YouSaid · the spoken record

Wong

THE RECORD WRITES THIS SPEAKER AS WONG

lines on the record: 80
first: 1989-09-24
most recent: 1993-09-24
sittings or episodes: 4
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“I am certain that they will contribute positively to the work of the United Nations.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“All permanent members should be prepared to give effect to Article 43 of the Charter and be ready to place their military forces at the disposal of the United Nations and shed blood to uphold international order if necessary. This list is by no means exhaustive. Other members will have their own suggestions for appropriate criteria. I urge all members to participate in discussions on the expansion of the Security Council so that we may have the benefit of the fullest possible range of views and emerge with the widest possible consensus. Finally, Mr. President, I should like to congratulate you on your unanimous election. I am confident that you will lead the Assembly at this session effectively. I should also like to take this opportunity to welcome the six new Members that have joined the Organization.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“A permanent member should therefore carry a larger portion of the financial burden of the United Nations. Each permanent member should pay at least 9 per cent of the operating expenses of the United Nations as well as 11 per cent of the costs of the peace-keeping operations of the United Nations, which are the average percentages of the permanent five’s current collective percentage of these budgets. Thirdly, permanent members must have muscle and the will and the capability to wield it for the cause of the United Nations. The main mission and primary responsibility of the Security Council is to maintain international peace and stability. Force will be needed in pursuit of order and the Security Council cannot be effective without a sword that is sharp and ready.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“The fact that the veto has been abused does not detract from its intended function. It is a recognition of the hard reality that great Powers will not consent to put their power at the disposal of a sheer majority for the implementation of decisions which they do not agree with. It is a safety valve that prevents the United Nations from undertaking commitments that it lacks the power to fulfil. However, to minimize the misuse of the veto, if permanent membership is expanded at least two vetoes should be required to block a resolution. Secondly, privilege must be paid for. An expanded role for the Security Council will require more resources. A United Nations perennially on the brink of financial insolvency cannot effectively meet the challenges of the next century.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“To stimulate discussion, Singapore suggests the following: First, there should be a level playing field with regard to all present and future members of a possible expanded Security Council. Anachronistic references to "enemy States" in Articles 53, 77 and 107 of the Charter should be removed. It is time to set aside the baggage of the past. Suggestions that there could be or should be a different set of permanent members without the veto are also impractical. No country that is capable of making a contribution as a new permanent member will accept such second-class status for long. It will only undermine the principle of great-Power cooperation, in the absence of which the Security Council cannot function. Nor is it practical or even desirable to do away with the veto.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“But the identification of objective criteria will set a common standard and, if we can agree on them, a consensus on specific countries will naturally emerge. This will entail thinking through the role of the United Nations into the next century. What challenges will the 18 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session United Nations face in the next decade? What will be the role and priorities of a new Security Council under these conditions? What capabilities will it need? These difficult questions demand the most exhaustive possible examination. The General Assembly should consider the formation of a working group, representative of the whole membership, to consider them and formulate agreed objective criteria for the expansion of the Security Council, especially its permanent membership.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Yet change is imperative if we are not to squander the opportunity afforded by the end of the cold war - more so for small States that have few better choices than an effective United Nations for their security. To make progress, there is no alternative but gradually to shape a consensus through a patient process of debate and discussion. To force the pace or attempt to impose a majority agreement will not work. At this preliminary stage, it would be most useful to try to identify and build consensus on objective general criteria that all permanent members, present or aspiring, must fulfil. This is a more clinical and constructive approach than engaging in a horse race or a beauty contest to pick specific countries. To attempt to do so at this stage is premature and would only be divisive.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Even if some were to be elevated without necessarily displacing others, the expansion of the small group of the select would imply the relative diminution of the status of the current permanent members. It is not surprising, therefore, that only one permanent member has so far come out unambiguously in favour of an expansion in the number of permanent seats. It does not take a cynic to wonder whether it was emboldened to do so because the others have been so conspicuously coy on this critical point. No country has ever voluntarily relinquished privilege and power. We are after all in the company of sovereign States, not saints. There is no circumventing the veto. There is no constitutional means of amending the Charter without the assent of all the permanent members, some of whom may believe they stand to lose by it.