S/PV.2115 Security Council

In accordance with the decision taken at the 2114th meeting, I invite the representatives of Australia, Canada, Cuba, Democratic Kampuchea, the German Democratic Republic, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Poland, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam to take the places reserved for them at the side of the Council chamber. At the invitation of thePresident, Mr. Anderson (Austraha), Mr, Barton (Canada), Mr. Roa Kouri (Cuba), Mr. Thiounn Prasith (Democratic Kampuchea), Mr. Horin (German Democratic Republic), Mr. JaipaI (India), Trm Sn’ Zaiton Jbrahim (Maya&.), Mr. Francis (New ZeaIar@, Mr. Jaroszek (Pokznd), Mr. Koh (Singapore), Mr. Guna-Kasem (Thailand) and Mr. Ha Van Lau (Viet Nam) took the places reservedfor them at the side of the Council chamber.

I should like to inform members of the Council that I have received letters from the representatives of Bulgaria, Hungary, Indonesia, Japan, Mongolia and the Philippines in which they request to be invited to At the invitation of the President, Mr. Kostov (RuIgarict), Mr. Hollai (Hungary), Mr. Anwar Sani (Indonesia), Mr. Abe (Japan), Mr. Dashtseren (Mongolia) and Mr. Yang0 (Philip pines) took the piaces reserved for them at the side of the Council chamber.

I should like to draw members’ attention to document S/l 3 119, which contains the text of a draft resolution submitted by China. In this respect I am very grateful to the Chinese delegation for acceding to my request that it should submit its draft through me rather than make the usual introductory remarks. In such a manner, we have saved time and avoided unnecessary acrimony.

Mr. President, I would first of all congratulate you on your accession to the presidency of the Council. Your qualities and your experience in the United Nations and your disposition assure us of success. We wish to congratulate you on the way you have conducted the business of the Council during the difficulties of thii week. 5. I also wish to convey our congratulations to the representative of Jamaica, Mr. Mills, for the excellent manner in which he conducted the business of the Council in the month of January. Once again he has given us proof of the mastery for which he has such a reputation in the United Nations. 6. France, which has frequently expressed the concern it has felt about the increasing tensions in South-East Asia, has followed with increasing preoccupation the operations being carried out on the borders of China and Viet Nam. Recent developments in the situation, particularly because of the increase in the numbers of personnel and the quantity of resources being committed, are indeed creating clear risks of escalation likely to endanger dCtente and peace. That is why it was necessary and in conformity with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations for the Security Council to be convened to deliberate on a problem falling within its responsiblity for maintaining international peace and security. 7. The French Government considers that the current operations must be halted immediately and that the intervention forces which have entered Viet Nam should fall backbehind the international frontier. 9. It also feels that the establishment of a peaceful state of affairs in South-East Asia necessarily requires a solution which would ensure for States in the Indo-Chinese peninsula the maintenance of their independence and territorial integrity in a framework of relationships of good neighbourliness with all other countries in the region. 10. In recalling these principles, which the Government of France regards as fundamental, we intend, in so far as we are able, to serve the cause of the peoples of a region for which we have a particular regard and, also, to remain loyal to our general conception of international relations, which can be based only on the maintenance of detente, to which we remain firmly attached. 11. It is with respect for these principles that the French delegation will consider any draft resolution intended to bring about a cessation of fighting and the withdrawal of the foreign forces of intervention and a peaceful settlement.

Mr. President, I would at the outset express my congratulations to you upon the assumption of the office of President of the Security Council. Your skill and ability as a diplomat have already been put to a real test this month. I am confident that they will continue to be tested before the month is finished, and also that you will guide our proceedings to a successful conclusion. 13. I would also exnress my warm thanks and coneratulations to Ambassador Mills of Jamaica for the way ii which he conducted the affairs of the Council during January. That was a difficult month too, and the fact that we emerged collectively relatively unscathed was to no small measure due to his persistence and to his skill. I thank him very much. 14. It is barelv a month since the Council met to consider the Vietnamesk invasion of Kampuchea. Since then the situation in South-East Asia has continued to deteriorate. China has now mounted an armed attack on Viet Nam. Although there is a shortage of the accurate and unbiased information which a free press on the spot would provide, it is clear that we are faced now with a situation which gives cause for even greater concern. The fighting within Kampuchea and on the border between China and Viet Nam threatens the stability of the whole area. There is also a very real risk of other, outside Powers being drawn into the conflict, with incalculable consequences. The case for action by the Security Council is therefore clear. We have a responsibility to do what we can to call a halt to this cycle of violence before the area of conflict widens even further. 16, The Council knows my Government’s views on the Vietnamese invasion of Kampuchea, which was in total contravention of the Charter of the United Nations. The Council also knows who voted against the otherwise unanimous resolution calling for an immediate cease-tire and the withdrawal of foreign forces from Kampuchea. It is perhaps ironic that the State which took the.initiative to establish the current Committee on the Non-Use of Force’ should have so frustrated the Council when it was considering a flagrant breach of that very principle. My Government deplored the inhumanities of the Pol Pot regime: in Kampuchea. Nevertheless, there is no excuse whatsoever for Viet Nam’s violation of the territorial integrity of another Member of the United Nations. 17. The British Government had already‘ expressed public concern lest the struggle inside Kampuchea threatened the stability of other countries or drew inChina and the Soviet Union by inadvertence or by miscalculation. Last week we appealed publicly for restraint’to be exercised on the border between Viet Nam and China. The Charter enjoins all Member States to eschew the use of force in resolving disputes. Whatever the provocation, and the Council has heard two versions of the facts, my Government deplores the Chinese armed attack on Viet Nam. We have impressed on the Government of China the need for China to withdraw from Viet Nam. We urge them today to do so immediately. : I 18. When I spoke in the Security Council last month, I commended to the Council the joint statement by the Foreign Ministers of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) [see S/13025] deploring the armed intervention against Kampuchea, calling for an immediate withdrawal of foreign forces from Kampuchean territory, and emphasizing the right of the people of Kampuchea to decide their own future without outside interference.The principles on which that statement was based apply with equal validity today, and I should like to commend to the Council the further statement by the ASEAN Standing Committee issued at Bangkok on 20 February (see S/13106]. That statement may offer the basis for a resolution by the Security Council. 19. The elements for such a resolution now seem to be emerging. In our view there are three minimum requirements: first, a call in clear and unambiguous terms to all parties to cease hostilities forthwith, secondly, a demand that foreign forces withdraw from all areas of conflict in South-East Asia and return to the countries whence they came; thirdly, a restatement of our collective commitment to the principle of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of all States. ’ Special Committee On’Enhancingthe Effectiveness of the Principle of Non-Use of Force in International Relations, established in pursuance of General Assembly resolution 32050. 26. We supported the request to convene the Security Council to consider “The situation in South-East Asia and its implications for international peace and security’* because there is a serious conflict prevailing in that region. Zambia, as a member of the Council, wants to ensure that this august body will adhere scrupulously to the provisions of Article 24 of the Charter, which outlines the primary responsibility of the Security Council for the maintenance of international peace and security. The Council has to live up to its responsibilities in dealing with all situations of major conflict which threaten global peace. The corollary to this position is that the Council has to deal with all situations involving any combination of members of the intemational community. 21. Wars can come in two ways: deliberate aggression or drift. The example of July and August 1914 is one which we would all perhaps do well to ponder, No one wanted a major conflict; yet it came. Perhaps the Security Council cannot prevent the extension of war by’the deliberate act of a Government bent on national aggrandizement. But it can help to avoid a limited conflict from drifting into a catastrophe. Action along the lines I have already indicated would, in our view, help. It would give some time for thought. 22. The responsibility of the international community and of the Council will not, however, end with the adoption ofa resolution on the lines which I have suggested. In the longer term we shall need to consider what action can be taken to eliminate the underlying causes of tension in the area. I note that the Secretary-General has said that he is ready to make his good offices available. I note also that the Governments of China and Viet Nam have said that they are ready to negotiate. I note, too, that there have been suggestions that the international community might help in some way towards a resolution of the problems of the area. All these possibilities merit further consideration. The adoption by the Council of a resolution on the lines which I have already indicated would, in our view, help to provide time for precisely such consideration. 27. Zambia has been saddened by and feels anguish about the recent developments in South-East Asia-the more so because they involve countries and peoples with which we maintain very friendly relations. It is for that reason that we are seeking remedies. 28. The present conflict has all the potential of proliierating in its dimensions both horizontally and vertically. At face value, the present Sine-Vietnamese conflict may appear to be a limited war. Yet today’s limited wars have the capacity to trigger tomorrow’s generalized wars. What is even more ominous is that the conflict could eventually bring powerful nuclear Powers into direct confrontation. This has led us to the conclusion that there is a real danger of a broader confrontation shaping up to South-East Asia if the present conflicts are not resolved quickly.

I thank the representative of the United Kingdom for the kind and generous words he addressed to me. I endorse his prayer for a successful conclusion of this debate.

As we meet here today, the deteriorating situation in South-East Asia not only continues to endanger the security of that region, but in fact has the potential of threatening the foundations of world peace and security. Reports indicate that thousands of lives have been lost in the fighting. People are being displaced from their homes to become wandering refugees in the current war. This is in addition to the conflict which has been raging in Kampuchea since December of last year. Only last month the Security Council was seized of the question of Kampuchea. It is because of the recognition of the gravity of the conflict in South-East Asia that the Zambian delegation has worked closely with the other Council members behind the scenes in a bid to devise strategies to avert a further deterioration of the situation. 25. The main tribute for the work which has culminated in these meetings of the Council must be paid to you, Sir, as President for the month of February. You have demonstrated that you are not only a skilled diplomat but also a fearless crusader for peace. We are proud of the role that Kuwait, which is a fellow non-aligned country, continues to perform in the service of world peace. Your performance, together with the excellent manner in which your predecessor, Ambassador Mills of Jamaica, conducted the affairs of the Council in January, is an additional demonstration, an additional example, of what prepared diplomats from the third world and the non-aligned movement can do in the selfless service of the United Nations. Indeed, the non- 29. The paradox of the matter is that these conflicts involve States which espouse similar social systems. That is all the more reason to believe that it is possible for these States to understand each other better. We urge the countries in conflict in South-East Asia to reflect further and use the similarity of their social systems as a common denominator which should work in favour of peace and not war between them. 30. In the debate on the situation in Kampuchea in the Council last month, my delegation expressed serious concern about violations of certain fundamental principles of amity among nations and norms of international law. We continue to uphold these cardinal principles, which stipulate, inter alia, that States should respect the sovereign and territorial integrity of other States, and that no State has the right to interfere in the internal affairs of other Stata,whatever the motive. 31. If States were licensed to interfere in the affairs of others, then there would be no order in the world and the ?ntemational*’ law of the jungle would take over. The situation would be reminiscent of what the political philosopher Hobbes described four centuries ago in his Leviathan as a society ln which lie would be not only brutish and nasty but short. 32. Zambia has repeatedly expressed deep concern about the continuous carnage in South-East Asia over a long period of time. Indo-China has only recently emerged out of fratricidal wars against forces of imperialism and oppres- 33. What we expected after these long years of conflict was that peace and economic reconstruction would follow. As it has turned out, this expectation and wish are yet to be realized. 34. The situation on the ground in South-East Asia is one in which a permanent state of tension is developing that can trigger war at any moment. The international community has a bounden duty to assist the people of South-East Asia to return to peaceful existence. 35. Zambia therefore calls upon the parties in the present conflicts in the region to effect a cease-fire immediately and to terminate the hostilities. Thereafter, the parties should seriously negotiate to resolve the problems and circumstances that led to the present conflicts. This could be done either bilaterally or under the aegis of the good offices of the Secretary-General, which have already been offered. In addition, a committee of the Security Council could also be established to assist in the mediation efforts. In the interim the Council has no option but to call for an end to the hostilities immediately. 36. My delegation would therefore like to appeal to all the States permanent members of the Security Council to co operate fully in ensuring that the Council will reach a decision in this matter in the interests of the peace and security of our world. They should not abuse their powers of veto, which have often been used to paralyse decisionmaking by the Council. The Council as a whole has to live up to its duty as the United Nations organ vested with supreme responsibility to deal with all threats to international peace and security. It is impossible to conclude that the present situation in South-East Asia is anything other than a threat to international peace and security. The Council must therefore take appropriate action.

