Chile's first words in this thirty-first session of the General Assembly of the United Nations are to congratulate Mr. Amerasinghe upon his election to the presidency of the General Assembly.
173.	We welcome the new Member of the United Nations, the Republic of Seychelles, a country with which Chile has just established diplomatic relations,
174.	Once again we express the hope that within this Organization, the appropriate machinery may be found to satisfy the just aspirations for peace, security, freedom and well-being which mankind demands with ever-increasing
urgency. For a considerable time the eyes of the world will be on this General Assembly. The world is right in asking the Organization for an encouraging response that will make it possible to dispel tension or, at least, for indications that serious efforts are being made to find such a response. If the dialog we are initiating is to be positive, it requires, first of all, that we be true to ourselves and to the mandate conferred upon us by our peoples. It also requires respect for the personality, dignity, independence and ways of thinking of each Member State, without distinction either in deed or in thought for the greater or lesser ability they may have to influence world affairs.
175.	Criticism of the United Nations is frequently heard, and there are those who openly suggest to their Governments that they cut down on their participation or that they simply withdraw from it for the reasons I have just outlined. We share in the criticism but we flatly reject the idea that the remedy for the shortcomings of our Organization is to deprive it of the very co-operation it now needs more than ever. Chile has always rendered and will continue to render its fullest collaboration to the United Nations and to each and every one of its subsidiary bodies.
176.	Despite the injustice of so many words and resolutions, we have shown in the delicate and important matter of human rights that our intention to co-operate is sound and permanent. In this connexion, I wish to remind this audience that last year my Government took the initiative of proposing the establishment of the essential legal norms necessary for a sovereign country to co-operate with the investigative bodies of the United Nations. These norms must acknowledge, on the one hand, the terms of reference of the mandate of the international organizations, and on the other, the need to respect the inherent rights of the sovereign State. We are not prepared to see all the rights to which we are entitled as a free State Member of this Organization diminished or misjudged. We believe that when any country is treated in a discriminatory manner, its dignity and its intrinsic quality as a sovereign State are jeopardized since the principle of juridical equality of States is not being respected.
177.	Since the end of the Second World War, we have gone through, successively, periods of cold war and peaceful coexistence and, today, are going through what is known as a time of detente. Chile, like other nations, has had to develop its relationships with the international community under the aforementioned circumstances. We fully agree with those who acknowledge the success of detente in maintaining international peace by avoiding the use of nuclear force which would lead to collective suicide. Detente has made the threat of a world war very remote, but at the same time it has been noted that, in practice, one of the great Powers has not respected the essential principle of detente; on the contrary, this Power has used and intends to continue using the results of detente as a means of furthering its expansionist policies. With its habitual immorality, the Soviet Union does not hesitate to brand as enemies of peace all those who denounce its attitudes or try to curb its continued imperialistic and political expansionism and its aim of world domination. As Alexander
Solzhenitsyn said during a television interview in Great Britain:
"Detente is necessary but with hands open; proof must be given that the hands do not hold stones. But your associates, those with whom you pursue a policy of detente, do have stones in their hands, stones so heavy that they could kill you with a single blow. Detente then becomes self-delusion. It is as simple as that."
178.	We repeat from this podium that even though it is true that global confrontation has been rendered remote, such an absence of conflict is applicable only in connexion with the prevention of a world war. Soviet communism still practices expansionist aggression, aided by its ideological penetration, and seeks to gain geo-strategic positions everywhere in the world where good faith or the weakness of free countries have permitted or tolerated it. Even though Soviet penetration takes on a variety of forms to adapt itself to the different political and geographical situations, it does have one common characteristic everywhere: first of all, it uses any doctrine, opinion or attitude expressing the belief that the present Christian, western society is sinking into fatal or inexorable decadence. By every means available, it attacks religion, the family, free political systems and the virtues that have made possible the development of civilization. On the pretext of defending social justice and equality, it sets itself up as an alternative to an unfair and imperfect world. To achieve its purposes, it spares no effort to create, often successfully, a feeling that there is no danger, by dint of repeating that its intentions are honest. Thus, it strives to convince others that it will fully respect liberal democracies and the foundations of the nationality of the countries where it offers itself as an alternative.
179.	We have had very painful experience in that connexion, and Chile will never forget that Chilean communism, subservient to Soviet communism, disguised itself in democratic trappings and even went so far as to accept and promulgate an Act of constitutional guarantees-a commitment which its leaders subsequently publicly declared had been only a stratagem to enable them to come to power and which they never honored nor ever intended to honor.
180.	In its efforts to come to power in free countries, Soviet communism establishes as a fundamental principle the class struggle, and through it makes hate its most powerful weapon for its work inside the countries. It tries to prevent and undermine the prestige of any attempted action aimed at solidarity among the various sectors that constitute the national whole, so as to keep them from uniting and to prepare the stage for the later development of violence, subversion, terrorism and armed aggression. While countries strive to achieve a certain degree of stability so that they can tackle their own problems, Soviet communism continues to seek the internal disruption of nations by encouraging any and all extremist association.
181.	In his recent annual message to the country the President of the Republic of Chile, General Augusto Pinochet, stated that communism, in its efforts to control countries from within, uses two tactics simultaneously:
"On the one hand it infiltrates centers that are vital to free societies such as universities and intellectual circles, mass communication media, unions, trade unions, international organizations and even, as we have seen in Chile, church circles. On the other hand, it promotes disorder in all its forms: material disorder through street demonstrations; economic disorder with demagogic and inflationary pressures; social disorder, with permanent strikes; moral disorder by promoting the use of drugs, pornography and the destruction of the family; and spiritual disorder, with systematic class hatreds. Finally, in an aberrant synthesis, terrorism appears and becomes rife, a terrorism which seems to have returned civilized nations to more primitive times of human history."
182.	The final stage of the Soviet strategy is open intervention through the sending of weapons and even men for the purpose of attaining by force the success denied to the stages I described. We strongly denounce the failure of Soviet communism to abide by the principle of non-intervention; that failure is a threat to peace among nations and the major enemy of permanent and fruitful detente. This violation has become manifest, as we have pointed out, not only through open intervention but also and much more frequently by helping to create critical conditions as a result of support in the form of both ideology and arms given to terrorist and extremist groups. This contemporary form of intervention in the internal policy of most of the countries of the world must be cogently condemned by the international community.
183.	We state this because we continue to be the victims of the Soviet Union's intervention in our own national political life. Indeed, their radio broadcasting stations continue to broadcast daily and for many hours, on 45 different frequencies and in the Spanish language, programs intended to bring about internal subversion and the overthrow of the Chilean Government. If, to the intervention which we have just described and frequently denounced in the United Nations, we add the fact that we have found and continue to find thousands of arms manufactured in the Soviet Union in the hands of Chilean terrorist organizations, then we have the full picture of an obviously illegitimate and undeniable intervention. Solzhenitsyn in anguished words has said:
"My words of caution, the .words of caution of others, the very serious warnings addressed by Sakharov directly from the Soviet Union, all continue to go unheeded. Most of them fall on deaf ears, the ears of those who do not wish to hear them. I did once nurture the hope that life's experiences could be transmitted from one nation to another as from one person to another. I now begin to doubt this. Perhaps each of us is fated to live each experience by himself, if he is to understand."
