A/38/PV.38 General Assembly

I am prompted to speak today on the question under consideration in order to reaffirm the following points whichthe representativeofthe Social- ist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya has already made in the discussion of the first report of the Credentials Committee at this session [34th meeting]. 2. First, the legitimate Government of the People's Republic of Kampuchea, which controls the situation in he country and which is endeavouring, as we are all aware, to overcome the difficulties of the Kampuchean people and to rebuild what was destroyed by the Pol Pot regime, which also ravaged the economy of the country, is the only Government we recognize as the legitimate representative of Kampuchea. Any discussion of the situation in Kampuchea without that Government's par- ticipation constitutes an intolerable interference in the internal affairs of Kampuchea and a flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations. Such a discussion could not possibly lead to any positive results. 3. Secondly, the Government of the United States of America tried to prevent the representation of the Peo- ple's Republic of China for many years, and China's seat was given to a regime that was an agent of the United States. Now the United States Government is trying to do exactly the same thing with respect to the People's Republic of Kampuchea, at a time when the armed forces ofthe United States have invaded a small State, Grenada. This is an attempt to make us forget what is happening in Kampuchea. 4. Thirdly, to disregard the situation in Kampuchea would do nothing to restore peace in the region and would only heighten tension and result in more deaths in that area. S. The joint communique issued by Viet Nam and the People's Republic of Kampuchea, which is an attempt to find a solution and to secure the withdrawal of the Vietnamese volunteers from Kampuchea, is a step in the right direction, towards the restoration of peace and stability in the region. We support the joint communique for that reason. 6. These are the points that I wished to clarify. . 7. Mr. MONDJO (Congo) (interpretationfrom French): It is with no light heart that the delegation of the People's Republic of the Congo feels obliged to speak in tms "show trial" debate, a spectacle mounted by those who are striving to prove that the Vietnamese people, who NEW YORK yesterday were the victims of the most brutal and unjus- tified colomalist and imperialist aggression, have now become as it were representatives of the devil, and par- ticularly sinister representatives at that. A group ofcoun- tries whose aims are unclear have been trying ever since 1979 to deny, in the face of all the evidence, that the Government of the Democratic People's Republic ~f Kampuchea is effectively in power in the country, a Gov- ernment which has been courageously building upon the ashes of the criminal Pol Pot and leng Sary regime a programme of national reconstruction and rebirth. Fm' these critics the fraternal aid of the Vietnamese Govern- ment to the people of Kampuchea is necessarily suspect, as if those delegations wanted only to see a perpetuation of the nightmare which Pol Pot and his bloodthirsty henchmen inflicted on the brave Kampuchean people. Clearly, such a show trial can lead only to predetermined verdicts which they would like the General Assembly to endorse. Otherwise, why should we proceed, as we are invited to do in draft resolution A/38/L.2 and Add.1, to undertake an open-ended mobilization of the resources of the United Nations in order to maintain an interna- tional pseudo-conference at which the embarrassed mon- ologue of the supporters of Pol Pot serves as a poor substitute for a true analysis? 8. In the view of my delegation, the fact that this fake question of Kampuchea has been kept on the agenda constitutes intolerable interference in the internal affairs of a Member State. 9. In the confusioncreated bysucha situation, it becomes possible to reduce the principles underlying international relations to mere shreds, principles which are based in particular on respect for differences, non-interference in the internal affairs of other States and the recognized right of all peoples freely to choose their own political, economic and social systems. 10. Yesterday, reduced to slavery and doomed to the most barbarous genocide by Pol Pot, who now claims to be the incarnation of the virtues of a republic which is pompously described as democratic, the martyred people of Kampuchea welcomed as liberators the Vietnamese, thanks to whose effective aid it was possible to free Kam- puchea from its horrible fate and to put an end to the bloodshed caused by that adventurer, Pol Pot. Of course, Pol Pot has since then had no difficulty in whitewashing his political image by securing "absolution" from the Western countries, the so-called heralds of the defence of fundamental human rights, or in perfidiously exploit- ing whatever international prestige still remains to one of his principal victims, Prince Sihanouk, who is now being trotted around from capital to capital. But all these manoeuvres fool no one except their authors. 11. Every year, all the nations come to this Assembly and proclaim their desire for peace, but peace is indivis- ible. How can one believe the sincerity of these loud professions of faith if, at the very time that the General Assembly is probing into the fake question of Kampu- chea, certain States which are among the most ardent champions of the fundamental principles of the Charter decide, as happened a few days ago, to carry out, just rebuil~ing their c~untry. Ravaged by conflict, famine, genocIde and foreIgn aggression, Kampuchea's recovery will be a long-term and formidable task. The task of brin~gpeace to Kampuchea, however, is potentially less formIdable. It would also end Viet Nam's international isolation, restore Viet Nam's dignity and freedom of action, and permit it to begin healing the wounds of 40 years of warfare and raise the living conditions of the Vietnamese people. All it takes is a step towards com- promise and justice. The world, and above all the people, the tragic, long-suffering people of Kampuchea, are wait- ing for Viet Nam to take that one small step towards peace. 50. Mr. SHUSTOV (Union of Soviet Socialist Repub- lics) (interpretation/rom Russian): Once again the Gen- eral ASf~mbly, disgressing from other, real business relating to the basic problems of the maintenance of international peace and security, is obliged to engage in a discussion of the artificially inscribed question of the situation in Kampuchea. The desire to embroil the United Nations in the consideration of the internal situation in Kampuchea and to delve into its foreign policy is nothing other than an attempt to use the authority of the Organ- ization to cover up interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign State, the People's Republic of Kampuchea. The illegality of such a discussion is also emphasized by the fact that it is taking place in circumstances under which the Kampuchean people are denied the right to speak at the United Nations inasmuch as they do not have their representatives here. . 