20. Many of the representatives who have spoken before me have rightly observed that the present session of the General Assembly should play an important part in the preservation and strengthening of world peace. It is natural that this gathering should be the focus of attention for all mankind, which is basing great hopes upon it and is expecting that specific decisions will be taken to promote peace. We have no right to disappoint these hopes.
21. This General Assembly has on its agenda a number of important and topical questions which must be solved. Among the outstanding international problems which are agitating the peoples of the world the most important are those of the prohibition of atomic and hydrogen weapons tests, the reduction of armaments, armed forces and military budgets, and the removal of the threat of a new world war created by the aggressive actions of the United States in the Far East. If these problems are to be solved, the United Nations must display a spirit of mutual understanding and practical co-operation, mutual respect and trust in its deliberations, for what the peoples of the world need is not a balancing on the brink of war, an armaments race and the stockpiling of atomic and hydrogen bombs, but peace mid tranquillity.
22. My delegation listened carefully to the speech made by Mr. Dulles, the United States Secretary of State, on 18 September 1958 (749th meeting). In his speech Mr. Dulles referred among other things to events in the Far East. He attempted to make it seem that the situation in the Taiwan area has a basis of legality. Mr. Dulles sees this legality in the fact that Taiwan and the off-shore islands have been under the authority of the followers of Chiang Kai-shek for the past nine years, and not under that of the People's Republic of China. Mr. Dulles apparently forgets that Taiwan and the off-shore islands are a part of China, of the great People's Republic of China.
23. United States statesmen have at various times recognized Taiwan to be an inalienable part of China. On 6 January 1950, for example, Mr. Truman, the then President of the United States, said: "... for the past four years the United States and the other allied Powers have accepted the exercise of Chinese authority over the island". These words confirm that at that time the United States recognized that Taiwan and the off-shore islands lawfully belonged to the People's Republic of China. Everyone knows that were it not for American intervention, the islands of the Taiwan region would long since have rejoined the People's Republic of China.
24. Mr. Dulles mentioned here that the United States was seeking a prompt cease-fire in the Taiwan Strait. The idea of a cease-fire is being given increasing prominence in speeches by United States political and military leaders as well as in the American Press. Mr. Dulles attempted to present matters here as though the Government of the People's Republic of China was opposed to a cease-fire in the Taiwan Strait. But who, may I ask, is using force there, who has seized Taiwan and the off-shore islands and who is threatening the Chinese mainland with, war? It is none other than the United States which has seized those islands, is threatening the Chinese mainland with war and is refusing to leave the islands. It is the forces of Chiang Kai-shek urged on by the United States military command which should cease fire. In the face of the incessant threats and provocations from the off-shore islands the People's Republic of China has every right to protect its territory and the security of its people.
25. In their statements only yesterday, Mr. Lloyd, the British Foreign Secretary [758th meeting], and Mr. Smith, the Secretary of State for External Affairs of Canada (759th meeting), defended the dangerous policy of the United States in the Far East and, accusing the People's Republic of China of using force, also called for a cease-fire. But why did they Say nothing when the United States seized these islands? Why did they say nothing when the forces of Chiang Kai-shek were systematical shelling Chinese towns and villages in the coastal regions of China or when Chiang Kai-shek's warships were piratically attacking the merchant vessels of the People's Republic of China and other countries? At that time they kept silence, but now they manifest touching concern for the followers of Chiang Kai-shek.
26. The question arises, why are these false appeals for a cease-fire being made? They are being made because the United States and its allies wish to lead the world to believe that the People's Republic of China is at war with the United States. But we all know that the People's Republic of China is not at war with the United States. An internal Conflict is taking place in China in which no one has the right to intervene. To put an end to that conflict it is essential that United States intervention in the domestic affairs of the People's Republic of China should cease and that the United States Government should instruct its armed forces in the Taiwan region to desist from military intervention in that conflict and let the Chinese decide their own domestic affairs.
