UN General Assembly
1979

157. It is because we do not wish to repeat past mistakes that we must, as President Ahmed Sekou Toure has shown, give to the Government established at Phnom Penh the seat among us which belongs to it by right. We fully understand the concern of those who invoke the violation of international law to oppose the restitution to the present government at Phnom Penh of its seat in the United Nations. They fear that the example of Kampuchea might be contagious, and might spread to other countries of South-East Asia. But in the opinion of our delegation, what is more dangerous than a foreign intervention is the fact that a Government, by its reactionary, antinational, anti-popular policy could raise the masses against itself, and irretrievably lose any credibility in their eyes. What our Organization must not lose sight of, and what must serve it as a lodestone each time it is to decide upon similar cases, which may unfortunately arise in future, is the awareness of the interests of the people concerned. Above all, may realism prevail here at the United Nations in New York with the recognition that there is in Phnom Penh a government which is governing in fact. The United Nations has pursued this unrealistic policy on another occasion by denying the great Chinese people its legitimate rights and representation. We came to realize that that policy does not pay. History is stubborn and does not repeat itself.