UNGA Sept. 30, 1976

Reading copy

Mr. President, Mr. Secretary-General, Foreign Ministers,

Distinguished Delegates:

Let me first congratulate this body for electing Ambassador Amerasinghe of Sri Lanka to preside over this thirty-first session of the General Assembly. He is a diplomat of great international stature, who among his many distinctions, has provided indispensable leadership to the crucial negotiations on the Law of the Sea.

I would also like to pay tribute to the Secretary-General for his tireless efforts on behalf of the world community. He successfully embodies the Charter's principles of fairness, impartiality and dedication to the causes of global peace and human dignity.

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The United Nations was born of the conviction that peace
is both indivisible and more than mere stability, that for peace
to be lasting it must fulfill mankind's aspirations for justice,
freedom, economic well-being, the rule of law and the promotion of
human rights. But the history of this Organization has been in
considerable measure the gradual awareness that humanity would
not inevitably share a single approach to these goals.

The United Nations has survived -- and helped to manage -- thirty
years of vast change in the international system. It has come through
the bitterness of the Cold War. It has played a vital role in the dismantling
of the colonial empires. It has helped moderate conflicts, and is
manning truce lines in critical parts of the world. It has carried
out unprecedented efforts in such areas as public health, development

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assistance and technical cooperation.

But the most important challenge of this Organization lies still ahead: to vindicate mankind's positive and nobler goals and help nations achieve a new understanding of community.

With modern communications, human endeavor has become a single experience for peoples in every part of the planet. We share the wonders of science and technology, the trials of industrialization and social change, and a constant awareness of the fate and dreams of our fellowmen.

The world has shrunk, but the nations of the world have not come closer together. Paradoxically, nationalism has been on the rise at the precise time when the most serious issues we all face can only be resolved through a recognition of our interdependence.

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The moral and political cohesion of our world may be eroding just when a sense of community has become indispensable.

Fragmentation has affected even this body. Nations have taken decisions on a bloc or regional basis by rigid ideologies, before even listening to the debate in these halls; on many issues positions have been predetermined by prior conferences containing more than half the membership of the United Nations. The tendency is widespread to come here for battle rather than negotiation. If these trends continue the hope for world community will dissipate and the moral influence of this Organization will progressively diminish.

This would be a tragedy. Members of this organization are today engaged in a multiplicity of endeavors to find just solutions

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for complex and explosive problems. There is a fragile
tranquility but beneath the surface it is challenged by
fundamental forces of change -- technological, economic,
social. More than ever this is a time for statecraft and restraint,
for persistence but also daring in the pursuit of peace and justice.
The dogmas of perpetual strife produce only bloodshed and
bitterness: they unleash the forces of destruction and repression
and plant the seeds of future conflict. Appeals to hatred -- whether
on the basis of race or class or color or nationality or ideology --
will in the end rebound against those who launch them and will not
advance the cause of freedom and justice in the world.

Let us never forget that the United Nations benefits the
smaller and weaker nations most of all. It is they that would
suffer most from its failure. For without the rule of law, disputes

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will be settled as they have been all too frequently and painfully
in history -- by tests of strength. It is not the weak that will
prevail in a world of chaos.

The United States believes that this Thirty-First General
Assembly, must free itself of the ideological and confrontational
tactics that marked some of its predecessors and dedicate itself
to a program of common action.

The United States comes to the General Assembly prepared
to work on programs of common action. We will offer concrete
proposals. We will listen to the ideas of others. We will resist
pressure and seek cooperation.

Let me now discuss the three principal challenges we
face -- the problem of peace, the challenge of economic well-being,

and the agenda of global interdependence.

## The Problem of Peace

The age of the United Nations has also been an age of frequent conflict. We have been spared a third world war, but we cannot assume that this condition will prevail forever, or without exertion. An era of thermonuclear weapons and persistent national rivalries requires our utmost effort to keep at bay the scourge of war. Our generation must build out of the multitude of nations a structure of relations that frees the energies of nations and peoples for the positive endeavors of mankind, without the fear or threat of war.

Central to American foreign policy are our sister democracies, the industrial nations of North America, Western Europe, the

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southern Pacific and Japan, and our traditional friends in the Western Hemisphere. We are bound to these nations by the ties of history, civilization, culture, shared principles and a generation of common endeavors.

Our alliances, founded on the bedrock of mutual security, now reach beyond the common defense to a range of new issues: the social challenges shared by advanced technological societies; common approaches to easing tensions with our adversaries; and shaping positive relations with the developing world. The common efforts of the industrial democracies are not directed at exclusive ends but as a bridge to a broader, more secure and cooperative international system and to increasing freedom and prosperity for all nations.

The United States is proud of its historical friendships in the Western Hemisphere. In the modern era they must be -- and

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are -- based on equality and mutual benefit. We have a unique
advantage: The great dialogue between the developed and the
developing nations can find its most creative solution in the
Hemisphere where modern democracy was born, and where
cooperation between developed and developing, large and small,
is a long-standing tradition.

Throughout history, ideology and power have tempted
nations to seek unilateral advantage. But the inescapable lesson
of the nuclear age is that the politics of tests of strength has become
incompatible with the survival of humanity. Traditional power politics
becomes irrational when war can destroy civilized life and when
neither side can gain a decisive strategic advantage.

