On behalf of the delegation of the Socialist
Republic of Viet Nam, I should like to extend to
Mr. Hollai, of Hungary, warmest con¬gratulations
on his election to the high office of Presi¬dent
of the thirty-seventh session of the General
Assembly, and express my conviction that with his
eminent talents and wealth of experience he will,
together with other members of the General
Com¬mittee, guide the work of the present session
to fruitful results.
80. We are living in a period of complex
upheavals and difficult challenges. The creative
labour and the economic and other achievements of
the world's peoples in the past 37 years are in
danger of being destroyed by the tension clouding
the international situation. In the hope of
extricating itself from the prolonged economic
recession and coping with the growth of the
forces of peace, democracy, national independence
and social progress, and in an attempt to
continue to impose its will on other peoples,
during the past three years the United States—in
collusion with other reactionary forces—has
launched a global counterattack against the
independence and sover¬eignty of peoples and
against world peace. It has stepped up the arms
race to an unprecedented level in its quest for
military supremacy. Billions of dollars have been
spent on the production of weapons of mass
destruction, including the neutron bomb. It has
decided to deploy medium-range missiles in
Western Europe, shamelessly proclaimed the
doctrine of a for limited nuclear warfare ,
introduced the rapid deployment force into the
region of the Persian Gulf, reinforced its fleet
in the Caribbean Sea and built new military bases
in the Indian Ocean, with a view to preparing for
aggression and intervention in every continent,
thus creating new hotbeds of tension in various
regions of the globe.
81. This adventurist and bellicose policy
constitutes an extremely grave threat to
international peace and security, and runs
counter to the aspirations of billions of people
throughout the world. The collusion between the
ring-leader of imperialism and international
reactionary forces is a cause of tension and
could lead to an explosive situation. More than
ever before the struggle for international peace
and security is an urgent and primary task for
all peoples. With the exception of the
military-industrial complexes of the imperialist
Powers seeking excessive profits from war and the
arms race, nobody today profits from war. The
profound aspirations to peace of billions of
peo¬ple are what give the peace movement
unprecedented power, capable of staying the
armored hands of the imperialist and reactionary
forces. The united efforts of and the
co-ordinated struggle carried on by the socialist
countries, the non-aligned countries and the
forces of peace and democracy in the Western
coun¬tries have a great opportunity of averting
the danger of a nuclear war and countering the
warlike and aggres¬sive policy of the
imperialists and international reactionaries.
82. Having undergone 35 consecutive years of
war while the rest of the world was enjoying the
longest period of peace in the century, the
Vietnamese people are profoundly conscious of the
significance of peace. Together with all
peace-loving forces on this planet, our people
have waged and are still waging an untiring
struggle for national independence, foiling one
after another all the schemes of imperialism and
inter¬national reaction, aimed at turning
South-East Asia into the hotbed for a new world
war.
83. In the past several months alone, 15
million Viet¬namese have participated in
demonstrations, briefings and seminars and have
signed petitions in response to a nationwide
campaign for peace and disarmament. We
unreservedly support the peace and disarmament
initiatives put forward by the socialist and
non-aligned countries. In particular, we highly
appreciate the unilateral commitment of the
Soviet Union not to be the first to use nuclear
weapons, and see in this a gesture of historic
importance. If, like the Soviet Union, all
nuclear Powers—and first of all the United States
of America—were to make similar commit¬ments, the
possibility of rebelling the danger of a
devastating nuclear war would immediately become
a reality, even at a time when the major Powers
have not yet reached an agreement on disarmament.
The new proposals of the Soviet Union, announced
by Foreign Minister Gromyko to the General
Assembly at the 13th meeting, once again prove
that the Soviet Union spares no effort to prevent
war and to defend world peace. Likewise, we give
our full support to the proposal of the Soviet
Union and the Secretary- General for a conference
of States Members of the Security Council at the
highest possible level to seek a solution to
problems relating to international peace and
security.
84. As an Asian country bordering the Pacific
Ocean and the Indian Ocean, Viet Nam warmly
welcomes the initiatives of India and other
non-aligned countries, aimed at making the Indian
Ocean a zone of peace. Likewise, we firmly
support the proposal of the Mongolian People's
Republic on the signing of a convention on
non-aggression and non-use of force in relations
among countries in Asia and the Pacific. The
implementation of these proposals would
consti¬tute an effective contribution to
international peace and security.
