The ninth session of the General Assembly is meeting at a time when the world situation continues to be fraught with grave danger. In fact, since we last met here, there have been new breaches of the peace; there have been fresh acts of war. The United Nations, whose responsibility it is to maintain and restore peace, has been powerless in the face of mounting communist aggression. While Korea remains in a state of armed suspension, the same Chinese Communist aggressors, strengthened by the continued support of Moscow and their experience of war in Korea, have gained in Indo-China another round of military and political victory.
37. Only a few months ago, at a conference in Geneva, the fruits of communist aggression in Indo-China were given official recognition by a number of the participating Western Powers whose armies had lately fought against the same Communist aggressors in Korea under the flag of the United Nations. Meanwhile, communist subversion and infiltration continues unabated in many other lands where defenceless people live in daily fear of being overrun by the red tide. In fact, whichever direction one turns — to Asia, to Europe, to Africa, to the Americas, to Malaya or to Australia — one sees unmistakable signs of communist intrigue or expansionism. This, briefly, is the picture of the world in which we hope to achieve peace and security.
38. The picture, of course, is not without its brighter aspects. The United Nations, it may be pointed out, has in the past year continued to achieve progress in the economic and social fields. Extensive studies, for instance, have been made as to how economic development and reconstruction in the under-developed countries may be brought about, a subject with which the representative of the Netherlands has just dealt in the most eloquent manner. Technical assistance of various kinds is being provided to an increasing number of countries, including non-member States. Steady progress is being made in the operation of the international trusteeship system. The full harvest of these efforts may not be apparent today or tomorrow, but they will no doubt contribute in a large measure to the creation of stable economic and social conditions, so vital to the maintenance of peace.
39. But as a triumph of the human spirit and the principles of the United Nations, the successful implementation of the resolution on the voluntary repatriation of the prisoners of war in Korea must be regarded as a signal achievement. This important resolution [610 (VII)] was adopted, as we will recall, at the seventh session of the General Assembly, despite the desperate opposition put up by the Communist bloc of nations. As we look back to the circumstances under which the principle of voluntary repatriation was implemented, we are proud to note that this battle for freedom and humanity was only made possible by the firm stand taken by the majority of Members here assembled. I have no desire to recount in detail the manner in which the Communists sought, by every possible means, to scuttle this principle both in and outside the United Nations. Even after the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed, the Communists insisted on interpreting the provisions concerning the repatriation of the prisoners of war in such a way as would permit them to continue to administer the process of “brain-washing” to the prisoners.
40. But for the conscientious performance of duty by the Swiss and Swedish members of the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission and the force of public opinion in the free world, the Commission might not even have had the success it achieved.
41. Time does not permit me to enter into a discussion here of the full significance of the free and bold choice made by the anti-Communist prisoners of war in Korea. This event will go down in history as a milestone in, man’s long struggle against the dark forces of tyranny and oppression. It will also establish an important precedent in international law in respect of the consideration for individual rights in ideological conflicts. Nowhere, I think, are the concepts of human rights and fundamental freedoms more convincingly affirmed than in this instance.
42. That 80 per cent of the Chinese prisoners of war should have decided to choose freedom at the risk of their own lives and those of their families is the strongest attestation of how the puppet Communist regime in Peiping is repudiated by the Chinese people behind the Iron Curtain in Asia. This is the one battle which the Communists did not win.
43. In reviewing the world situation, one cannot but become struck by the fact that practically all the major problems confronting us today stem from communist imperialism. Unless the United Nations can adopt a firm moral stand against communism and find some effective means of combating this world menace, it may soon be dragged down to a level where its competence will be limited to problems of minor consequences. In view of this threat to the very existence of the United Nations itself, I propose today to examine briefly the extent of the communist menace to world peace and security.
44. In this as in previous years, the work of this Organization has been seriously hampered by the non-co-operative attitude and obstructive tactics of the Soviet Union and its satellites. In the Security Council, the Soviet Union has continued to abuse its veto power. The United Nations Charter is so framed as to place on the Security Council the primary responsibility for the maintenance of peace and security, but this principal organ of the United Nations has been practically paralysed by the Soviet veto. Furthermore, in the other organs of the United Nations, the Soviet Union and its satellites have also continued to make constructive work difficult, if not impossible, by the same obstructive tactics.
45. That the Soviet Union and its satellites have no desire to support the United Nations to the extent of enabling it to perform its normal functions is obvious. Their talk of peaceful co-existence, of disarmament and of the easing of East-West tension is calculated merely to serve propaganda purposes and to undermine the solidarity of the free nations. Their desire is to incapacitate the United Nations for major political decisions.