27. The policy of dictation and blackmail conducted by the United States State Department with regard to the People's Republic of China runs counter to the true interests of the American people. This was admitted by Mr. Acheson, the former United States Secretary of State, who said that it was not true that the fate of Formosa, far less that of the off-shore islands, vitally affected the interests of the United States. Mr. Dulles' assertion that the defence of these islands is in the interests of United States security is false.
28. Mr. Casey, Minister for External Affairs of Australia, claimed in his speech yesterday [759th meeting! that the Government of the People's Republic of China was disturbing peace and tranquillity in the Far East. He also alleged that the Government of the People's Republic of China was creating the possibility of war. Mr. Casey has put things entirely the wrong way round. The facts themselves are quite different.
29. Chiang Kai-shek's whole army has been brought to a state of battle readiness. On instructions from the United States military command, Chiang Kai-shek has sent one-third of his armed forces from Taiwan to the islands of Quemoy and Matsu. The reactionary Chiang Kai-shek clique entrenched on Taiwan is systematically making provocative attacks on the territory of the People's Republic of China. Chiang Kai-shek's forces are shelling a number of towns and settlements on the coast of China from batteries set up on the islands of Quemoy and Matsu. At the same time, Chiang Kai-shek, the United States puppet, is continually threatening to land on the mainland with his armed forces. It is well known, too, that the United States has concentrated large naval and air forces and marine detachments off the coast of the People's Republic of China. These facts are irrefutable.
30. But it is useless for the ruling circles in the United States to try to slow down the great movement Of the Chinese people towards socialism, useless for them to plan to restore their lost domination in China. The Chiang Kai-shek clique can only rule the roost in Taiwan for a short time. By sabre-rattling, provocations and threats the United States militarists think to intimidate the peoples of Asia, but these attempts are doomed to failure.
31. The message dated 19 September 1958 from Mr. Khrushchev, Head of the Government of the Soviet Union, to Mr. Eisenhower, President of the United States of America, states the following: "Those, who harbor plans of an atomic attack on the People’s Republic of China should not forget that the other side too has atomic and hydrogen weapons and the appropriate means to deliver them and, if the People's Republic of China falls victim to such an attack, the aggressor will at once get rebuff by the same means… "We have a treaty of friendship, alliance and mutual assistance with the great friend, ally and neighbour of our country, a treaty meeting the fundamental interests of the Soviet and Chinese peoples, the interests of peace, and may no one doubt that we shall completely honor our commitments." The Government of the United States should heed these words and consider all the circumstances before taking any action which might lead the world to a catastrophe.
32. The Government of the People's Republic of China demands quite legitimately that the United States should and its intervention in China's domestic affairs and withdraw its fleet from the Taiwan Strait and that United States soldiers should leave Taiwan and go home to America.
33. The Chinese people have law and justice on their side. They have the sympathy and support of all who sincerely want peace. The Byelorussian people fully and whole-heartedly support the policy of the Government of the People's Republic of China in this matter and demand that the United States Government withdraw its armed forces from the Taiwan region.
34. As is known, the third emergency special session of the General Assembly, which examined the question of the withdrawal of United States troops from Lebanon and of British troops from Jordan, adopted unanimously a resolution [1237 (ES-III)] requesting the Secretary-General to begin consultations immediately with the States concerned with a view to the early withdrawal of those troops from Lebanon and Jordan. The unanimous adoption of that resolution was an important step towards easing tension in the Near and Middle East. The peoples of the whole world are following the implementation of the General Assembly's decisions with the closest attention.
35. We know from the Press that the Secretary-General has had talks with the Governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, Lebanon and Jordan, but the results are as yet unknown. It has been reported that the Government of Jordan has refused to ask for the withdrawal of British troops from its territory, referring to a mythical threat to Jordan's independence from neighbouring Arab States. Seizing this pretext, the United Kingdom Government is delaying the withdrawal of its troops.
36. Although in his speech from this rostrum Mr. Dulles, the United States Secretary of State, spoke of the situation in the Near and Middle East, he did not, unfortunately, give us any explanation why the United States Government was not carrying out the resolution adopted at the third emergency special session of the General Assembly on the withdrawal of United States troops from Lebanon. Today we have to register the fact that United States and British troops have not yet been withdrawn from Lebanon and Jordan. Nor is it known when they will be withdrawn.