I thank the representative of Zambia for the kind and generous words he addressed to me and to my country. Indeed I shall never forget the beautiful days I spent in the most hospitable of circumstances in his country.

Mr. President, I wish to congratulate you most warmly on your assumption of the presidency of the Council for the month of February. Though it is the shortest month of the year, it has perhaps proved to be one of the most critical periods for world peace and security. I can say without hesitation that the Council is fortunate to have you piloting our endeavours at this crucial juncture in world history. Your dedication, determination, diplomatic skill and efficiency are attributes that have been proved consistently in the past and supremely evidenced once again in the last few weeks. As the junior member from Asia, as it were, in the Council, I wish formally to record my own personal tribute to you for the constant advice and assistance you have rendered so generously to me and to the members of my delegation. Bangladesh, bound as it is by 39. It also gives me the greatest pleasure to pay a tribute to Ambassador Donald Mills, who charted the course of the Council during the month of January. Faced with the di% cult challenge of presiding over the Council in the very tirst month of Jamaica’s entry as a member and during a period in which the Council was seized of one of the most intractable and unprecedented of problems, both substantively and procedurally, Ambassador Mills performed that task with characteristic expertise, objectivity and firmness. Our warmest thanks are extended to him and the members of his delegation. 40. Expediency has once again dictated that the Council should meet at a critical breaking-point for peace in South- East Asia and perhaps-who knows?-beyond. Early in January of this year, the Council considered the situation and attempted constructively to dampen tensions, contain the problem and encourage movement along avenues towards a peaceful resolution of the problem. However, in spite of its best efforts, no tangible advance was possible. The Secretary-General has aptly categorized the present and continued blood-letting as another tragic situation where violence begets violence and has warned that, unless the vicious cycle is broken quickly, it could spread with unforeseeable consequences. 41. Bangladesh,‘like the great majority of countries of the region and beyond, cannot but express its gravest concern and anxiety over this concentric circle of action, reaction and counter-action in South-East Asia and the wider ominous implications it holds of eventually drawing into the vortex of turmoil and war all the countries of the region and maybe of the world. : 42. The tasks before us are immediate and urgent. Bangladesh believes that in pursuing them there are four cardinal factors that we must keep uppermost in our minds. 43. First and foremost we believe that there is a direct responsibility incumbent on the United Nations to take resolute action. It is our confirmed stand that any Member State or group of Member States that requests a hearing or calls for a meeting must be heeded without prejudice to the merits of the case or the competence of the Security Council in determining the matter. For the Council not to heed them would be a dereliction of its duties. That is why Bangladesh supported a meeting of the Council. We believe that there is an international moral conscience, a global voice and a collective responsibility that must be effectively utiliid. To thii end we have sought to contribute to our utmost to foster through bilateral contacts and persuasion an atmosphere conducive to a peaceful settlement. We have done so individually, with the parties concerned, bilaterally, with members of the Council, and jointly, through our nonaligned colleagues on the Council. It is recogmzed that, on occasion, behind-the-scenes activities have a more beneficial effect than overt confrontation. We are, however, convinced that the United Nations must not be reduced to a mere instrument of expediency or an agency of last resort to justify actions after the event but should be an instrument with built-in strength which could and should automatically take up critical issues irrespective of where they arise. In this 49. Bangladesh has consistently supported and joined in sponsoring the idea that this entire region of South-East Asia could exist in harmony as a zone of peace, freedom and neutrality, free from outside interference and bound by ties of friendship and solidarity. President Ziaur Rahman of democratic, non-aligned Bangladesh has repeatedly stated that because of our geographical proximity to those areas we consider ourselves a bridge between South Asia and South-East Asia. Developments in that region have therefore caused us-to use an understatement-profound grief and regret. We have been integrally bound to the States of South-East Asia by history, geography and political, economic and cultural associations from time immemorial. We have established the closest and friendliest relations with each and every State of the region, individually and collectively, through a variety of international institutions. Thus our anxiety over the current situation is very profound. 44. Secondly, it follows, therefore, that the paramount priority facing the Council in striving to prevent a further aggravation of the situation and wider escalation of the conflict by outside Powers is to underscore its unequivocal determination to reaffirm and uphold the purposes and principles of the Charter and its obligation to promote the rule of law. Foremost among principles is respect for the sovereign rights of all peoples and countries to peace, independence, territorial integrity and selfdetermination without any interference, coercion or restraint whatsoever from outside Powers. Among other fundamental principles are those enjoining States to refrain from the use of force and to settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace, security and justice are not endangered. A crucial factor is the call on all States to refrain from any action that might aggravate the situation in any manner. 50. In the final analysis, our concern must be’ directed towards the people of this region and the fulfilment of their hopes and aspirations for a better life in larger freedom. Bangladesh believes that it is the urgent task of the world community to promote and foster their efforts at rehabilitation, reconstruction and socioeconomic development, untrammelled by tension or war. A short while ago, we were rejoicing that, for the first time in generations, this region appeared to be free of strife and outside interference. It is our belief that this search for stability and tranquillity in one of the most important and potentially prosperous regions in the world must IX pursued with even greater vigour. We believe that it is realizable, given the goodwill, co-operation and active support of all countries of the world. Bangladesh would support any move that could lead to durable peace through a regional or global settlement, and we stand committed to promote this cause in any meaningful and fruitful manner. 45. Thirdly, Bangladesh is convinced that the words and actions of the Council should not be conducive to a negative approach of accusation, recrimination or moral judgement. The issues involved are too complex and affect too sensitively the susceptibilities of different national interests to be subject to the passing of judgement. It would be all too easy to fall into the quagmire of motives and intentions that inevitably justify any action or reaction and thus become diverted from our task. Our pm-eminent goal is to secure and preserve peace. Our actions must lead to defined ends that are constructive and contributory, not merely to a temporary respite or piecemeal pursuit of peace but to genuine long-term and durable peace and security in the region. 5 1. The PRESIDENT: I thank the representative of Bangladesh for the over-generous and kind words he addressed to me and to my country. As he rightly said, his country and mine enjoy the best of constructive relations.

Mr. President, I should like at the outset to express to you my delegation’s warmest congratulations on your assumption of the presidency of the Council for this month. The skilful manner in which you have been gsliding the work of the Council has again demonstrated your outstanding qualities of leadership and your dedication to the United Nations and the principles embodied in, the Charter. My delegation stands ready to cooperate fully with you in the discharge of your duties, and particularly in respect of the ditlicult issues now facing the Council. I recall with gratitude the strong support that you gave last month to me as President and to the Council. 46. : Fourthly, and proceeding from the foregoing, Bangladesh believes that the situation requires three immediate and concurrent actions: putting an end to all hostilities and the cessation of all military operations in the entire region coupled with genuine respect for the political independence of $1 States involved, the withdrawal of all troops from all foreign territories, and the exercise of maximum restraint on the part of all outside Powers in refraining from any actions that could exacerbate tension or lead to further widening of the conflict. 47. Finally, Bangladesh believes that it is the fun&mental responsibility of the Council to encourage and to promote the exploration of all avenues that could lead to the normalization of the situation, a peaceful settlement of disputes and to long-term and durable peace in this region. 53. I wish to express my deep appreciation to representatives for the generous remarks that they have made regarding Jamaica’s presidency of the Council in January, and should like here to thank all members for the co-operation 55. Last month, the Council met to deal with a serious conflict that had broken out in South-East Asia. Today we are faced with the fact of a further outbreak involving a major conflict between two countries in the area. In January, my delegation drew attention to the fact that the countries of the area have in the.past been subjected to great hardship and suffering. At that time, we were deeply concerned at the danger of a widening of the conflict. It is clear that some of our fears have been realiied, and Jamaica is deeply disturbed at the continued trend towards friction and confrontation among the peoples of the area with whom we have friendly relations and share common hopes and aspirations. 56. In approaching these problems facing South-East Asia, it is not the intention of my delegation to engage in recrimination and acrimonious charges. Rather, we seek to assist in promoting an atmosphere of accommodation, conciliation and harmony in accordance with the principles of the Charter, which lays down the basic norms that must govern the behaviour of States in their relations with each other, 57. In January, when the Council met to consider the situation in Kampuchea, my delegation underscored the relevant principles of the Charter applicable to that situation. In particular we stressed the need for strict adherence to the principles of non-intervention in internal affairs and respect for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all States. Now that there has been a new outbreak of hostilities involving the armed invasion of the territory of Viet Nam on 17 February, we once again must assert the validity of the relevant principles of the Charter. Those principles specitically reject the resort to the use of force and the violation of the territorial integrity of States. My delegation therefore deeply regrets the resort to the use of force in this instance, as we believe that, whatever differences may exist between States, they should be settled by negotiation and peaceful means. 58. That is the only valid method for the settlement of differences or disputes between States. We therefore call upon the parties involved to bring about an immediate cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of all troops from foreign territories in the region and to observe strict respect for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of all States in the area. We believe that further aggravation of the situation must be prevented and therefore urge restraint on all outside interests to minimize the risk of a general 59. The Council must exnlore all ontions in its efforts to* realize these objectives. My deiegatibn will participate in any effort by the Council to deal constructively with this ditTicult situation. In this respect we welcome the offer by the Secretary-General of his good off&s and would encourage any other constructive measure which might be proposed. 60. I should like to underline and endorse the statement made by the representative of Zambia to the effect that it is imperative that the Council should be allowed to take a clear-cut concrete decision on these issues and one which will contribute positively to the solution of the problems of the area.

The next speaker is the representative of Democratic Kampuchea. I invite him to take a seat at the Council table and to make his statement.