46. We share the sense of disappointment already expressed in this Assembly on the question of the admission of new Members. Here, again, the obstructive tactics pursued by the Soviet Union and its satellites are apparent. My delegation has on previous occasions stated its position on this matter. We do not subscribe to the principle of mechanical universality with respect to the admission of new Members. Nations which fail to meet the conditions explicitly laid down in the Charter should naturally be barred from the United Nations. The Soviet Union has repeatedly exercised its veto in the Security Council on the admission of new Members in utter disregard of these conditions. The Charter does not provide for the admission of any and every nation which applies for admission. On the contrary, Article 6 of the Charter provides for the expulsion from the United Nations of such members as have “persistently violated” its principles. In this regard, I wish to place on record once again the considered view of the Chinese delegation that the Soviet Union has more than qualified for expulsion from the United Nations.
47. We further note with concern a growing tendency among some Member States to negotiate with the Communist bloc of nations outside the United Nations on major international problems. I share the view that individual Members of the United Nations should, whenever possible, negotiate among themselves for the settlement of disputes. The point to be considered is whether the results of such negotiations would serve the purposes of the United Nations. We are justified in asking, for instance: Are the results of the Geneva Conference in conformity with the purposes and principles of the Charter? Have they strengthened the principle of collective security which is the primary concern of the United Nations? Has the question of the unification of Korea been brought nearer to its realization at this Conference? My answer to these questions is “no”. On the contrary, the Geneva Conference has legalized the fruits of aggression; it has brought about the dismemberment of Indo-China against the wishes of the people; and the Communist aggressors have been permitted to chalk up another victory in their programme of world conquest.
48. In fact, the net result of the Geneva Conference is that 77,000 square miles of land rich in natural resources and 12 million helpless people have been turned over to the Communists. The regime of Ho Chi Minh has been given recognition. Only a very small portion of the people living north of the 17th parallel in Viet-Nam will find it physically possible to move to the south, however much they may loathe communism. And I am sure that the Government of Viet-Nam will find it difficult, if not impossible, to check the activities of the Communist agents already planted in the free areas in the south. As the Viet-Namese Ambassador to the United States recently put it, his country was first devastated by war and now mutilated by peace.
49. Ever since 1950, the Chinese Communists have been sending military aid across the Yunnan and Kwangsi borders to bolster the Viet-Minh efforts to overthrow the legitimate Government of Viet-Nam. Late in 1950, the Chinese Communists began to repair highways and railroads and to build new ones leading to the Indo-Chinese border. From the Chinese mainland, the Viet-Minh had received up to the beginning of 1954 thousands of tons of supplies, including 105 mm. artillery pieces, 37 mm. anti-aircraft guns, Molotov trucks and automatic weapons made in Communist-occupied China and Czechoslovakia. A Chinese Communist military mission has been with the Viet-Minh Army since 1951. The Viet-Minh forces have been organized by and operating under the direction of Chinese Communist advisers. They have also received facilities in Communist-occupied China for the training of cadres and the hospitalization of their wounded. In other words, the same Chinese Communist regime that fought against the United Nations forces in Korea has been directing and supporting the war in Indo-China.
50. It is a well-known fact that communist infiltration is particularly effective in regions under colonial rule or in countries staggering under the after-effects of war or revolution or in countries where the concept of freedom is such as to preclude the possibility of a quick and easy legislation against subversive activities. The Communists prefer infiltration to armed invasion as a technique of aggression. The reason is not far to seek. They are past masters in a form of indirect aggression which, for the lack of a better term, may be described as an attack from within. By directing the local subversive elements to operate as members of revolutionary groups in their own countries, the Soviet and Chinese Communists were able to “pull” one “inside job” after another without being physically present in the countries marked out for conquest. All that is needed would be for them to supply military training and equipment to their local fellow-Communists. The whole process would take on the appearance of an internal revolution, and that is why this method of attack from within is even deadlier in effect than an open attack from without.
51. If one were to adhere to the conventional concept of aggression as an unprovoked attack from without, it would be difficult from the juridical point of view to establish this attack from within as aggression. The Communists have in fact given it another name. They call it self-determination, a term which carries an emotional appeal to the peoples of many lands to whom colonialism is anathema. Genuine self-determination is, as the name implies, a self-inspired, indigenous movement which serves the interests of the people concerned and not those of a foreign master ruling from the Kremlin, whose only interest is to exploit their natural resources and man-power to further his plans of world conquest.