37. We listened yesterday to a statement by Mr. Lloyd, the British Foreign Secretary, who complained that someone was threatening Jordan. He did not, however, say who it was, He also spoke of some new circumstances or other which had arisen in that country. It is clear that Mr. Lloyd had to say those things in order to justify to the world the fact that Britain has still not withdrawn its troops from Jordan despite the resolution adopted unanimously on 21 August 1958. Mr. Lloyd also made references to the Secretary-General and his forthcoming report. We are awaiting that report with great interest, but it would have been better if Mr. Lloyd, instead of hiding behind the Secretary-General, had given us the time-table for the withdrawal of British troops from Jordan. That, however, he did not do.
38. We see that the ruling circles in the United States, the United Kingdom and France have not abandoned their true aim — the suppression of the national liberation movement in the Near and Middle East; this has been convincingly shown by recent events in this region. The war waged by the French colonizers against the Algerian people, the bombing of the territory of Yemen and Oman by British aircraft, the acts of terrorism against the people of Cyprus and other events indicate that the Governments of the United States, the United Kingdom and France are stopping at nothing to maintain their colonial rule in Asia and Africa. The General Assembly cannot overlook these facts.
39. I will now go on to the problem of disarmament which continues to be the focus of world attention. In his statement on 18 September [750th meeting], Mr. Gromyko, the Chairman of the Soviet delegation, submitted a memorandum of the Soviet Government on measures in the field of disarmament [A/3929] for discussion by the General Assembly. The memorandum recommends that the General Assembly should first and foremost discuss and adopt appropriate decisions on the following questions: first, the discontinuance of atomic and hydrogen weapons tests; secondly, the banning of the use of cosmic space for military purposes, the elimination of foreign military bases on the territories of other countries and international co-operation in the study of cosmic space; thirdly, the reduction of the military budgets of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United States of America, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and France by 10 to 15 per cent and the use of part of the savings so effected for assistance to the under-developed countries.
40. The Soviet proposals set forth in the memorandum have one aim: to rid mankind of further wars and to relieve the peoples of the heavy burden of taxation imposed on them by the continuing arms race. The Soviet proposals touch on the most vital questions which are of profound concern to all the peoples of the world.
41. My delegation would like to draw particular attention to the heed for an Immediate and general discontinuance of all atomic and hydrogen weapons tests. As is well known, the solution of this problem now depends entirely on the Governments of the United States and the United Kingdom which have not only refused to follow the generous example set by the Soviet Union in unilaterally discontinuing all hydrogen and atomic weapons tests with effect from 31 March 1958, but, on the contrary, have increased the rate of nuclear testing still further. This year the United States exploded a series of atomic and hydrogen bombs of unprecedented force in the Pacific. Even now, as this thirteenth session of the General Assembly is being held, United States nuclear bombs are still being exploded in Nevada, and British bombs in the Pacific. On 20 September 1958, The New York Times reported that the United States had conducted 112 officially announced nuclear tests since 1945. It can be seen, however, that the ruling circles in the United States consider even this insufficient. In defiance of all mankind they are seeking to avoid the settlement of the question of the immediate discontinuance of nuclear weapons tests by all countries, by advancing various artificial pretexts and reservations. In these circumstances, the General Assembly cannot remain indifferent. It must, call upon the United States and the United Kingdom to put an end to atomic and hydrogen weapons tests, which constitute a great hazard to human life and health throughout the world.
42. Another important issue of the day is the question of the banning of the use of cosmic space for military purposes and the elimination of foreign military bases on the territories of other countries.
43. The achievements of Soviet scientists in the conquest of outer space have once and for all shattered the illusions of those who nursed the hope that the territory of the United States was out of reach and invulnerable.' It should be noted that the United States has hundreds of military bases in foreign countries for use against the Soviet Union and the other socialist countries. We therefore consider that the attempts by the United States to separate the question of the banning of the use of cosmic space for military purposes from a solution of the problem of the elimination of foreign military bases can only be regarded as an endeavour to obtain certain strategic advantages.
