29. The prolonged period of increasing tension in international relations, deliberately brought about over the last few years by aggressive forces in the world, has given way in recent months to a definite relaxation, which world public opinion has greeted with deep relief and renewed hope. This detente has been made possible by the efforts of peace-loving forces throughout the world, and particularly of the Soviet Union, which from the very first days of its existence has consistently followed a policy of strengthening international' peace and security, and which is making every effort to ensure that contentious questions are settled by peaceful negotiation.
30. The principal events among those which have led to this easing of international tension are the ceasefire in Korea and the signing of the Armistice Agreement. The armistice in Korea is the outcome of the collapse of the unjust war of intervention and of the great victory of the Korean and Chinese peoples and of peace- loving forces throughout the world.
31. For over three years, the Korean people, with the help of the valiant Chinese people’s volunteers, successfully defended the independence and freedom of their homeland, displaying unparalleled heroism and self-sacrifice. The aggressors in Korea mobilized huge armed forces in order to defeat the heroic North Koreans; but events have shown once again that a people who have freed themselves from foreign oppression and are fighting for their independence and autonomy are invincible. After three years of war, the picked troops of the greatest industrial Power of the capitalist world are left just where they were when they started their aggression.
32. There is not the slightest doubt that the lesson of the Korean people’s war of independence will sustain the peoples of all colonial and semi-colonial countries in their rightful determination to achieve complete independence, democracy, freedom and peace. That is an immense contribution to the defence of peace in the Far East and throughout the world.
33. The Armistice Agreement faces the United Nations with the problem of consolidating the armistice in Korea by ensuring the strict observance of the armistice terms, preventing any resumption of the war of aggression and furthering the convening and success of the political conference, in order that additional progress may be made towards a peaceful settlement of the Korean question.
34. The Czechoslovak delegation was among those which, at the seventh session of the General Assembly, strongly supported the principle of round-table negotiations and the participation of other States, particular of Asian States which are Members of the United Nations, in the political conference. The Czechoslovak delegation had insisted even earlier that the great Asian peoples, whose vital interests are bound up with the region in question, could not be excluded from participation in a political conference which was to take decisions on Asian problems.
35. Those who, headed by the United States, are seeking by the shameful method of dictation to prevent the great Asian peoples from participating in the conference, are thereby manifesting a completely unjustifiable arrogance in regard to those glorious peoples and a desire to decide their fate without consulting them.
36. The fact that the General Assembly has refused at this session to give priority to the consideration of the proposals of the North Korean and Chinese side on the political conference cannot be conducive to satisfactory progress in settling the problem of Korea.
37. There are still further difficulties in the way of progress towards a relaxation of international tension. Forces avid for war are organizing large-scale acts of provocation against peace-loving countries. They are doing everything they can to prevent the armistice in Korea from being followed by a lasting peace and the unification of Korea by democratic means. On the contrary, they would like to see military operations resumed and even extended.
38. In these circumstances, a heavy responsibility rests upon the United Nations. The peoples of the whole world rightly expect the Organization to do its part to secure an easing of international tension and thus to become an effective instrument for the preservation and strengthening of international peace and security.
39. World public opinion has long been aware that, during the past few years, the United Nations has been suffering a serious crisis; a crisis arising from the fact that a certain group of States has been attempting to impose its will upon other Member States. That policy has had a harmful influence on the work of the United Nations; that is why it has been impossible as yet to settle major issues of vital importance for the strengthening of international peace and security. Instead of consistently ensuring observance of the Charter and preventing its violation, the United Nations has been involved in the plans of the group of States referred to. We have to place on record the fact that the name of the United Nations has been grossly misused to cover up an act of aggression launched by aggressive forces against the Korean and Chinese peoples. Under the banner of the United Nations, blood was shed for three years in Korea before the forces of peace succeeded in putting a stop to that act of aggression.
40. It is essential that the United Nations should renew and strengthen its authority as a centre for the settlement of international disputes by peaceful means and as a bulwark of international peace and security.
