UN General Assembly
1972

95. The past year has been unusually eventful. On the one hand we have seen the outbreak of renewed violence both between and within nations. We have seen continuing conflicts unnecessarily costing many lives. We have seen the wasteful and destructive diversion of wealth and resources to the purposes of war when, increasingly, the people of the world need their rational and constructive deployment for peaceful ends. 96. In the same year, we have, on the other hand, seen important initiatives taken towards easing the tensions which cause these conflicts. The various bilateral meetings which the leaders of the United States, the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China and Japan have recently held have already yielded encouraging results. 97. We welcome the moves made by the opposing wings of divided nations to achieve through dialog some relaxation of the tensions which otherwise can have calamitous consequences for the peoples concerned and for the rest of the world.