184.	Chile feels duty-bound to denounce the rapid advance of violence and terrorism in many areas of the world. It is harrowing to see how terrorists continue to kidnap and kill, sometimes with complete impunity and even the plaudits of some sectors. It is even more dismaying to note, when the decision has been taken to punish their criminal acts, the emergence of pseudo-humanitarian associations and front organizations for Soviet communism, groups which never give a thought to the innocent victims of terrorism. Their action hampers the formulation of the criteria needed if this scourge is to be eradicated in our time. Abstract condemnations of terrorism and violence are generally accepted without difficulty; but the creation of legal mechanisms to prevent, sanction and uproot them is postponed, as are the mechanisms to help their thousands of victims. It would seem we are living in a time of paradoxes, when the attention of the majority is drawn to the rights of criminals, and oblivion, all too often and suspiciously, is the fate reserved for the irreparable damage to thousands of victims who get not so much as one word of consolation.
185.	We concur with other States Members of this Organization on the urgent need to create, during this session, adequate and timely systems aimed at preventing terrorism and violence, to punish those who are intellectually or materially responsible for their actions and to set up our exemplary system to discourage all future efforts in that area. Consequently, the Chilean delegation will co-sponsor a draft resolution to be submitted by the Federal Republic of Germany, calling for international action against the taking of hostages, a heinous and inhuman practice which we condemn, irrespective of the ends it may pursue.
186.	Chile, confronted with the political phenomena we have described, wishes to restate its firm intention to build a democracy in keeping with its historical tradition and the libertarian spirit of its people; but it wishes also to give the institutions it will create the legal means to ensure their protection and reinforcement. To those who impatiently ask when Chile will fully restore its traditional democratic patterns, we ask that they remember ancient and modern history. More than 23 centuries ago, Socrates observed that governmental systems ran in cycles: absolute monarchy or one-man rule is followed by oligarchy, or the rule by the few, which in turn opens the way for democracy or rule by the many; that, with the passage of time, can deteriorate and degenerate into demagogy or tyranny of the masses, which leads to chaos. If the nation can conserve its latent energy, an authoritarian government must necessarily emerge to reorganize the State, after which the cycle starts all over again. Is it not true that in modern history European nations have followed the pattern of the Socrates cycle? In the face of new threats and infiltrations, democracies must renew themselves to survive.
187.	In Chile, a stable republic was organized in 1831 and lasted 140 years, until in 1970 Marxist demagogy took over and in less than three years ruined the country. The present Government has restored order and the economy and is now enacting chapters of the new Constitution based on the purest democratic ideals, but including provisions which will act as built-in safeguards to avert any relapse into demagogic chaos. For this purpose it has included in the provisions of article 11 of the Act on Constitutional Rights and Duties the following:
"Any act committed by a person or group of persons for the purpose of disseminating doctrines which attack the family, which advocate violence or a conception of society based on class struggle, or which run counter to the legally established regime or the integrity or functioning of the law, is illegal and contrary to the institutional life of the Republic."
188.	The President of the Republic, when enacting the new constitutional laws on 11 September of this year, took special care to point out the meaning of this new international framework, for it is of special importance to the courts of justice which must interpret the law. He said:
"Chile gives itself the structure of a democracy with the participation of the community and endowed with the mechanisms to guarantee its protection and reinforcement. The constitutional ratification of these concepts simplifies the understanding of national security and development as elements that make up the common well-being and are, in the final analysis, subordinated to it."
Then, lest there be any doubt concerning the political structure we are building in Chile, the President added:
"The very existence of the State, as well as its development and growth within the framework of a humanistic philosophy rooted in Christianity, must always be understood as being at the service of each and every one of the human beings making up the nation."
To put an end once and for all to the equivocal interpretations that the word "nationalism" might lend itself to, and to prevent deviations absolutely alien to our traditions and culture, the President gave a solemn warning in his annual message on the state of the country, saying:
"As for those who, on the pretext of giving the Government their support, use the term "nationalism" to favor styles or doctrines of. an unmistakably Fascist stamp, they must know that this Government categorically rejects them and disowns them."
189.	The Government of Chile has given clear examples of its decidedly pacifist vocation in its relations with other countries and in its national affairs. In foreign relations, one of its main objectives is to strengthen its present links of close friendship with bordering countries, while at the same time endeavoring to create better economic and political ties with all Latin American countries with which we have strong and centuries-old moral, ideological, political and economic features in common.
190.	Clear evidence of the conciliatory and collaborative attitude of Chile is the resumption of diplomatic relations with Bolivia after a 12-year suspension, and the fact that we have initiated negotiations on mutually agreed and public bases with this sister nation, with a view to finding a permanent solution to the problem posed by Bolivia's wish to have a sovereign outlet to the Pacific Ocean.
191.	The Chilean Government offered its country as the venue for the sixth session, held last June, of the General Assembly of the Organization of American States, which is a regional organization of utmost importance to the hemisphere. It gives us special satisfaction to have seen that Assembly achieve positive results in important matters such as the general, not selective, analysis of respect for human rights in all the States in the hemisphere, and the acknowledgment of a priority which must be given to inter-American co-operation for development. That Assembly welcomed and analyzed the joint statement of the Governments of Panama and the United States of America concerning the future of the interoceanic canal; we are happy to see that progress has been made in this matter, for such a waterway is important to maritime traffic, especially for countries on the south-west coast of the American continent.
192.	We take special pleasure in stressing the very high level of sincerity and cordiality of the debates held at that session, and the very ample coverage given to them by all the communications media in Chile mainly, but also abroad. The opinion of distinguished representatives and statesmen of a number of Latin American countries, who had participated in the work of the Assembly I have spoken of, confirmed that the artificial image of my country created abroad in no way coincides with the realities of its internal affairs. May I stress here that the warm and sometimes massive welcome given by the Chilean people to such distinguished visitors without exception only confirms the deep ties of brotherhood existing between the peoples of the Americas.
193.	In domestic political matters, Chile's pacifist vocation is evidenced in the search for national reconciliation in its generous policy of giving freedom to detainees and the granting of pardons. All these policies are devoted to the final purpose of creating an atmosphere of harmony and national unity which will, for all time if possible, banish hate and violence from the country.
194.	In institutional matters, a committee of distinguished jurists and university professors from every democratic school of thought is drawing up, in absolute freedom, the bases for a new institutional framework. This work is now reflected in the drafting of the Constitutional Acts, The first one created the Council of State whose members are men representing all walks of Chilean life, including academics, workers and youth, This Council of State is headed by an ex-President of the Republic, Jorge Alessandri; this fact, and the personal prestige of the members, gives a moral backing to the act that goes well beyond the text that created it and is a genuine manifestation of national feeling. On 11 September of this year, Constitutional Acts 2, 3 and 4 were enacted. They all relate to the essential foundations of Chilean institutions, constitutional rights and duties and emergency powers. They are all the result of a thorough and detailed study that has taken account of existing legislation, international agreements, the Chilean experience and the opinions of our specialized sectors in their respective fields. Of the many provisions, which in a modern and forward-looking way guarantee respect for human rights and the foundations of our State, I wish to single out only the recognition, at the constitutional level, of equal rights for men and women; the official proclamation of the family as the nucleus of society; the acknowledgment of the legal existence and autonomy of intermediate bodies between the individual and the State in accordance with the principle of "subsidiariness".
195.	The Government of Chile understands that its first duty lies in the quest for a constant balance between economic development and social progress, for the former is no more than a means to obtain the latter. Consequently! this year it will budget approximately $1 billion worth of direct social expenditures. The President of the Republic has emphasized that plans for food, health, low-income housing, basic and pre-basic education are the main items towards which the redistribution of social assistance is directed, in conformity with the moral principle that the action of a State should defend the weakest and the neglected, and that this action is the most valuable work of national integration a government may undertake.
196.	The same humanitarian inspiration guiding Chile in its domestic problems presides over its view of the many problems of human beings in our time.
197.	The Soviet attitude at the world level, denounced by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Sakharov, Andrei Amalrik and Lieutenant Viktor Belenko, makes it difficult for the bodies of the international community to concern themselves, devoting the necessary time, priorities and peace of mind, with the real and pressing problems of mankind such as food shortages, depletion of natural resources, the injustices in the international economic system, living conditions on our planet, the promise of the world's seas and so many others. These are the true problems besetting modem man and the challenges that must be met by an organized international community.