41. To achieve that end the first essential is to restore to the (People’s Republic of China its legitimate rights in the United Nations. The anomalous situation in which the Government of the People’s Republic of China is obstinately debarred from exercising its legal right to participate in the work of United Nations organs must be ended immediately. It is an insult to the great people of China, 500 million strong, that the United Nations should allow the seat of the representative of the Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China to be usurped by the representative of a bankrupt gang of adventurers of whom the Chinese people have rid themselves forever, and who have now sunk to the level of insolent pirates whose occupation is to plunder merchant cargoes. Manifestly, the absence of the legal representatives of the Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China from the United Nations, and particularly from its principal organs, makes any normal work by the Organization impossible. There is not a single Far Eastern problem, nor any important world political problem, that can be settled without the participation of representatives of the People’s Republic of China, the greatest Power in Asia.
42. In his speech of 17 September before the General Assembly [434th meeting], the United States Secretary of State, Mr. Dulles, made untruthful statements about the Soviet Union and the peoples’ democracies. The only aim and purpose of those slanders was to absolve the United States of responsibility for the existing international tension and to justify, chiefly for the benefit of the American people and world public opinion, the adamant application by the United States of the so-called policy of strength, which is threatening world peace.
43. Let us review the recent past. Immediately after the Second World War, the United States openly abandoned the policy of peaceful co-operation agreed among the allied Powers during the war against German and Japanese aggression. On 27 October 1945, only three days after the United Nations Charter had entered into force, President Truman, in a policy speech delivered on Navy Day, proclaimed military strength Jo be the basis of United States foreign policy. In his Message to Congress on 14 January 1946, he reiterated this official United States policy of strength in the following words: “The power which the United States demonstrated during the war is the fact that underlies every phase of our relations with other countries.”
44. It is also common knowledge that aggressive circles in the United States based that policy chiefly on their possession of atomic weapons. Their political and military strategy was founded on the assumption that the United States had — and would have for a long time to come — an exclusive monopoly of atomic weapons, and that this privileged position would give it unlimited power to impose its terms upon other countries. This dictatorial policy of strength in international relations has been and remains the cause of international tension and of the crisis through which the United Nations has been passing for some years. The failure of that policy, a policy contrary to the interests of peace, is now admitted. It is becoming increasingly plain that nations are less and less prepared to have the will of others forced on them. That became clear, for instance, at the seventh session of the General Assembly, during the discussion on the composition of the political conference on Korea, particularly when certain delegations, led by the United States, resorted to shameful means to debar India from participation in the conference. Such action cannot, of course, lead to success; on the contrary, the signing of the Armistice Agreement in Korea showed that negotiation is the best method of settling contentious issues.
45. The Soviet Union and the other peace-loving countries have on many occasions given practical proof that they are ready and willing to strengthen friendship and co-operation among peoples. On the other hand, world public opinion is still waiting in vain for a single action by the United States to prove that the United States Government has any serious intention to make a real and effective contribution to the reduction of international tension, the strengthening of friendly co-operation among peoples and the peaceful settlement of international disputes by negotiation — in other words, by peaceful means. World public opinion cannot regard the unilateral dictation of unacceptable terms as constituting a real effort to ease international tension-; for it is patent that that method has been chosen deliberately in order to render negotiations impossible from the outset and prevent any improvement in international relations.
46. In the statement he made here, Mr. Dulles asked himself a question. “It may be asked”, he said, “Why do we fear?”. He went on to say: “I could speak of that at length” — but he preferred to be brief. The Canadian representative, Mr. Pearson, who is the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Canada and a prominent representative on NATO, considered himself more competent to explain at length the fears entertained by the North Atlantic Treaty countries [441st meeting].
47. We also could speak at length on that subject. It is an indisputable fact that the ruling circles of the United States and the other countries parties to the North Atlantic Treaty vainly attempt to justify the expenditure entailed by the implementation of their huge military programmes on the pretext that it is essential to resist the threat of aggression by the Soviet Union. But even those who first initiated the ruinous policy of the armaments race do not believe that myth.
48. The real reasons for the simulated fear to which Mr. Dulles referred may readily be gathered from the following quotation from the American magazine, U. S. News and World Report of as long ago as 5 August 1949: “War scare is having to be drummed up again to excite interest in a gift of arms to other nations. War talk is artificial, phony, but it is regarded as necessary to get Congress stirred up enough to produce a favourable vote.”
