85. Mr. President, let me first of all extend to you the warmest congratulations of my Government and delegation on your election to this high office. This is a tribute not only to your great country but also to your achievements as a statesman. I am confident that under your guidance the twentieth session of the General Assembly will be marked as one of the most memorable sessions in the history of the United Nations.
86. Now that the controversy over the applicability of Article 19 of the Charter is out of the way, the General Assembly can once again move ahead and get on with its business along normal lines. There is widespread relief among those who feared that the controversy which had paralysed the nineteenth session could, if pushed to its logical conclusion, jeopardize the very existence of the Organization.
87. My delegation shares this general sense of relief. We cannot but feel, however, that a compromise with the Purposes and Principles of the Charter could, as the late Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjöld, warned, weaken "the Organization in a way representing a definite loss for the future that cannot be balanced by any immediate advantage achieved". In the present case, it would be idle to pretend that no vital Charter principles have been compromised. It remains to be seen what effect this turn of events may have on the future of the United Nations.
88. The paramount purpose of the United Nations is the maintenance of international peace and security. To this end, the United Nations is required to take effective collective measures for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about settlement of international disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the principles of justice and international law. These are the obligations which Member States have pledged themselves to discharge. Indeed, one of the most important conditions for membership is the ability and willingness to carry out these obligations.
89. I do not intend to review here the failures and frustrations which the United Nations has experienced in the maintenance of peace and security. It is not irrelevant, however, to say that the provision regarding collective measures against acts of aggression, as envisaged by the framers of the Charter, has been allowed to fall into disuse. The solitary exception was the Security Council's decision in 1950 to suppress aggression in Korea. That decision, let it be remembered, was made possible only by a concatenation of special circumstances.
90. In this connexion, it is gratifying to note that the Security Council has been able to secure the acceptance by India and Pakistan of a cease-fire in their war over Kashmir, This development encourages the hope that the Security Council may once more play an effective role in the maintenance of peace and security.
91. By and large, however, it may be said that the peace-keeping activities of the United Nations of today involve little or no enforcement action. For the most part, they are not directed against a pronounced aggressor. They call for no collective military action. Armed forces are used, not for the suppression of aggression, but to interpose between embattled groups to prevent the expansion and escalation of conflict. And the armed forces are contributed by Member States on a voluntary and ad hoc basis.
92. This is a development made inevitable by the frequent lack of unanimity among the great Powers. While the current peace-keeping operations are not intended to enforce the peace, they are useful to the extent that they are ancillary to vigorous efforts at political settlement.
93. It is to be regretted, however, that even this form of peace-keeping has now received a serious setback. Henceforth, all peace-keeping operations must be financed by voluntary contributions. If past experience is any guide, voluntary contributions are not always easy to come by. This means that the Secretary-General, in order to continue the existing operations, even on a much reduced scale, has to do his level best to rattle the collection box and stave off the creditors. This means also that no new operations can be undertaken without prior assurance that some Member States will be generous enough to foot the bills. In short, the latest turn of events, far from strengthening the United Nations, has immeasurably weakened it.
94. The twentieth session of the General Assembly has been convened in the shadow of increased tension and deepening crisis. Though the Security Council has been able to bring about a temporary cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan, the basic issues remain unresolved. The danger of a renewal of armed conflict cannot be discounted; nor can the threat of Peiping to the subcontinent's security be ignored. The Federation of Malaysia continues to suffer from the military harassments of a neighbouring country. The war in the Republic of Viet-Nam has grown in violence and intensity. The United Nations was created to keep the peace, but peace has been broken in many parts of the world. This is because the machinery for collective security is not in working order.
95. In the absence of any effective international action to check aggression, national power has to step in to fill the vacuum. The result is that a government faced with armed aggression with which it cannot adequately cope has no alternative but to call on some friendly Power or Powers to come to its rescue. And this is what is happening in the Republic of Viet-Nam.
96. It has often been asserted that the war in South Viet-Nam is not one of external aggression but one of internal revolt. We are told that it is the Viet-Namese people who must choose their own path in the future; and that to intervene in the civil strife of South Viet-Nam, as the United States has been doing, is to obstruct the process of self-determination and to deny the Viet-Namese people the exercise of a legitimate right.
