58. Mr. President, allow me first of all to convey to you the sincere congratulations of the Burmese delegation and my own on your election as President of the twentieth session of the General Assembly. We are confident that the wealth of experience and wisdom which you bring with you will indeed prove to be of great value to this Assembly, which is meeting at one of the most anxious moments in the history of the United Nations.
59. An unprecedented honour was given us yesterday when His Holiness Pope Paul VI appeared before this great assembly of nations, bringing with him a message of peace and goodwill, transcending all barriers of race, colour or creed. We should like to express our deep gratitude to His Holiness for having thus given us the benefit of his wisdom and vision.
60. I should also like to say how glad we are to welcome among us as new Members the Gambia, the Maldive Islands and Singapore. Their admission to the United Nations, in itself a happy event, gives us great satisfaction because it takes our Organization a step further towards achieving universality of membership, which is a sine qua non for the strength of the United Nations and for the weight and effectiveness of its actions. We feel sure that these new Members will have many positive contributions to make to our Organization.
61. Though it is rather late in the day, I do not wish to let this opportunity pass without expressing our sense of relief at the ending of hostilities between two of our good friends and neighbours, India and Pakistan. This heartening event has been possible only because of the statesmanship of the leaders of both India and Pakistan, and we earnestly hope that this presages the development of better relations between the two countries which will make possible the peaceful settlement of the problems outstanding between them.
62. It is now twenty years since fifty-one nations of the world, determined to banish war for all time and to create a peaceful, happy and prosperous world, drew up an international charter of peace, justice and freedom for all mankind and on its basis founded the United Nations. Those twenty years have indeed been most eventful. During that relatively short span of time, monumental achievements were made by man in the fields of science and technology. They veritably placed within his grasp a golden key to a golden future, the means and the opportunity, as never before in history, to build for himself a better and fuller life and, for the generations to come, a new international order for which the United Nations, its Charter and its family of related agencies represented the ideal and provided the institutional framework.
63. However, sadly enough, having understood and conquered in large measure the mystifying forces of nature surrounding him, man found himself unable to gain mastery of himself or of his fears or to overcome his suspicions towards his fellow man. In the years following the founding of the United Nations, trust and understanding that had existed among nations at the end of the Second World War quickly gave way to fears and suspicions. Thoughts and actions of nations, therefore, came to be directed more towards making massive preparations for a possible future war than towards creating conditions for lasting peace and widening prosperity in the world. Thus, against his best interests and, frequently, his better judgement, man has for these past twenty years been devoting by far the greater part of his creative genius, his creative energies and his creative resources towards increasing his capacity for self- destruction, towards making and perfecting diabolical weapons which he knew, instinctively, must never be used.
64. This senseless waste of human energies and resources has not only placed all mankind constantly under the sinister threat of total annihilation, but has created deeper divisions in an already grievously divided world, has bedevilled relations among nations, and has made peace — genuine, lasting peace — ever more difficult to attain.
65. The inevitable result is that conditions in this world of ours have not evolved in the way envisaged in the Charter. Indeed, conditions that are a far cry from those envisaged in the Charter have generally prevailed and, disturbingly enough, are increasingly being accepted as normal. It is tragic that our world, not having known genuine, total peace for two decades, should have come to accept as peace, absence of global war. It is equally tragic that even this imitation peace can be maintained, precariously, only by the so-called balance of terror. It is a disquieting thought that force — the threat or use of which in relations among nations in a manner inconsistent with the purposes of our Organization is forbidden in the Charter — has in practice become the condition of peace; that the uneasy peace of our world can be maintained, not through collective action, but only through mutual terror, only through a massive threat of mutual annihilation. Peace, it seems, is attainable only as the synthesis of conflict, not through common sense and spontaneous goodwill. Far too often in the past have we found settlement becoming possible only after collision, agreement only after struggle, and detente — even of a limited and partial character - only after narrowly-averted catastrophes. And far too often has our world failed to consolidate and enlarge the area of such agreement and understanding as had been achieved at so great a risk and, often, at so high a cost.