49. Mr. Dulles also referred in his statement to the peoples’ democracies. He said that he was not in favour of revolution or incitement to violence. The Czechoslovak delegation heard that statement with astonishment; Mr. Dulles’ words were in such flagrant contradiction with- facts that they were self-refuting. There is no one here who is not fully aware that the United States has for many years been organizing large-scale subversive operations against the countries of Central and Eastern Europe under the slogan of the so-called policy of “liberation”; indeed, the Mutual Security Act, adopted in the United States in 1951, raises subversive activity directed towards the violent overthrow of the legal governments of Member States of the United Nations to the level of national policy. The Czechoslovak people and the peoples of all the peoples’ democracies are well aware of the results of that hostile policy. Recently, aggressive circles in the United States have Still further intensified that policy and restored to even more brazen methods of subversion and diversion, such as the large-scale use of agents provocateurs and the instigation of ventures such as the Berlin act of provocation. The Czechoslovak delegation has protested several times in the General Assembly against that policy of provocation and violence, and the Czechoslovak people has resolutely opposed it.
50. In this connexion, let me merely draw the Assembly’s attention to part of an article on Mr. Dulles’ statement published in Le Monde of 19 September 1953. Le Monde writes as follows: “Mr. Dulles, is still convinced that right and God are on his side. Such an attitude is to say the least unrealistic . . . Mr. Dulles emphasized that the liberation of the peoples of Eastern Europe must be effected by peaceful means; but at the same time Mr. Wiley, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, said that it was essential to support `revolution from within’. Whom are we really to believe, Senator Wiley speaking to the American industrialist, or the Secretary of State speaking before the United Nations?”
51. No peace-loving person could be misled, much less convinced, by the propagandists and hypocritical statements on the North Atlantic Treaty made from time to time by the official representatives of the NATO countries. It must be obvious to everyone that the reasons which prompted the Western Powers to conclude the North Atlantic Treaty have no connexion with the defence of peace and the harmonious coexistence of nations. In reality, the North Atlantic Treaty is the principal danger to peace. Its authors are building up a psychosis of war tension and fear in their own countries, scaring their people with the bogey of “Soviet aggression”, inciting them to the fight against communism and threatening a crusade against peace- loving States.
52. In his statement of 17 September, Mr. Dulles did not lose the opportunity of extolling the North Atlantic Treaty. He described it as “the enlightened way” and said that “by that way the goals of our Charter are advanced by means which none has cause to fear”. That statement, however, was in direct conflict with what Mr. Dulles himself had earlier said about the North Atlantic Treaty. Not so long ago, Mr. Dulles himself took precisely the opposite view. In Foreign Policy Briefs No. 2, of 15 August 1952, published by the United States Department of State, Mr. Dulles wrote that when he had spoken before the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee in connexion with the proposed North Atlantic Treaty, he called attention to the fact that there was a threat that such a regional agreement might be interpreted as by-passing the United Nations. He wrote further that he had shown in his reports to the Republican Party that negotiations taking place within the framework of regional arrangements might undermine the United Nations, and that he still held that opinion. To a certain extent, he added, what he had predicted had already occurred, and he thought an attempt should be made to check that trend.
53. It is perfectly obvious that Mr. Dulles’ two statements on the subject of the North Atlantic Treaty are palpably and irreconcilably contradictory. The fact is that the forging of military pacts such as the North Atlantic Treaty serves to aggravate international tension, undermines the foundations of the United Nations and constitutes a serious threat to world peace.
54. The Czechoslovak people, as is quite natural, are following the course of events in Western Germany, their immediate neighbour, with the greatest interest.
55. I need hardly emphasize how tremendously important it is for the preservation of world peace that there should be a unified, independent, peace-loving and democratic Germany, which would take its place among the nations on a footing of equality, instead of a Germany in which the reactionary and warmongering forces are triumphant, forces whose aim is to use a militaristic and fascist Western Germany as a focus of tension and a military threat.