Mr. President, permit me first of all to congratulate you most warmly on your assumption of the important post of President of the Security Council for this month. Whether during the war of national liberation from 1970 to 1975, or for the three and a half years of national reconstruction or even now in the course of the present struggle for the survival of the nation and people of Kampuchea, my country, Democratic Kampuchea, has always found in the people and Government of Kuwait a sympathy and support which have never failed. The friendship which has been develop ing over these years of struggle between our two peoples and our two non-aligned countries, is based on solid foundations, namely, the sacred principles of nonalignment and the Charter of the United Nations, of which Democratic Kampuchea and Kuwait are among the most earnest defenders. Accordingly, we appreciate most highly your presence as the President of the Council in this debate. 63. I should also like to express my profound and sincere gratitude to you, Sir, to the Secretary-General and to all the other members of the Security Council who have been kind enough to allow me to speak here today to present the present situation of my country, after two months of aggression, invasion and Vietnamese occupation of the most cruel kind. That is one more expression of the sympathy and encouragement which the Security Council and ail countries that love peace, justice and independence have always accorded to the just struggle of the people of Kampuchea under the leadership of the Government of Democratic Kampuchea against aggression, invasion and occupation by Viet Nam, aided and abetted by the Soviet Union. 64. The Security Council met from 11 to 15 January last at the request of the Government of Democratic Kampuchea to examine the problem of the aggression and massive invasion of Democratic Kampuchea by the armed forces of Viet Nam which was launched on 25 December 65. In order to camouflage its aggression and invasion of Kampuchea, Viet Nam has attempted to undertake the “Khmerization” of its war of aggression by trying to recruit Khmers to tight Khmers. But that attempt was a resounding failure because the people of Kampuchea know only too well the Vietnamese invaders who have oppressed, exploited and repeatedly massacred them in the past. The people of Kampuchea absolutely refuse to become the slaves of the Vietnamese and certainly refuse to serve as cannon-fodder for the Vietnamese against their own compatriots. On the contrary, in close unity with the revolutionary army of Kampuchea, they have inflicted and continue to intlict upon the Vietnamese invaders heavy losses in men and material. During January 1979 more than 10,000 Vietnamese invaders were eliminated and 1,000 tanks and military vehicles destroyed. 66. The failure of the “Khmerixation” of the war of aggression and the heavy losses inflicted by the people of Kampuchea and the revolutionary army of Kampuchea prompted Viet Nam to send to Kampuchea three additional divisions to reinforce its 14 divisions already there and to intensify its aggression against Kampuchea and its crimes against the people of Kampuchea. 67. At the present time, 150,000 Vietnamese invaders with considerable amounts of Soviet military equipment and supported by hundreds of Soviet military advisers are occupying Kampuchea. The Vietnamese air force is without any good reason bombing and destroying towns which contain no people and still less any military targets. Wherever the Vietnamese hordes go, they destroy and bum villages, fields and rice paddies; they massacre the people and rape the women before killing them; they have seized land to give it to Vietnamese who are sent from Viet Nam; they are plundering the harvests and taking the crops away to Viet Nam to attempt to fend off the famine which is raging there. They are eliminating the national culture and the civilization of Kampuchea. They have stolen and taken away to Viet Nam the statues of Buddha and other art treasures of gold and 68. Wherever they go, the Vietnamese hordes sow devastation, death and suffering. They massacre members of village and district councils and destroy wherever they can the structure of the apparatus of the Democratic Kampuchea State. At Phnom Penh they have installed an administration of which the head, the arms, the legs and the very body are wholly Vietnamese. That administration is Khmer in name only, a name given to it by Viet Nam to camouflage its aggression, its invasion and its occupation of Kampuchea and to mislead world public opinion. That administration survives thanks only to the presence of the Vietnamese occupation forces. 69. Viet Nam is thus in the process of pursuing a deliberate policy of genocide against the people of Kampuchea, which categorically refuses to collaborate with the Vietnamese invaders. The Vietnamese occupation forces in Kampuchea control neither the population nor the countryside. They have installed themselves in only a few areas of the main highways and in empty towns which are in any case encircled by the troops of the revolutionary army of Kampuchea and the people of Kampuchea. The present population of Phnom Penh, for example, is made up of 90 per cent Vietnamese invaders and 10 per cent Soviet and Cuban advisers. 70. But, barbarous and perfidious as they are, the Vietnamese continue to carry out raids against villages and the people who live around the towns. They aim systematically to destroy the Kampuchean nation and people and to eliminate the national identity of Kampuchea so that they can subsequently swallow it up all the more easily. They already dealt in this way with the Kingdom of Champa in the seventeenth century, which they swallowed up and transformed into Vietnamese provinces of the present central Vit Nam. They did the same with the former territories of Kampuchea located in the Mekong delta, which they transformed into the present Vietnamese provinces of southern Viet Nam. Now they want to do the same with Kampuchea by integrating it by force into an”Indo-Chinese federation” under the guardianship of Viet Nam. 71. Recently, the members of the Le Duan-Pham Van Dong clique went to Phnom Penh to inspect and encourage the Vietnamese hordes in Kampuchea, a country which they believe they have already conquered. Along with the installation of the Vietnamese administration, they have mounted a masquerade of talks and treaties in the hope of legalizing their invasion, their occupation and their genocide in Kampuchea, as well as the permanent stationing in Kampuchea of 150,000 Vietnamese invaders. The aim of the so-called treaties is to enable Viet Nam: first, to continue to carry out aggression against Democratic Kampuchea, to massacre the people of Kampuchea and to sow everywhere devastation, death and suffering, in accordance with its policy of “destroying everything, burning everything and massacring everyone’* and its objective of exterminating the 72. In its statement of 19 February 1979/seeS/13204], the Government of Democratic Kampuchea, through its Prime Minister, Pol Pot, denounced and categorically rejected all those “agreements” and “treaties” invented and put together by the Le Duan-Pham Van Dong clique. The signing of the so-called “treaty of friendship” which was staged recently in Phnom Penh is of the same nature as that of the “treaty of friendship” between Viet Nam and Laos signed in July 1977. It clearly exposes the fact that the goal of the Vietnamese aggression against and invasion of Democratic Kampuchea is to compel Kampuchea by force of arms to enter the “Indo-Chinese federation*’ so that it can subsequently be swallowed up. It reveals once again the hypocrisy and perfidious nature of Viet Nam which has always claimed that is has abandoned the idea of such an “Indo-Chinese federation”. 73. With that “Indo-Chinese federation**, the Le Duan- Pham Van Dong clique will extend its expansion in South- East Asia and create provocations-as it is doing on its frontiers with China-to destroy peace and security in South-East Asia, in the Pacific, in Asia and throughout the world, in accoidance with Viet Nam’s own strategy, but also in conformity with the strategy of its Soviet masters. 74. Whether thev be feudal lords or so-called “revolutionaries”, the Vietnamese have one thing ‘in common; they, have always been and still are inveterate annexationists and swallowers of the territory of small neighbouring countries. In the twentieth century, at a time when we are talking of the elimination of colonialism and of the decline of imperialism, Vietnamese colonialism and imperialism are without any doubt the worst kind of colonialism and imperialism that has every existed, because their aim is totally to swallow up the conquered countries, as they are now attempting to do to Kampuchea, so that after a certain number of yearsif, of course, the people of Kampuchea do not resolutely oppose them-there will no longer be either a people or a nation of Kampuchea, just as today there is no Cham people or nation. 75. The activities of the delegation of the Le Duan-Pham 79. Along the frontiers with the People’s Republic of Van Dong clique in Phnom Penh are those of a central China, Viet Nam has been engaged in incessant acts Of authority in a Vietnamese province. So true is it that the provocation, seeking every possible pretext to gnaw away at administration installed at Phnom Penh is nothing but a Chinese territory, on land and on sea, just as it did with Vietnamese provincial administration. However, it is that regard to Kampuchean territory before its current maSSiVe Vietnamese administration which Viet Nam is frantically invasion. For a long time now the people of Kampuchea seeking to have recognized by the United Nations, the have been suffering from these cruel and savage acts Of non-aligned movement and all countries which love peace, aggression committed by Viet Nam; they have accumulated justice and independence, and consequently to obtain the some very bitter experience of this at the price of their Own endorsement of the invasion, occupation and absorption of blood. That is why the Government and the people Of Kampuchea by Viet Nam. The United Nations, the rion- Democratic Kampuchea understand perfectly well and resaligned movement and all countries which love peace, jusolutely support the just measures taken by the People’s tice and independence, have rejected that Vietnamese Republic of China to put an end to the arrogant PrOVoCaeriminal manoeuvre. We thank them most warmly for that. tions of Viet Nam. These measures are without IUIY doubt has ceased. It is mt.tltiplyingits acts of provocation along the frontiers with the People’s Republic of China and making a great hue and cry with the perfidious goal of blotting out the memory of the aggression against and the invasion and occupation of Democratic Kampuchea by 150,000 Vietnamese soldiers and to conceal the intensification of its crimes against Democratic Kampuchea and the people of Kampuchea. It is like the murderer who, in order to hide his crime, cries out that his neighbour to the left is hitting him-and giving welldeserved blows, by the way-when he himself is actually cutting the throat of his neighbour on the right. Incidentally, if everything was really going so well for Viet Nam in Kampuchea, one might wonder why Viet Nam needs to station its armed forces in Kampuchea indefinitely. Why does it need to stage this masquerade of ‘a “friendship treaty’? 77. In fact, the United Nations, the non-aligned movement and the peoples and the countries that love peace, justice and independence have come to understand and recognize the arrogance and perfidiousness of Viet Nam, particularly since it launched its blitzkrieg against Kampuchea and since it has been arrogantly denying the presence of Vietnamese troops in Kampuchea when the whole world is perfectly aware that there are 150,000 Vietnamese invaders in Kampuchea. Lastly, after the invasion of Kampuchea by Viet Nam, the impudent and deceptive commitment of the Vietnamese leaders, and particularly of the Vietnamese Prime Minister, Pham Van Dong, made before all the leaders of the South-East Asian countries according to which Viet Nam would respect the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of all neighbouring countries has clearly shown that Viet Nam is engaged in lying and hypocrisy, which are the foundations of its international relations. 78. Viet Nam is trampling underfoot the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of non-alignment, resorting to the law of the jungle in its international relations, conducting itself with unbounded arrogance as a regional expansionist and displaying scornful disregard of the international community, the United Nations, the non-aligned movement and all countries throughout the world that love peace, justice and independence. Viet Nam is the only country in the world capable of combining arrogance, perfidiousness and criminality to a degree which far transcends the level achieved by Nazi fascism. 80. The same cannot be said for the Vietnamese aggression against and invasion of Democratic Kampuchea in order to colonize and transform it into a Vietnamese province. These acts constitute a grave threat to the peace, security, stability and independence of all the countries of South-East Asia, the Pacific, Asia and the world. They are not merely an isolated or regional phenomenon, because Viet Nam does not act alone but with the considerable assistance of Soviet global expansionism. In fact, they mark a new step towards the intemationalization of the war, which is liable to engulf the whole world in flames. If the crimes of Viet Nam against Kampuchea remain unpunished, Viet Nam’s expansionist and annexation& appetite will be whetted and it will seek to satisfy it by springing upon other countries in the area. Furthermore, that would open the door to other regional or global expansionist Powers which would inevitably follow the criminal example of Viet Nam. We should still like to believe that the lessons of Munich and the crimes of Hitler, in which the Vietnamese have shown themselves to be the most well versed, have not already been forgotten. 81. The people of Kampuchea, for their part, absolutely refuse to become the slaves of the Vietnamese, for whom they have an age-old ancestral hatred. After having struggled for scores of years and made so many sacrifices to win their liberty, independence and territorial integrity, our people will never allow Viet Nam to impose upon them its colonialist yoke, to annihilate the nation and to destroy its civilization and its national identity. Under the leadership of the Government of Democratic Kampuchea, the whole people of Kampuchea, united in a broad national, democratic and patriotic front, and the revolutionary army of Kampuchea are in the process of eliminating hundreds of Vietnamese invaders every day, and they will persist in this resolute and unswerving struggle until the Vietnamese colonialist occupiers have been totally driven out of the national territory and the national independence, national sovereignty and territorial integrity of Democratic Kampuchea have been restored. 82. In order to help in putting an end to this Vietnamese aggression and invasion which are becoming ever more intense against Democratic Kampuchea, in order to thwart Vietnamese ambition to swallow up Kampuchea and eliminate the increasingly grave threats to world peace, we call upon the Security Council to be good enough: first, to condemn the aggression against and the invasion, colonization and absorption of Democratic Kampuchea by Viet Nam and to call upon Viet Nam immediately to put an end to its war of aggression and its invasion and colonization of Democratic Kampuchea, to withdraw totally, unconditionally and immediately all its armed forces, all its military and civilian elements from the territory of Kampuchea and to respect the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Democratic Kampuchea as well as the right of the people of Kampuchea to decide their own destiny; secondly, to invite all Governments to reject the Vietnamese manceuvre aimed at obtaining recognition for the Vietnamese administration installed in temporarily occupied Phnom Penh; thirdly, to invite all the specialized agencies of the United Nations and other international organisations connected with the United Nations, as well as Governments

The next speaker is the representative of Viet Nam. I invite him to take a place at the Council table and to make his statement.

