelled and, to do so, the weapons of death which nourish fear must go.
51. As the representative of a-people with a great zest for life, I regain some of my optimism when I see the genuine and solid progress made at the Geneva Conference last summer by the world's best technical experts. As a result of this international meeting of scientists, it is now possible to determine the technical conditions under which nuclear explosions can be detected. Such a prospect of controlled disarmament augurs well for the future. The great Powers, which have either stopped or are going to stop their nuclear experiments, know that they hold the fate of humanity in their hands. The human race will cling to the slenderest hopes in its anxiety to see an end to their rivalry over nuclear weapons. Far from all propaganda may these Powers work for peace at the conference which they are soon to hold.
52. But so long as the conditions for general security do not exist, so long as universal and controlled disarmament is no more than a hope, we must, in view of the events in central Europe in 1956 and in the Middle East in 1958, make a decision on the creation of a stand-by force. Such an armed force would be at the disposal of the Secretary-General and could be employed on a request made by the governments of countries wishing to make use of it. We must also learn to devise methods appropriate to the realities of situations; that is to say, to take into account new forms of aggression, whether indirect, ideological or economic.
53. We must find a way of stopping subversion. The Head of my Government, His Excellency Phoui Sananikone, declared recently: "The need to defend our freedom and independence has become apparent because, even if our frontiers do not seem to be threatened, our freedom and independence are certainly jeopardized by the secret plotting going on Inside the Kingdom to seduce the population away from the legitimate government and persuade it to join in the formation of a single political party..." I do not think Laos is the only country faced with intrigues calculated to undermine its national unity. Some eight years ago, under United Nations auspices, a number of the most eminent legal experts attempted to define subversion. It is surely time (and I hope these experts will not hold it against me if I say so) that the preparatory stage of this work was concluded and some practical results produced. My Government has a very special interest in this. Laos does not belong to any military alliance and is wholly dependent on the United Nations for its defence. What we, in Laos, fear are the daggers of the threat to our Kingdom from elements subservient to a foreign ideology.
54. Having achieved reunification after long years of tragic division, my country is still suffering from, and will for some years continue to suffer from, the after- math of the events to which the Geneva agreements put an end in 1954. For that reason it wishes to be assured that the United Nations can assist it, if it should make an appeal for help.
55. Although faced with grave political problems, the country I represent has embarked on a programme of immediate modernization. Thus Laos is pleased to see that the resolution on the financing of economic development which was adopted by the General Assembly at its twelfth session [resolution 1219 (XII)l has made such rapid progress and that the Special Fund is about to become a reality. It has frequently been said that freedom cannot survive by the side of extreme poverty. We realize that this financial body cannot on its own solve all our problems of development. Taking its place beside the programmes of assistance provided by friendly Powers, especially the United States and France, and supplementing the Colombo Plan and the various forms of assistance we are receiving, it will help to finance some of the work which will bring about the development of the Lower Mekong River Basin, the broad lines of which were planned by the mission under General Wheeler. It is fortunate that here, as elsewhere, the United Nations is giving support to the Powers which decided to provide direct assistance and to help the four countries concerned in the immense task of subduing these waters and turning their energy to useful account.
56. It is by constructive work that the United Nations fulfils its rightful purpose and Laos, although it has been participating in its work for only three years, has already found that the solidarity of Member States is not merely an empty formula.
57. Peace, social justice and economic progress are the aims of the Government which I have the honour to represent. They conform so closely to those of the General Assembly that the Laotian delegation is confident that it can contribute within the measure of its means to giving the United Nations the strength to enable it to accomplish .the tasks for which it alone can assume responsibility.
58. I should have liked to conclude here the statement which I wished to make on my Government's behalf to the General Assembly. A new factor has arisen, meanwhile, which makes it necessary for me to clarify for the Assembly the reference to the political and geographical situation of my country which a very distinguished speaker has made here. Last week, in his admirable speech, His Royal Highness Prince Norodom Sihanouk, President of the Council of Cambodia, stated: "If the Chinese or North Viet-Namese wanted to infiltrate into Cambodia, they could do so only through Thailand or South Viet-Nam, which are manifestly anti-communist, or through Laos which, according to the present Prime Minister's own statement, is at once neutral and pro-Western," [756th meeting, para. 19]. Since my country is mentioned, it is my duty to enlighten the Assembly on what was said. But I must hasten to add most emphatically that, in so doing, it is not my intention to reply to an attack nor to engage in a controversy. Cambodia and Laos maintain close and friendly relations. Both have been deeply influenced by the same civilization and both are devoted to the monarchic system of government. They are closely bound to each other by economic, cultural and social ties which are all the stronger because they go back for many centuries, and any change in the relationship between the two kingdoms is unthinkable. In stating this, I am principally anxious to avoid any erroneous or tendentious interpretation which might sow the seeds of misunderstanding in our Assembly and cast the slightest shadow on the excellent relations between Cambodia and Laos.
59. We Laotians would be deeply grieved if our country were to be used as a path for Communist infiltration into Cambodia. Yet it could be queried whether the Communists would really need to pass through our country to penetrate into the heart of Cambodia since the Cambodian Kingdom is now open to them legally.
60. At all events, the Laotian people, which is not Communist and has no desire to be, will never abet those who desire to enslave other nations in the name of an ideology which has no connexion with their ancient traditions and national aspirations. All my compatriots are united behind the throne and the royal Government and they will fight to the last breath and put down with the utmost vigour, supported, if necessary, by their friends, any attempt at infiltration or subversion in their territory in violation of the international rules of good neighbourliness and mutual respect.
61. The declaration of our Prime Minister is exact. But let no one make a mistake. We are neutral and as neutral as any neutral State can claim to be. I said earlier that Laos did not belong to any military alliance. Our statesmen have repeatedly affirmed this. We desire to have good relations and to live in peace with all countries, near or far. We have absolutely no warlike intentions and have never been filled with hate.
62. If we are said to be pro-Western, surely it does not mean that we are against the East. It is wrong to be friendly with those who understand you and whose way of thinking and looking at things is similar to your own? Does being the friend of a person mean that you blindly espouse his disputes or his quarrels or make common cause with him on every occasion? We in Laos do not think so. Our friendship for the Western world is not the outcome of a calculated policy and still less the result of a bargain. Its roots go down into the very foundations of our political and religious ideas, our behaviour and our national life. We have found in the great Western family principles of liberty, democracy and government which are similar to ours and in keeping with our character. We often say that we are a small nation. But in whatever touches our pride and our sovereignty, I can assure the Assembly that we are in every way the equal of those which may have a larger population and more territory. Our faith in this is unshakable. We are as jealous of our independence as any people which is in love with liberty and takes pride in its history. We shall never allow our native land to become a place where may flourish a way of thinking whose ultimate purpose is to lead us into slavery. In exactly the same way, we shall refuse any form of moral or material support, from wherever it may come, if, under the cloak of self-styled and magnanimous collaboration, its real aim is to rob us of even a part of our sovereignty.