198.	We cannot fail to note this paralyzing and disorienting effect of Soviet communism, its lack of respect for the rights and duties enshrined in the Charter and, especially, its repeated violations of the principle of non-intervention in all continents, all of which have created a series of problems that prevent mankind from meeting its vital needs and have forced it to postpone the adoption of measures to solve these problems. The question of detente cannot be mentioned unless ideological detente is mentioned at the same time.
199.	As we said at the beginning of our address, the human being continues to seek, and expects from this General Assembly real progress towards peace, security, freedom and well-being. Chile here declares its unfailing commitment to fight for these objectives in its internal life and lend its co-operation to the work of our Organization for the same noble ideals.


41.	 The delegation of Democratic Kampuchea is pleased to be able to convey to Mr. Amerasinghe its warm congratulations on his unanimous election to the presidency of this thirty-first session of the General Assembly. The responsibility placed in him is a warm tribute to his country, Sri Lanka, for its unswerving policy of independence, peace and non-alignment and, through Sri Lanka, which at present has the chairmanship of the group of non-aligned countries, it also constitutes a warm tribute to the whole movement and the principles of non-alignment. We are convinced that under Mr, Amerasinghe's presidency our work will be highly successful.
42.	We also wish to extend our warm congratulations to Mr. Gaston Thorn, President of the thirtieth session of our General Assembly, upon his success in his important office.
43.	We are happy to be able to extend to the Republic of Seychelles our sincere congratulations and a warm welcome to our Organization.
44.	We very much regret the fact that the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam has so far not been allowed to participate in our work, despite the fact that it fulfills all the conditions laid down in the United Nations Charter. The United States of America has decided once again to abuse the veto without any good reason. This is a display of contempt for the will of all peoples who love peace and justice and it is also an act of defiance of the international community. We repeat once again here our firm support for the admission of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam to membership in our international Organization. We should also like to express once again our support for the admission of the People's Republic of Angola, whose absence among us we deplore.
45.	The thirty-first session of the General Assembly is being held at a time when all the peoples of the world, particularly the peoples of the non-aligned countries and the third world, are waging everywhere a triumphant struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism, zionism and all forms of interference, aggression, expansion and foreign exploitation for independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, the right to be masters of their own destiny and for the establishment of a new international economic order based on justice and equality. The success of the recent Fifth Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries at Colombo has confirmed this intensive movement of the peoples' struggle for freedom, dignity and social progress, a struggle waged at all levels -political, military, diplomatic, economic and organizational.
46.	We live in a world which is undergoing rapid and widespread change. Over the last three decades, the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America, exploited and depressed for centuries, have woken up and become aware of their own strength and, taking arms, have committed themselves to arduous struggle, complex and full of sacrifice, in order to free themselves from the iniquitous system of old and new colonialism and to rid themselves of all the shackles of domination and foreign exploitation. By their valiant efforts they have won their freedom, their independence and their dignity, and have recovered the right to determine their own destinies. These victories have by stages shaken the very foundations of the colonial and neo-colonial system. They have opened up to the whole of mankind the path of total liberation everywhere. The determination to enjoy national independence has finally triumphed. No power in the world can overcome the determination of the peoples to recover their freedom, their dignity and their national identity.
47.	From the ruins of colonialism have emerged scores of new independent States which have undertaken with determination to struggle, protect and consolidate their political and economic independence, their sovereignty and their territorial integrity against all acts of domination, exploitation, interference and aggression by the rich major Powers. They have mobilized all their potential, their capacity, in order to be able to enjoy their inalienable right to dispose of their own national resources and to build a new society in consonance with the aspirations of their people and in accordance with the specific conditions of their nations. Marked by the same vicissitudes of the same colonial past and joined by common aspirations and interests, these independent States of the third world, with one accord, reject out-moded international relations based on inequality and dependence. They are calling vigorously for the establishment of new relations between peoples and nations, more in keeping with the significant changes which have occurred in the world and based upon the principles of mutual respect for independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, equality, mutual advantage, non-interference in the internal affairs of other States, and the right of every people to conduct its own affairs.
48.	These are the principles of the non-aligned movement. That movement, born of the stubborn refusal to embrace the policy of blocs and the imperative need for the newly independent States to preserve and strengthen their dearly bought freedom and sovereignty against the ambitions, the greed and the expansionist designs of the rich major Powers, has once again demonstrated its vitality and dynamism at the Colombo Conference. Together with all the other forces of the third world and the peace-loving and justice-loving forces throughout the world, that movement has become a current of unprecedented size and power which is shaking the very foundations of a world which is undergoing wholesale change. The principles of non-alignment, imbued as they are with justice and equality, express the deep aspirations and the determination of the third world countries which include almost three quarters of the population of our planet and constitute the majority of member States in our international community. Thanks to the persistent efforts of the non-aligned movement, these principles have now come to be accepted by the rest of the world.
49.	The cohesiveness of the non-aligned countries, based upon these principles and upon the clear-cut objectives of their struggle, their determined actions, based upon the solidarity of the third world countries forming the Group of 77, constitute a powerful force. In recent years,, the non-aligned movement has taken some important initiatives for a more just and realistic concept of relations among peoples and nations. The convening of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea was done at the suggestion of the Third Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries, held at Lusaka in September 1970. The struggle for the establishment of a new international economic order was started by the Fourth Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries at Algiers in September 1973, which took the initiative of asking the United Nations to convene the sixth and seventh special sessions of the General Assembly. The Third Ministerial Meeting of the Group of 77 at Manila, the fourth session of UNCTAD at Nairobi and, more recently, the Conference on Economic Co-operation among Developing Countries at Mexico City, demonstrate the dynamism and solidarity of the Group of 77 in its efforts to bring about a new international economic order.
50.	The voice of the non-aligned countries and the third world has thus become a voice which the world community must heed in all its debates and in its search for solutions to international problems. The emergence of many third world independent States, the energy and vitality of the non- aligned movement, have changed the face of the world, which no longer resembles that which had been wrought by the rich major Powers at the time when the United Nations was founded, a time when international relations of domination and dependence were still unquestioned.
51.	The people of Kampuchea have not held aloof from the upheavals in the world. They have participated actively, along with all other peoples, in the common struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, in order to free themselves from all forms of domination, oppression and exploitation. They have never accepted the yoke of the colonialist and neo-colonialist system, a yoke imposed upon them for more than a century and against which, from the very beginning, they waged a long, difficult, stubborn and complicated struggle in all respects, be it political, military or diplomatic, winning successive victories until they achieved total victory over the way of aggression of American imperialism, on 17 April 1975. For the nation and people of Kampuchea, this glorious victory had far-reaching historical consequences because it marked their total and final liberation from imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism and all other forms of domination and exploitation. Our nation in its entirety recovered its soul and its identity. Our people recovered their dignity and henceforth are keeping firmly in their own hands their own destiny in total independence and sovereignty.
52.	On 17 April 1975 we witnessed the victory of the unswerving solidarity of the non-aligned countries and peoples in the third world with the struggle of the people of Kampuchea, as well as the solidarity of all peoples in the world who love peace and justice, including the people of the United States, its young people and progressive, peace-loving political leaders. It was the victory of the policy of independence, peace and non-alignment against the policy of domination, oppression, exploitation, intervention and aggression.
