The full text of his speech at the plenary meeting of the 26th session of the United Nations General Assembly on November 15 by Qiao Guanhua, head of the delegation of the People's Republic of China, is as follows:
Mr. President,
Ladies and gentlemen,
At the outset, allow me, on behalf of the delegation of the People's Republic of China, to thank you, Mr. President, and the representatives of many countries for the welcome you have extended to us.
We were deeply touched by the warm speeches made by many friends expressing their trust, encouragement, and brotherly feelings to the Chinese people. We will convey this to all Chinese people.
It is a pleasure for our delegation of the People's Republic of China to be here today to attend the twenty-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly and to join you in the work of the United Nations.
As everyone knows, China is one of the founding members of the United Nations. In 1949, the Chinese overthrew the reactionary rule of the Chiang Kai-shek clique and established the People's Republic of China. Since then, China's legitimate rights in the United Nations have naturally belonged to the People's Republic of China. It was only because of the obstruction of the US Government that the legitimate rights of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations were deprived for a long time, and the Chiang Kai-shek clique, which had long been spurned by the Chinese people, was able to steal China's legitimate seat in the United Nations. This is a gross interference in China's internal affairs and a wanton violation of the UN Charter. Now, this irrational situation has finally changed.
On 25 October 1971, the current session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution by an overwhelming majority deciding to restore all the legitimate rights of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations and to expel immediately the representatives of the Chiang Kai-shek clique from the United Nations and all its subordinate organs. This is the bankruptcy of a policy of hostility, isolation and blockade of the Chinese people. This is the failure of the US Government's plan to conspire with the Sato Government of Japan to create "two Chinas" in the United Nations. This was the victory of Chairman Mao Zedong's line of revolutionary diplomacy. This is a common victory for the people of the world.
Albania, Algeria, Myanmar, Ceylon, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Iraq, Mali, Mauritania, Nepal, Pakistan, Democratic People's Republic of Yemen, People's Republic of the Congo, Romania, Salalvone, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, United Republic of Tanzania, Yemen Arab Republic, Yugoslavia, Zambia and the other 23 sponsors have upheld principles, upheld justice, and made unremitting and fruitful efforts to restore the legitimate rights of the mainland in the United Nations. There are also other countries that have expressed sympathy for the mainland in different ways. On behalf of the Chinese Government and the Chinese people, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the Governments and peoples of all these countries.
It has been 26 years since the founding of the United Nations. In the history of mankind, 26 years is only a short moment, but during this period, the situation in the world has undergone profound changes. At the beginning of its existence, the United Nations had only 51 member states, which has now increased to 131. Of the 80 new additions, the vast majority were those that gained independence after World War II. For more than 20 years, the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America have waged a tenacious and unyielding struggle to fight for and safeguard their national independence and to oppose foreign aggression and oppression. In Europe, North America, and Oceania, mass movements and social currents have emerged demanding a change in the status quo. More and more small and medium-sized countries are uniting to oppose the hegemonism and power politics of one or two superpowers and to fight for the right to independently resolve their own affairs and to have an equal status in international relations. The country's desire for independence, the nation's liberation, and the people's demand for revolution have become an irresistible historical trend.
Human society is always improving. This progress is always achieved through countless revolutions and transformations. In the case of the United States, where the United Nations headquarters is located, it was the victory of the Washington-led Revolutionary War in 1776 that the American people won their independence. It was thanks to the Revolution of 1789 that the French people were freed from the yoke of feudalism. After mankind entered the 20 th century, the victory of the October Socialist Revolution in Russia in 1917 led by the great Lenin opened up a broad road for the free liberation of the oppressed nations and people of the world. The people of all countries in the world rejoice at the development of history and social progress, while a handful of decadent and reactionary forces are panicking and struggling to the death. They invaded other countries with armed arms, subverted the legitimate governments of other countries, interfered in the internal affairs of other countries, controlled other countries politically, militarily, and economically, and bullied other countries at will. Now the danger of a new world war remains, however, the main tendency in the world at the moment is revolution. There are twists and turns in the people's struggle, but the countercurrent against the people and against progress cannot stop the mainstream of human society from continuing to develop after all. The world must move toward progress and light, not toward reaction and darkness.