44. In the present situation we must find a solution which will ensure the security of the United States, the Soviet Union and Other States to an equal degree. Such a solution is indicated, in the Soviet Union's proposal for the banning of the use of cosmic space for military purposes, the elimination of foreign military bases on the territories of other countries and international co-operation in the study of cosmic space. The Byelorussian delegation supports this important and timely proposal.
45. As you see, the Soviet Union has submitted a number of new proposals at " this session aimed at a very rapid solution of the disarmament problem. But what has the United States proposed on its side? In his Speech from this rostrum Mr. Dulles did not put forward any proposals to facilitate the solution of the, disarmament problem but merely repeated the old American notion that what is most important; is arms control. With all this talk of control the United States, delegation is attempting to lead the United Nations as far away from the disarmament problem as possible and thus conceal the continuing arms race in general and the atomic and hydrogen weapons race in particular. This arms race has now reached monstrous proportions in the United States.
46. For example, the United States Government has appropriated the enormous sum of $46,000 million for military purpose for the 1959 financial year which began on 1 July ,1958. Of each dollar of budgetary expenditure sixty-four cents is earmarked for military purposes. Military expenditure in the United States will cost every man, woman and child $427.86 for the year. This is in fact the largest military budget the United States has ever had in peacetime. "
47. On 14 May 1957, the French newspaper Le Monde referring to a statement by the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, pointed out that: "The Eisenhower administration can without doubt be regarded as having broken every taxation record since the country's earliest beginnings... In less than five years the Eisenhower administration has collected $373,000 million in taxes. From the time of the George Washington administration up to and including the administration of Franklin Roosevelt, the total sum collected in taxes amounted to $244,100 million".
48. I invite you to ponder over these figures. In the past five years one and a half times as much has been collected in taxes as in the 156 years' existence of the United States up to 1945.
49. Accordingly, the Soviet Union's proposal for a reduction of 10 to 15 per cent in the military budgets of States, and in the first instance of the United States, the USSR, the United Kingdom and France, and for the allocation of part of the savings so effected for broad economic assistance to the under-developed countries is more than timely.
50. Nor can we close our eyes to the evidence of a continuing ideological preparation for a war of aggression. United States generals and admirals are actively preaching the theory of preventive war, i.e., that the United States should strike first. They say; "Let us not wait, let us shoot first". The magazine U.S. News & World Report published an article on 13 December 1957, by Captain Puleston, a former head of United States Naval Intelligence, entitled "Should U.S. ever strike first blow?" The author called for a policy of preventive war. "The time in history is past", wrote Puleston, "when this nation can afford to let the enemy deliver the first blow". The author attempts to prove that if the United States attacked first it would not be in violation of international law.
51. Everyone is aware of the anger and indignation with which the peoples of the world greeted the report that United States aircraft carrying atomic and hydrogen bombs had repeatedly carried out flights in the direction of the frontiers of the Soviet Union. These flights by United States bombers carrying atomic and hydrogen bombs, unprecedented in peacetime, constitute a provocation dangerous to international security.
52. I should like to draw attention in this connexion to a book entitled SAC. Strategic Air Command, published in the United States by a certain Richard Hubler. It reports that bombers crews have practised bombing American towns, the topography of which is more or less like that of Stalingrad and Magnitogorsk. So, United States airmen are learning to bomb cities like Stalingrad, the very same Stalingrad in which Soviet fighting men in a mortal clash with the Fascist-Hitlerite army decided the fate not only of their Motherland, but of all mankind. It is time to stop these inflammatory statements and provocative acts.
53. Our task is to make the necessary effort to find ways of breaking the present deadlock in the problem of disarmament, which is of vital importance for the peoples of. the world. The next move must be made not by the Soviet Union but by the United States, which must show a spirit of co-operation in this matter.