Mr. President I would fmt of all congratulate you on your accession to the presidency of the Council. I greet in you the eminent representative of the State of Kuwait, a country with which mine has excellent friendly relations, both on a bilateral level and in the non-aligned movement. 85. The issue before the Council without a doubt is one of special importance since there is a serious threat to peace and security in the region of South-East Asia, brought about by the open large-scale aggression of China against Viet Nam, an independent and sovereign country. In the last few days Chinese aggression against Viet Nam has caused serious concern in all circles of world opinion. We feel that the Council, because of its great responsibility to the international community for maintaining the peace and security of peoples, has the obligation to examine the situation and take appropriate decisions to condemn the Peking authorities, to demand of them the withdrawal of all their armed forces from the territory of Viet Nam. To our mind, any attempt to divert world opinion by lmking the problem of China’s aggression against Viet Nam to other issues can only help to encourage the Chinese aggressors. 86. In the last few days we have addressed to the Secretary-General and td the President of the Security Council notes and documents from the Government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam-General Assembly and Security Council documents [S/23077, S/Z3093 and S/Z30971 to inform them of the serious situation brought about by Chinese aggression and to call upon them to take the appropriate measures to put a stop to that aggression. 87. Acting on instructions from my Government, I should like to inform the Council of the position of the Govemment of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam on the war of aggression waged by China against Viet Nam. 88. The Chinese authorities have openly begun a war of aggression against Viet Nam. This is in no way a frontier war; it is an outright war of aggression involving extremely dangerous and unforeseeable consequences, for which China must assume full responsibility. 90. The invading troops have destroyed several economic facilities, cultural centres and public service centres; they have bombarded with their artillery the apatite mines of Cam Duong, the power plants of Lao Cai, the tin mines of Tinh TUC, and the sugar refineries of Phuc Hoa. They have destroyed everything in their path, burned everything, killed old people and children, raped women and perpetrated crimes of the utmost barbarity against the Vietnamese people. At bayonet point they have forced the inhabitants to show them the way, and killed those people as soon as they reached their destination. The army of invasion has caused serious losses in human life and assets among the Vietnamese. 91. The Vietnamese army and people have in their turn inflicted heavy losses on the invaders, thus slowing their advance. However, they continue to bring up fresh reinforcements of troops, war equipment and resources and are preparing for new attacks. According to foreign information sources, several hundred military aircraft and seven Chinese army corps are concentrated very close to the Chinese-Viet Nam frontier. It is clear that the Chinese war of aggression against Viet Nam is becoming increasingly cruel and there is a threat of its expansion, which would entail extremely serious consequences for peace and stability in South-East Asia and in the world at large. This is an undeniable fact. None the less, the Peking authorities are continuing their campaign of lying propaganda. They are trying to make everyone believe that these are only defensive counter-attack military operations near the frontier, involving only frontier forces, that the fighting is going on solely on Chinese territory, that the Vietnamese armed forces are having to withdraw, and so on. Yesterday, the representative of China repeated the same story, giving us to believe that he is deliberately underestimating the common sense of the Council. For who could believe that 25 divisions, backed up by several armoured divisions and artillery and supported by the air force could be frontier forces or that occupation by the Chinese army of several urban centres and Vietnamese villages, some of which are 40 kilometres within Vietnamese territory, could be no more than a defensive counter-attack? 92. In launching the war of aggression against Viet Nam, the Chinese authorities have laid completely bare their hostile policy towards Viet Nam, as well as their ambitions for annexation and hegemony as a major nation in South-East Asia. 94. I could place before the Council many facts to bear out what I have said about this policy of the Peking leadership but, because of lack of time, I shall limit myself to mentioning but a few. 95. In 1965, Teng Hsiao-ping made a secret visit to Viet Nam and had interviews with our leaders. During that visit, he proposed that Viet Nam should stop receiving assistance from the USSR and said that China was ready to assume responsibility for all the assistance necessary for Viet Nam in its resistance to the Americans. We refused that offer because it was contrary to our people’s independent, sovereign foreign policy and their policy of international solidarity. That was why the Chinese authorities subsequently created all sorts of difficulties to prevent assistance from the Soviet Union and other socialist countries from reaching Viet Nam. That delayed the supplying of our war front and to some extent restricted our capacity to fight at that time. 96. In 1968, the Peking leaders opposed our policy of negotiating with the United States because, to use the words of an American journalist at that time, “they wanted to fight the Americans to the last Vietnamese”. It was also their policy during that period that Viet Nam’s war against the United States should continue so that difficulties in the way of Soviet-American detente would be created and so that the Peking leaders could pursue, in all tranquillity, their cultural revolution without fear of being disturbed by the United States. We explained to them that the strategy of “fighting and negotiating’* at the same time was based on Chinese experiences. To win us over, they said that this strategy had been a mistake on their part. Chen-yi, who was then Deputy Prime Minister, went so far as to threaten us with breaking off relations between the Chinese Cornmunist Party and our Party if we persisted in negotiating with the Americans. Despite those threats, we.conducted negotiations with the United States until 1973. 97. We have not made those two facts public up to now because despite the ever-increasing provocation of the Peking leaders, we have always sought to safeguard the traditional friendship between our two peoples. Today, at this series of meetings, faced with the grave danger to the life of our nation and aware of our people’s reponsibility towards history and towards the safeguarding of peace in South- East Asia and the entire world, we believe that the time has come to bring to light these facts-which we have selected from among many others-so that the Security Council and world opinion may understand the truth about the hostile policy practised by the Peking leaders towards Viet Nam for several years now and, at the same time, the truth about the independent and sovereign policy, the policy of international solidarity of the Party, Government and people of Viet Nam. 98. Until the mid-197Os, Peking had been accentuating its hostile attitude towards Viet Nam. In 1974 the Chinese authorities seized the Paracel Islands of Viet Nam and laid unjustified claim to other islands in the Eastern Sea. They fomented incidents on the land frontiers with Viet Nam, even though the Sine-Vietnamese frontiers had been clearly 99. At the very beginning of 1978, the Chinese authorities, in accordance with a premeditated, organized plan, tricked several hundreds of thousands of Hoa and forced them to leave Viet Nam. They incited those who remained to foment subversion. 100. Peking took advantage of the difllculties faced by the Vietnamese people as a result of natural disasters in order to cut off economic assistance and withdraw experts, in the fierce hope of being able to subjugate Viet Nam. They went so far as to exert pressure on other countries and on international organizations to stop their assistance to Viet Nam, thereby breaching resolutions of the General Assembly and the non-aligned movement with regard to assistance to Viet Nam for post-war reconstruction. 101. They used the Pol Pot-Ieng Sary clique as an instrument to make the people of Kampuchea submit to their r&ime of slavery, to launch a war against Viet Nam and to foment contlicts with other neighbouring countries, thus endangering peace and stability in South-East Asia. They spared no effort to sow discord between the countries of the Association of South-East Asian Nations and Viet Nam and to set the countries of South-East Asia at each other’s throats. 102. All that clearly proves that Peking’s aim is to encircle Viet Nam from four sides and to coordinate the war fomented by the Pol Pot-Ieng Sary clique on our southwestern borders with its own military pressure on our northem borders, with its provocations inside Viet Nam and with economic strangulation, in order to try to subjugate us. Having suffered one defeat after another in their anti- Vietnamese policy, the Peking authorities have now embarked on an even more dangerous path: that of an open war of aggression against Viet Nam. 109. The Peking leaders accuse us of being supported by the Soviet Union, of depending upon the Soviet Union. They say that we are encouraged by that friendly country in our “hostile policy” against China. This is just a calumny. It is a shameless falsification of the policy of independence, sovereignty and international solidarity of the Vietnamese people. It is a slight to our national honour. Socialist Viet Nam still follows a policy of proletarian internationalist solidarity with the Soviet Union and the other socialist countries, a policy of peace, friendship and co-operation with the national liberation forces working for peace and justice in the world. On the basis of this Leninist foreign policy the Soviet Union has been giving us constant support and effective assistance in our previous war of resistance and in the post-war national reconstruction effort, on the basis of reciprocal respect for independence and sovereignty. It is precisely the Peking leaders who, following their policy of hegemony and large-nation expansionism, have not accepted the aforementioned foreign policy of Viet Nam and who wish to subject us to an anti-Soviet policy. This leads them to pursue a systematic policy that is increasingly hostile towards our people and the culmination of which is a war of open aggression against Viet Nam. 104. It is necessary to stress the fact that the Peking authorities launched the war of aggression against Viet Nam after the signing of the Sine-Japanese peace treaty2 and the normalization of diplomatic relations with the United States, and immediately after the return of Teng Hsiaoping from the United States and Japan, where Teng publicly called for war against Viet Nam. Information has come to light showing that Washington and Tokyo gave their consent, if not their encouragement, to Peking in its aggression against Viet Nam. 103. This act of war reveals expansionist and hegemonistic aims of a large nation and the reactionary policy of the Peking authorities. They constantly try to make the world believe that the threat of war comes from the USSR, but in fact it is Peking and Peking alone that calls for war and is trying to push the world to the edge of the precipice. Shamelessly, those authorities declare themselves to be the NATO of the East, incite the NATO countries to oppose the Soviet Union and spare no effort to strengthen their collusion with imperialist and reactionary forces against the socialist countries, the national liberation movements and all peaceloving forces. 2 Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the People’s Republic of China and Japan, done at Peking on 12 August 1978. .--..-___~ _._~.._. 106. First of all, they are inventing wholesale the so-called Vietnamese aggression. They accuse Viet Nam of being “destined to destroy the four modemizations of China”, which in their eyes obliges them to take reprisals in order to “punish’* Viet Nam witha view to establishing “a frontier of peace and stability”. 107. The picture drawn by the representative of China yesterday for the Council concerning the so-called acts of provocation by Vietnamese armed forces on the Viet Nam- China border is just a tissue of lies by which they seek to pass off as ours their own violations of the frontier and their crimes against our frontier population. 108. It takes but a little good political common sense to recognize that, after 30 years of war involving unprecedented loss and sacrifice, the Vietnamese people need peace and stability as never before in order to rebuild the country. To provoke a vast country such as China, to have an anti-Chinese policy, such as the Peking leaders accuse us of, would be madness. In view of the traditional friendly relations between the two peoples, any Government, however little concerned for the national interest, would have to seek to develop and strengthen those links. 110. During his recent trip to the United States and Japan, Vice Premier Teng constantly called for “a lesson such as Viet Nam deserves”. This is the propaganda formula for “reprisals” used in the time of the Johnson administration to justify the war of escalation against the people of Viet Nam. 111. As for the Chinese Government’s slogan of “establishing a frontier of peace and stability”, we recognize in it the slogan of the “need for secure and guaranteed borders” used by the aggressor Israel in its occupation of a part of the Arab territories. 113. Secondly, to defend themselves against and to distract public opinion throughout the world, the Peking leaders are striving through propaganda to play down the scope and seriousness of their war of aggression against Viet Nam. They say that the war they have launched “is confined to the frontier” and that Chinese troops will withdraw once the goal has been achieved. In fact, they have in their war of invasion used a force of more than 20 divisions, that is, more land force divisions than were used by the United States in its war of aggression against Viet Nam when that war was at its peak. So it is certainly not a frontier war that the Peking leaders have launched. If we bear in mind all their machinations and their hostile actions towards Viet Nam in recent years, we can say that their war of aggression is intended to bring Viet Nam to subjection. History shows that aggressors usually employ the phrase “limited war” to mask their true intention. The Johnson administration, when it began the war of aggression against Viet Nam, also used the same expression “limited war’*. But what really took place was one of the bloodiest wars of aggression that history has ever witnessed. War has its own laws. One cannot say that the war of aggression unleashed by China against my Country caNlot lead to a war of aggression on a grand scale. The only way to limit and remove the danger of the extension of such a war of aggression which seriously threatens the peace of the world is to tie the hands of the aggressor. 114. Thirdly, the Chinese leaders in launching the war of aggression against Viet Nam say that they are ready to negotiate through peaceful means. 115. The world is witness to the fact that before their armed attack against Viet Nam they refused any proposal for negotiations made by Viet Nam. In former times, when they were occasionally forced to sit down at the negotiating table, they strove by every means to sabotage the negotiations. Now that they are calling for negotiations while they are launching their armed attack, this also reminds us of the tactics of the former Johnson administration when it was stepping up its war of aggression against Viet Nam. It is just sheer trickery. History shows that China has always used force to resolve frontier and territorial disputes. Peking used military force to occupy the Paracel Islands, a territory of Viet Nam; it used war to encroach on the territory of India and it provoked a frontier war with the USSR. 116. Yesterday the Chinese representative said “magnanimously” that China did not want one inch of Vietnamese territory, thus repeating the words of his Government. As Vietnamese, after the experience of being China’s neighbour for 20 years, in other words, since the agreement of 1958 between the Chinese and Vietnamese communist parties concerning the srutusqtto of the frontiers drawn between the two countries, we who have suffered gradual encroachment on our territory, sometimes inch by inch and at the price of more than 2,000 armed provocations all, without exception, caused by the Chinese side and spread over four years, according to the memorandum issued by our Ministry of Foreign Affairs /S/13093], can say quite to the con- 117. There is reason to believe that the criminal intention of the Peking leaders is so dangerous that they have had to endeavour by every means available to hide it from their own people, even by means of restraint and restriction of the fundamental human freedoms. This is borne out by the facts published in The Chrirfiun Science Monim of 23 February 1979, which reads as follows: “There are also signs that Peking fears an outburst of criticism at home against the Viet Nam war. A directive from the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party has forbidden all wallposters, meetingsand demonstrations about Viet Nam. It was also reported that itwas forbidden to listen to foreign radio broadcasts. Some Chinese officials in Peking mentioned differences among the Chinese leadership regarding the Viet Nam issue. Some observers think that broad sections of Chinese youth are reluctant about a policy that might oblige them to fight on the field of battle.” 118. Men of good will throughout the world should certainly wonder why the Peking authorities have tried to hide this war even from the Chinese people. To our mind it is because it is a war of aggression, absolutely contrary tothe morality and aspirations of the people of China. It is because the Peking authorities are afraid of the truth, just as the owl fears the light. It is because they have hazarded an unjust war. It is for that reason that they have had to resort to lies in order to try to deceive their own people and to mislead world public opinion and even the members of the Security Council. 119. In order to cover their policy aimed at subjugating the Cambodian people in slavery, they seek to slander Viet Nam. In their war of aggression against Viet Nam, they have used all the lies and calumnies we have just summarized for members here. They seek to turn the victim of aggression into the aggressor, truth into falsehood, to distort the truth without giving thought to public opinion so long as they can serve their evil ends. The history of every age has shown us how far the leaders of peoples who have had to resort to lies like those used by Goebbels can lead mankind, and what fate is reserved for them. 120. Peoples who prize peace and justice, men of conscience throughout the world, cannot remain indifferent in the face of a war game such as that currently being played by the Peking leaders. Energetic and timely action will be required to foil their acts of aggression and their warmongering policy. This, we feel, is the lofty responsibility incumbent upon the Security Council and on the States Members of the United Nations. 121. After more than 30 years of war, the people of Viet Nam, more than any other people, ardently long for peace in order to rebuild their country. The people of Viet Nam have great respect for the Vietnamese-Chinese friendship, which was built jointly by the two peoples in their struggle against imperialism and for independence and freedom. In recent years, particularly since last year, in view of growing 122. Taking their example from the old feudal Chinese, the imperialists and the colonialists, the Chinese leaders believed that they could use bombs and guns to force the people of Viet Nam to submit and that they could use the tricks of propaganda to mislead world public opinion. But they were seriously mistaken. Loyal to the teaching of our venerated President, Ho Chi Minh, that “nothing is more precious than independence and freedom*‘, the people of Viet Nam, united as a single man, calm and sure, overcoming dilEculties and making sacrifices, are resolved to defend every inch of their sacred native soil, to safeguard independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity and the gains made by the building of socialism in our dear country, and will thus contribute to safeguarding peace and security in South-East Asia and throughout the world. 123. Once again, as a matter of national duty and for the sake of peace, independence and social progress, all the people of Viet Nam have risen up to tight against the expansionist aggressors in collusion with the imperialists, the common enemy of all peoples. It is precisely for that reason that the war of the people of Viet Nam for its just cause immediately benefited from the broad and firm support of the Soviet Union and the socialist countries, the peoples, Governments and countries that love peace, independence, freedom and justice and the whole of progressive mankind. Ten years ago the whole of mankind demanded that the Government of the United States should end its war of aggression against Viit Nam, that American troops should leave Viet Nam. Today, once again, the whole planet is resounding with the angry cry: “Chinese expansionist, hands off the soil of Viet Nam; end the war of aggression, withdraw all your troops from Vietnamese territory’*. Only this morning some of us who are sitting here saw with our own eyes thousands of Americans in the streets of New York demonstrating, carrying slogans of the most expressive kind condemning Chinese aggression and expressing solidarity with Viet Nam. 124. From this seat, on behalf of the people of Viet Nam and the Government of the Social& Republic of Viet Nam, permit me to express our profound gratitude for that firm, immediate and valuable support accorded to us by the world. 125. The people of Viet Nam are f&y convinced that with determination and the strength of a whole nation which has routed all aggressors, and with the firm support of our brothers and friends from all continents, they will inevitably win final victory against the war of aggression launched by the Peking leaders. 126. In starting a war of aggression against Viet Nam, the Chinese leaders have shown themselves to be enemies of the socialist system and the national independence movement, and dangerous saboteurs of peace in South-East Asia and throughout the world. That aggression has spumed the most elementary principles of international relations and 127. We hope that the Security Council will severely condemn the Peking leaders for their crime of aggression against an independent and sovereign country and will ,demand that they should immediately end their war of aggression against Viet Nam, immediately and totally withdraw all their troops from Vietnamese territory and respect the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Viet Nam. 128. We followed attentively the introduction of the draft resolution sponsored by the Soviet Union and the Socialist Republic of Czechoslovakia [S/131171. We wholeheartedly endorse the views expressed therein and give our full approval to the measures there contained for putting an end to the Chinese war of aggression against Viet Nam. We hope that the members of the Council, aware of their supreme responsibility before the international community, will give their support to that draft resolution. 129. We believe that it is necessary to stress that, in his statement, the representative of the United States Govemment [2ll#th meet&J intentionally sought to sow confusion about the problem in an attempt to act as advocate of Chinese aggression against Viet Nam. There is no problem that can properly be described as the “South-East Asian” or “Indo-Chinese” problem. What public opinion in the world is condemning is precisely the war of aggression of the Chinese authorities against Viet Nam. If there is anything to be debated in the situation in this region, it is only Peking’s war of aggression, which must be condemned for the simple reason that that aggression has violated the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Vietnamese people and that it has seriously violated the peace and stability of South-East Asia and of the rest of the world. The fact that the United States has linked the Chinese aggression against Viet Nam with the Kampuchean problem proves its complicity with the Chinese aggressors whom they wish to encourage to redouble their efforts in their pursuit of this criminal war. 130. We must draw a clear-cut distinction between the two problems. On the one hand, we have the open and deliberate war of aggression waged by China against Viet Nam and the occupation of part of Vietnamese territory by Chinese troops; on the other hand, there is the support and assistance of our people for the armed revolutionary struggle of the people of Kampuchea for the achievement of their right to self-determination as recognized by the Charter of the United Nations. That assistance is being provided at the request of that fraternal people and to the extent of our means, on the basis of mutual respect for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of each country. It is directed against the neocolonial type regime in Kampuchea, the product of the hegemonistic and expansionist policy of the Peking authorities. There can be no possible trade-off between the withdrawal of Chinese troops from Viet Nam and the withdrawal of Vietnamese troops from Kampuchea. To link these two problems is to defend the expansionist and aggressive policy of the Peking authorities and, in actual fact, it is tantamount to encouraging them to intensify and extend their war of aggression against Viet NlMl. 132 In his message of 8 January 1979 addressed to the President of the Security Council /S/13013, annexli7, President Heng Samrin, Chairman of the People’s Revolutionary Council of Kampuchea, stated that any meeting of the Security Council on the problem of Kampuchea not convened at the request of the People’s Revolutionary Council of Kampuchea, or any meeting at which the People’s Revolutionary Council was not represented, was totally illegal. Consequently, if there is anything to be said here about the problem of Kampuchea, it is that we must condemn the Chineses authorities who continue to transport arms and ammunition for what remains of the routed army of the Pol Pot-Ieng Sary clique in an attempt to revive that political corpse, to interfere in the internal affairs of the Kampuchean people, to impede the efforts of the Kampuchean people to rebuild their country, and to sabotage peace and stability in South-East Asia. All this is further proof of the persistent expansionist ambitions and hegemonistic great- Power aims of the Peking authorities in that area. 133. .The PRESIDENT: The next speaker is the representative of Canada. I invite him to take a place at the Council table and to make his statement.