53.	In order to win this historic victory, our nation and people had to make immense sacrifices. More than a million inhabitants were killed or wounded, or about 13 per cent of the total population. The economy was ruined. The means of production were in large part destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of oxen and buffaloes so necessary for agricultural work were killed. Factories, plantations, fields, rice paddies, forests were destroyed to a proportion of from 70 to 80 per cent. From 60 to 80 per cent of the lines of communication were destroyed: bridges, roads, railways, ports and so on. Hundreds of villages and urban centers were razed to the ground and struck off the map,
54.	Our nation and people made all these grave sacrifices for love of country, for the liberation of the country and their own liberation, for their honor and national dignity, democracy, peace and territorial integrity, and also for the sake of solidarity with the peoples of the world, the national liberation and democratic movements, and for peace in the world.
55.	It is for the same reasons that immediately after liberation our people throughout the country engaged in a vast and intensive revolutionary mass movement to perform two fundamental tasks: the defense and building of the country.
56.	Since liberation, we have successfully defended and consolidated the gains of the revolution. There is security throughout our territory; however, our own experience and that of other revolutions in the world have taught us that after their defeat, the American imperialists, lackeys and other reactionary forces continue relentlessly to oppose our country, our people and our revolution. Since it is impossible, if not difficult, for them to attack us openly from the outside they are striving to rally the rump of the forces of perfidy in order to carry out actions of subversion, provocation, division and undermining inside our country, and also to intervene in our internal affairs. Thanks to our continuous revolutionary vigilance and tight unity, our nation, our people and our army have inflicted upon them some severe defeats but, guided by their aggressiveness and blinded by their vaulting ambition, the American imperialists, their lackeys and other reactionary forces are unwilling to learn the lessons of their defeats, and persist in pursuing their criminal activities. There can be no doubt that our people and revolutionary armed forces will inflict upon them, in all independence and sovereignty, further new and ignominious defeats.
57.	After the war we resolved the problems raised by economic rehabilitation in the agricultural, cottage industry, industrial and social fields as and when they arose. In particular we have solved once and for all the problem of food. The people have no need to worry about famine. We are continuing to solve our problems successfully so that we may build an independent economy, without which true political independence cannot exist.
58.	In this new stage of their struggle our people are continuing to hold firmly to the same political line which led them to the historic victory of 17 April 1975. This is the line of independence, sovereignty and self-reliance. We are continuing with enthusiasm and in. national unity to display the creative spirit, determination and revolutionary vigilance.
59.	Many friendly peoples and countries have given us their support and encouragement in pursuing this course. They have given us support and assistance which have helped us to strengthen our independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to tighten the links of friendship and solidarity between our peoples and countries. We are happy to be able once again to express here to all these friendly countries and peoples the profound gratitude of our people and Government.
60.	Our people have always wished to live in peace and liberty, within the frontiers of their country, so as to build a society in keeping with their profound aspirations. Although they have been the victims of aggression, domination and subjugation for so many centuries and although a large area of their national territory was amputated, our people have no feeling of contempt or hostility or any ambitious designs of intervention, aggression or expansion with regard to any people or any country. In its external relations, Democratic Kampuchea is continuing to pursue a policy of independence, peace, neutrality and non-alignment. This is a strategic choice, not subject to fluctuations of the hour, because it is in keeping with the aspirations of our people, their culture, their history and the geographic situation of our country. Itself a non-aligned country, Democratic Kampuchea respects and scrupulously applies the principles of non-alignment which are themselves in keeping with the fundamental principles laid down in the United Nations Charter. It is not a member of any alliance or any regional association. It opposes the establishment of foreign military bases on its territory and all forms of intervention and interference in its internal affairs. It is the duty of our people to defend with determination their independence, national sovereignty, their territorial integrity and their inalienable right to determine their own destiny for which they have fought so hard and made so many sacrifices. At the same time Democratic Kampuchea is continuing to mobilize its efforts to establish and maintain with its neighbors, and indeed with all other countries in the world, close relations of friendship based upon strict mutual respect for independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the principle of equality and mutual advantage. Democratic Kampuchea never interferes in the internal affairs of other countries. It scrupulously respects the sovereign right of every country to decide itself on its own business without any foreign intervention.
61.	To all the movements of the peoples struggling for independence, freedom, democracy and social progress against imperialism, colonialism and neo-colonialism, racism, Zionism and all other forms of domination and foreign exploitation, Democratic Kampuchea will continue, as it has in the past, to demonstrate active solidarity and firm support.
62.	The irresistible momentum of the emancipatory movement of the oppressed nations and peoples is alarming imperialism and all the forces of domination and foreign exploitation, which are multiplying their activities to strengthen their last bastions, to preserve their privileges and to suppress the aspirations of the peoples to freedom, justice and social progress.
63.	First, Korea remains divided and has been so for more than 30 years, because the United States is persisting in pursuing its policy of "two Koreas" and its domination of the southern part of Korea. In defiance of the joint North-South statement of 4 July 1972 and resolution 3390 B (XXX), the United States has strengthened its occupation forces in South Korea and has sent large quantities of modern arms, including nuclear weapons, to that country. It has drawn up plans for attacking and occupying the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the space of a few days. In South Korea the neo-colonialist regime is arresting, imprisoning and assassinating Korean patriots whose only crime has been that of calling for the independent and peaceful reunification of their country.
64.	All these facts make it quite clear that the United States of America and the Seoul regime are actively preparing for a new aggression against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and that the American troops stationed in South Korea do in fact constitute a fundamental obstacle to the reunification of Korea and a serious threat to peace in that part of the world.
65.	Democratic Kampuchea firmly supports the three principles and the five guidelines of President Kim II Sung for solving the Korean problem. The problem of Korea can only be solved in accordance with resolution 3390 B (XXX), that is to say, by a cessation of intervention and aggression by the United States in Korea, the total withdrawal from South Korea of American troops and their military equipment, including nuclear weapons, the dissolution of the so-called "United Nations High Command" and the transformation of the temporary armistice into a peace agreement.
66.	Secondly, in the Middle East, until the Palestinian people have recovered their inalienable national rights, there is no hope of establishing any lasting peace there.
67.	Israeli Zionism continues, thanks to assistance from the United States, to impede all efforts and all relevant resolutions of the United Nations intended to settle the problem, It is persisting in its aggression against the Palestinian and Arab people and denying to the Palestinian people the exercise of their inalienable national rights recognized by resolution 3236 (XXIX). Furthermore, it is consolidating the establishment of its settlements on Arab territories occupied by force.
68.	Democratic Kampuchea has always firmly supported the just struggle of the Palestinian people and will continue to do so until the Palestinian people are able to exercise their inalienable national rights, including their rights to self-determination, independence and sovereignty, and until they can exercise their inalienable right to return to their homes and their property, from which they were removed and uprooted. We are gratified by the considerable progress made by the Palestine Liberation Organization, which is recognized by the United Nations, the group of non-aligned countries, the League of Arab States, the Organization of African Unity and the overwhelming majority of the international community.
69.	Democratic Kampuchea will continue also firmly to support the just struggle of the other Arab peoples for the recovery of their territories occupied by force by Israeli zionism since 1967. It is our conviction that thanks to their struggle and their solidarity, which is persistent, stubborn and resolute, and thanks to the solidarity of all peoples who love peace and justice, the just and sacred cause of the Palestinian people and other Arab peoples will triumph.
70.	Thirdly, Taiwan has not yet been reintegrated with its mother country because of the intervention and military occupation of the United States, which has lasted for more than 27 years. We express once again our firm and constant support for the People's Republic of China in its struggle for the respect of its national sovereignty and territorial integrity and for the return to it of that island.