54. At previous sessions the Byelorussian delegation has repeatedly pointed out that the revival of German militarism created a serious threat of war in Europe, The particular danger to peace of the remilitarization of West Germany is the fact that the Federal Republic of Germany is the only European State whose Government is striving to have the frontiers in Europe changed. Remilitarization and incitement to revanche are creating a highly tense situation in Europe and preventing the calm and businesslike examination of the proposals which the USSR has put forward for restoring the situation in Europe to normal. Being one of Germany's closest neighbours, the Byelorussian people cannot remain Indifferent to the remilitarization of West German in which the Adenauer Government is now engaged.
55. Thirteen years, after the defeat of Hitlerite Germany, West Germany is becoming a force which threatens peace and security. The extensive militarization of the Federal Republic of Germany and the building of a new aggressive army with the active support of the United States mid the United Kingdom are being carried out in an atmosphere of revived nazism and desire for revanche. The Allied law dissolving and banning the National Socialist Party has very recently been repealed in the Federal Republic of Germany. Militaristic, revanche-inspired and pro-Nazi literature is widely disseminated on the book market of the Federal Republic and this has become quite normal. This literature, which we examine rather thoroughly, sings the praises of the attack by Hitlerite Germany on the USSR, the United Kingdom, Czechoslovakia, Poland, France, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Yugoslavia and Greece.
56. Former Nazis are to be found in all spheres of public life in West Germany and they hold important positions in many government institutions in the Federal Republic. Monopolists and bankers who helped Hitler to seize power twenty-five years ago and then supplied him with arms for his predatory war against the peoples of Europe are again dominant in the West Germany economy. Suffice it to mention Krupp, Stinnes, Flicke, the banker Pferdmenges and other war criminals who now occupy key positions in West Germany economy and finance.
57. The Adenauer Government is devoting great attention to the remilitarization of West Germany. The Federal Republic of Germany already has armed forces considerably surpassing the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic in numbers and equipment. Direct military expenditure under the 1958-1959 budget will amount to more than 1Q,000 million marks. By the end of 1958 the strength of the Bundeswehr will be 230,000 men, including 114 generals, 22,000 field officers, and 68,000 non-commissioned officers. I have quoted only official figures given by the Adenauer Government. Seven of the divisions established have been put under the command of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Most important, however, the armed forces now being created are regarded merely as a framework on which a large army can be built up at any time.
58. A serious danger to peace is the fact that on 25 March 1958 the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany enacted legislation in the Bundestag giving it the right in effect to begin equipping the Bundewsehr with atomic and hydrogen weapons on a practical basis. On 2 April 1958, the Daily Mirror reported that Strauss, the Minister of Defence of the Federal Republic of Germany, told Crossman, a British Labour Member of Parliament, during an interview, that if other countries, in particular France, manufactured their own hydrogen bombs, Germany might very possibly be forced to do so too. No one today can doubt the real nature of this danger,
59. The decision to arm the West German army with atomic weapons and the plans to manufacture these weapons are particularly dangerous in that these weapons of mass destruction are being put in the hands of the aggressive forces which unleased the Second World War — hands which are stained with the blood of tens of millions of people.
60. The peoples of Europe, who experienced all the horrors of invasion by the Hitlerite armies, now see who is pushing West Germany onto the disastrous path of atomic armament. It is now clear to all that the United States is actively reviving German militarism, the mortal enemy of the European peoples.
61. The Byelorussian people has no hostility towards the German people. Like all the peace-loving peoples of Europe, the Byelorussians wish to live in peace with the German people and want to see Germany a single, peace-loving and truly democratic State. That is why we welcome the important initiative taken by the Government of the German Democratic Republic which reflects its concern for the national interests of the German people. The establishment of a commission composed of representatives of the USSR, the United States, the United Kingdom and France to carry out consultations on the preparation of a peace treaty, as proposed by the German Democratic Republic, would considerably speed up the conclusion of such a treaty and would further the settlement of the German problem.