First of all I should like to thank the members of the Council for their courtesy in allowing me to appear before it this afternoon and to make a statement on this current and important question. I should also like to congratulate you, Sir, on your assump tion of the presidency of the Council for this month. Last year I had the honour and pleasure of serving under your presidency and therefore know how well the affairs of the Council will be handled during the remainder of the month of February. 135. It is a measure of Canada’s deep concern over the current situation in South-East Asia that we joined with Australia and New Zealand in what for us was an unusual step, namely, that of supporting, in a letter addressed to the President on 23 February [S/231141, the request for an urgent meeting of the Council. That we have also now sought to address the Council is again indicative of the importance Canada attaches to this debate. While Canada is neither a party to the many-sided disputes now disrupting the peace in South-East Asia nor an immediate geographical neighbour, we regard ourselves as a member of the Pacific Community and Canadians are deeply troubled by the far-reaching consequences which the perpetuation of the present conflicts could bring about. We are concerned too, because of our 20-year exposure, as members of supervisory and control mechanisms author&d by the international community, for the aspirations of the peoples of Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia for justice. After a quarter of a century of strife, those aspirations have still not been fulfilled. And tinally, we are disturbed by the evident failure of existing international machinery to prevent the recurrence of violence and warfare. 136. I do not wish to rehearse in any detail the causes of the current confrontation, some of which am centuries old, “to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles ofjustice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace”. The Charter also makes clear that it is the Security Council which bears the primary responsibility in this regard. 137. It is, therefore, the duty of the Council not only to review the facts of the present crisis but-what is more important-to consider practical measures that can help to defuse the situation and, in time, restore peace in that long-alflicted region. The facts are well known. The military movements across international borders and the continued armed confrontations between large forces are not denied. The resulting human suffering and economic losses are self-evident. 138. My country deplores the increasing resort to the use of force that we have been witnessing in the attempt to settle disputes in South-East Asia, and we call here, as we have publicly and through diplomatic channels, for the exercise of restraint on the part of all those involved. 139. Beyond that, it should be evident that the first essential step to be taken by the Council must be a call for an immediate cessation of hostilities in the entire region. Secondly, this must be followed as rapidly as possible by the withdrawal of all foreign forces from the territory of Cambodia and from the territory of Viet Nam. And thirdly, it is equally clear to my Government that we must move the treatment of these differences from the military to the political level. In other words, it is our earnest hope that the Council may be able to proceed beyond the essential first steps of a military cease-fire and withdrawal to a considcration of practical ways and means of developing, in an orderly fashion, a climate conducive to peace, security and stability not only for the nations directly involved in the conflict but also for their neighbours and the world at large. 140. But it would be a serious mistake to concentrate only on the current outbursts of violence and ignore the other ills that have plagued this region for so long. Canada hasraised its voice before to deplore the denial of human rights in parts of that region. Canada, like many other nations, and in particular the countries neighbouring that region, has been shocked by the continuing exodus of thousands of refugees who have been forced for a variety of reasons to flee their homelands, We have tried, and are continuing to try, to alleviate this problem. But more sweeping measures must be taken if we want to stop violence, prevent the denial of human dignity, and alleviate the conditions which have driven human beings to join in the flow of refugees. The peoples and Governments of Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos must be given more than sympathy or remonstrance. They must be helped to develop the political framework within which they will be able to live in peace and security. The peoples of the ASEAN countries must be given more than ad hoc humanitarian assistance and vague reassurances. They are entitled to long-term stability and the international community would be well advised to help them to achieve it. 148. China’s action in invading Viet Nam is clearly a response to the invasion of Cambodia by the Vietnamese early in January. But the existence of a causal link provides no justification. We cannot condone in any way China’s action, any more than we could condone Viet Nam’s earlier violation of Cambodian sovereignty. The remedy for both must be the same. In both cases the forces must be withdrawn immediately. It is my delegation’s hope that the Council will adopt a resolution insisting upon the withdrawal of Chinese forces from Viet Nam and of Vietnamese forces from Cambodia and reaffirming the fundamental principles on which the Organization and the survival of international order are based. 142. Against the background of what I have said already, we entertain the hope that the Council may invite the Secretary-General informally to explore possibilities that may be open and acceptable to those most directly involved for a political meeting which would aim at translating into mutually acceptable political realities the issues of contention which are to&y the basis of unacceptable military action, which must come to an end. 149. It is not often that events show us so clearly and so quickly that a violent act contains the seeds of further violence. The actions of Viet Nam earlier and now of China have created a very tense and dangerous situation in the region with the potential for almost unlimited escalation. Viet Nam has recently signed a treaty of friendship with the Soviet Union [S/Z29201 which makes mandatory consultations between the two Governments in the event of an attack on one of the parties. Further escalation leading to a conflagration in Asia must be avoided through statesmanship and restraint on the part of world leaders. It is our hope that they will exhibit that statesmanship.