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“The United Nations was created by sovereign States and can do nothing without their assent, in which process the permanent members have a more than proportionate say through their veto. I state this without rancour as a fact well known to all. Any design for enhancing the effectiveness of the Security Council therefore cannot just be based on abstract wisdom concerning the requisites of the international order. No plan that has any prospect of succeeding can avoid reckoning with calculations of the national advantage of the current permanent members. But if the new Security Council is really to reflect the current international distribution of power, the process should logically entail the deposition of some from the elite as well as the anointment of others.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Economic, political and military power no longer necessarily cohere in one single locus. The United States is victor, but its economic recovery is slow and its competitiveness blunted. Russia is in serious economic and political difficulties but, because it has nuclear weapons, it remains a military great Power exercising a commanding influence on its former dominions, where the threat of chaos in the post-cold-war world is also greatest. Japan and Germany are clearly world economic powerhouses, but both lack an internal and regional consensus on the use of military forces beyond their borders. The second problem is even more fundamental and vexing. The United Nations is an international Organization. It is not and was never intended to be a supranational organization.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“This is not as straightforward as it may seem. When the Charter was being drafted, the end of the Second World War, with easily discernible winners and losers, was in sight and was being prepared for. The intention was for the winners to have primary responsibility for guiding the new international order. Yet even then, two of the "Big Three" victors, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom, were sceptical of Roosevelt’s view of China’s ability to play a major role in the post-war world. Churchill’s insistence on including France among the elite group was met with similar scepticism by Roosevelt and Stalin. It will be even more difficult to decide who belongs to the new elite. The end of the cold war took everyone by surprise and was far from clear-cut in its resolution.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Agreement was reached only in 1963 and came into force two years later, almost a decade after the process had begun. The lapse of time shows the complexities involved. The difficulties are still with us. To be sure, there are established principles laid down in Article 23 (1) of the Charter to guide the way to a possible further expansion of non-permanent seats. But there are no such guidelines for the more crucial question of an increase in permanent members. The Secretary-General’s report must therefore be realistically considered as only the beginning of a long process of debate whose outcome cannot be confidently predicted at this point. There are two basic problems. The first is simply to decide what is the current configuration of international power that should be reflected in the distribution of permanent seats.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“That all States are equal but that some, for better or for worse, have a disproportionate influence on the international order is a fact of life. Great-Power leadership is vital. It is a reality. Recognition of the special status of great Powers is thus a requisite for effective action by the Security Council. When it comes to the crunch, only the great Powers can make a decisive difference. But the temper of our times also demands that if action is to command a general consensus: the great must seek the mandate of the many. Forty-eighth session - 6 October 1993 17 The issue is, however, more easily defined than resolved. The only previous increase in the size of the Security Council began in the 1956 session of the General Assembly with discussions on an increase of non-permanent seats.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“There is wide consensus that if it is to be effective in the next century the Security Council cannot simply extrapolate its mandate from the starting-point of 1945 after the cold-war interregnum, but must accurately reflect the current configuration of global power. International order cannot be built on nostalgia. Too great a disjuncture from reality will doom the Security Council to eventual irrelevance. As membership of the United Nations expands, there is also a general expectation that the Security Council should become more representative of the Organization as a whole. The composition of the Security Council is a compromise between the principle of the sovereign equality of States and the realities of power politics.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“In Cambodia, Haiti and Somalia, among other places, the United Nations is breaking new ground by actively interposing itself as a vital stabilizing actor in situations which would once have been considered essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of States. The legal, diplomatic and political implications of these developments are still unfolding and are not yet fully understood. Not everyone is entirely comfortable with them. But I believe that most Member States regard the trend as generally positive and as making for a more secure world. The majority wants a more active and effective Security Council. The Secretary-General’s report on the question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council, submitted in accordance with General Assembly resolution 47/62, has thus occasioned great interest.