97. Those assertions, however, are not supported by facts. There has been, undeniably, an internal revolt in South Viet-Nam. But that revolt is externally inspired, externally supported and externally directed. The Viet-Cong rebels do not represent the Viet-Namese people. They represent Peiping and Hanoi, which have never made a secret of their intention to conquer that unhappy country for communism. This is as much a contest of will and purpose as it is a contest of force and violence. Mao Tse-tung and Ho Chi Minh are determined to get what they want. They desire neither peace nor negotiated settlement. Nothing short of complete subjugation of South Viet-Nam will satisfy them. When Secretary- General U Thant expressed a desire to go to Hanoi to sound out the possibilities for a peaceful settlement, the People's Daily of Peiping, in an editorial under the dateline of 12 April 1965, rudely rebuffed him in these words:
"We should like to tell him in all seriousness to spare himself this trouble. The United Nations has nothing to do and is not qualified to do anything in Viet-Nam — in fact, it is open to doubt whether the United Nations, discredited as it is, has any right to say anything."
This insulting language reflects the Chinese Communists' utter contempt for and open defiance of the United Nations.
98. The Republic of Viet-Nam has today become the proving ground for a host of subversive tactics which, if successful, will be used to pick off non-Communist Governments one by one in the vulnerable areas of the world. The war in Viet-Nam is thus anything but local and isolated; it is an integral part of the communist design for world domination. Upon the outcome of this struggle will depend the fate of the whole of South-East Asia, with all the far-reaching implications for the future of mankind.
99. Chinese Communist aggression is not always as naked and flagrant as it is in South Viet-Nam. It is more often concealed and clandestine than open. But, open or concealed, the objective is the same, namely, to encourage violent internal revolts against established Governments in order, eventually, to replace them by communist régimes. The aggression is perpetrated in the name of "national liberation". But the victims of aggression are more often than not States which have already achieved their independence.
100. Chou En-lai, Peiping's so-called Prime Minister, said in a speech in Tanzania on 5 June 1965: "An exceedingly favourable situation for revolution prevails today not only in Africa but also in Asia and Latin America." What does he mean by revolution in Africa, Asia and Latin America, where the peoples are already free and independent? Anyone who is at all acquainted with communist doctrine knows that to the Communists there are two distinct and separate revolutions: the national-democratic and the proletarian. In the former, the proletariat must ally itself with the bourgeoisie and other elements to overthrow imperialism. Once imperialism has been overthrown, the proletariat must transform the national-democratic revolution into a communist revolution and establish the dictatorship of the proletariat. When Chou En-lai talked about revolution, he was thinking of the communist revolution. The target of this revolution is not imperialism but all non-Communist Governments.
101. The Communists did not create the national- democratic revolution; nor did they create the conditions which made it possible. But they seek, by a variety of tactics, to ride the crest of its waves, to capture its leadership and to divert it to communist channels. This poses a most serious challenge to national independence and freedom, and a threat to world peace.
102. Ours is an age of revolutions. In Asia and Africa we have witnessed, since the end of the Second World War, the greatest nationalist revolution in history. New nations have emerged in rapid succession and taken their rightful places in the world community. It is now estimated that less than 2 per cent of the world's population still lives under colonial rule. My delegation looks forward to completion of the decolonization process. We believe that the domination of one people over another is contrary to the spirit of our times and will soon be swept into the dustbin of history.
103. The newly independent peoples, as well as the peoples of all developing countries, have now come to realize that political freedom must be sustained by economic progress; that the ancient evils of hunger, disease and ignorance must be fought and overcome; and that there are means available by which they can improve their lives.
104. But problems of economic development are many and difficult. There are no short-cuts or easy solutions, For sound economic development, the first prerequisite is sound planning. When it comes to implementation, the main difficulty confronting; the developing countries is the shortage of capital needed for development. The establishment of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and its subsidiary organs, by resolution 1995 (XIX) of the nineteenth session of the General Assembly signifies the general awareness of the urgency and necessity of helping to improve economic growth by the concerted efforts of both the developing and developed countries. China shares the hope of the developing countries that positive action will be taken by the developed countries in order to achieve the objectives of the United Nations Development Decade. The establishment of an Asian development bank, as advocated by the Economic Commission for Asia and the Ear East, will constitute another step towards closer economic co-operation in a developing region.