The next speaker is the representative of New Zealand. I invite him to take a place at the Council table and to make his statement.

I thank the members of the Council for allowing me to address them. I should also like to congratulate you, Mr. President, on your assumption of your high office. It is good to know in these troubled times that we are in such capable hands. 150. Hand in hand with the avoidance of further escalation and the immediate withdrawal of forces must go efforts to resolve the situation in the region peacefully and permanently. In the view of my Minister for Foreign Affairs, the cardinal principle is the following: 145. For the second time since the beginning of the year, my delegation has asked to be allowed to speak before the Security Council on a matter of the utmost gravity. For the second time this year the troops of one country have crossed the border of another country in the South-East Asian region. In a world crying out for peace and for sanity in human affairs, the resort to force by one nation against another is simply unacceptable. As my Minister for Foreign Affairs said last week-end: “New Zealand deeply regrets the widening of the conflict in Indo-China”. “There can be no stability in South-East Asia until every country in that area is prepared to respect the independence of its neighbours. Our aim must be to find a road to a peaceful settlement based on that principle.‘* 151. My Government has noted with interest suggestions that an international conference might be held to reach agreement on guaranteeing the independence and neutrality of Cambodia. We feel that serious attention should be given by members of the Council to promoting discussions between the parties involved, whether in a conference or under the aegis of the Security Council or through the very timely offer of his good offices by the Secretary-General or in any other appropriate manner, with a view to resolving the ‘Cambodian problem. For, until the situation in Kampuchea is resolved, the cause of the tension which has contributed to the grave situation before us today will continue. We appeal to the parties concerned-Viet Nam and China-to begin this process of finding a peaceful solution by ceasing their military activities and withdrawing their forces immediately. 146. In January the Council was faced with clear evidence that the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Democratic Kampuchea had been violated by forces of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. At that time we expressed the view that Viet Nam’s action was contrary to the central principle of the Charter of the United Nations. We joined other countries in calling on Viet Nam to withdraw its forces from Cambodia and to respect that country’s independence. That call, supported by 13 members of the Council who voted for the moderate draft resolution /S/13027] introduced by your country, Mr. President, has not yet been heeded. Regrettably, the draft resolution itself was defeated by the negative vote of the Soviet Union. 147. Since then we have watched with growing concern the deterioration of relations between the People’s Republic of China and Viet Nam and the increase of tension along the border between the two countries. We joined other countries in the region and elsewhere in urging restraint on both parties, for we saw grave dangers 152. My Government will remain in close contact with other Governments and give its full support to measures designed to secure a withdrawal of forces and to ensure that real efforts will be made to work for permanent peace and stability in the region.