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“United Nations specialized agencies, such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), are playing an important role in holding renegade countries like North Korea to internationally accepted standards of conduct in the critical area of nuclear non-proliferation. The international community must continue to support such tried and tested measures and organizations. But there is also an expectation that the end of the cold war will enable the Security Council to play more ambitious roles and at last assume "primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security" under Chapters V and VII of the Charter.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“They should be encouraged to build confidence by working together, as they already have in the Asian Development Bank and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (APEC) and as they hope to do in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Change has its own dynamic. And not all changes are benign. The post-cold-war problems are legion and well known. It will be a challenge for the United Nations to respond. In recent years, there has been a marked expansion in the number and scope of the operations and activities authorized by the Security Council. Established procedures, such as the Security Council- mandated Commission that has demarcated the boundary between Iraq and Kuwait, have made and will continue to make positive contributions to stabilizing the post-cold-war world, providing authoritative reference points.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Since PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat shook hands with the Israeli Prime Minister on the White House lawn, nothing seems impossible any more. The end of the cold war has opened opportunities to set aside some of the most intractable, destructive and polarizing conflicts of our time. Apartheid is coming to an end in South Africa. Eastern Europe is free. Russia and the other States of the former Soviet Union are shaking off the stifling effects of more than 70 years of communism. Germany has been peacefully reunited. In Asia, Cambodia is moving towards national reconciliation after almost 20 years of war. Viet Nam and Laos are reintegrating themselves into the South-East Asian community. China and Taiwan held direct informal talks in Singapore and Beijing this year. They will continue their own dialogue at their own pace.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Despite this, the countries of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have already experienced two decades of peace and economic development. Through regional cooperation in ASEAN and the concentration of national energies on economic development, the ASEAN region has become the most peaceful and prosperous part of the third world. There is no reason why this ASEAN experience cannot be duplicated in the rest of the world. I hope that this session of the General Assembly will give some thought to this as it searches for solutions to the ongoing tragedies we are now witnessing.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“But such adjustment to open economic competition is not without sacrifices and great political costs. The transitional economies have experienced great economic difficulties and dislocations in their initial periods of adjustment. The North should see that it is in its interest to help these countries by fighting protectionism. With such support, the developing countries should be able to pull off this economic transition successfully. If this massive economic revolution in the South succeeds, the world will experience a rising tide that will lift all of humankind those in the South and those in the North. It is also likely that this rising tide would help extinguish the flames of tribal and ethnic discord that have erupted around the globe. South-East Asia has sometimes been called "the Balkans of Asia".”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“If present trends continue, by the year 2000 the ASEAN countries and the Asian newly industrializing economies will have a gross domestic product (GDP) of $3.3 trillion, two thirds of the United States 1990 GDP or half of the European Community 1990 GDP. China could double its gross national product (GNP) within this decade. Clearly, some parts of the South are going to experience explosive economic growth. Except for a few which still cling to the virtues of the command economy, practically every country in the world now realizes that it has to introduce economic reforms. The old economic systems with their manifest inefficiencies and inadequacies that hindered economic growth had to be discarded. Except for a few, all States are working to introduce the market-economy system.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“Whatever the fate of the Maastricht Treaty, an integrated single European market will be in place by January 1993, bolstered by an expanded agreement with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries that would bring about greater European Community-EFTA economic co-operation known as the European Economic Area (EEA). The North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) is about to be formed. If these arrangements benefit only the countries of the North, with no perceived benefits to the South, the South is unlikely to cooperate with the North on environmental issues. Fortunately, the South has not been standing still. A major economic revolution is also taking place there, affecting the lives of billions of people, especially in large nations such as China, India, Pakistan and Indonesia.