62. The prime responsibility for the tension existing in international relations rests with the aggressive circles in the United. States and the United Kingdom. They are reluctant to take into account the historic changes which have taken place in Europe and Asia since the Second World War. They seek to deny the right of peoples to arrange their lives as they themselves think fit. Moreover, the United States ruling circles are striving by all possible means to implement this policy which is contrary to the United Nations Charter. I cannot pass over Mr. Dulles' statement in the general debate to the effect that "the United States, as one of the so-called great Powers, continues to stand ready to dedicate that power to world order" [749th meeting, para. 84]. United States statesmen cannot give up this idée fixe which openly proclaims their country's aggressive foreign policy. At one time they used to say that the United States had a mission to rule the world; now they assert that their country must maintain world order.
83. But what does this United States foreign policy of maintaining world order openly proclaimed from this rostrum by Mr. Dulles mean in practice? It is a frank admission that the United States intends to continue to Intervene in the domestic affairs of other States. Yesterday the United States and the United Kingdom sent their troops into Lebanon and Jordan, apparently in the name of maintaining world order; today United States armed forces are being concentrated in the Far East; tomorrow United States ruling circles will deem it necessary to restore order somewhere else: we do not as yet know where. All this poisons the international atmosphere and leads to tension in relations between States.
64. At this grave moment of history the peoples of the world want peace, not war. The peoples of the Soviet Union, in particular the Byelorussian people, who are directing all their efforts into constructive labour, ardently desire peace.
65. On 1 January 1959, the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic will celebrate its fortieth anniversary. This day is a great historic date in the life of the Byelorussian people. The Byelorussian SSR was only able to attain its statehood through the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution. Over the years of Soviet rule the Byelorussian SSR has become a flourishing industrial and collective-farm Republic.
66. The Byelorussian SSR is devoting great effort to the widest possible economic, technical and cultural co-operation with other countries. Many Byelorussian State and public organizations are establishing international cultural relations by exchanging delegations and periodicals, arranging exhibitions of various kinds and sending representatives to various international congresses, festivals, and the like. In 1956 and 1957 alone more than 130 foreign parliamentary, public, trade-union, cultural and other delegations as well as thousands of tourists from foreign countries visited the Byelorussian SSR. All foreign delegations were given every opportunity to learn about the economic and cultural development of Byelorussia and the life of its people. In their turn a considerable number of Byelorussian workers visited the United Kingdom, France, Sweden, Italy, Finland, Switzerland, Poland, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic, Yugoslavia and other countries. In its international intercourse the Byelorussian SSR is invariably guided by the principles of friendship and peace among peoples and broad international co-operation.
67. The growth of the peace-loving forces struggling to avert war is having a great and beneficial effect upon the whole international situation and inspires hope and faith in a better future for mankind. Millions of people, warmly support the idea of peaceful negotiations at the very highest level, as proposed by the Soviet Government.
68. At this session, as you will have noticed, a bitter struggle is going on between the forces of peace and the forces of war. The peoples of all countries are following this struggle attentively, expecting the General Assembly to heed the warning voice of the peace-loving countries and to take effective steps to avert war. Our Organization cannot be turned into an instrument for the encouragement of aggression.
69. The Byelorussian delegation considers that it is possible for important decisions aimed at strengthening peace and the security of peoples to be adopted within the United Nations, provided, of course, that all countries strive for agreement and that the United Nations Charter is strictly observed.
70. We have a number of examples of the unanimous adoption of resolutions by the General Assembly, on a wide range of questions. We must see to it that the United Nations effectively contributes to the peaceful solution of international disputes on the basis of respect for the Sovereign rights of all peoples, as proclaimed in the Charter. The peoples of the whole world expect the united Nations to adopt effective and constructive measures to strengthen International peace and security. Hundreds of millions of people believe and hope that there will be a relaxation of international tension. It is our duty to heed the voice of the peoples, to prohibit atomic and hydrogen weapons and remove the threat of a new war.
71. The delegation of the Byelorussian SSR expresses confidence that the General Assembly will do its duty in the matter of removing the throat of a new world war and relaxing tension in international relations.