Mr. President and Gentlemen Delegates,
The Chinese people have suffered greatly from imperialist oppression. For more than 100 years, imperialism has waged many wars of aggression against China and forced China to sign many unequal treaties. They divide spheres of influence in China, plunder China's resources, and exploit the Chinese people. The extent of poverty and unfreedom of the Chinese people in the past is well known. In order to fight for national independence, freedom and liberation, the Chinese people went forward one after another, unyieldingly, waged a protracted and heroic struggle against imperialism and its lackeys, and finally won the victory of the revolution under the leadership of the great leader Chairman Mao Zedong and the Communist Party of China. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Chinese people ignored the imperialist blockade, withstood tremendous external pressure, became independent and self-reliant, and built the mainland into an initially prosperous socialist country. Facts have proven that the Chinese nation has the ability to stand on its own feet among the nations of the world.
Taiwan is a province of China, and the 14 million people living in Taiwan are flesh and blood compatriots of the Chinese people. According to the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, Taiwan has been returned to the motherland after World War II, and the Taiwanese compatriots have returned to the embrace of the motherland. In 1949 and 1950, the U.S. government repeatedly officially confirmed this fact and publicly stated that the Taiwan issue was China's internal affair and that the U.S. government had no intention of interfering. It was only because of the outbreak of the Korean War that the US Government reneged on its promise and sent armed forces to invade and occupy China's Taiwan and the Taiwan Strait, and it has remained there to this day. At present, the fallacy of the so-called "undetermined status of Taiwan" is being spread in some localities, and they are plotting a conspiracy for "Taiwan independence" and continuing to create "one China, one Taiwan," which in fact means "two Chinas." On behalf of the Government of the People's Republic of China, I would like to reiterate here: Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory, and the United States' use of force to occupy China's Taiwan and the Taiwan Strait will not change the sovereignty of the People's Republic of China over Taiwan in the slightest; all US armed forces must be withdrawn from Taiwan and the Taiwan Strait; and we resolutely oppose any conspiracy to separate Taiwan from the motherland. The Chinese people must liberate Taiwan, and no force can stop this.
Mr. President and Gentlemen Delegates,
The Chinese people, who have suffered imperialist aggression and oppression for a long time, have consistently opposed imperialist aggressive policies and war policies, and supported the just struggle of all oppressed peoples and nations for freedom and liberation, against foreign interference, and in taking control of their own destiny. This position of the Chinese Government and the Chinese people conforms to the fundamental interests of the people of the world and the spirit of the UN Charter.
The armed aggression of the US Government against Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, the territorial integrity and sovereignty of these three countries, and the aggravation of tension in the Far East, have met with strong opposition from the people of the whole world, including the American people. The Chinese Government and the Chinese people resolutely support the peoples of Indochina in the War to Resist US Aggression and National Salvation; resolutely support the joint statement of the Supreme Meeting of the Indochinese People and the seven-point peace initiative of the Republican Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam. The key to easing tensions in the Far East is for the United States Government to immediately and unconditionally withdraw all armed forces of the United States and its servants from the three Indochina countries, so that the people of the three Indochina countries can resolve their own problems independently and autonomously without foreign interference.
North Korea is still divided. The Chinese People's Volunteers had long since withdrawn from North Korea, but American troops have remained in South Korea to this day. The peaceful reunification of the motherland is the common aspiration of all the Korean people. The Chinese Government and the Chinese people resolutely support the eight-point program for the peaceful reunification of the motherland put forward by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in April this year;
The essence of the Middle East problem is the aggression of Israeli Zionism against the Palestinian and Arab peoples, with the support and connivance of the super-Power. The Chinese Government and the Chinese people resolutely support the just struggle of the Palestinian people and the Arab peoples against aggression and believe that the heroic Palestinian and Arab peoples will be able to recover the lost territories of the Arab countries and restore the national rights of the Palestinian people by persisting in struggle and unity. The Chinese Government believes that all peace-loving and justice-upholding countries and peoples in the world have the obligation to support the struggle of the Palestinian people and the Arab peoples;
The Chinese Government and the Chinese people resolutely support the struggle of the people of Mozambique, Angola and Guinea (Bissau) for national liberation; and resolutely support the struggle of the people of Azania, Zimbabwe and Namibia against white colonial rule and racial discrimination. Their struggle is just, and the just cause must be victorious.
