108. The Cambodian delegation takes particular pleasure in associating itself with the delegations which have previously extended congratulation to you, Sir, on your election to the high office of President of the fourteenth session of the General Assembly. This election is the crowning point of a career that has been devoted to the United Nations' efforts for peace and to understanding among peoples, and it is all the more welcome to Cambodia because some twelve years ago, at an important international conference, the representatives of my country had the opportunity of appreciating to the full your spirit of impartiality and fairness. Like all other delegations, the Cambodian delegation is certain that under your wise guidance the work of the present session will be accomplished in an atmosphere of full co-operation and mutual understanding.
109. Our Governments have sent us as representatives to this Assembly in the confident hope that our work will lead to positive and constructive results in the strengthening of peace and security in the world.
110. More than ever before, the main concern of all peace-loving people is the stabilization of the international situation. This goal towards which we are all striving is based on mankind's continually increasing awareness that it has a common purpose.
111. In view of the fearful possibilities of destruction created by modern science and technology, the division of the world into rival blocs has become a deadly danger.
112. The United Nations now exercises a sure influence on the international scene, and it is in our Organization that men of goodwill place all their hopes for the building of a better future. There has been some progress in this direction, and it can be said that in spite of some unavoidable fumbling and occasional setbacks, the United Nations has done valuable work.
113. In that connexion, I feel in duty bound to call the Assembly’s attention to the recent intervention by the United Nations, at the instigation of our wise and energetic Secretary-General, in the dispute which arose between Cambodia and Thailand. There was a full report on this intervention in the introduction to the annual report of the Secretary-General [A/4132/Add.1] and in the report itself [A/4132]. After a period of rather alarming tension between the two countries, the Secretary-General was kind enough to send his personal representative, Ambassador Johan Beck-Friis, to Thailand and Cambodia. Full credit for the happy outcome of this intervention is due to the weighty influence of Mr. Hammarskjold and the skill of his representative, which made possible the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries and the creation of a better atmosphere.
114. As a result the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand paid a visit to Cambodia, during which the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the two countries explored the possibilities for a friendly settlement of the problems at issue. As a result of this visit a joint "communique” was issued expressing the wish of both Governments to strengthen good neighbourly relations between them, and their determination to refrain from any form of interference in each other’s internal affairs, in a spirit of understanding and mutual respect for the freely chosen policy of each of the two Kingdoms. For its part, Cambodia is resolved to settle these disputes in accordance with the United Nations Charter.
115. But it is important to stress the entirely novel character of the procedure adopted by the Secretary-General. His representative was neither an observer responsible for reporting the facts, nor an arbiter whose task was to induce the parties to accept a given solution. Ambassador Johan Beck-Friis was simply an intermediary who placed himself at the disposal of the two Governments in order to facilitate the restoration of diplomatic relations between them and pave the way for improved relations between the two countries.
116. We believe that this new course followed by the Secretary-General is a most promising one. It made prompt intervention possible without involving the prestige of the Organization in case of failure. This is a tactful and ingenious procedure which provides a most useful method of solving problems for those nations which have a genuine respect for the United Nations Charter.
117. The Cambodian delegation earnestly hopes that the prestige of the United Nations, and its activities, will help to solve other such grave problems as those relating to security, disarmament, the peaceful coexistence of different systems and ideologies, the reunification of countries now divided, and all forms of under-development; in short, that it will help to establish a new kind of international stability, based on new rules.
118. But unfortunately, as the Chairman of the Cambodian delegation, His Royal Highness Prince Norodom Sihanouk, pointed out last year, although the United Nations is playing an ever greater part in the life of all nations, its activities, which should have a universal character, are still seriously hampered by the existence within the Organization of hostile and conflicting blocs, so that the United Nations is prevented from playing its full role of supervision and censure, and is slowly being transformed into a forum for propaganda and the clash of opposing beliefs, while the Charter and the real aims of the United Nations are forgotten. Certain problems are inevitably raised year after year, and the result is inevitably a deadlock for which a purely illusory solution is found by the adoption of a large number of resolutions which are theoretical rather than practical.
119. During the thirteenth session, the head of our Government had occasion to outline to the Assembly steps that he thought might usefully be taken in order to enable the United Nations to play a more effective role. I shall not repeat what was said then, but there is one point that I would like to stress: the role of the small Powers, especially those that do not belong to any bloc.
120. In the present circumstances the neutral countries, with their lack of military strength, their absence of any spirit of conquest and in general their disinterested attitude, appear to be best fitted to make a clear and dispassionate estimate of international crises.
121. My country is more than ever convinced that it is perfectly possible for peoples to achieve friendship, mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence in spite of differences in their ideologies and political systems, and it was in that belief that we recently reaffirmed, on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the Bandung Conference, our faith in the principles of peaceful coexistence, the only principles that will enable countries with different ideologies to maintain friendly relations on a basis of equality, honour and dignity.