Mr. President, I would first of all convey the warmest congratulations of the delegation of Cuba on your accession to the presidency of the Security Council. With our awareness of your extraordinary qualities and your broad diplomatic experience, we are sure that you will most ably conduct the deliberations on this thorny and difficult matter. 155. The history of treason goes back a long way. It is really unnecessary to remind this international body about it since it certainly does not suffer from arteriosclerosis. I shall therefore only refer to a major recent act of betrayal: a betrayal by the new mandarins of the cause of socialism and communism. There is no other name to describe the aggression carried out by the present governors of China against the heroic people of Viet Nam. 156. The struggle against foreign aggression is an insoluble part of the history of Viet Nam. From time immemorial, the Vietnamese people have, with proverbial courage, stood fast against repeated attempts at foreign domination. They never wavered in their patriotic loyalty. They were never vanquished by their .cowardly aggressors. Neither the ancient Chinese dynasties nor the French colonialists, neither the Japanese militarists nor North American imperialism could bring the indomitable fatherland of Ho Chi Minh to submission. JosC Marti. the founder of our independence, referred with great admiration to that valiant and self-sacrificing people, that people of such high culture, such delicate courtesy of manner, such unswerving conduct, such noble-mindedness in friendship and generous dedication. With a vision that went beyond his time, he defined the inherent characteristics of the Vietnamese people and held it up as an example in the struggle for freedom. 157. For Cuba, which has suffered the scourge of imperialism and even now is subjected to the immoral blockade imposed by the North American Government, the heroic struggle of Viet Nam is a daily example. For years the people of Viet Nam suffered in its o.wn flesh the lash of Yankee imperialism. With its resolution to stand fast it helped to prevent further aggression and death in the world. Its extraordinary victory in 1975 dealt a severe blow to warmongering circles of imperialism and was a decisive contribution to world peace and security. 158. Today, yet again, the people of Viet Nam is defending its independence and its sovereignty. Harking back to Nazi Germany, on 17 February the new band in power in Peking undertook a large-scale aggression all along the frontier of Viet Nam, making massive deployments of troops and engines of war and penetrating deeply into the territory of Viet Nam. From the fmt moment they met with the resolute resistance of local forces and Vietnamese militia, which have inflicted heavy losses, both human and material, on the invading troops. 159. What are the reasons for such a crime? What aim is the neo-Fascist Peking clique pursuing? Whence did the new mandarins derive such nerve, such foolhardiness, which they certainly have not shown in regard to the European colonial enclaves on Chinese territory, and even less to 160. Mr. Teng Hsiao-ping discovered, it would seem, a number of devious possibilities of collusion in America, in contempt for the achievement of Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus. Bewitched by the almighty dollar, he came with an empty purse to take his 30 pieces of silver, all ready to bend the knee. He adopted the Jupitarian pose and intoned: “Viet Nam must be punished”. He added, in parentheses, that Cuba should be punished too: “We have to teach them a lesson’*. And having said that, he began to abuse the Soviet Union and the socialist camp and to speak of the terrible danger threatening the world because his protEg& Pol Pot-he of the 3 million murders-had been justly and finally consigned by the people of Kampuchea to the rubbish-heap, perhaps to some dark palace, in Tien An Men Square in Peking. 161. The language used by the new mandarins is curious. But it is not original. Yesterday, Adolf Hitler was similarly preaching German superiority. Hi compatriots in other parts of the world-like the citizens of Chinese origin who to&y live in various countries of Asia and even on this side of the ocean-,were regarded as “‘ethnic Germans” and therefore citizens of the Third Reich. Peking is emulating the German Fascists and is also beginning to incite the populations of Chinese origin abroad to follow its chauvinist and domineering line, as they did at Ho Chi Minh City itself in Viet Nam. 162. The reasons underlying the actions of the new mandarins in attacking Viet Nam are paper thin. For some time they have been claiming to have made themselves masters of Asia. They thought, when they set up Pol Pot and Ieng Sary in Kampuchea, that they could extend their hegemony to Laos and Viet Nam, and that thereby, using the Chinese colonies in South-East Asia, they could ensure theirdomination over the whole area. To achieve, that however, they needed the assent of the imperialists. Indeed, it is impossible to conceive of this adventure being carried out by the new mandarins without the tacit approval of the North American Government. What other explanation could there be for the fact that, immediately after his return from the United States, Teng convened the Chinese Communist Party’s Military Committee, which he himself leads, and,after several days of meetings, the decision was taken to strengthen the Chinese forces on the border with Viet Nam in order thereafter to launch the invasion? On the other hand, the strategic plans of the two coincided: to stifle Viet Nam, to prevent the progress of socialiim in Laos and Kampuchea, For the present Chinese leaders, who have betrayed the cause of the peoples, it is a matter of eliminating an example that is too close to them; for the imperialists-who suffered an ignominious and historic defeat in Indo-China-it is a matter of regaining lost ground. 163. Basically, despite apparent differences, both agree and act in unison. The little excursions to the Wall of China 164. The Chinese neo-Fascist clique is proclaiming that Viet Nam, with its “repeated attacks on the frontier”, has tried its patience and that, therefore, it has been forced to take “punitive action”. Who could imagine that Viet Nam would be interested in a conflict with China? How is it possible to believe that a country laid waste by imperialist aggression, engaged in the difficult task of national reconstruction, deeply peace-loving, would seek a war with a friendly people? The Vietnamese leaders, throughout 30 years of struggle against the colonialist and imperialist aggressors, demonstrated their prudence and their wisdom. If ever they wavered in the face of threats and aggression, they never lost an opportunity, however small, to spare their people suffering and to avoid the loss of precious lives. To claim that Viet Nam-little Viet Nam, heroic Viet Nam, which spilt its blood for mankind-has attacked China is to take us for fools, 168. It is important to take note of the duplicity, the perfidy that are characteristic of the behaviour of the Chinese ruling class. Allies of the monstrous Pinochet regime, they have not hesitated to help the enemies of the Angolan people when their independence was threatened by the South African racists and other forces that are allies of imperialism. They have been and continue to be bitter enemies of the Ethiopian revolutionaries; they facilitated the invasion of their territory; they envisage the maintenance of the blockade against my country and the illegal perpetuation of the United States naval base at Guantinamo; they clamour for a larger imperialist resence in the Pacific and encourage the United States and !v estem European war-mongering circles to continue the arms race and the policy of aggression against the Soviet Union and the socialist camp. In brief, they are enemies of peace and the interests of the peoples, whom they wish to confuse by their pseudo-revolutionary jargon. 165. Yesterday we listened to a curious, surrealistic account by the representative of the Teng H&o-ping band. Using arguments which certainly defy the imagination, he tried to paint a picture of a terrible Viet Nam, which, in the midst of the brutal Yankee escalation in 1974, was already senselessly provoking the vast and powerful China by attacking its frontier guards. I have never eaten-with or without chopsticks-mushrooms that give one hallucinations, but I am sure that the effect of such mushrooms cannot be any greater than that of the statements by this worn-out imitator of the Great Helmsman. A schizophrenic vein seems, indeed, to be a constant of the Fascist mind. But such an interpretation of history has no parallel in the annals of the literature of lunacy. I am certain that the Peking man of Chou-Kou-Tien would reject such a vile descendancy, just as he. would loathe the famous “red book” from which no one quotes any longer-I do not know whether that is because the prologue was signed by Lin Piao or because some thoughts in it demonstrated the unspeakable felonies of the new mandarins. 169. The revolutionary movement throughout the world-Fidel stated-has never known greater treason. The Chinese soldiers, who during the imperialistic aggression in Korea fought with the courage and dignity-as is always the case when a just cause is being defended-have no moral justification today for fighting against the Vietnamese. They have in effect launched a dastardly aggression without explaining the motivations of the Fascist clique of Teng H&o-ping. The Vietnamese people and troops have eliminated thousands of invading troops and have destroyed more than 100 tanks and other means of combat, and they will undoubtedly defeat the forces of aggression. Teng’s clique is learning important lessons from a people that has never surrendered or sold out to the enemy, a people that is willing to fight for centuries in defence of its country. 166. But, in a desire to be sincere, I must recognize an element of truth in the monster that the champion of the assassin Pol Pot attempted to present to us. According to him, Cuba and Viet Nam are one and the same. There he is right. Both of us faced foreign domination for many years without weakening in our struggle, without making any concessions to the colonialist or imperialist enemy, without selling ourselves for a dish of beans or for new technology acquired at the cost of dignity and principles. Both of us have inflicted bitter defeats on our enemies, and we shall not hesitate to bring about as many defeats as may be necessary in the future. Remember that there are already appearing in Peking-despite the rigid censorship and concealment of facts-some akibao asking why a friendly neighbouring people is being attacked, instead of attempts being made to improve the tattered Chinese economy and raise the standard of living of the great masses of the country. 170. As was stated by our commander-in-chief on a memorable occasion, Cuba is willing to shed its own blood for Viet Nam. No one who does not rush to the defence of the Vietnamese people at this time can without blushing maintain his selfesteem. In the country of President Ho Chi Minh the destiny of mankind is today at stake. To quote Comrade Fidel Castro: “It is necessary for world public opinion to rise up and halt an adventure that could lead the world into a catastrophic war. This is the turning-point for’anyone who calls himself a revolutionary, for anyone who considers himself to be progressive, for anyone who is peace-loving, because this is not a time for vacillation, for ambiguity. The time has come to see the difference between Viet Nam and China. Throughout this vast world this is a time 167. Thii is an extremely serious time for the peoples. Those who would disregard the fact of the flagrant, cowardly aggression by the ruling clique of China against 178. The Council was doubtless aware of the statement made by the Secretary-General on 18 February, expressing his deep concern about the current hostilities and his waming that the vicious circle of violence could have unforeseeable consequences. The Secretary-General called for an end to the hostilities and for a peaceful settlement with full respect for the territorial integrity and political independence of all the States involved. My delegation would like to congratulate the Secretary-General for his prompt and timely reaction of seven days ago, His appeal should have been immediately reinforced by the Council. Article 24 of the Charter envisages prompt and effective action by the Council. 172. The mendacious justifications of the new mandarins are a miniscule fig-leaf that cannot conceal the shameless alliance between them and imperialism and their aggressive, expansionist Hitlerite policy. Those who to&y stand up for the defence of Viet Nam for ever stand for the defence of justice, truth, independence and the sovereignty of peoples. 171. Those who try to fuh in troubled waters, arguing with fallacious and ambiguous. concern over the destiny of the peoples of South-East Asia, actually aspire to subject them to exploitation and their own rapacious rule. The mea &pas of the imperialists, those who only five years ago were unleashing the most barbarous war against the peoples of Indo-China, are nothing but siren calls intended for naive ears. The real aim is once again to encircle Viet Nam from the south, by reestablishing the genocidal Pol Pot regime in Kampuchea, and to keep up the siege from the north by the neo-Fascist Peking clique. 173. In spite of this we must remain calm. Precisely at the moment of the greatest danger for the world we must act with utmost serenity and composure. It is the responsibility of all socialist States and the progressive peoples of the world to act with the utmost serenity. This is not the time to lose our heads. After certain events take place, they may be irreversible. This adventure must be defeated, this insanity must be defeated. We must prevent these mad neo-Fascists in China from plunging the world into nuclear war. 174. Cuba is certain the aggressors will be defeated. As always, our people are prepared for every contingency, as they were during the October crisis. They are prepared, alert and ready to undertake whatever action may be necessary. The Socialist Republic of Viet Nam does not stand alone, just as it did not stand alone in its gigantic feat against American aggression. The peoples of the world, progressive forces in all countries, the. fatherland of Lenin and all States ‘in the socialist camp support it in its just struggle against the foreign invader. The members of the Council are in duty bound to condemnthe aggressor, to express~solidarity with the victims of aggression, to demand the immediate withdrawal of the troops sent in by Teng Hsiao-ping’s neo- Fascist clique andto punish it as.it deserves. But, whatever may be the decision of its members, history will surely record, the inevitable victory of the people of Viet Nam.

The nextspeaker is the reprcscntative of India. I invite him to take a place at the Council table and to make a statement.

Mr. President, I wish first of all to express my delegation’s thanks to. you and to the other members of the CounciI for granting us this opportunity to express our views on the-important question now engaging the Council’s attention, 177. I should like also to extend to you my delegation’s and my own warm felicitations on your assumption of the duties and responsibilities of the presidency of the Council for this month and wish you every success. If1 may say so, the Council is fortunate in having you as President at this 179. Mr. President, whyhas it taken the Council so long to convene to discuss a situation that the Secretary-General felt obliged to take notice of immediately7 Perhaps you know the answer. Non-members of the Council have a right to know the answer, because this delay is indeed a sad reflection on the functioning of the Council. Quibbling over the formulation of the agenda at a time like this cannot fail to remind one of the historic fiddling when Rome was burning. 180. My country is deeply committed to the fundamental principles on which the policy of non-alignment is based and which are enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations. I refer, in particular, to the principle of respect for and preservation of national independence and sovereignty and to the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other States. Member States are also obliged by the Charter to settle their disputes by peaceful means in a manner that does not endanger international peace and to refrain in their relations from the threat or use of force. These are the principal reasons why newly independent countries have sought the sanctuary of United Nations membership. Indeed, the United Nations itself might not have come into being but for the universal acceptance of these principles. My delegation would emphasize that these principles are of universal applicability, that there are no exceptions, and that no deviations from them may be permitted to any Member State or group of States. Strict and scrupulous adherence to these basic principles is vital to the maintenance of international peace and, ipso facro, their violation must necessarily pose a serious threat to world peace. It is for these reasons that my country has consistently opposed the use of armed force across established frontiers as well as interference of any sort in the internal affairs of other States. 181. The last few days have Seen a flagrant violation of these principles. The unfortunate victim is a non-aligned country which is once again gallantly defending itself against tremendous odds. The Prime Minister of India expressed his profound shock and distress at the outbreak of hostilities between China and Viet Nam, hostilities that could escalate and endanger world peace. He called for the immediate restoration of peace and, as a first step towards peace, he urged the withdrawal of Chinese forces from Vietnamese territory. The President of India, at a joint session of Parliament, also expressed hi grave concern at these developments, which also have the potential for 182. The Minister for External Affairs of India, by an unfortunate coincidence, happened to be on a visit to China, and he took the opportunity immediately to convey personally hi serious concern to the Chinese authorities and underlined the overriding need to solve the problem peacefully through negotiations. Similar concern has been expressed all over the world by so many countries and peoples that it is regrettable that the response so far has been a steady deterioration of the situation, despite the obvious danger of escalation that is implicit in the continuation of the contlict. 183. It is a well-known axiom of peace that the aggressor shall not retain the fruits of aggression, and therefore peace cannot be restored unless there is total and complete withdrawal from all occupied territory. China is reported to have declared its intention of withdrawing, and we see no reason why there should be any delay in translating this intention into reality. It is imperative that the withdrawal should commence before the concerned Powers are relentlessly drawn into the tangled web of a chain reaction. 184. My country is totally opposed to the concept of punitive military action, which is fraught with great peril for stability and international relations. As my Minister for External Affairs stated in the Indian Parliament, the days of punitive expeditions and gunboat diplomacy are over. It is a violation of the Charter of the United Nations for one State to take punitive action against another and to usurp the powers and functions of the Security Council when the Council is inhibited by the veto from taking action. If such punitive action is condoned, international law and order will be in the hands of self-appointed policemen, and that would be the end of the Council. The system of collective security envisaged by the Charter does not permit unilateral punitive action, and the exercise of the right of self-defence cannot possibly extend to punitive measures. 185. The present conflict has been going on for nearly a week and the casualties are reported to be heavy. It has now become a matter of grave and urgent concern for the entire international community. The Security Council should meet this challenge to peace and take decisive and meaningful steps to end the hostilities immediately and demand the total withdrawal of Chinese forces from Vietnamese territory, to be followed by the establishment of a negotiating process for settling the problems in a climate of peace. In this connexion we hope that the Council will take into account the offer of good offices by the Secretary-General. 186. Stability and co-operative relations in South-East Asia can be maintained only on the basis of mutual respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Viet Nam, Laos and Kampuchea belong to the group of non-aligned nations and are all sovereign States Members of the United Nations with independent and distinctive personalities of their own. They have the right to fulfil their legitimate aspirations in their own way free from any external interference. The history of outside involvement in the internal affairs of the States of Indo-China should be brought to an end if there is to be enduring peace with honour. It cannot but be a matter of concern and regret that Viet Nam and Kampuchea should have been subjected to armed conflicts 187. A carefully balanced draft resolution, calling on the parties involved to observe a cease-fire, to vacate foreign territory occupied during the conflicts, to observe mutual respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the States concerned, to refrain from interference in the internal affairs of other States and to accept the good offices of the Secretary-General for the purpose of estabishing a process for a negotiated settlement of outstanding disputes in an atmosphere of peace, could conceivably form an appropriate basis for the restoration of peace in stages. But a decision of this kind by the Council will be an empty gesture unless the States concerned can be persuaded to implement it in good faith. The Powers gathered around this horseshoe table possess the capacity to persuade them in the direction of peace. They have stopped active hostilities in the past, and we believe that they have both the political will and the practical capacity to do so again now. 188. The PRESIDENT The next speaker is the representative of Australia and I invite him to take a seat at the Council table and to make his statement.