85. Those who have a conscience cannot remain
indifferent to the abominable crimes perpetrated
by the Israeli aggressors against the innocent
civilian population of Lebanon and Palestine. The
atrocious massacres in Lebanon are reminiscent of
the crimes committed by the Hitlerites during the
Second World War, by the American aggressors at
My Lai during the Viet Nam War and by the Pol Pot
clique in Kam¬puchea. As long as murderers in the
Middle East of the Hitler and Pol Pot type remain
unpunished, slaughters such as those committed in
Lebanon will not be the last crimes against
humanity. The Govern¬ment of the United States
cannot clear itself of the crimes of aggression
and genocide of the Israeli Zionists.
86. Together with all of progressive mankind,
the Vietnamese people indignantly condemn the
Israeli aggressors and those who have provided
them with billions of dollars, and weapons, and
we demand due punishment for those aggressors.
Once again, we reaffirm the resolute support of
the people and the Government of the Socialist
Republic of Viet Nam for the just struggle of the
PLO, the Syrian Arab Republic, Lebanon and other
Arab countries against the Israeli aggressors and
their protectors. Israel must withdraw all its
troops from all the Arab terri¬tories it has
illegally occupied. A just solution for the
situation in the Middle East cannot be achieved
unless and until the legitimate rights of the
Palestinian people, whose sole authentic
representative is the PLO, are guaranteed,
including the right to found their own
independent and sovereign State. Any separate
solution is aimed only at dividing the Arab
coun¬tries and encouraging the aggressors, and is
certainly doomed to failure.
87. The present situation in southern Africa
is causing us no less concern. Unless checked in
time, the crimes being committed in the Middle
East may be repeated in southern Africa, where
the Pretoria racists are pursuing a ferocious
policy of apartheid, violently opposing the
struggle of the peoples of Namibia and South
Africa for national liberation, and launching
piratical attacks against Angola, Mozambique and
the other front-line States. The Vietnamese
people wishes to express its profound sympathy
and firm support for the just cause of the
peoples of Namibia and South Africa, under the
leadership of SWAPO and the African National
Congress JVC], respectively, as well as that of
the front-line States. We fully support all
measures taken by Angola to deliver a well-
deserved riposte to the aggressors.
88. We totally support the struggle of the
people of Seychelles and of Madagascar against
imperialist subversion and intervention. We
demand that the United States return Diego Garcia
to Mauritius.
89. The Vietnamese people resolutely stand by
the peoples of Cuba, Nicaragua and Grenada in
their current struggle against the threat of
aggression and in defense of the fruits of
revolution. We fully sup¬port the peoples of El
Salvador, Chile and other Latin American peoples
in their fight against their dictatorial regimes.
Our special sympathy goes to the Puerto Rican
people in their struggle for independence from
colonial domination. In their struggle to regain
sover-eignty over the Malvinas Islands, the
people of Argen¬tina can rely on the solidarity
of the Vietnamese people.
90. The Government and people of Viet Nam
vehemently condemn the policies of the
imperialist countries which use political
pressure and carry out hostile acts to interfere
in the internal affairs of the Polish People's
Republic, with a view to wiping out the socialist
achievements of the Polish people.
91. We resolutely support the Government of
the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and the
fraternal Afghan people in their struggle against
the imperialists' and international
reactionaries' undeclared war, in defense of
their independence and sovereignty, and to
safeguard the fruits of the April revolution. We
unreservedly support the just struggle of the
Korean people for the reunification of their
fatherland. The persistent struggle waged by the
people of Western Sahara for their national
independence as well as that waged by the people
of Cyprus for their territorial integrity enjoys
the constant and firm support of the Vietnamese
people.
92. Having suffered from the yoke of
colonialism and having had to wage a protracted
struggle against the aggressors, the Vietnamese
people fully and consistently support the
struggle of the peoples in Asia, Africa and Latin
America for the elimination of the last vestiges
of colonialism, for the defense of their national
independence and for the building of a new, just
and equitable international economic order.