71.	Fourthly, problems of decolonization continue to be acute.
72.	In East Timor, the people are still being denied the independence which they won at such high cost after a long and brave struggle. Indeed, on the very morrow of the independence of that country it was a victim of aggression and was then annexed by force. The General Assembly, at its thirtieth session, and the Security Council have adopted resolutions calling for the withdrawal of all foreign troops, and the respect of all countries for the territorial integrity of East Timor and the inalienable rights of the people of Timor to self-determination and independence. These are extremely relevant resolutions, but the country responsible for the denial of the rights is continuing to ignore them. The annexation of East Timor is an act committed in defiance of the aspirations of its people. The just struggle of the people and Government of the Democratic Republic of East Timor, under the leadership of the Frente Revolucionaria Timor Leste Independente [FRETILIN] to recover its independence has won the support and active solidarity of Democratic Kampuchea. Neither force nor sophistry can weaken the will for independence of the people of East Timor.
73.	The determination to be independent is asserting itself with unprecedented vigor in southern Africa, which has now become the cockpit of the struggle for decolonization. Minority racist regimes in Salisbury and Pretoria have rejected all the decisions of the United Nations, and have refused the offer of peaceful change contained in the Lusaka Manifesto.  With the assistance of other imperialist powers, they have intensified measures of repression, have strengthened their Fascist domination, stepped up their preparations for war and are multiplying their divisive manoeuvres against the peoples of Zimbabwe, Namibia and Azania. Massacres like that of Soweto, arrests, detention, torture, deportation of civilian populations are going on, veritable acts of defiance of the international community. But the peoples of southern Africa have come to the point where they can no longer suffer in silence the humiliation, the subjugation and injustice which they have suffered because of the color of their skins. They have intensified with determination their struggle against the inhumane and oppressive system of apartheid and racial discrimination to recover their freedom, justice and human dignity.
74.	We would express our whole-hearted solidarity with the struggle of the peoples of Zimbabwe, Namibia and Azania and also all friendly peoples in that part of southern Africa which, in support of those struggles, have taken energetic measures against the racist regimes in Salisbury and Pretoria. By their determined and persistent struggle, by the unity and vigilance in the face of the divisive manoeuvres of imperialism and all the forces of foreign domination, the peoples of Zimbabwe, Namibia and Azania will win their independence and human dignity. The struggle has received considerable encouragement from all African countries which together at the third OAU Summit  made an urgent appeal for the strengthening of the armed struggle and decided to that end to provide the utmost political, economic and military aid. This is a just stand which demonstrates that Africa belongs to the Africans and decolonization of the African continent is the business of the African peoples. We offer our whole-hearted support for this just position and also for all the efforts of the African peoples for the total decolonization of Africa.
75.	In this spirit we would like to repeat our expression of firm solidarity with the struggle of the people of the Comoros for respect for their national unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity through reintegration in the archipelago of the island of Mayotte.
76.	Concerning Western Sahara we believe, in accordance with our unswerving position, that this problem should be resolved on the basis of the principle of self-determination. We are confident that the OAU Summit will take decisions in keeping with the spirit of friendship and solidarity of the States of the area.
77.	We firmly support the liberation movements of the peoples of Latin America. We express once again our solidarity with the people and Government of Cuba in their legitimate claim to have the Guantanamo base restored to them by the United States of America. We support the just struggle of the people and Government of Panama to recover effective sovereignty and total jurisdiction of the Canal Zone. We express again our solidarity with the people of Puerto Rico in their struggle for the full exercise of their national rights.
78.	Fifthly, the profound changes which have occurred on the international scene over the last three decades necessarily entail a restructuring of the United Nations and a revision of its Charter so that they may be adapted to contemporary realities and be more responsive to the aspirations of all peoples who want to be masters of their own destiny, dispose of their national resources in all independence and sovereignty and establish international relations based on justice and equality in a new world founded upon genuine independence, democracy, social progress and peace, and free of imperialism, neo-colonialism, racism and all other forms of foreign domination and exploitation.
79.	The essential objective of the revision of the United Nations Charter should be the strengthening of the role of the Organization in the search for solutions to the important and serious problems of the world today, dominated as it is by problems of the third world, and also in the effective application of the resolutions of our General Assembly. To this end it is necessary, first, that the great responsibilities of our Organization be entrusted primarily to persons perfectly familiar with the problems of the third world, who have displayed a determination to serve this end and who have won the confidence of the countries of the third world.
80.	We should, furthermore, adopt a solution to the present anachronism constituted by the fact that the rich major Powers continue to exercise control, particularly in the Security Council, while the third world countries are asserting themselves with ever greater vigor on the international scene and also in the General Assembly. This anachronism is inimical to and weakens the role of the United Nations. It is clear that the role, composition and rules of the Security Council would benefit by being changed in the light of the new realities prevailing in the world. We should give serious attention to the possibility of limiting, if not abolishing, the right of veto, the use of which has in fact only served to preserve the privileges of the rich major Powers against the interests of the third world. In fact, the use of the right of veto to oppose just and relevant measures taken by the majority of States Members of the United Nations against States which have violated the Charter has paralyzed the efforts of the Organization to find solutions to the Palestinian problem and the problem of the decolonization of southern Africa. Similarly, the use of the veto to oppose the admission of new Members to our Organization is a way of curbing the dynamism of the third world.
81.	There is no doubt that, if we really want to strengthen the role of the United Nations at the present time, decisions on major world problems can no longer be the prerogative of the rich major Powers but should form part of the responsibilities of all States, large and small, placed on an equal footing. And the organ where this responsibility could most effectively be exercised is our General Assembly, where all States are represented and whose powers would gain by being made more extensive and more effective.
82.	The revision of the Charter and the restructuring of the United Nations have become very important because they are very far-reaching matters. They must therefore be adapted to the irreversible progress of our world towards a better and more just world. The effectiveness of United Nations actions is linked with the responses which it will give and the positions it will take vis-a-vis the new realities of the world today.
83.	Sixthly, the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea is at a standstill, primarily because of the obstinacy of the major maritime Powers in preserving their privileges and failing to respect the sovereign rights of other coastal States. Our delegation would like to repeat here the position of Democratic Kampuchea on a certain number of problems.
84.	Democratic Kampuchea believes that the sea should be harnessed to the service of development and well-being, prosperity of the peoples, and peace and justice. The new rules of the law of the sea should guarantee all States, particularly developing States, against any threats to their security, sovereignty or territorial integrity. Freedom of navigation and the development of international trade should not serve as pretexts to limit the sovereignty of coastal States or their rights over the natural resources of the sea.
85.	In accordance with these principles, Democratic Kampuchea would like to make it clear once again that it cannot accept innocent passage over its territorial sea, which it set at 12 nautical miles with effect from September 1969. Indeed, so-called innocent passage has often been used by certain major maritime Powers and their allies for purposes of spying and subversion against our country and people.
86.	Democratic Kampuchea unreservedly supports the right of all coastal States to possess an exclusive economic zone of 200 nautical miles, which would not form part of the high seas. Within this economic zone the coastal State has sovereign and exclusive rights for the purposes of exploration, exploitation, conservation and management of all natural resources of the sea-bed, its subsoil and super-jacent waters. No one can claim on any pretext the right to tap these resources without the prior authorization of the coastal State. Such an act would constitute a violation of the sovereignty of the coastal State.
87.	With regard to the continental shelf, Democratic Kampuchea believes that the coastal State enjoys full and total sovereignty over it for purposes of exploration and exploitation of its natural resources. This sovereignty is subject to no limitation, restriction or reservation, in the sense that if the coastal State does not explore its own continental shelf or does not exploit its natural resources for its own reasons, no one may undertake, whatever the circumstances or the reasons, such activities without the explicit consent of the coastal State. Democratic Kampuchea categorically opposes any action taken against its interests, or any foreign activity or undertaking, past, present or future, which would be prejudicial to its sovereign rights over its continental shelf.