56. The Czechoslovak people has in the past had_ its own bitter experience of German aggressive expansion, and, in particular, of Hitlerite fascism. It therefore fully appreciates the significance of the fact that no peace treaty has so far been concluded with Germany, and that in consequence the prerequisites for a peaceful and democratic solution of the German question, which would be the best guarantee of peace in Europe and throughout the world, have not yet been established, it therefore also, realizes that the continued application of the dangerous policy of keeping Germany divided into two parts and the intensified militarization of Western Germany constitute a serious threat to international peace and security. To put off the conclusion of an equitable peace treaty with Germany, a treaty which would be a safeguard against any rebirth of German aggressive militarism, is to deny the German people the right to peaceful co-operation with other nations on the basis of equal rights.
57. Czechoslovakia accordingly associates itself with the peace-loving and progressive forces which remain faithful to the fundamental international agreements concluded in Yalta and Potsdam and which are striving to secure an equitable solution of the German question. For that reason, Czechoslovakia is also strengthening its friendly relations with the German Democratic Republic, the best representative of the peace-loving forces of Germany.
58. The Czechoslovak Government warmly welcomed the renewed contribution to peace and the settlement of the German question embodied in the practical proposals made by the Soviet Union in its note to the Western Powers of 15 August 1953.
59. Recalling that this month marks the fifteenth anniversary of the Munich betrayal, the Czechoslovak people notes with the gravest concern that the Western Powers are striving to shipwreck the peaceful settlement of the German question. In order to attain this end the aggressive circles in the United States required the victory of the Adenauer clique, which represents the worst elements of reaction, revenge and miltarism, and which is prepared to sacrifice the vital interests of the German people for the benefit of its American patrons. With the aid of a handful of representatives of the German war industry, these people are aiming at measures which threaten not only peace in Europe, but the very existence of Germany as a nation.
60. The aggressive Adenauer regime, relying on the direct support of the United States occupation authorities, quite recently revealed its true character in the shameful provocation in Berlin. Although the peace-loving forces frustrated this attempt, the purpose of which was to aggravate international tension in the interests of the American cold-war strategists, the victory of the Adenauer clique in the elections and the intensified efforts of the United States ruling circles to make use of Western Germany as a centre and instrument of a new war in Europe are nevertheless causing a further deterioration in the international situation. Not a day passes but 'the aggressive Adenauer regime threatens the German Democratic Republic and other neighbouring countries with its “liberation” plans. With unprecedented effrontery, Adenauer prates of the establishment of a condominium in Poland — that is, a protectorate on the fascist model — advances territorial claims against Czechoslovakia and colonial claims in Africa, and unfolds other extravagant expansionist plans directly inherited from Hitlerite fascist ideology.
61. The German question is now entering a stage which will be decisive for the fate of the German people and for the preservation of world peace. The Western Powers intend to continue to pursue a policy aimed not at uniting Germany into a single, independent and democratic State, but on the contrary at resurrecting German militarism and securing the incorporation of the German armed forces in the so-called “European army”. It is the West German divisions, under the leadership of former Nazi generals, which are to form the nucleus of this army. That is why, instead of concluding a peace treaty, the Western Powers have concluded the Bonn and Paris agreements with the Adenauer Government, agreements which will bind Germany to the aggressive plans of the North Atlantic Treaty for half a century.
62. The threat of renewed German expansion is arousing the opposition of all the European peoples, particularly those who are Germany’s neighbours and who suffered under Nazi occupation. In a letter to the United States Congress, 200 deputies of the French Parliament expressed their opposition to the treaty on the European Defence Community, on the grounds that it would make Germany the dominant Power in Europe.
63. The Czechoslovak people, which is utterly devoted to the cause of peace, desires to live on the same friendly and good-neighbourly terms with the people of Germany as a whole as characterize its relations with the people of the German Democratic Republic. Our desire is to live in peace with all peoples. We realize 'that it is only under conditions of peace that we can continue successfully to develop our country’s economy. The success of our work of construction is evidenced not only by the rise in industrial output and the expansion of the other branches of the national economy, but also by the continuous improvement in the standard of living of the Czechoslovak workers, which has made possible both a steady increase in consumption and the satisfaction of all the social, cultural and health needs of the people. This shows that the motive force behind our construction work is concern for man, and for the cultural progress and wellbeing of the people as a whole. It is our profound desire that other peoples also should be able to undertake the task of national development and to strengthen their friendly relations with other nations under conditions of peace.