93. We are of the view that at this juncture,
when the burdens of the economic crisis and of
the arms race are weighing so heavily on the
developing coun¬tries and when the United States
is resorting to its policy of embargo and
economic sanctions to impose its will on other
peoples, the struggle of the peoples of Asia,
Africa and Latin America to build a new
international economic order is of necessity
linked with the common struggle of the peoples of
the world for peace and disarmament and against
the imperialist policy of aggression and
intervention. The experiences of the past years
have taught us that only by waging a struggle on
the economic, political and other fronts can the
peoples of the developing countries become
masters of their own political destiny and
natural resources and force concessions from
imperialism.
94. The causes of world tension in the past
three years are precisely those that threaten
peace and stability in the South-East Asian
region.
95. After failing in their attempts at
collusion with United States imperialism in
holding back the com¬plete victory of the
Vietnamese, Lao and Kampuchean peoples in their
wars of resistance for national salva¬tion, the
reactionary elements in the Beijing ruling
circles have considered the emergence of a
unified Viet Nam as the biggest obstacle to their
strategy of expansionism in South-East Asia.
Since 1975, China has used the Pol Pot clique as
its essential instrument to weaken Viet Nam and
to carry out its policy of expansionism. Since
the overthrow of the Pol Pot clique and China's
defeat in February 1979 in its war of aggression
against Viet Nam, the new leaders of the modern
for Middle Empirefor have waged a war of
destruction in all fields against Viet Nam and
the other Indo-Chinese countries. At the same
time, they have kept oh using the remnants of the
Pol Pot troops and have fabricated the so-called
Kampuchean prob¬lem in a bid to reinforce their
collusion with the United States and other
reactionary forces against the three Indo-Chinese
peoples and to incite confron¬tation between the
Indo-Chinese countries and those which are
members of ASEAN, with a view to under¬mining
peace and stability in South-East Asia so that
China may fish in the troubled waters.
96. In order to conceal its expansionist and
hegemonist schemes, China has fabricated the
so-called Vietnamese threat to the ASEAN
countries, with a view to inciting the latter to
oppose Viet Nam and sowing disorder in South-East
Asia.
97. It is necessary to point out that this is
not the first time that the aggressors have used
such a pretext to justify their acts of
aggression against Viet Nam. As is widely known,
in 1964 the United States con¬cocted the for
Tonkin Gulf incident for as a pretext for
unleashing its air and naval war of destruction
against the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam. What
the Bering expansionists are now doing is just a
repetition of the shameful acts committed in the
past by the colonialists and imperialists against
Viet Nam.
98. At present, China requires the settlement
of the so-called Kampuchean problem as a
pre-condition for the normalization of relations
between Viet Nam and China and claims that it is
the root cause of the Sino- Viet Nam conflict.
Yet it is only too evident that since early 1978
China has used the question of the Hoa
people—Vietnamese of Chinese descent—to launch a
campaign of subversion against Viet Nam, as it
did against Indonesia in 1965 and to invade India
in 1962. They will certainly resort to similar
pretexts when they find it necessary to provoke
conflicts with other coun¬tries in South-East
Asia.
99. History has proved that policies based on
fabrica¬tions are always doomed to failure. At
present more and more people have become aware of
the fact that the so-called Kampuchean problem is
in essence China's opposition to Viet Nam and the
other Indo- Chinese countries, and not in the
least a conflict between the ASEAN and the
Indo-Chinese countries. The latest developments
in South-East Asia have further enlightened world
public opinion about the fact that the Beijing
leaders are the only ones who do not want peace
or stability in that region. China has time and
again rejected all our proposals aimed at easing
tension on the Viet Nam-China border and at
resuming talks between the two countries to find
a peaceful solution to the disputes. Moreover,
China has sought all ways and means to sabotage
the dialogue between the Indo-Chinese and the
ASEAN countries to settle matters relating to
peace and stability in the region.
100. Despite the hostile policy being pursued
at pres¬ent by the Chinese leaders against Viet
Nam and the other countries of Indo-China, the
Vietnamese people never look upon the Chinese
people as their enemies. Bearing in mind the
age-old friendship between the two peoples, we
believe that the present abnormality in the
relations between Viet Nam and China is only a
temporary phenomenon. It has been our consistent
policy, and still is, to persevere in peaceful
negotia¬tions to settle all differences between
the two coun¬tries. We stand ready to resume the
Viet Nam-China talks at any level, at any place
and at the earliest pos¬sible time, with the aim
of normalizing relations between the two
countries.