105. The two large development assistance programmes — the Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance and the Special Fund — which are to be merged to form a new United Nations Development Programme, have demonstrated both the feasibility and the value of concerted action in meeting some of the most pressing needs of the developing countries. These are supported by voluntary contributions, and it is gratifying to note that the suggested annual target of $200 million has received the support of a number of Governments.
106. In view of the magnitude of the needs, the resources at the disposal of the United Nations are far from adequate. Aid through bilateral agreements continues, therefore, to play a vital part. But the political overtones, the sense of rivalry and the pressure with which this form of aid is so often beset, add to the political dilemmas of the developing nations. When a new nation is faced with the enormous complexity and variety of economic and political problems that are inescapable after independence, the temptation to accept panaceas and ready-made solutions is always strong. But the inherent danger should never be overlooked.
107. The Republic of China is a developing country. It is a matter of some satisfaction to us that we have been able to make considerable headway in our economic development during the past decade. This has been the result of patient efforts and the way we have made use of external economic aid. Our economic progress has now reached such a stage that we are able to support the accelerated development mainly through increased production and a favourable balance of trade. In a small way, we have launched our own programmes of technical cooperation, where our experience in land reform and agricultural methods may be shared with other developing countries.
108. Disarmament and arms control have continued to occupy a place of priority on the agenda of the Assembly. The conclusion of the partial nuclear test ban Treaty in 1983 and the adoption of resolution 1884 (XVIII) at the eighteenth session of the General Assembly calling on all States to refrain from placing weapons of mass destruction in outer space encouraged the hope that further progress toward disarmament might be possible. Since then, however, little headway has been made on major issues. The Eighteen-Nation Committee, which resumed its work at the end of July, has thus far failed to bridge the gap between opposing positions.
109. Lately there has been renewed interest in the possibility of reaching an agreement on the non- dissemination of nuclear weapons. The desirability of such an agreement is recognised by all, particularly in view of the fact that the development of nuclear weapons is within the capabilities of quite a number of countries. There is no doubt that the proliferation of nuclear weapons will increase the chances of irresponsible action. The Geneva talks, however, seem to show that under present conditions swift agreement is not yet in the cards. But the effort must go on.
110. In this connexion, the Government of the Republic of China condemns the utter irresponsibility of the Chinese Communist régime, which, in defiance of world opinion and contrary to the true interests of the Chinese people, has ventured into the nuclear field. While professing self-defence and peaceful intentions, the régime has not been slow to use its embryonic nuclear development to advance its aggressive objectives. In the hands of such a régime, a nuclear potential becomes a dangerous weapon of political and psychological blackmail.
111. It will be a long time before the Chinese Communist régime can produce some sort of a nuclear arsenal of its own. To use its limited nuclear capability to threaten a major nuclear Power is to invite retaliation and destruction. It is logical to conclude that at the present stage the régime’s explosion of atomic bombs can serve only as a weapon to pressure small and weak States into submission. That being so, it is these States which must make their voices heard in this matter. It is they who must come out to condemn the Chinese Communist nuclear development in unequivocal terms.
112. Nor are the great Powers, particularly the United States, without special responsibilities. Whether the Chinese Communist régime can succeed in its nuclear blackmail against the small and weak nations depends to a large extent on the effectiveness of the United States nuclear umbrella over them. Indeed, the future security of the non-Communist countries of Asia will test not only the courage and fortitude of their peoples to defend their own independence and freedom, but also the will and resolution of the United States, as the leading nation of the free world, to carry out its defence commitments. It is not without reason that the Chinese Communists regard the United States as their main target of attack. Were the United States to withdraw from Asia, all the non-Communist countries on that vast continent would feel the impact. The non-aligned or non-committed countries are no exception. For, after all, Asian neutralism is possible only as long as the United States and its allies are committed to Asia’s defence. It is imperative that the Chinese Communists should not be given a free hand to consolidate their power to threaten and dominate the Asian continent.