122. Neutrality may not be the best solution for our country, but it is the least harmful, since it enables us to achieve national unity, and to avoid the disappointments that we would probably suffer at the hands of some countries and the blows dealt us by others against which we would be powerless to defend ourselves.
123. I would like to stress that we have never sought to act as propagandists for neutrality, and that we fully understand that nations may wish to undertake commitments or align themselves with others if they believe that they can thereby better safeguard their interests or their national existence. We naturally deplore the division of the world into blocs, but we do not feel that we have any right to criticize the attitude of any other country, so long as it does not attempt to interfere with our own right to self-determination.
124. As a logical consequence of this position our Government has not hesitated, despite the serious cause for alarm that it was given at the beginning of this year, to seek agreement with neighbouring Powers whose system of government and foreign relations are very different from its own. Notable progress has been achieved, which has contributed to the maintenance of peace and stability in South East Asia.
125. We believe that the time has come for statesmen to realize that the age of imperialism and foreign conquest is over, and that Governments should bend their efforts not to interfering in the internal affairs of their neighbours but to promoting the economic and cultural development of their own country and of the world as a whole. What we must fight against now is the spectre of poverty, hunger and all forms of under-development.
126. The Cambodian delegation believes that the present session of the General Assembly could make a major contribution, in more ways than one, to the decrease of international tension,
127. The few results that were achieved by the Foreign Ministers' Conference show that it is possible for East and West to agree on certain crucial problems. There have already been reassuring signs, for example the Soviet exhibition in New York and the United States exhibition in Moscow, the official visits of Soviet leaders to the United States and of United States leaders to the Soviet Union, the fairly encouraging results of the Geneva Conference on the Discontinuance of Nuclear Weapons Tests, the official visit of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR to the United States, and the forthcoming official visit of the President of the United States to the Soviet Union. We gladly welcome these signs of a relaxation of tension.
128. Our organization should strive to direct more of its efforts and those of its specialized agencies towards solving the vital problems confronting the world, especially the problem of under-development and the problem of the rational use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes in order to improve the economic and social life of all peoples. In that field it must be frankly admitted that, despite its praiseworthy efforts, the United Nations has taken no more than the first step.
129. In 1958, for example, despite an overwhelming population pressure, the increase in world production was a mere 3 per cent. Such a situation has a direct influence on the maintenance of peace and international security.
130. Our Secretary-General himself has often stated that the gap, already wide, between the prosperous countries and those less fortunate is steadily increasing-
131. The Cambodian delegation wishes to pay a tribute to the far-sightedness of the Secretary-General, who has also stated that the difficult economic situation of many Asian and African nations calls for a new sense of responsibility and a heightened desire to help on the part of those more fortunate. If such reactions do not find expression in practical and constructive action, there is bound to be a danger of instability in the poorer countries, which would reflect on the political world situation. The Cambodian delegation hopes that these words will be heeded by all Member States.
132. The Cambodian delegation welcomes with deep Satisfaction the news that an Economic Policy Board, under the chairmanship of the Secretary-General, has been established for the purpose of providing greater flexibility and better co-ordination in handling requests to the United Nations for technical assistance. Nothing is more to be desired than a closer co-ordination of the various international technical assistance programmes with those of the Special Fund and other bodies. The Cambodian delegation is confident that this Board will play an effective role in the judicious allocation of United Nations technical assistance.
133. The whole world is looking to the United Nations, on which are centred mankind's hopes for the building of a peaceful and prosperous future. Our Organization must at all costs avoid disappointing those hopes.
134. We should act in order to clear this cold war atmosphere, an atmosphere of constant suspicion, mutual recriminations, scarcely veiled threats, and even deliberate interference in the internal affairs of neighbouring countries; if that situation is allowed to continue indefinitely, it will expose mankind to certain material and spiritual self-destruction.
135. We have long witnessed the heartrending spectacle of two-thirds of the globe living in poverty, hunger and distress, side by side with the remaining third which has the means that are needed to banish those evils. We believe that our Assembly should at last launch a widespread movement to promote understanding among all Powers. Such an understanding is more than ever necessary for the establishment of a lasting peace, based on coexistence in the form of constructive competition among the different civilizations and technologies of the world.
136. Cambodia is a neutral country, allied to none but friendly to all, and in participating in the fourteenth session of the General Assembly it is firmly resolved to make its full contribution, however modest, to the relaxation of international tension.
137. In conclusion, I wish to recall the words of His Royal Highness Prince Norodom Sihanouk to this Assembly at its thirteenth session: "We want to be able to support any proposal which we regard as just and reasonable, regardless of its sponsors' political complexion. We believe that the truth is not the prerogative of any particular system, but is to be found to some extent in all, and that the most elementary common sense requires us all to recognize this." [756th meeting, para. 5]
138. If this view, which I believe many of you at heart share, were accepted, we would have made a great stride forward on mankind's path of progress.