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to enjoy it.

Accordingly, the great nuclear powers have particular responsibilities for restraint and vision. They are in a position to know the full extent of the catastrophe which could overwhelm mankind. They must take care not to fuel disputes, if they conduct their rivalries by traditional methods, if they turn local conflicts into aspects of a global competition, sooner or later their competition will get out of control.

The United States believes that the future of mankind requires coexistence with the Soviet Union. Tired slogans cannot obscure the necessity for a more constructive relationship. We will insist that restraint be reciprocal not just in bilateral relations but around the globe. There can be no selective detente. We will maintain our defenses and our vigilance. But we know that tough rhetoric is not strength; that we owe future generations more

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hopeful prospects than a delicate equilibrium of awesome forces.

Peace requires a balance of strategic power. This
the United States will maintain. But the United States is convinced
that the goal of strategic balance is achievable more safely by
agreement than through an arms race. The negotiations on the
limitation of armaments are therefore at the heart of US-Soviet
relations.

Unprecedented agreements limiting and controlling
nuclear weapons have been reached. An historic effort is being
made to place a ceiling on the strategic arsenals of both sides in
accordance with the Vladivostok accord. And once this is
achieved we are ready to seek an immediately effort to lower the
levels of strategic arms.

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The United States welcomes the recent progress that has been made in further curtailing nuclear weapons testing and in establishing a regime for peaceful nuclear explosions for the first time. The two treaties now signed and awaiting ratification should be the basis for further progress in this field.

Together with several of our European allies, we are continuing efforts to achieve a balanced reduction in the military forces facing each other in Central Europe. In some respects this is the most complex negotiation on arms limitation yet undertaken. It is our hope that through patient effort reciprocal reductions will soon be achieved that enhance the security of all countries involved.

The United States remains committed to the work of the Geneva disarmament committee. We welcome the progress there on banning environmental modification for destructive purposes.

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We will seriously examine all ideas, of whatever origin, to
reduce the burdens of armaments. We will advance our own
initiatives not for purposes of propaganda or unilateral advantage
but to promote peace and security for all.

But coexistence and negotiations on the control of arms
do not take place in a vacuum. We have been disturbed by the
continuing accumulation of armaments and by recent instances of
military intervention to tip the scales in local conflicts in distant
continents. We have noted crude attempts to distort the purposes
of peaceful diplomacy and to impede hopeful progress toward peaceful
solutions to complex issues. These efforts only foster tensions; they
cannot be reconciled with the policy of improving relations.
And they will inevitably be resisted. For

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coexistence to be something better than an uneasy armistice,
both sides must recognize that ideology and power politics today
confront the realities of the nuclear age and that a striving for
unilateral advantages will not be accepted.

In recent years, the new relationship between the United
States and the People's Republic of China has held great significance
for global security.

We came together out of necessity and a mutual belief
that the world should remain free of military blackmail and the
will to hegemony. We have set out a new path -- in wide-ranging
consultations, bilateral exchanges, the opening of offices in
our respective capitals and an accelerating movement toward
normalization. And we have derived reciprocal benefits -- a

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clearer understanding of the aspirations of our peoples, better
prospects for international equilibrium, reduced tensions in
Asia and increased opportunities for parallel actions on global
issues.

These elements form the basis for a growing and lasting
relationship founded on objective common interest. The United
States is committed to strengthen the bonds between us and to
proceed toward the normalization of our relations in strict conformity
with the principles of the Shanghai Communique. As this process
moves forward each side must display restraint and respect for
the interests and convictions of the other. We will keep Chinese interests
in mind on all international issues and will do our utmost to take
account of them. But if the relationship is to prosper there must
be similar sensitivity to our views and concerns.

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On this basis, the progressive development of our
relations with the world's most populous nation will be a key
element of the foreign policy of the United States.

The world today is witness to continuing regional crises.

Any one of them could blossom into larger conflict. Each one commands our most diligent efforts of conciliation and cooperation.

The United States has played, and is prepared to continue to play, an active role in the search for peace in many areas:

Southern Africa, the Middle East, Korea and Cyprus.

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Racial injustice and the grudging retreat of colonial power have conspired to make *Southern Africa* an acid test of the world's hope for peace and justice under the Charter. A host of voices have been heard in this Chamber warning that, if we failed quickly to find solutions to the crises of Namibia and Rhodesia, that part of the globe could become a viscious battleground with consequences for every part of the world.

I have just been to Africa at President Ford's request, to see what we could do to help the peoples of that continent achieve their aspirations to freedom and justice.

An opportunity to pull back from the brink now exists. I believe that Africa has before it the prize for which it has struggled so long -- the opportunity for Africans to

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shape a future of peace, justice, racial harmony and progress.

The United Nations since its inception has been concerned with the issue of Namibia. For thirty years, that territory has been a test of this institution's ability to make its decisions effective.

In recent months, the United States has vigorously sought to help the parties concerned speed up the process toward Namibian independence. The United States favors the following elements: the independence of Namibia within a fixed, short time limit; the calling of a constitutional conference at a neutral location under United Nations aegis; and the participation in that conference of all authentic national forces, including specifically SWAPO. Progress has been made in achieving all of these goals. We will exert our efforts to remove the remaining obstacles and bring into being a