113. There are those who, in their anxiety to usher in a world without arms and a world of enduring peace, argue that it is unrealistic to bar the Chinese Communists from disarmament talks, now that they have the bombs. My delegation is all for a world without arms, a world of enduring peace, about which mankind has been dreaming for ages. But we are not so naive as to think that the Chinese Communists can help bring this about. To them, there can be no international peace before the victory of Communism on a world-wide basis. And this victory can be achieved only through violent revolution. Let me quote a few excerpts from the ideological mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Central Committee, the Red Flag, of 31 March 1964:
"Basing himself on the Marxist-Leninist theory of violent revolution and the new experience of the proletarian revolution and the people’s democratic revolution led by the proletariat, Comrade Mao Tse-tung advanced the celebrated dictum: 'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun'.
'Comrade Mao Tse-tung said: 'The seizure of power by armed force, the settlement of issues by means of war, is the central task and the highest form of revolution ...'
"He stated further: 'Experience in the class struggle in the era of imperialism teaches us that it is only by the power of the gun that the working class and the labouring masses can defeat the armed bourgeoisie and landlords; in this sense we may say that only with guns can the whole world be transformed'."
This is the credo of war and not of peace. "War", declared Lin Piao, Peiping's so-called Minister of Defence, a month ago — on 3 September 1965 — "can temper the people and push history forward."
114. In the light of those militant pronouncements, it is difficult to imagine how the Chinese Communists can contribute constructively to disarmament talks. They scoff at the idea that disarmament can lessen international tensions. To talk about disarmament before the victory of Communism and the removal of the "social and national causes of all wars", according to the official organ of the Chinese Communists, the People's Daily on March 1963, is to talk "nonsense", to be "totally unrealistic" and to "put the cart before the horse". United Nations efforts at disarmament and arms control can, therefore, serve only "as a shield for United States imperialism's frenzied arms drive ... the longer the disarmament talks are dragged out, the bigger becomes United States military expenditure and its stockpile of arms", said the People's Daily, on 14 January 1965.
115. For propaganda purposes, however, the Chinese Communists advocate the convening of a world summit conference "to discuss the question of the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons". It should be observed that such destruction, if carried out, could alter the world balance of power in favour of the Chinese Communists. Their nuclear arsenal is still practically non-existent, and it would not be much of a sacrifice to have it scrapped. But they can still use their massive armed forces to bully their neighbours. The economic weakness, communal conflicts and political instability of some of the Asian countries will provide the Chinese Communists with opportunities to use military pressure in the promotion of strife and insurrection.
116. For all its blustering, the Chinese Communist régime is not, in fact, militarily strong. Its army — the so-called People's Liberation Army —is still primarily an infantry organization equipped with obsolescent weapons. Its air force has rapidly deteriorated since the withdrawal of USSR aid. The navy is the weakest of all the armed services.
117. The only factor to be reckoned with is manpower. This accounts for Mao Tse-tung's insistence that people, not weapons, decide the outcome of a war. But this man-over-weapon doctrine is not likely to carry conviction in this nuclear age. Nor does it carry conviction with some of Mao's own top military leaders. Peng Teh-huai, for example, who once commanded the so-called volunteers in Korea, questioned its soundness as early as 1956, and he was promptly relegated to limbo for his temerity. Since then the morale of the "People's Liberation Army" has steadily declined. Last June, in an effort to boost the fighting spirit of the common soldier, differences in uniform, insignia and other external distinctions between officers and men were abolished. Political control has been tightened and indoctrination intensified. A régime that must resort to continual and never-ending purges and indoctrination to maintain the morale of its armed forces cannot be said to be very sure of their loyalty.
118. Nor is the régime very sure of the loyalty of the people. After a temporary pause following the debacle of the "Big Leap Forward", terrorism has once more become the tool of control. This omnipotent terror permeates every aspect of society. It penetrates the homes and schools, hits the masses, and extends itself, to Party members.
119. The Chinese Communists are thus not yearly as invincible as their propaganda would have the world believe. No country with faith in its future and with the will to resist aggression should allow itself to be intimidated by the much vaunted Chinese Communist military strength. There is no surer way to invite aggression than to succumb to defeatism. Only those who are ready to fight for the preservation of their freedom and independence deserve to enjoy them.