64. The Czechoslovak Government, scrupulous in the fulfilment of its obligations under the United Nations Charter, is therefore wholly in favour of the widest possible development of peaceful co-operation among nations. The essential conditions for the practical realization of such co-operation are observance of the principle of equality among interested parties, consistent adherence to the principle of non-intervention in the domestic affairs of other States, the development of trade on the basis of mutual advantage, and the provision of assistance to the under-developed countries without political conditions which could endanger their independence.
65. Convincing evidence of the success of a genuine policy of strengthening friendship among nations are the new relations between the Soviet Union and the other nations of the democratic camp, relations unparalleled in world history. These relations are founded on the inviolable principles of mutual respect for State independence and sovereignty, on mutual understanding and the disinterested provision of fraternal aid. The Government of the Soviet Union is not only providing the peoples’ democracies and the Chinese People’s Republic with first-class technical assistance on an extensive scale, but is also contributing to the all-round development of their economies by deliveries of raw materials and other commodities. Thanks to this fraternal aid, the countries of the democratic camp have made vast strides in building up- and developing their economies.
66. The Czechoslovak people is deeply conscious of the immense importance of the vast help it is receiving from the Soviet Union, and realizes that in the Soviet Union it has its best and truest friend. It therefore rebuts with sorrow and disgust the various attempts made by certain statesmen of the Western Powers — occasionally, alas, even in organs of the United Nations — to depict the relations between the USSR and the peoples’ democracies in a false, mendacious and tendentious light. The friendship and alliance between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union represent a long- awaited historical victory for the Czechoslovak people. The Czechoslovak people will defend its alliance and friendship with the Soviet Union and the other countries of the democratic camp against all threats. Accordingly the Government of the Czechoslovak Republic, whose people feel deep sympathy for the heroic Korean people in their hour of need, has decided to assist in the rehabilitation of their country, the victim of a war of intervention.
67. The relations between the countries of the peace camp testify to the results which can be achieved through economic co-operation among peace-loving States. Instead of greed for profits, the destruction and economic and political enslavement of the weaker, we have genuine co-operation and mutual aid, which enhance the power and strengthen the economies of all the partners and offer their peoples a higher standard of living and a happier life free of wars, crises or exploitation. The help given by the USSR, to the countries of the peace camp is an example of such cooperation.
68. As a result of this help, Czechoslovakia has succeeded in doubling its industrial output and is continuing to increase its industrial potential thereby — thanks to the wide range and high quality of the products offered — making it possible to expand and develop a mutually advantageous trade with all the countries of the world. The expansion of Czech industry can thus contribute to the resumption of normal trade relations among States. Czechoslovak industrial deliveries will stimulate the economic development of the under-developed countries, in accordance with a long-established tradition.
69. The Czechoslovak delegation regards the provision of essential technical assistance as a major contribution to the economic development of the underdeveloped countries. At meetings of the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly, the Czechoslovak delegation, like a number of other delegations, has supported proposals for the appropriation of funds under the United Nations budget for this purpose. In this connexion, however, we have frequently pointed out that the primary purpose of technical assistance to the under-developed countries must be to mobilize the internal resources of those countries, to promote the development of their national industry and agriculture, to assist in raising the cultural and material standards of their peoples and thus to contribute to their economic independence.
70. The Czechoslovak delegation takes this opportunity to announce that the Czechoslovak Government has decided to contribute the sum of 500,000 Czechoslovak crowns to the United Nations Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance for 1954. This decision reflects the Czechoslovak Government’s desire to continue to assist in the development and consolidation of economic co-operation among the nations, in conformity with the principles of the United Nations Charter.
71. The signing of the armistice in Korea holds out the prospect and hope of a settlement of other contentious and still outstanding questions. The settlement of such important problems as the unconditional prohibition of all types of weapons of mass destruction, disarmament, the elimination of military bases in foreign territories, and the adoption of measures to end the propaganda of hostility and hatred among peoples which is carried on in certain countries, would greatly contribute to the attainment of a lasting peace and international security. These questions have been on the General Assembly’s agenda since its very first session. Owing to the negative position taken by the Western Powers, headed by the United States, which have made the settlement of these problems contingent on the fulfilment of a number of preliminary conditions, no real progress has so far been made in these matters. The old formula, “first mutual confidence and then disarmament”, which led to the failure of disarmament between the first and second world wars, has reappeared in the United Nations, in the form of a demand for the fulfilment of a variety of preliminary conditions; it is the argument which the opponents of a genuine settlement of the problem of disarmament and the prohibition of weapons of mass destruction have attempted to use to justify their position. It has become obvious over the years that the artificial obstacles which they have deliberately erected to prevent the adoption of effective measures for the reduction of armaments have not only not been removed but have on the contrary been growing even more numerous.