66. All this is the measure of our world's failure to live up to the ideals and high principles which we ourselves laid down twenty years ago to guide our thoughts and actions. It is also a sad commentary indeed on the wisdom, resourcefulness, and good sense of our age, and on our fitness to be the temporary custodians of human civilization.
67. My observations on the course through which, the world has drifted in the past twenty years may appear to some to be somewhat cynical. To them I would say that we in the Burmese delegation are not unmindful of the many worthy accomplishments achieved by the world during that time, and if I have refrained from referring to them, it is because we feel that this year, which marks the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, as well as of the end of the Second World War and the first use ever of the atomic bomb by man against man, the human race perhaps needs to be reminded more of its shortcomings and failures than of its achievements. Looking back dispassionately and objectively, we are increasingly led to the view that mankind has arrived at a crossroad in history where it must choose between drifting along the same old path, and taking a new turn and proceeding by conscious action and with a sense of purpose and direction towards a more promising and orderly world. While we would be the last to hold the view that the beginning of the end of the human race is near at hand, we nevertheless consider that the moment of decision is fast approaching and that unless we, the nations of the world, choose the right path and take timely steps to avert the dangers that lie ahead, we may find ourselves being swept inexorably towards disaster by forces which we ourselves have created but which we, through lack of vision, can no longer shape or control. In short, we consider that it is time that the nations of the world started planning for peace in earnest, setting targets and, wherever possible, the time in which they are to be attained. This may appear naive; perhaps it is. But nothing should be left untried for the sake of peace and the future of mankind.
68. Planning for peace requires that we, the nations of the world, make a new set of values, a new code of conduct, to guide our relations with each other. We must discard old ways and old concepts that have been found to be inconducive to peace and understanding among nations, and refrain from reasserting in any shape or form outmoded and anachronistic doctrines and practices. By the very nature of things, "peace” based on the balance of terror is not peace; security based on the concept of "defence through deterrence" is insecure; understanding generated by terror cannot endure. We must have the vision — and the courage — to do away with these false concepts and seek new ways and means of maintaining and promoting international peace and security through the positive motivation of goodwill, not through the negative motivation of fear of extinction. We must seek to preserve and strengthen the ground rules of peaceful coexistence that have been painstakingly worked out, and must recognize and respect the right of all nations, large and small, freely to choose their own social systems without interference or pressure from any country or group of countries. In short, we must bend our efforts, collectively and individually, towards bringing about a world order such as that envisaged in the United Nations Charter.
69. Planning for peace also requires that the United Nations be strengthened in every way possible. We must of course recognize that the Organization has certain shortcomings, such as, for instance, the lack of universality in its membership, and we should exert every effort to strengthen and develop it in consonance with the changed conditions and needs of the present-day world so that it may truly become an effective instrument, not only of international peace and security, but also of international co-operation. But we must not find fault with the principles, the purposes and the basic organizational framework of the United Nations. In other words, we must not find fault with the United Nations idea.
70. It is important to remember that the United Nations can be only as strong — or as weak — as we, its Members, make it. Understanding this simple truth could enable us to avoid blaming the Organization for what, in reality, are our own faults and failures. It could also make us pause to think whether we have not been doing too little for the United Nations while demanding too much from it.
71. It is likewise important to remember that in the context of history, disputes and differences are but transitory, while the United Nations is not. Accepting this could lead us to the decision not to let disappointments or dissatisfactions over the inability of the United Nations to resolve certain contentious issues prompt us to take precipitate actions that could weaken the Organization, undermine its authority or jeopardize its future. As we say in Burma, when mice get into the granary, we must destroy the mice, not burn down the granary.