120. We of the Republic of China never for a minute doubt that the Communist régime cart be overthrown. We are as determined to restore freedom to the enslaved millions on the mainland as they themselves are determined to regain it. The accomplishment of this task — I can assure you that it will in time be accomplished — will contribute, in no small way, to the consolidation of world peace.
121. The Chinese Communist régime is the greatest threat to world peace. No accommodation, no appeasement can deflect it from the prescribed course of expansion and conquest. India's long-standing friendliness and goodwill have been rewarded with implacable enmity. The ultimatum which Peiping served on India a few weeks ago was not merely motivated by a desire to fish in troubled waters; it was a calculated move to create confusion and chaos in order to prepare the eventual domination of the sub-continent. It is time for those who have cherished any illusions about Mao Tse-tung and his criminal gang to face up to the realities.
122. To the evil men of Peiping there can be no "peaceful coexistence" of different social systems. Those Communist Governments which have advocated "peaceful coexistence" are reviled for their "revisionism". The Soviet Union, in particular, has been the target of Mao’s abuse. The charges cited in support of the Soviet Union’s betrayal of the world communist movement include: conspiracy with the United States "to set up a permanent United Nations force, to organize an International gendarmerie for the suppression of the people’s revolutionary struggles"; the signing of the partial nuclear test ban treaty; the maintenance of "close contact" with the United States; advocacy of peace negotiations in regard to Viet-Nam while making a gesture of aid to the Viet-Cong; and courting the favour of "such faithful lackeys and precious pets of United States imperialism as Tito and Shastri", while avowing "opposition to United States imperialist aggression". These, according to the People’s Daily of 14 June 1965, are the "facts" proving that the "revisionists" of the Soviet Union have been "collaborating" with the United" States "for world domination". A more fantastic indictment it would be difficult to imagine.
123. My delegation has no reason to believe that the Soviet Union has abandoned the policy of world domination through global revolution. But its recognition of the horrors of nuclear incineration and its reluctance to regard the United States as a "paper tiger" have earned for its leaders the contempt and scorn of Mao Tse-tung, who is bent on communizing the world in a hurry and will stop at nothing to achieve it. To him, all communist leaders who refuse to go along with him are "revisionists" and traitors to the international communist movement.
124. Members of the Assembly may have read excerpts of Lin Piao’s recent pronouncement published in The New York Times of 4 September 1965. If they have, it is not likely that they will ever forget the nightmarish blueprint of world conquest he has put forth. Lin Piao, Mao Tse-tung’s most trusted military commander, has minced no words about Peiping’s intention of inciting a series of guerilla wars throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America. It is aiming at a multitude of Viet-Nam-like conflagrations that will dissipate and finally destroy the strength and resistance of the free world. Much of this blueprint has already been translated into action.
125. The United Nations has just entered its third decade. Twenty years ago, when the war in the Pacific was still in progress, nations of the world, in a mood of idealism, avowed their determination "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war". Today the principles and purposes enshrined in the Charter are under challenge. And the challenge has come from the Communists of my country. They want no peace. They promote conflict and war. They act not according to the noble words of His Holiness Pope Paul VI that "relations between the peoples should be regulated by reason, by justice, by law, by negotiation; not be force nor by violence nor by war, neither by fear nor by fraud" [1347th meeting, para. 27]. They act upon the conviction that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun and seek to build on the ruins of a nuclear holocaust, in Mao Tse-tung’ swords, "a civilization a thousand times higher than that under the capitalist system". Mao Tse-tung has spelled out his designs in terms no less candid than Hitler did his in Mein Kampf. It is tragic to reflect that Hitler was not believed until the world was in flames. Will the world community again commit the same mistake and choose the suicidal road of appeasement? Will it strengthen the forces of evil and make the United Nations subservient to the interest of warmakers and international bullies? Will it forfeit its own raison d'être by throwing overboard both the spirit and the letter of the Charter?
126. The United Nations has now reached the most critical stage of its history. Let us remind ourselves that when the League of Nations failed in the nineteen-thirties to live up to the promise of the Covenant, the world was soon plunged into an unprecedented catastrophe. The League failed, as the late Sir Winston Churchill pointed out in 1946, "because the Governments of those days feared to face, the facts and act while time remained". We still have the time to face the facts. Let us hope the disaster which befell the League and the world will not be allowed to happen again.