101. With the desire to promote reconciliation
among the countries in the South-East Asian
region, the
Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Lao People's
Democratic Republic, on behalf of the
Indo-Chinese countries, sent a letter dated 15
September 1982 to the ASEAN countries further
clarifying the proposals made by the Conference
of Foreign Ministers of the Lao People's
Republic, Kampuchea and Viet Nam, held in July
1982 in Ho Chi Minh City, on settling questions
relating to peace and stability in South-East
Asia. We regard these proposals as matters to be
negotiated between the two groups of countries.
We are ready to listen to other views and to
respond positively to the legitimate concerns of
the ASEAN countries. We hold that the two sides
should respect each other's legitimate interests,
that they should respect the principles of
equality, mutual respect, non-imposition of one
side's views upon the other and non-interference
from out¬side. Only in those conditions can all
issues con¬cerning South-East Asia be settled
properly and peace and stability in the region be
guaranteed.
102. The situation in Kampuchea is developing
favorably. Under the leadership of the Government
of the People's Republic of Kampuchea, the
Kam¬puchean people have over the past three years
overcome their most serious difficulties and
hardships and thus have continued the miraculous
rebirth of their nation after the nightmare
caused by the Pol Pot genocidal clique. World
public opinion particularly welcomes the policy
of national unity and concord of the Government
of the People's Republic of Kam¬puchea as
expounded in a recent statement by Mr. Hun Sen,
Vice-President of the Council of Ministers and
Minister for Foreign Affairs, concerning those
Kampucheans who are still in the ranks of the Pol
Pot clique or are collaborating directly or
indirectly with them. If they cease this
collaboration and respect the Constitution of the
People's Republic of Kam¬puchea, they will be
entitled to enjoy all rights of citizenship,
including the right to stand for and vote in
Kampuchea's free elections, in the presence of
foreign observers. With its foreign policy of
peace and non- alignment, the People's Republic
of Kampuchea, together with other countries in
the Indo-Chinese peninsula, is playing an
increasingly active role as a factor for peace
and stability in South-East Asia.
103. We make this appeal to the international
com¬munity: if for the time being it is unable
actively to assist the Kampuchean people in
accelerating their rebirth and to promote
dialogue and reconciliation between the
Indo-Chinese and ASEAN countries, at least
refrain from doing anything that may poison the
atmosphere, which is improving in this region.
104. As a Member of the United Nations, the
Socialist Republic of Viet Nam hopes that the
Organization will do its best to perform the
noble tasks entrusted to it by the peoples of the
world. It is regrettable; however, that
throughout the 37 years of its existence, in
spite of the goodwill and com¬mendable efforts of
many Member States, the United Nations has not
yet fulfilled the aspirations of mankind. The
great changes brought about by the peoples of the
world in that period of time in their struggle
for peace, democracy, national independence and
social progress have all taken place outside the
United Nations.
105. In the course of the struggle of the
Indo- Chinese peoples and countries in the
Moodiest war in history, the United Nations did
not recognize the right of the Indo-Chinese
people to be represented, while the imperialist
and reactionary forces hostile to those three
peoples had an important voice in this
Organization. Today, when the peoples of the
world greatly rejoice at the rebirth of the
Kampuchean people who survived the genocide, the
criminals of the Pol Pot genocidal clique and
their accomplices in the for coalition government
of Democratic Kampucheafor have not yet been
ousted from this body. However, the rebirth of
the Kampuchean people is absolutely irreversible.
All attempts to reimpose the genocidal regime on
Kampuchea will certainly fail.
106. Mankind now faces extremely severe
trials. World peace and international security
are being threat¬ened by the frantic arms race
and the policy of insti¬gating chaos in the
world. In such a situation, the peoples of the
world are urging the United Nations to discharge
its responsibility to history. We believe that in
order to strengthen the role and effectiveness of
this Organization and to turn it into a real
instrument of peace and international
co-operation it is essential that Member States
strictly respect the purposes and principles of
the Charter and refrain from turning this
Organization into an instrument for interfering
in the internal affairs of other States and
infringing the sovereignty of other peoples. The
United Nations can accomplish its historic
mission only if it supports the struggle of the
peoples for justice and responds to the ardent
aspirations of billions of people on our planet
for the maintenance of world peace, the defense
of the national independence of peoples, the develop¬ment
of international co-operation and the building of
a prosperous and happy life for all. The
Socialist Republic of Viet Nam will spare no
effort to make its contribution to that noble
cause.