72. Lastly, it is important to remember that if there were no United Nations today, we should be trying very hard to set one up. Comprehension of this simple truth could make us more convinced of the need to strengthen the capacity of the United Nations effectively to fulfil its duties in the maintenance of international peace and security, and in the promotion of international co-operation in accordance with the Charter provisions. It could also persuade us to make increasing use of United Nations machinery, and avoid the tendency to bypass it in seeking adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace. True to form we needed the traumatic experience of last year's session to realize how important to us the Organization really is. The agreement that has made it possible for this year's General Assembly to function normally is indeed welcome, and much credit is due to all those who have patiently worked to produce it. The efforts must, however, continue till a final solution that is acceptable to all concerned has been found.
73. While I am dealing with the question of strengthening the United Nations, I should like to reiterate the long-held view of the Government of the Union of Burma that the legitimate rights of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations and all its organs should be restored without further delay. We believe that the absence from our Organization of the legitimate representatives of a quarter of the human race has been, and will continue to be, a major source of its weakness.
74. Planning for peace also requires that meaningful steps be taken towards general and complete disarmament, for the armaments race has become one of the greatest scourges of humanity. It has wasted far too much human energy and resources, served to increase fear and mistrust between nations, and kept the world in a constant state of insecurity and tension. Perhaps never before have nations wished so much to be freed from the armaments burden, and yet never before have they found it so difficult to give up the weapons in their possession. Indeed, history teaches that the more deadly the weapons become and the further the armament race goes, the harder it becomes for nations to get rid of them, no matter how strongly they may desire it. The arms race is going forward, unchecked, and the world, which in the past has discovered one "ultimate” weapon after another, may well be on the verge of discovering, or stumbling upon, a new weapon more "ultimate" in its deadliness than the atomic and hydrogen weapons. Disarmament, which is hard enough to achieve now, may then become impossible. Mankind has lived for far too long under the tyranny of armaments, and ways and means must be sought urgently whereby the process of disarmament could be effectively put under way. Only thus would it be possible to lay a secure foundation for peace. Only thus could future generations be spared the anguish, so well known to our generation, of having to live, day and night, with a viper in the coat pocket.
75. Burma's consistent interest in the question of disarmament is motivated by these considerations, not by visions of the promised cornucopia for developing countries which, we are often told, would be the concomitant of general and complete disarmament, though, of course, we do agree that the material resources released by such disarmament could gainfully be used to raise general living standards in the world. It is because of the same considerations and concern for peace that we strongly favour, inter alia, universal disarmament under appropriate and adequate control, the holding of a world disarmament conference to be attended by all the nations of the world, the prevention of the further spread in any form of nuclear weapons and the prohibition of their use, and the prevention of all nuclear weapons tests, including underground tests.
76. Finally, planning for peace calls for much more vigorous collective action by all nations to raise living standards throughout the world. The preoccupation of nations during the past two decades with problems of peace and security has prevented them from giving the kind of attention needed to this very important problem, with the result that wholesale poverty, want and disease continue to scourge more than two-thirds of the human race, while the rest of mankind is going through a period of unprecedented affluence. Such a situation is not only intolerable but is fraught with grave dangers because the widening gap between rich and poor nations is, ultimately, far more explosive than the ideological gap that divides nations. In a world rapidly becoming smaller as the result of advancing science and technology, divergent political and social systems can and must coexist in peace; but massive poverty and super abundance cannot. The division of the world into rich and poor nations is a potential threat to international peace and order, just as much as the existence of vast inequalities in wealth and gross social injustices in a society is a potential source of social friction and strife.
77. A more ambitious, imaginative and comprehensive programme than any tried to date seems to be indicated to cope with the situation. Such a programme should, in our view, be so designed as to enable developing countries not only to achieve progress but to consolidate the progress achieved, laying emphasis on helping developing countries help themselves. We in Burma who are moving forward, in accordance with the Burmese way to socialism, on a new programme of national development based on the principles of self-help and self-reliance, would welcome any international programme for development conceived on the basis of similar principles.
78. There seems to be a growing awareness among nations that equilibrium in the political sphere alone could not assure peace and stability in the world, that equilibrium in the economic and social spheres is also needed for the purpose. We earnestly hope that this awareness would be translated into positive action, so that the promise embodied in the Charter "to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom" will indeed become a living reality.