52. This form of aggression is not, of course, new. Subversion and infiltration have, in fact, been resorted to with varying degrees of success by all aggressors in history as a prelude to armed attack. Hitler, we recall, made extensive use of his fifth columnists in the late 30’s and early 40’s. Hitler’s fifth column operated not only in Europe, but also on the American continent. At the third meeting of Foreign Ministers of the American Republics held in Rio de Janeiro in 1942, attention was drawn to this form of aggression. In the resolution of the Final Act of that meeting, it was particularly stressed that acts of aggression of a non-military character, including systematic espionage, sabotage and subversive propaganda were being committed on the American continent, inspired by and under the direction of the States of the Tripartite Pact and States subservient to them, and that the fate of some members of the formerly free nations of Europe had shown them to be both preliminary to and an integral part of the programme of military aggression.
53. While this form of aggression is not new, no aggressor in the past has used it to such an extent and with such devastating effect as the Communists. The threat posed by this form of communist aggression is now world-wide. We must not treat it as a mere passing phase in international politics, but as a well-established institution which has operated and will continue to operate effectively against the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
54. It has been a time-honoured code that all peace-loving countries should refrain from interfering with the internal affairs of other countries. Article 2, paragraph 7 of the Charter specifically provides that the United Nations should not “intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any State”. But it is precisely here that the communist aggressor has viciously taken every advantage of the principle of non-interference in furthering its aggressive designs.
55. In the face of this form of indirect aggression, a defensive alliance based upon the condition of an attack from without would offer no security to the parties concerned. Similarly, any regional security system which does not take into consideration this communist form of attack from within would be of little practical value in guarding against communist aggression.
56. Not only do the nations which are economically backward or under colonial rule stand in need of protection from attack from within; even powerful democracies are being subjected to infiltration. There is a common misunderstanding of the nature of a Communist Party in a democratic State. We speak of the Chinese or the Indian, or the British, or the American Communist Party as if it were Chinese, Indian, British or American, as the case may be. Nothing is farther from the truth. There is only one Communist Party in the world and that party is Russian. For instance, the official designation of the American Communist Party is the Communist Party in the United States of America. Its members are obliged to speak, vote and act as agents of the Kremlin for the sole purpose of bringing the United States behind the Iron Curtain and condemning the American people to slavery. This is true of Communist Parties in general.
57. All local Communist Parties, then, are virtual Soviet soldiers detailed for fifth-column attacks from within. To provide a favourable milieu for this form of aggression, the Communists have now invented a new slogan — the slogan of peaceful co-existence. The concept of co-existence suggests a mutual regard for each other’s boundaries and non-intervention on each other’s internal affairs. But the attack from within as I have described it, does not need, in its operation, to violate any physical boundary or to give the appearance of intervention. The so-called peaceful co-existence can well afford to co-exist with an attack from within. That being so, the conventional concept of non-interference in domestic affairs can in no way deter the Communists from indulging in the tactics of attack from within. On the contrary, the conventional concept of the term would lend it all the necessary legal support and give it an aura of respectability. We must therefore conclude that the communist tactics of attack from within are as much a form of aggression as an unprovoked attack on another country. It is a matter on which the United Nations can no longer remain detached and unconcerned. It is imperative that the threat posed by this form of aggression to the peace and security of the world be recognized by Members of this Organization and that concerted efforts be made to counter it.
58. In the course of the past few years, there has arisen a tendency on the part of certain Members to take a neutral position in the struggle between democracy and totalitarianism. They believe that by taking a neutral position they will be contributing towards the work of peace. The idea, of course, is sheer fallacy, for the truth is that communism is not a national policy; it is imperialistic and international in character. Its aims constitute a direct challenge, as I have said, to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
59. With the world so closely integrated organically as it is today, it is not possible for any single nation to remain neutral. If the United Kingdom had made known to Germany its intention to intervene, the First World War would not perhaps have been fought. It was the appearance of British neutrality that fostered German aggression. If the United Kingdom and the United States had intervened in the so-called Manchurian incident, it would not have developed into the Sino-Japanese War. It was the neutral cash-and-carry policy which made it possible for Japan to obtain the war materials for its attack on Pearl Harbor and Singapore. If the League of Nations had applied effective sanction on the Axis Powers when they had first committed acts of aggression in China, in Africa, and in Europe, the Second World War might have been prevented. In each of these cases neutralism encouraged aggression.