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“Given these difficulties, it is remarkable that the Rio Summit reached a consensus on Agenda 21. We in the General Assembly should endorse the Rio Declaration and Agenda 21 and adopt a good decision to establish a high-level commission on sustainable development. The momentum achieved in Rio de Janeiro has to be maintained and followed up. To address these environmental questions squarely, the world also needs to reinvigorate the global economy. We must convince the countries of the North that if they want the South to pay greater heed to their concerns on the global environment, they must in turn push the global economy forward by successfully completing the Uruguay Round as soon as possible. Instead of doing this, the countries of the North are concentrating on regional integration.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“The modern technology spun by the developed countries has made our world into a global village in the truest sense of the word. No villager can ignore a fire in the home of his fellow villager, for if he does his own home could be burnt. We saw this clearly at the Rio de Janeiro Summit earlier this year. The countries of the North called upon the countries of the South to restrain their deforestation, their production of chloro-fluorocarbons (CFCs) and their pollutive development, for they were concerned that the effects of these activities in the South would wander into their homes. Yet while they expect the relatively impoverished countries of the South to make valiant sacrifices, they are not prepared to make equal sacrifices in their relatively affluent lifestyles.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“Having imposed these significant new burdens on the United Nations it is absurd that Member States, especially the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, are depriving the United Nations of the funds needed to carry out these operations. Unpaid arrears for United Nations peace-keeping operations now amount to $800 million. They are likely to rise as the cost of peace-keeping operations for this year alone is likely to reach $3 billion. Some of the biggest debtors of the United Nations come from countries of the North. It would be tragic for countries of the North to assume that they are immune from the political and economic travails of the South. Yugoslavia has demonstrated that these problems can explode at their doorsteps.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“23) Secondly, I also agree that the Security Council can now play a more active role because, as the report states: "With greater unity has come leverage and persuasive power to lead hostile parties towards negotiations." (A/47/277, para. 35) Thirdly, I agree that the United Nations should work in concert with regional groupings. I believe that the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) would be happy to do so. The endorsement by the United Nations of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, signed in Bali, Indonesia, in 1976 and recently acceded to by Laos and Viet Nam, could make it a model for other regions to emulate.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“Today United Nations forces are involved in a variety of tasks ranging from election-monitoring to inspection of nuclear installations. The range of functions is expected to increase. As the "Agenda for Peace" points out, these will include preventive diplomacy, peacemaking, peace-keeping and peace-building. Let me also state the points of agreement that I have with the report. First, I agree that the United Nations should play a more proactive role in preventive diplomacy. As the report states: "... preventive diplomacy requires measures to create confidence; it needs early warning based on information gathering and informal or formal fact-finding; it may also involve preventive deployment and, in some situations, demilitarized zones." (A/47/277, para.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“Lest I be misunderstood, let me stress that I welcome the new Member States that have joined the United Nations this year: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Republic of Moldova, San Marino, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. I believe that they would agree with me that if more new Member States are going to join us we should ensure that they emerge peacefully and not through war and conflict. The "Agenda for Peace" also makes it clear that the functions of United Nations peace-keepers have gone far beyond their usual mandate. In the past United Nations peace-keepers were traditionally sent in after a peace agreement had been worked out between the warring parties.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“We need to be clear in our minds about what is happening because this will in turn define the mission that we will entrust to the United Nations: when a conflict breaks out within a State should the mission of the United Nations be to resolve the conflict and peacefully reunite the factions as in Angola and El Salvador or should the mission of the United Nations be to facilitate a peaceful division of the country as in Yugoslavia? These are not theoretical questions. These are practical questions that United Nations peace-keepers confront on a day-to-day basis in the former Yugoslavia and in Somalia.