51. Now, at a time when the .situation in the world is becoming dangerously tense and exacerbated, as a result of the aggressive militarist policy of the United States and certain other Western countries, the provocative huUa- baloo whipped up over the question of the so-called Kampuchean situation is just a means of confusing inter- national public opinion and diverting the attention of the United Nations from the vitally important problems involved in the prevention of a nuclear catastrophe and the. g~aranteeing of the peace and security of the peoples. ThIS IS yet one more reason why the Soviet delegation opposed the inclusion of this question on the agenda of this session of the General Assembly. 52. We fully endorse the position of the Government of. th~ Peo~le's. Republic of Kampuchea, which regards thIS dISCUSSIon m the General Assembly as an intolerable encroachment on the sovereignty of its country. We also decisively support the demand of the Government of the People's Republic of Kampuchea for the expulsion from the United Nations of those who have dubbed themselves the representatives of the in fact non-existent Democratic Kampuchea. They actually represent no one, other than the Pol-Potists and the Khmer reactionary forces who have been rejected by their own people and thrown on the scrap heap of history and have entered into a con- spiracy with the Pol-P~tists. The genocidal regime respon- ~lble for the destruction of more than 3 million totally mnocent Kampucheans has no placein theUnited Nations. The only legitimate representative of the Kampuchean , 124. Secondly, the history of past centuries and of the last four decades demonstrates that the three Indo- Chinese countries have never committed an act of aggres- sion against any other country; on the contrary, they have been the victims of external aggression by the feudal lords, militarists, colonialists, imperialists and big-Power hegemonists. The fighting solidarity and co-operation in all fields among the peoples of the three Indo-Chinese countries which have suffered the same afflictions con- stitute their sharp-edged and effective weapon in the struggle of every people to fight and beat the common enemy and to defend the independence and sovereignty of their respective countries.. It is in this spirit that Viet- namese volunteers came to Kampuchea to help the people of the country and with them to fight the colonialists, imperialists and the genocidal Pol Pot clique, the agents of Peking. On two previous occasions they withdrew from Kampuchea; the same will happen again this time. The Vietnamese volunteers are vlrithdrawing progressively, and will withdraw fully from Kampuchea as soon as the secu- rity of the People's Republic of Kampuchea has been assured. To ask Viet Nam to withdraw all its volunteers from Kampuchea while China and the countries border- ing on Kampuchea, in collusion with China, as well as the Pol Pot gangs, retain complete freedom of action, amounts to giving every facility to China to bring back to Kampuchea the Pol Pot clique, disguised under the label of the "Coalition Government", and to reimpose that genocidal regime on the people of Kampuchea. Why is it that China and those who are so zealous in calling for the immediate and total withdrawal of the Vietnamese vol- unteers from Kampuchea remain silent about the occu- patjon by Chinese troops of part of Viet Nam's territory and their intention of remaining there, and equally silent about the establishment by the United States of military bases in an ASEAN country in order to threaten the security of the countries of the region? 126. Thirdly, what is the real truth about these so-called attacks on the refugees in the Thai-Kampuchean border areas? The international community should severely con- demn the shameful actions of those who misuse the situ- ation of the refugees to divert international humanitarian assistance, and who use these refugees as a shield to protect those who are guilty of the crime of genocide. 127. Everyone knows that for five years now, the Pol Pot gangs have been building bases in sanctuaries located on the other side of the border, that Peking sends them war materie/and equipment, and that they are being given abundant supplies out of the international aid food stocks intended for the Kampuchean refugees. From these bases, the Pol Pot gangs and other Khmer reactionaries are making raids into Kampuchean territory, plundering, killing and terrorizing the civilian population, spreading devastation and committing barbarous crimes in their attack on the Kampuchean people's work of peaceful reconstruction. 128. Every time these gangs receive a well-deserved punishment, as was the case in March of this year, the Peking authorities and their followers shriek wild calum- nies against the Vietnamese volunteers and the people's army of Kampuchea and accuse them of "attacking ref- ugee camps" and "massacring civilians". This subter- fuge of the thief shouting "Stop thief' has been used too often and deceives no one. 129. Fourthly, why is there such a clamour about the so- called Vietnamization of Kampuchea? According to the figures for mid-1983, the number of Vietnamese nationals who have returned to live in Kampuchea amounts to only 56,000-that is to say, less than one tenth of the Viet- namese who were living in that country in 1970. By way of comparison, we can quote the figures for Chinese residents, who at the end of 1982 amounted to 61,400 in the five provinces of Kampuchea alone, including 40,000 in Phnom Penh. 130. It is clear that since Viet Nam and the People's Republic ofKampuchea jointly decided on a progressive withdrawal of the Vietnamese volunteers, the slanderous campaign about a military occupation of Kampuchea by Viet Nam no.longer carries any weight with public opin- ion. This is why the authorities of Peking and their hench- men have unleashed this new campaign of calumny for the evil purpose of dividing Viet Nam and Kampuchea, sabotaging the solidarity of the three countries of Indo- China, and diverting international public opinion from the reality of the presence in the South-East Asian countries of 20 million Chinese nationals, including many million- aires controlling the finance, trade and economy of these countries, andofothermore orless armed groups engaged in subversive activities against the legal Governments. 131. The so-cal~ed "growing effectiveness ofthe Coa- lition Government", so much praised by certain dele- gations, exists only in the imagination of its sponsors. NOTES 1Report ofthe International Conference on Kampuchea, New York, 13-17 July 1981 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.81.I.20), annex I. 2Ibid., annex n. 3The dekgation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines subsequently informed the Secretariat that it would have voted in favour of the draft resolutiol\.