Without economic independence, the independence of a country is incomplete. The economic backwardness of the countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America is caused by imperialist plunder. It is the inalienable sovereignty of independent countries to oppose economic plundering and protect national resources. China is still an economically backward country and a developing country. China, like the vast majority of Asian, African and Latin American countries, belongs to the third world. The Chinese Government and the Chinese people resolutely support the struggle led by Latin American countries and peoples to defend the rights of 200 nautical miles of territorial waters and protect their own resources; they resolutely support the struggle of Asian, African and Latin American oil-exporting countries and various other regional and professional organizations to safeguard national rights and interests and oppose economic plunder.
We have always maintained that all countries, big or small, should be equal, and that the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence should become the norm governing relations between countries. The people of all countries have the right to choose their own social system according to their own wishes, and to safeguard their own independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. We oppose the theory of imperialism and colonialism in which large countries are superior to small countries and small countries are dependent on large countries. We oppose power politics and hegemonism in which big countries bully small countries and strong countries bully weak countries. We advocate that the affairs of any country should be managed by the people of that country themselves, that the affairs of the whole world should be handled by all countries in the world, and that the affairs of the United Nations should be jointly managed by all countries participating in the United Nations, and that the superpowers should not be allowed to manipulate and monopolize them. Superpower is to be superhuman, to ride on the heads of others and to be the king. China is not and will never be a superpower that invades, subverts, controls, interferes in or bullies others.
One or two super-Powers have stepped up their arms build-up and vigorously developed nuclear weapons, seriously threatening international peace. The peoples of the world understandably yearn for disarmament, particularly nuclear disarmament. They justified their demands for the disbandment of military blocs, the withdrawal of foreign troops, and the abolition of foreign military bases. However, the super-Power pays lip service to disarmament every day, but in fact it is expanding its armed forces every day. The so-called nuclear disarmament they are engaged in is entirely for the purpose of monopolizing nuclear weapons and carrying out nuclear threats and nuclear blackmail. China will never take part in the so-called nuclear disarmament talks of the major nuclear powers behind the backs of non-nuclear states. China's nuclear weapons are still in the testing stage. China's development of nuclear weapons is entirely for defense, in order to break the nuclear monopoly and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons and nuclear war. The Chinese Government has always advocated the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons, and has proposed the convening of a summit meeting of all countries to discuss this issue. The Chinese Government has stated on many occasions, and on behalf of the Chinese Government, I solemnly state once again that China will not be the first to use nuclear weapons at any time or under any circumstances. If the United States and the Soviet Union were serious about disarmament, they should assume the obligation not to be the first to use nuclear weapons. It's not an easy thing to do. Whether or not they can do so is a serious test of whether they truly have the desire for disarmament. We have always believed that the just struggle of all peoples is mutually supportive. The socialist revolution and socialist construction on the mainland have always won the sympathy and support of the people of all countries. It is our duty to support the just struggle of the peoples of all countries. In order to support the struggle of the peoples of various countries and to help them develop their economies independently and independently, we have provided assistance to a number of friendly countries. We provide assistance with strict respect for the sovereignty of the recipient countries, with no strings attached and no privileges required. We will provide free military assistance to countries and peoples engaged in the struggle against aggression, and we will never be arms dealers. We resolutely oppose the use of "aid" as a means by some countries in an attempt to control and plunder recipient countries. However, because the mainland economy is still relatively backward, the material assistance we provide is very limited, and our support is mainly political and moral support. With a population of 700 million, China should make a greater contribution to human progress. We hope that this inadequacy will be gradually reversed in the future.
Mr. President and Gentlemen Delegates,
In accordance with the purposes of the UN Charter, the United Nations should play its due role in maintaining international peace, opposing aggression and interference, and developing friendly and cooperative relations among countries. However, over a long period of time, one or two super-Powers have used the United Nations to do many things that are contrary to the Charter of the United Nations and the will of peoples. This situation should not continue. We hope that the spirit of the Charter of the United Nations will be truly implemented. We will stand with all peace-loving countries and peoples who uphold justice, and work together to safeguard the national independence and sovereignty of all countries, to safeguard international peace and to promote the cause of human progress.
(People's Daily, November 17, 1971)