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“We need to be clear in our minds whether the explosion of new States in recent years is a natural and welcome development, something akin to what we saw in the era of decolonization, or whether it is a reflection of a state of disorder in the structures of human society that we have created in the twentieth century. Or is it the case, as the "Agenda for Peace" suggests, that the "deepest causes of conflict" are: "economic despair, social injustice and political oppression" (A/47/277, para. 15)?”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“It also contains the Secretary-General's recommendations on ways to strengthen and make more efficient the capacity of the United Nations for preventive diplomacy, peacemaking, peace-keeping and peace-building. We should congratulate the Secretary-General and his staff on putting together a comprehensive and thoughtful paper that raises the issues that Member States need to address. There is much in there for us to ruminate on but there is also room for us to add ideas to it. For example, the report, for obvious reasons, refrains from trying to apportion blame or investigate the causes of the recent conflicts. This should be the job of Member States.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“The world has still not recovered from the shock of the atrocities and the blatant disregard of basic humanitarian principles in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the name of "ethnic cleansing", which we condemn as an abhorrent practice. In this setting it is appropriate and timely that the Secretary-General has produced his report "An Agenda for Peace: Preventive diplomacy, peacemaking and peace-keeping" (A/47/277). Not every United Nations Member will agree with its analysis. Nor will all the recommendations be universally endorsed. But it is a far-reaching document with concrete proposals for the maintenance of international peace and security.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“In addition, we wish to place on record our appreciation to Mr. Perez de Cuellar for his 10 years of dedicated and exemplary service as Secretary-General. Let me also congratulate Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali on his wise and dynamic stewardship of the United Nations in his first year in office. There can no longer be any doubt that the cold war, even though it terrified many of us in this Hall, effectively froze or suppressed many tribal, religious, ethnic and cultural divisions. The thawing of the cold war has led to their re-emergence. I need only to cite some obvious recent examples. Even as we speak, conflicts are raging between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, and there are conflicts in Moldova, Georgia and Afghanistan. Somalia is splintering; the former Yugoslavia has descended into tribal warfare.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“From the tragic experience of Kuwait to the continuing anguish of the former Yugoslavs, we are seeing the re-emergence of forces that we thought had been swept away by forces of modernization. Ghosts which had been sleeping for decades have awakened to haunt us. How many more will awaken in the years to come? This session clearly needs to be one of sober reflection. In this regard I am pleased that we have elected Ambassador Ganev of Bulgaria to guide our deliberations. This reflects the confidence of Member States in his leadership abilities. Bulgaria's geographical location gives it a unique insight into the problems that we are facing. I should also like to place on record our appreciation of the wise leadership and guidance provided by our President's predecessor, Ambassador Samir Shihabi.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“In 1989, the year in which the Berlin Wall fell and the cold war came to an end, there were 159 Member States represented in this Hall. Today, three years later, there are 179, an increase of 20. Will this trend continue? If so, there could be 200 Member States represented in this Hall when we meet here again in 1995. Will these new countries come from Africa, Asia, Europe or the Americas? And will the birth pangs of these new States be as traumatic as those of some our newer Members, like Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova and Georgia? Or will they emerge peacefully? I begin my statement with these questions because I believe that our first task at this session is to rid ourselves of the euphoria that many of us here experienced when the cold war ended.”
1992-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 47 (1992)
“In the end the potential of the United Nations will be determined by the financial solvency of the institution. If we are to help the United Nations realise its potential it is important that all its Members should pay their assessed contributions in full. Just as it is important to uphold the Charter in natters of international law and principles, so it is equally important to abide by its rules on financial arrangements. The United Nations may never fulfil the Utopian dream of its founders, but it can stake new beginnings in the 1990s, if all of us want that to happen.”
1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)
“Certainly the time has come in the interests of international peace for the United Nations to sharpen its ability to deter or counter aggression by one State against another. The monitoring and decision-making mechanisms of the United Nations, as well as the machinery of collective defence, should be increasingly geared towards a policy of "prevention is better than cure". The United Nations has now come full circle. There was a time when its detractors were abundant and its prestige was low. Today, after a string of successes with the Iran-Iraq war, Afghanistan, Namibia and Cambodia, we have new faith in the institution. But the effectiveness of the United Nations cannot be based simply on respect and faith or even on political support.”