88.	With regard to the exploration and exploitation of the sea-bed of the international zone which constitutes the common heritage of mankind, we believe that only an international authority given the necessary powers and competence can properly defend the legitimate interests of the developing countries.
89.	The problems of economic development remain the major concern of our world. For almost four years the third world countries have combined their efforts to replace the present international economic order. This out-moded system, based on relations of domination, exploitation and dependence, made it possible for the developed countries to become rich very rapidly and to live in luxury and extravagance, while the developing countries are becoming progressively more impoverished and remain, since they became politically independent, in the grip of serious problems of poverty, malnutrition and hunger, disease and illiteracy.
90.	The terms of trade of these developing countries have continued to deteriorate because the commodities and raw materials which they possess are constantly losing value. Their indebtedness, with all the financial implications attaching thereto, has become traumatically worse. Furthermore, the unequal and iniquitous relations have made possible the importation into those countries of the economic and financial crisis of the capitalist world with all its corollaries, namely, inflation, price rises, currency devaluation and the lowering of the people's standard of living.
91.	In a word, the gap between the rich and poor countries keeps on growing. The developed countries cannot shirk their responsibility, which derives from many sources, in this increasingly alarming development. The establishment of a new international economic order, based on equality, respect, mutual advantage and non-interference in the internal affairs of other States, has become an urgent need.
92.	Many conferences and international debates have been held and have made it possible for the developing and developed countries to adopt, after arduous negotiation, a certain number of resolutions on the establishment of this new international economic order. Although these resolutions are not all satisfactory to the developing countries, none of them has yet been put into effect. It is clear that there remains a great deal of ground to be covered, ground which is strewn with obstacles erected by the rich major Powers in order to preserve their privileges. Experience has taught us all that any renunciation of privilege can only be the fruit of stubborn, persistent and self-sacrificing struggle.
93.	However, together with this common struggle for the establishment of a new international economic order, developing countries are waging, with determination and success, a desperate and persistent struggle to win their economic independence and to consolidate their political independence. Of course, third world countries are poor today because they were exploited and pillaged for centuries by colonialism and then by neo-colonialism within the framework of the current relations of domination and dependence. But these countries possess great human potential and considerable natural resources. The mobilization and proper use of these resources would make possible rapid economic development, not on the model of the rich countries but on a model which would be more in keeping with the political, economic, social and cultural features of each nation and people.
94.	Placing their confidence in the resources, strength and capacity of their nation and people, many developing countries have thus scored encouraging successes in the building of their economy on the basis of the principles of independence, sovereignty and self-reliance. These principles do not mean isolationism or any deliberate determination to live in self-sufficiency, or aloof from international co-operation; nor do they mean the rejection of foreign assistance. They mean that the efforts of building the economy must necessarily be based, above all, on the inexhaustible and creative strength of the people and the use of all resources and the full potential of the nation. This necessarily entails a bitter and constant struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism and against all forms of domination and foreign exploitation, for the exercise of full national sovereignty over all the resources and economic activities of the country, including the sovereign right to nationalize transnational companies, which serve only to absorb all the energies of a country with a view to subordinating it to the developed countries. Foreign assistance is used in addition to the efforts of the whole nation, provided that it is unconditional, has no strings attached, and helps consolidation of independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
95.	These principles of independence, sovereignty and self-reliance on the national level are by no means incompatible with the need to strengthen, in particular with the other developing countries, solidarity and international co-operation based on mutual respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity, non-interference in internal affairs, equality and mutual advantage. In greater numbers now the third world countries are becoming convinced that, through their determined and stubborn efforts to build a national economy in each of their countries on the basis of the principle of independence, sovereignty and self-reliance, through their solidarity and co-operation based upon equality and mutual respect, mutual advantage, non interference in internal affairs, and through their common struggle against all relations of domination and foreign exploitation, they will succeed in establishing a new international economic order.
96.	The numerous victories won in the liberation struggles of peoples should not make us forget that there are still very many obstacles blocking their long and arduous progress. The nations and peoples of the third world have to do away with the encumbering economic, social and cultural heritage bequeathed by colonialism. The peoples who are still oppressed will have to make a great many more sacrifices in order to win their freedom. Imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism, Zionism and all the forces of foreign domination and exploitation are persisting in their policies of oppression and are stepping up their war preparations and multiplying their divisive and diversionary manoeuvres. But the oppressed know very well that freedom, equality and human dignity are not received as gifts but won by struggle. They were won at a time when imperialism held sway in the world, but in our time they will be won even more certainly, because our time is a time when the liberation movement is mobilizing all the peoples of the third world and all peoples in the world who love peace and justice.
97.	In the struggle of all the peoples for a better world where freedom, peace, friendship, democracy, justice and social progress reign, the people of Kampuchea have made their contribution by the sacrifices they made in their national liberation struggle. At the present time they are continuing to make their contribution by their efforts to defend and build their country devastated by war. In the past, now, and in the future, the people of Kampuchea will identify themselves with the noble struggle of all the peace-loving and justice-loving people and will continue to work to hasten their victory.


Mr. President, your election as President of the thirty-first session of the General Assembly is a reflection of your personal merit and of the honorable place your country, Sri Lanka, occupies in the international community. It is no accident that your Prime Minister, Mrs. S. Bandaranaike, is the current Chairman of the non-aligned movement. Prior to your entering the foreign service of your country in 1963, you served with distinction in your country's civil service, rising to the rank of Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance. At the United Nations, you have acquired an enviable reputation for your acute intelligence, for your mastery of the English language, for your eloquence, your personal charm and your outspokenness. Our two countries, Sri Lanka and Singapore, have very close bonds based on a very long association of history and peoples, some of whom emigrated to Singapore and have become Singaporeans. It therefore gives me great pleasure to congratulate you and to wish you a very successful tenure as our President.
97.	The thirtieth session of the General Assembly witnessed some very controversial debates and decisions. We must all be thankful to the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Mr. Gaston Thorn, who presided over our proceedings with admirable calm and fairness.
98.	The Secretary-General's job has often been described as the most impossible job in the world. We are fortunate to have Mr. Kurt Waldheim as our Secretary-General because he has faced the endless stream of problems and challenges posed to him with fortitude and with a judicious mixture of realism and idealism. I would like to single out for special mention the competent manner in which he has managed the United Nations peace-keeping operations in the Middle East and in Cyprus. We should also thank him for his efforts to bring about an accommodation between the two communities in Cyprus and encourage him to persist in his efforts in spite of the disappointing results.
99.	I should like to greet our newest Member, the Republic of Seychelles, and to extend to its people and Government our best wishes for peace and prosperity.
100.	A global problem which has come increasingly to dominate the work of the General Assembly is disarmament. This is one sixth of the agenda, and no other subject or question has as many items on the agenda. Our Secretary-General has repeatedly called our attention to this problem. The Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Mr. Gaston Thorn, in his farewell address to the Assembly [1st meeting] gave prominent place to the question of disarmament, and in your presidential address, Six, [ibid] you also referred to the problem of disarmament and even suggested the possibility of holding either a special session of the General Assembly to consider the question of the convening of a World, Disarmament Conference.
101.	There is no denying that the relentless arms race in which all of us are participants is alarming. It poses a threat to the very survival of man on this planet and a constant challenge to our rationality. The arsenals of nuclear and conventional weapons which the States Members of this Organization have accumulated are sufficient to annihilate mankind several times over, and yet they are being constantly augmented.
102.	The amounts of financial resources expended by countries, rich and poor alike, for the acquisition of arms are astronomical. It has been estimated that in 1974, the last full year for which data are available, actual arms expenditure totaled well over $300 billion. In the 10-year period 1964 to 1974 the world's arms expenditure doubled. The two super-Powers alone account for 60 per cent of the world's total arms expenditure. The five permanent members of the Security Council together account for 70 per cent.