I wish to thank you, Mr. President, and the other members of the Council for allowing me this opportunity to participate in this debate. I should like also to express the gratification of my delegation at the fact that the Council has the benefit, at this critical time, of your diplomatic experience, skills and wise judgement in guiding its deliberations, thereby maintaining the high standard of leadership which was set during January by your distinguished predecessor, Ambassador Mills of Jamaica. 190. Australia, with its neighbours in the Asia-Pacific region, is directly affected by the matters now before the Council. We believe it essential that the international community should act promptly on these critical issues. Accordingly, the Australian Government, in company with the Canadian and New Zealand Governments, in a letter [S/13114] to you, Mr. President, of 23 February, expressed the view that the situation in South-East Asia and its implications for international peace and security should be a matter for urgent consideration by the Council. 191. Australia thus strongly supports the initiative taken by the Governments of Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States in calling for this meeting. My Government firmly believes that the Security Council, acting in accordance with the basic principles of the Charter of the United Nations, has a vital part to play in bringing an early end to the conflicts. 192. In my statement on 15 January to the Council plllrh meerin~, at meetings called toconsider the invasion by Viet Nam of Kampuchea, I drew attention to my Government’s deep concern about the grave dangers that that action posed for the widening and escalating of conflict in the region. I further expressed the view that a peaceful solution of that conflict should be based in the first instance on the establishment of a cease-f& and the withdrawal of all foreign forces. 194. It is with deepening concern that the Australian Government has followed the swift and increasingly ominous course of events since that time: the continuation of the bloody conflict in Kampuchea, the subsequent deterioration of the situation along the Sine-Vietnamese border, intermittent armed clashes and, most recently, the entry of substantial Chinese forces into Viet Nam. Those are grave developments with the most serious implications for peace and stability in the South-East Asian region. They carry with them the risks of widening conflict, with incalculable consequences. 195. The wars which have engulfed the Indochina States over the past 30 years have brought untold human suffering and misery. When hostilities finally ceased, the world looked forward hopefully to a long period of peace in which the well-being of all the peoples of the -region could be advanced and ensured. We deeply regret this fresh bloodshed and suffering and we believe that all efforts must be made without delay to restore peace to the area. 196. Australia seeks an environment which would enable the countries of the region both individually and collectively to pursue policies designed to enhance political stability, economic advancement and social welfare and cohesion. 197. Australian foreign policy is based on full support for the principle that, whatever their cause, disputes between countries ought to be settled by peaceful means in accordance with the principles of the Charter. In this context we noted and we warmly endorse the objectives of the joint appeal of the ASEAN countries in the statement made by the Chairman of the ASEAN Standing Committee, the Foreign Minister of Indonesia, on 20 February /S/13106]. 198. The Australian Government has for some time identified the position in the Indochina States as deteriorating and as potentially dangerous not only for our immediate region but for the world at large. We have made that concern known at the highest political level to many nations throughout the world. As my Prime Minister said on 22 February: “We seek to contribute to containing the actions of the protagonists and to relieving tensions in the area”. 199. We would urge all members of the Council to reflect upon the seriousness of the issues and the need for the utmost restraint in this fragile and dangerous situation, and to heed the calls that have come from all sides for the adoption of measures leading to the restoration of peace and stability in the region. 200. It is the firm view of the Australian Government that there should be immediate cease-fires in the conflicts. We call on Viet Nam to withdraw its forces from Kampuchea and on China to withdraw its forces from Viet Nam. That would bring about an immediate reduction of tension and so provide opportunities for concerted effort to find solutions leading to lasting settlements. 201. In those endeavours we warmly endorse the Secretary- General’s appeal in his statement of 22 February for the protagonists to reach a peaceful solution of their differences and we welcome his readiness to make his good offices available, should the parties involved wish to make use of them.

The last speaker is the representative of Poland. I invite him to take a seat at the Council table and to make his statement.

Mr. President, I wish to thank you and the other members of the Council for having afforded the Polish delegation this opportunity to present to the Council the position of my country on the question now under discussion. I cannot fail at the same time to convey to you personally our sincere congratulations on yourassumption of the presidency of the Council. I do so with all the more satisfaction as I have long known you as an able and experienced diplomat and an eminent representative of the State of Kuwait, with which my country maintains friendly relations of constructive cooperation. 204. The delegation of Poland has come to the Council, as in fact all those present here have done, to discuss the gross violation of international peace and security brought about by the aggression of China against the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. The attitude of my Government towards the aggressor’s action was clearly spelled out in its statement of 18 February /see S/13108]. In condemning as it does with profound indignation the aggression against the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, the Government of Poland regards it as a violation of the basic principles of international law and as an expression of the dangerous policy of expansionism and hegemonism pursued by the Chinese leadership. 205. That being the case, the subject of the Council’s deliberations is not the situation in South-East Asia or in Indo-China, for it is not that situation which has produced the serious threat to world peace. We am dealing here with a premeditated and ruthless armedattack against a sovereign State. It is precisely that attack which has broken the peace in South-East Asia and thus created a serious threat to international peace and security. 206. The danger of Chinese aggression against Viet Nam has been imminent for quite a time now. It actually started when the Chinese ruling circles embarked upon their policies of big-Power chauvinism towards their neighbours and the world at large. 207. In recent months the Government and the people of Viet Nam kept warning the international community that the Chinese authorities were intensifying their armed activities at the Vietnamese frontier and had undertaken feverish preparations for a war against Viet Nam. The leaders in Peking openly boasted that “‘Viet Nam must be taught a necessary lesson”, that “Viet Nam must be punished”. They advanced the invented pretexts that China was ‘driven beyond forbearance’* and that, fn order to develop, it needed “a peaceful international environment*‘. Appalling as those clumsy arguments may sound, to us they have an ominous familiarity. Precisely such reasoning was used by Nazi Germany to attack Poland 40 years ago. The differ- 212. In the case before us, the Security Council can prop erly exercise its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security only if it condemns the aggression in unambiguous terms and adopts effective measures to end it forthwith and eliminate all its consequences. 208. Students of international relations will certainly have much to reflect upon and wonder about when they study the present aggressive policies of China towards its neighbours against the background of the utterances of that country’s delegation when the United Nations adopted the historic Definition of Aggression [General Assembly resohtion 3314 (XXry)l in 1974. It is also much clearer to all now why China has been so vehemently opposed to the conclusion of a world treaty on the non-use of force in international relations. 213. It is regrettable that, in the face of the dangerous situation brought about by the aggression against the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, both in this chamber and outside it, attempts have been made to divert attention form the crux of the matter by linking the problem with the internal situation in another country, in this case Kampuchea. If only some of the exponents of that artificial and unfounded linkage were eager to apply the same criteria to the present action by China against Viet Nam as those by which they tended to judge developments in Kampuchea, we would have witnessed fewer examples of a double standard and political convenience. Once on this subject, I could not stress more strongly that the only legal representative of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea is its new Government headed by President Heng Samrin. Political outcasts paid and supported by those who have attacked Viet Nam carry no political, legal or moral credibility. 209. Any aggression must give rise to most resolute opposition and condemnation. The case before us, however, brings to mind special connotations. A sovereign State, Member of the United Nations and member of the nonaligned movement, has been invaded by an outside Power which claims to have its own, exclusive right of passing judgement upon’and punishing others, even without any attempt at recourse to the well-established international machinery. A permanent member of the Security Council, which lets slip no occasion to stress how great a friend it is of the non-aligned and developing countries, subjects one of them, representing the symbol of struggle for liberation, independence and sovereignty, to pressure and blackmail and, finally, launches an armed aggression against it. I hardly have to elaborate on the dangers to world peace posed by such precedents of the use of force. 214. In the circumstances surrounding the present case before the Council, we cannot accept attempts at putting the aggressor on an equal footing with the victim of aggression. In this context, appeals to “parties concerned” cannot be viewed without surprise, as there is only one party to be sanctioned for the aggression against the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. Those inclined to overlook that important factor seem to suggest that, instead of being interested in genuine peace and d&ente in the world, they would rather prefer to play a strange game of cards to achieve their own, narrow interests. Connivance at aggression or the shunning of effective action to counteract it in fact encourages the aggressor. Such an attitude is dangerous and indeed inadmissible. Never have methods like this worked in the past. They are doomed to fail again. 210. For dozens of years Viet Nam has been capturing the admiration of the whole world for its heroic stand against all kinds of aggressors and imperialisms. It has always been victorious in repudiating their invasions. We have no doubt that this time, too; it will be triumphant in repelling the most recent manifestation of Chinese expansionism and hegemonism. But while the just struggle of the people of Viet Nam continues, the international community cannot remain idle in the face of the most flagrant violation of the purposes and principles of the United Nations. To do so would be tantamount to sanctioning aggression and big-Power chauvinistic aspirations. It would be tantamount to inviting similar actions vis-a-vis other neighbours of China. 215. The PRESIDENT I thank the representative of Poland for the warm and kind words that he addressed to me and for the kind reference that he made to the cordial relations that exist between his country and mine. 211. 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