1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)
“There will be catalytic actions demanded for tackling the problems of the global environment, debt, terrorism, drugs and AIDS. The United Nations is best placed to co-ordinate the efforts and provide the mechanisms necessary to tackle urgent environmental issues, which are complex, multifaceted and related to issues of development. The 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development will require follow>up action to achieve the targets of the twenty-first-century agenda. The United Nations will thus surely grow. Other functions will be those that were envisaged under the Charter by the founding fathers but were never implemented because ideological differences and mistrust got in the way.”
1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)
“If we are to leave behind the old international order to reach out for a new order in a new era, where domination and aggression are phenomena of the past, then the voices of the many, the voices of the North and the South, the great and the small, should be heard and heeded. The United Nations, which is a microcosm of the macrocosm, is a useful forum through which the great Powers must consult the rest of the world to forge a consensus on peace and development. The United Nations in the new era will be stretched to perform additional functions as its potential is now fully appreciated by all. Some of those functions will be new; they will be innovative activities demanded by a rapidly changing world that is impatient to enjoy the promise of economic modernization and political change.”
1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)
“All this leads us to conclude that the United Nation is poised to play an increasingly significant role, to foster and uphold a now international order; an international order which is peaceful; an international order which is just; an international order which is equal; an international order which will not tolerate larger States devouring smaller States; and an international order in which gross imbalances between nations will be reduced. My delegation is pleased that co-operation between the great Powers has facilitated the work of the United Nations, allowing it to respond in a crisis with requisite speed. But we would be concerned if great-Power unanimity translated into a great-Power directorate which would in effect shape the new international order without the necessary checks and balances.”
1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)
“We look forward to the early reconvening of the Paris International Conference on Cambodia, where a final comprehensive political settlement can be signed. When this occurs it will turn the page on an unhappy period in the history of Cambodia, Indo-China and South-East Asia. It will signal the beginning of a new chapter in which the animosities of the past can be set aside in favour of co-operation for mutual benefit. The peoples of Indo-China have suffered deprivation for too long. They deserve better. Κ Cambodia at peace with itself and with its neighbours and a vibrant and dynamic Viet Ham, at peace with the region and sharing fully in the prosperity of the rest of South-East Asia, is in the interests of all the ASEAN countries, and indeed of the world. This will be a triumph for the international community and for the United Nations.”
1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)
“There should be no illusions that this will be an easy task. But the foundations have been laid. I am confident that if the major Powers and the regional Powers continue to co-operate, and the Cambodians themselves build upon the opportunity now before them, it is a task that is well within our grasp. The urgent need now is to maintain the momentum and press ahead, setting aside old animosities, working only for the good of all Cambodians, without being distracted by recriminations or irrelevant rivalries. We hope that all parties will co-operate fully in the process of elaborating the framework, without raising new issues or reviving questions that have been overtaken by events. Attempts to alter the Permanent Five framework will only prolong conflict.”
1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)
“The Permanent Five framework accepted by the Cambodians in Jakarta is not a perfect document. We are dealing with political realities that are far from perfect. There are still many challenges ahead. But it is the best hope for the majority of ordinary Cambodians who have no interest in the machinations and rivalries of their leaders and their patrons and whose only desire is peace. For these many ordinary Cambodians, the United Nations offers their only hope for a better life for themselves and their children. We must not falter or fail them. If much has been achieved, much more needs to be done. Peace in Cambodia will require an enhanced role for the United Nations that is without precedent. The framework accepted by the Cambodian parties needs to be fleshed out and elaborated in many details.”