60. Another much practised communist tactic, which may precede or run parallel to the attack from within, is the so-called “liberation” movement created outside the country marked out for aggression. In January 1953, the Chinese Communists created a so-called free Thai State on the south-western border of China with the declared purpose of overthrowing the legitimate Thai Government. The movement was ostensibly organized by all the Thai tribes in that region of China for the “liberation” of all the Thai people not only in Thailand but also in Indo-China and Burma. This manoeuvre may be a preparatory step leading to an attack from within, or to an open armed aggression from without; whichever way it may turn out to be, it is aggression in the making.
61. Apart from the Soviet Union, by far the largest area now under Communist control is the Chinese mainland. That the Communist Peiping regime is in every way a Soviet-controlled puppet is now indisputable. Nevertheless, the idea persists in some quarters that by cultivating its friendship, Peiping could be wooed away from Moscow. Such hopes are mere products of wishful thinking. The Chinese Communists themselves have made it amply clear that it would not be possible for them to break away from their Soviet masters, nor do they so desire. On 11 August 1954, Chou En-lai, reporting his visit to East Germany, Poland, the Soviet Union and Outer Mongolia, told of his keen appreciation of the growing strength of all the brother countries headed by the Soviet Union and of their mighty solidarity. This was reaffirmed only a few days ago when Chou En-lai, in a public speech on 23 September, stressed Peiping’s indestructible friendship with the Soviet Union. These are frank and factual statements of their relationship with the Soviet Union and with the satellite countries.
62. There are now on the Chinese mainland some 100,000 Russian experts and advisers, of which 70 per cent are planted in military organs. This iron-clad control of the Soviets over the Chinese Communist machinery cannot easily be unshackled. It is of special significance that practically all the heavy industries are situated in the northern provinces of China within easy reach and control of the Soviet Union. The fact that the Chinese mainland and the Soviet Union are contiguous to each other would make any Titoist movement virtually impossible. One Tito is enough for the Kremlin to be doubly vigilant of the possible emergence of another. Any Titoist designs on the part of the Chinese Communists would be effectively nipped in the bud.
63. The puppet regime in Peiping has fully demonstrated its utterly un-Chinese character. Like any other communist puppet State, it is oppressive at home and aggressive abroad. That it should be so should occasion no surprise, for no communist regime can exist without a strong police force at home. And no communist regime can find justification for the measures of control and regimentation enforced within its borders except by reason of the requirement of war abroad or the necessity of maintaining security at home.
64. Today, the Chinese mainland is suffering from the worst flood within living memory. Seventeen million people have been rendered homeless. My Government has made a world-wide appeal for aid to the flood victims. Free Chinese all over the world are contributing towards the relief of their compatriots on the mainland. The communist Peiping regime has rejected every offer of international aid while it continues to export food supplies in exchange for arms and machinery and other strategic materials. This utter indifference to human misery is not surprising when one thinks of the millions of innocent victims in the slave labour camps and of the various forms of physical and mental tortures which have been inflicted upon the masses of China by the Communists.
65. China was the first victim of communist aggression in Asia. The devious and treacherous ways by which the Soviet Union openly and secretly aided the Chinese Communists to extend their control over the mainland of China were fully presented to the General Assembly by my delegation during the fourth, fifth and sixth sessions. Only twenty-four days ago, on 3 September, the Chinese Communists began to subject the small island of Quemoy to a sustained artillery bombardment for hours. This attack and those that followed constitute a further step in the communist attempt to complete the conquest of China. It is, in fact, a continuation of Soviet aggression against China.
66. Today Taiwan serves as a rallying point for all the Chinese outside the Iron Curtain. In addition to the 10 million people on Taiwan and the adjacent islands, we are assured of the support of an overwhelming majority of 13 million overseas Chinese in our continued fight against communist aggression. I am confident that the people on the Chinese mainland, like the great majority of the Chinese ex-prisoners of war in Korea, are hostile to the communist regime imposed upon them by a foreign Power. And I am sure the day will come when they shall rise against the rule of communist tyranny.
67. I have sought to bring to the attention of this Assembly the bare facts which constitute a serious threat to the peace and security of the world. It is the fervent hope of my Government and my people that the United Nations will soon find the necessary means to counter this aggression. If we do not as yet have the adequate means to do so, it is imperative that we should not hesitate in rendering moral censure against any violation of the Charter. If the United Nations should compromise with force, or recognize the fruits of aggression, it would cease to be of political and moral value to the civilized world. It is for us here assembled to try to recapture that moral leadership which the freedom-loving peoples of the world entrusted to the United Nations.