72. I need hardly emphasize that the proposals put forward by the United States at a previous [434th] meeting cannot offer a basis for the consideration and settlement of the problem of armaments reduction. This was clearly demonstrated at the last session of the General Assembly. The fact that the practical Soviet proposals were rejected and the unacceptable Baruch plan for the control of atomic energy was approved and subsequently endorsed on several occasions by the majority of the members of the General Assembly, is one more proof of the harm done when sheer pressure is used to settle questions of such vital importance to world peace, questions whose satisfactory settlement all lovers of peace are awaiting from the United Nations.
73. Mr. Dulles confined himself in his statement to giving the Assembly an apocalyptic picture of all the horrors which could be precipitated by those in possession of atomic and hydrogen bombs. He failed to mention, however, that the Baruch plan was quite unacceptable to the peoples of the world, since it consigns the question of the prohibition of atomic weapons to a remote and, indeed, indefinite future and seeks to establish a super-monopoly which could be used to secure world domination. In any case, the Baruch plan, like the hopes which the United States Government placed in it, has long since been outstripped by events. It is a matter of common knowledge that the Soviet Union has ended the monopoly of atomic and hydrogen weapons. The Soviet Government has at the same time announced that it will continue to press for the immediate adoption of a ban on those weapons and for the institution of strict international control to ensure observance of that ban.
74. The Czechoslovak delegation considers that, in order to ensure a further easing of international tension and the restoration of trust among the nations, effective measures must be taken without delay to bring about a general regulation and reduction of armaments and the prohibition of atomic and other weapons of mass destruction. An early solution to this problem must be found in the interests of the peace-loving nations and of mankind as a whole, for the ever-mounting expenditure on armaments and the threats to use atomic and other weapons of mass destruction are universally regarded as a danger to world peace. In addition, armaments expenditure constitutes a heavy burden which is having disastrous effects on the standards of living of the population in the capitalist countries.
75. In regard to the prohibition of atomic and hydrogen weapons and of other weapons of mass destruction, the Czechoslovak delegation entirely supports the position outlined here [438th meeting] by Mr. Vyshinsky, the chairman of the Soviet delegation. That position reflects a genuine desire to preserve mankind from the appalling consequences of the use of such weapons in the event of an armed conflict. The Czechoslovak delegation fully concurs in the view that the Security Council should be called upon to take immediate steps to draw up and implement an international agreement which would ensure strict control of the observance of the prohibition of all weapons of mass destruction.
76. The construction of a network of military, naval and air bases in the territories of other States in all parts of the world represents a serious danger to peace and a violation of State sovereignty. The General Assembly must therefore recommend that the Security Council should take steps to eliminate military bases on foreign territory.
77. The propaganda of hatred and enmity among peoples, which is carried on in certain countries, and which is incompatible with the fundamental purposes and principles of the United Nations, must also be put to a stop. Such propaganda serves only to aggravate international tension and helps to create an atmosphere of fear and distrust among nations.
78. The Soviet draft resolution [A/2485/Rev 1] is right in pointing out that the primary responsibility for bringing about a reduction of armaments rests with the five permanent members of the Security Council. The Czechoslovak delegation considers that the reduction of armed forces by one-third within one year and the convening of an, international conference on disarmament questions would be highly desirable and useful measures.
79. The USSR proposals are an important contribution to the cause of peace and security. The Czechoslovak delegation gives these proposals its full support, since they point out the course the United Nations must follow if it is to become an effective instrument for strengthening peace and security throughout the world. In addition, these proposals express the wishes of the Czechoslovak people and of peace-loving people throughout the world. By adopting the USSR proposals, the General Assembly would help to reduce international tension and to secure a happy and peaceful future for mankind. The Czechoslovak delegation will do its utmost to give the General Assembly every support in the execution of these important tasks.