103.	One consequence of this massive accumulation of weapons is the proliferation of armed conflicts, almost all of which are in the third world. In the period 1945 to 1975, it has been estimated that a total of 119 wars of a civil and international character occurred. Those 119 wars were fought by 81 States in the territories of 69 countries -that is, nearly half the membership of this Organization. More people were killed in those wars since 1945 than during the Second World War. Indeed, since September 1945 there was not a single day in which one or several wars were not being fought. On an average day about 12 wars are under way.
104.	It would, however, be factually wrong were we to pretend that the problem of disarmament is a problem primarily of the two super-Powers or of the developed countries. Questions of war and peace should, in our opinion, be of greater concern to third-world countries because they have already become the battlefields of what could be described as the Third World War, for, in our view, a new world war will not be a single dramatic catastrophe but a cumulation of an interlocking series of proxy wars fought in third-world countries.
105.	Therefore, I would like to return to a thesis which I propounded in this Assembly five years ago at its twenty- sixth session. At that time the theme was somewhat tentative and, to some, possibly even tendentious. It was an expression more of probabilities than of actualities. But, unfortunately, what I then merely feared has now become real. A new threat confronts the third world.
106.	This extract from my statement made at the twenty- sixth session summarizes my theme:
".. conflicts between big Powers are inevitable so long as the drive for power and dominance remains the overriding consideration in international relations. But they will be waged by means other than direct confrontation [between them].
"And the means are the small nations. Big wars can be and have been fought through small nations. The idea is not really new. In the past, small nations have been pitted against one another to further the interests of great Powers. But today the technique of wars with small nations as proxies has been more systematically developed. Small wars have in the nuclear age become the only safe method of conducting big-Power conflicts. That is why... small wars are ... gradually increasing [in number]; that is why the third world is the scene of
growing violence...Textbooks on military strategy
refer to this as the strategy of fighting limited wars	It
also includes the promotion of wars of national liberation, support for guerrilla uprisings, subversion and the engineering of coups in small countries.
"	The small nations are more than ever before
necessary instruments for big-Power conflicts-the only available instruments .. .".
That was what I said five years ago.
107.	Five years ago it could have been said that this was mere hypothesis. It may have been so then, but it is no longer the case today. Violence and wars in third-world countries have increased, while rumbles of new conflicts can be plainly heard. Cities and countrysides are being laid waste at this very moment-not by the invading armies of great Powers, but by contending forces within the third world.
108.	There are a number of draft resolutions for consideration in this Assembly which, stripped of their diplomatic phraseology, pertain in one way or another to conflicts between developing countries. Just as once before in years past small nations had to scrutinize carefully draft resolutions by the big Powers to avoid becoming partisans in their conflicts, so today we search draft resolutions to avoid entanglements in disputes between friends. However, benevolent neutrality becomes increasingly difficult as draft resolutions, in response to sharpening bitterness, are worded with a precision and openness that preclude neutrality. Abstention, where it injures one party, is not now accepted as evidence of impartiality and friendliness.
109.	And so one consequence of this is the new practice by this Assembly of voting for draft resolutions which are contradictory and irreconcilable because we do not want to offend our friends, and we cannot judge what is right and what is wrong.
110.	More alarming evidence of increasing third-world conflicts is the flow of arms from some half-a-dozen wealthy, industrialized countries into the third world. There has been a steady increase in the flow of arms from developed to developing countries over the years. There was nothing disturbing about the initial flow of arms. It was natural that as States became independent they should acquire arms commensurate with their defense requirements. But since 1970 the flow has acquired tidal proportions, and with each passing year the appetite for arms in the third world has grown alarmingly. The quantity and quality of arms exceed normal defense requirements.
111.	Reliable statistics on the arms trade are, for obvious reasons, difficult to come by. It is by nature a furtive trade, and both client and arms dealer are prone to give a lot of misinformation about this most profitable business. In fact, only the United States, of the four major arms-exporting countries, provides information about its transactions. So such figures as I will quote about the transfer of deadly weapons to less-developed countries probably err on the side of underestimation. But even with these reservations, such statistics as are available portend, in my view, not only catastrophic dangers for the third world but also a very high probability of a new kind of enslavement of the third world through proliferation of what I called proxy wars. This is not enslavement designed and directed by advanced industrialized countries, but enslavement emerging as a consequence of divisions and conflicts within third-world countries.
112.	And there is a close correlation between the level of arms flow into third world countries and increasing contention among them. My primary source of information is the 1976 yearbook on world armaments and disarmament published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
113.	According to that Yearbook, the value of major weapons transferred to third-world countries had increased 17-fold between the years 1950 and 1975. The figures were $US 294 million in 1950, but it increased to $US 4,803 million in 1975. Hie big surge forward in the import of arms was in 1974 and 1975, when the value of weapons transferred from developed to developing countries increased by more than 60 per cent. It is also worth noting that those were the years when the industrialized countries were reeling under the impact of increased oil prices and the third-world countries were making efforts to unite against the industrialized countries for a new international economic order.
114.	The 1970 s were also the years when detente was arrived at between the great Powers on the sound grounds that direct confrontation between them would be mutually destructive.
115.	This was also a period which saw a steady decline in aid from rich to poor countries. A recent study by the United Nations predicts that, on the basis of current flow, aid from rich to poor countries will be reduced to a mere trickle. For example, between 1961 and 1968 the global assistance development program was valued at $US 75.2 billion, the bulk of which came from the Western world. The flow of aid between 1974 and 1976 will decline to an annual average of between $US 14 billion and $US 12 billion, which, given the present level of inflation, is meager compared with what was available in the 1960 s.
116.	Though the flow of aid has declined, the flow of arms to the third world has swelled dangerously. The third world is clearly creeping towards a more equitable share of the arms resources of the world. For example, the consumption of total arms production by the two main power blocs has dropped from 91 per cent in 1955 to a more prudent 78 per cent in 1975.
117.	As against this, consumption of arms by the third world has shot up from a modest 3.2 per cent in 1955 to an alarming 123 per cent in 1975. Presumably this does not take into account the unofficial flow of weapons sold or given under the counter. In fact, the third world's consumption of the world's arms output now exceeds the combined purchases of China, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan; their share of the world's arms output in 1975 was only 9.5 per cent as compared with the third world's 12.3 per cent.
118.	Certain disturbing inferences can be drawn from these statistics. One of these is that the level of arms consumption is an indicator of the intensity of tensions in an area and of its prevailing political philosophies, policies and anxieties in an area.
119.	The rich industrial nations, largely in the north, have in practice accepted that force is of less importance in their inter-State relations than other forms of power. They rely more and more on economic power, technological superiority and organizational skills for influence and dominance over other nations. It is a fact that the nations of the north have technically been at peace with one another since the end of the Second World War. True, some of them have fought in third-world countries, but even this is being abandoned as counter-productive.
120.	Short of some grave miscalculation on the part of the industrialized nations, I see no prospect of serious wars in the north. The devastation and tragedies brought about by two world wars, coupled with the knowledge that the industrial Powers now have the technology to destroy themselves utterly in another war, act as effective curbs on resort to naked force.
121.	But it would appear that in the third world the errors and tragedies of European nationalism are being reproduced. In the absence of economic power or advanced technology, force is used, when necessary, to regulate inter-State relations. Reliance is placed on force and the show of force to gain influence and dominance over other nations.
122.	However, it is borrowed force, and therein lies the danger to third-world countries. The accumulation of effective force in this day and age depends on very sophisticated and very expensive weapons produced, at the moment, by less than half a dozen industrial nations in the north. In the past, the sale of arms to third-world countries from the advanced countries was governed by some sort of gentleman's agreement between industrial countries. The flow was always regulated to modest proportions. What was sold, moreover, were hand-me-downs, simple and unsophisticated weapons for which the industrial nations had not much use and which, by current standards, were less destructive.