1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)
“But in the most basic and important sense, a political settlement in Cambodia will be the achievement of the international community as a whole; a success for all States, big and small, in and outside the region. It is only because the international community, expressing its will in successive sessions of the General Assembly during the last decade, refused to compromise on basic principles of international law that it is possible to look forward to the restoration of Cambodian independence and peace throughout South-East Asia. Z should like to tasks this opportunity to thank all those who have steadfastly supported ASEAN for more than a decade. It was their faith in the United Nations and in international law that made the achievements of Jakarta, Paris and the Permanent Five possible.”
1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)
“An International Conference on Kampuchea was held at the United Nations in 1981 under the chairmanship of the Foreign Minister of Austria. The Ad Hoc Committee of that Conference, led by Senegal, has played a useful role. Indonesia took the initiative to organize a series of informal meetings in Jakarta. France and Indonesia convened an International Conference on Cambodia in Paris last August which established the basic framework for the negotiating process. The Permanent Five must be commended for having had the vision and the courage to seize the historic opportunity afforded by the profound international realignments that have occurred, to work together to shape the framework of a settlement. The recent adoption of Council resolution 668 (1990) by a unanimous vote of the Council is a watershed in the Cambodian peace process.”
1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)
“On 10 September 1990 a major breakthrough was achieved in Jakarta, when all the Cambodian parties agreed to accept, in its entirety, the framework for a comprehensive political settlement based on an enhanced United Nations role in Cambodia that was worked out by the five permanent members of the Security Council during the course of this year. In Jakarta, the Cambodians also formed a Supreme National Council which now occupies Cambodia's seat in this Assembly. This is the first critical stage towards a more far-reaching national reconciliation. Many years of patient work by countries in and outside the region contributed to this success. The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has played a leading role on Cambodia from the very beginning.”
1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)
“We must not lose the opportunity to insist now that the new international order should be one which demands the strictest adherence to the norms and the principles of international law backed by an effective system of common and collective security. If history since the Second World War has taught us anything, we should have come to the recognition that military power cannot be used to achieve political objectives and that aggression does not pay. It is the task of the United Nations to underscore this message with the weight of its collective will to deter future aggressors. In South-East Asia the United Nations played a crucial role in an analogous problem of peace and security. After more than a decade of war it is now possible to envisage realistically an end to the long tragedy of Cambodia.”
1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)
“It is also a tact that third world nations depend to an extraordinary degree on international bodies for the preservation of security. There should be more effective ways to prevent aggression. We should not wait till the belligerent strikes. Singapore views the annexation of Kuwait most gravely. This is especially so as one historic epoch is closing and another is unfolding. For about 40 years we established an international order where the rules of the game were understood. The super-Powers played a role in upholding that order. Today, in the fluid international situation, new players are testing the system.”
1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)
“For the first time in the history of the United Nations the Security Council imposed comprehensive sanctions backed by a naval and air blockade to put pressure on Iraq to withdraw its forces from Kuwait and to restore sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity to the country. In the new post-cold-war era the United Nations rose to meet the threat and the challenge. There is no other way. The United Nations must stand united in its resolve to get Iraq out of Kuwait. Iraq must see that the whole world is against its actions, and not just a few countries. The international community must not shrink from its duty to take concerted action against aggressors who violate international law and principles. Otherwise, nations would exist in a state of permanent insecurity.”
1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)
“It was an act of blatant aggression. It was against the principles and the Charter of the United Nations. Kuwait has been a peace-loving and law-abiding member of the international community. Furthermore, it enjoyed good relations with its neighbour, Iraq. Yet on 2 August thousands of Iraqi troops backed by tanks and helicopters overran Kuwait City, taking the capital. The Security Council reacted swiftly and decisively and it voted unanimously to condemn the Iraqi invasion and annexation of Kuwait. It reacted correctly when it expressed its determination not to recognize any regime set up by the occupying Power. This was what the United Nations was created for - to maintain international peace and security and to take collective measures to prevent and remove threats to the peace and to suppress acts of aggression.”
1990-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 45 (1990)