123. But the current flow of weapons is of a different category altogether. The gentleman's agreement has broken down. Far from there being any inhibition about selling arms to the third world, arms dealers of the industrialized countries are pushing their hardware with great zest and fervor. There is now a growing clamor in industrialized countries -including those who had kept out the arms business out of moral or political considerations-to remove existing restraints on the export of arms. As the Swedish Yearbook quite correctly observes:
"Indeed, so hectic has been the international market for arms over the past two years that all appearances of control, whether supposed or real, have vanished."
124.	There are depressingly sound economic and political reasons for this changed attitude in regard to arms sales to developing countries. First let me deal with the economic reasons. The arms industry has for many years been an important and growing industry. The annual output of arms throughout the world is estimated at over $US 300 billion. It employs some 400,000 scientists and engineers and other experts who spend some $US 200 billion in research on more deadly weapons. It is a growing industry. The capacity of the rich nations to absorb the products of this industry, especially as war between them is least likely now, has reached saturation point. As research progresses, weapons become obsolete at a more rapid rate. Astronomically expensive weapon systems suddenly become so much junk.
125.	The increase in the number of rival States in the third world, or, more generally, the increase in mutual suspicion and fear among third-world countries, offers a neat solution to the junk problem facing the arms producers. These obsolete weapons, generally one or two generations behind the latest model, can be and are being disposed of in third-world countries.
126.	It also solves yet another problem for the industrialized countries. It ensures a steady flow from less developed to developed countries of wealth, which was and is in danger of being reduced as a consequence of decolonization and the growing economic self-assertion of the developing countries. Modern arms are spectacularly expensive and more so if they are packaged as a weapons system. Moreover, in contrast to the situation in other industries, the greater the number of arms sold, even greater grows the demand for those arms. There is no such thing as over-production in the arms industry. This has to do with human fear. Once an up-to-date weapons system has been sold to a client, the reassuring feeling the client has can only be temporary. The anxiety returns the moment an even more up-to-date weapons system has been delivered to his rival by the same arms dealer or by his competitor. Having once embarked on the arms race, the participant has no choice but to stay in the race until he concedes defeat or is ruined. If he decides to stay in the race, he must keep on from time to time disposing of his obsolete weapons system and negotiating for one more up to date and decidedly more expensive.
127.	If ever arms-producing countries should form a mutual-aid association to regulate and promote their trade, then the third-world countries would certainly become captives of the great Powers. The dealers could decide -either by a gentleman's agreement or otherwise-when a client's weapons system should become obsolete by simply selling a more up-to-date version to his rival or even by hinting, whether justifiably or not, that the other side was negotiating for an improved weapons system. I am not saying that this is being done at the moment, but the possibilities are there, especially if the weapons industry should run into economic difficulties.
128.	So much for the economic advantages to industrial countries accruing through weapons sales to developing countries.
129.	However, the most dangerous consequences are political. The flow of arms carries with it a measure of dependency on the part of the client on the seller of arms not unlike that prevailing under the old imperial system. The weapons now being imported are not only highly sophisticated but also packaged as parts of a very complex, very comprehensive and very expensive weapons system. When a country buys a weapons system it imports not only weapons but a whole army of experts and advisers. Arms contracts today include provisions for-training, technical support and the establishment of facilities to maintain and repair equipment. Often those contracts include provisions for foreign experts to build roads, communication networks and other facilities which come under the term "infrastructure". For without such an infrastructure the performance of the system is likely to be substandard or to fail altogether. There must also be an assurance from the seller of spare parts and replacements when needed, as it is not economic to stock spare parts for the lifetime of the equipment.
130.	All this is ideal for the direction and conduct of proxy wars. The client can start wars but he needs the co-operation and goodwill of the dealer to ensure that the operation does not end in total disaster. Once a war is begun or engineered, it is the dealer and not the client who becomes the crucial element. Ware between developing countries can be sustained or halted by the dealer. They can be halted by the dealer's withdrawing his experts and withholding spare parts and replacements; or the dealer can sustain and direct the war if he thinks it Is in his interest to do so.
131.	Of course, the client can dismiss the dealer, but only by putting himself into possible bondage to another arms supplier.
132.	That, then, is the dangerous situation in which the third world finds itself today. I have merely stated the nature of the problem without offering possible solutions to it because that would require an address just as lengthy. My purpose is simply to alert us to this clanger; to accept that the danger is real, even though it may not be as stark as I have presented it.
133.	The compulsions behind the third-world arms race are many and complex; undoubtedly, manipulation by great Powers contributes to it. Also, confrontation with neighbors is a time-honored way of distracting attention from the short-comings of a ruling class and of re-establishing the national solidarity once forged when the enemy was the alien imperialist whom we have driven out. To those, add recollections of ancient glories and new broodings over real or imaginary wrongs predating the imperialist era.
134.	Further, in some third-world countries a Messianic spirit appears to be emerging. The successful liberation of their own people from imperialism has led some leaders to see themselves as chosen vehicles for the liberation of all mankind and, in particular, their neighbors, whose independence has been recognized by this Organization. It is saddening to hear formerly subjugated countries, like the imperialists of old whom they displaced, proclaiming their right and responsibility to bring "true" liberation and independence to lesser breeds outside their borders.
135.	It is the suspicion and fear generated by Messianic proclamations such as those which are driving many third-world countries into the arms of the arms dealers and thereby creating the necessary conditions for proxy wars, for the enslavement of the third world.
136.	If that enslavement is to be avoided, it is imperative that third-world countries stop saying and doing things that increase mutual distrust and fear among themselves. If we do not fear one another then there is no need for us to put ourselves in bondage to arms dealers.
137.	In my part of the world, the five countries which have grouped themselves into the Association of South-East Asian Nations [ASEAN] have succeeded in dissipating fear and distrust among themselves. There are possibly differences of views and conflicts of interest from time to time, but through ASEAN co-operation we have been able to resolve, or at least to contain, those differences and conflicts. We are discovering that, when nations set greater store by seeking out areas of agreement than areas of disagreement fear and distrust are likely to fade away.
138.	Concepts of co-operation and not concepts of liberating one another should govern relations between third- world countries. Co-operation means the pooling of re-sources, skills and aspirations to enhance further our independence and bargaining position against the more advanced nations.
139.	The liberation of others, on the other hand, can be undertaken only by pawning our resources, our lives and, eventually, our integrity to those on whom we depend for our arms and who will make quite sure that when the slaughter and the battles are over it is they, not we, who emerge victorious.
140.	I shall sum up my thesis in the following way. The massive flow of arms to the third world confronts it with a new danger. It is, first of all, a drain on the economies of the third-world countries; but even more important is the fact that it creates a new form of dependence on the great Powers, which can exploit the third world's dependence on them for arms to manipulate them, to engineer conflicts between them, and to use them as their proxies in their competition for influence and dominance. This may partly account for the tremendous acceleration in the arms race, especially among countries of the third world. In order to check the arms race, we must understand why nations arm themselves in the first place. Some nations may arm themselves in order to increase their power, but most nations arm themselves because they feel insecure. Therefore, in order to promote disarmament, we must attack the problem of international insecurity.
141.	My thesis is that in the present state of international relations the most effective way to promote international security is to work at the subregional and regional levels. For this reason my country would attach great importance to the efforts by countries in different parts of the world to promote regional economic co-operation and mutual trust. Wars are not made by arms, but they are conceived in the minds of men. To prevent wars we must therefore free the minds of men from the cobwebs of age-old suspicions, fears and mistrust.