Meeting the challenges of the 21st century.

• Position: Cambodia through Yeman: Asia and the Pacific nations, part 2 - The Nations Speak

CAMBODIA

Prince Norodom Sirivudh, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, expressed the warmest gratitude of the Cambodian people to the UN for its wonderful gift of freedom. After 23 years of war, Cambodia was now at peace and able to move towards development, social justice and prosperity. As a member of the group of least developed countries, it remained one of the poorest countries in the world and a large proportion of its people were saddled with crushing poverty. But the Bretton Woods institutions were helping to reestablish a solid fiscal base and the specialized agencies had almost all moved in to assist development. The constraints of distance, an infrastructure ruined by two decades of war and a continuing insurgency had hampered efforts towards reconstruction and rural development. At an appropriate time, Cambodia looked forward to full membership in ASEAN.

CHINA

Qian Qichen, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, said that elimination of regional hot spots and settlement of international disputes were a common concern of the international community. UN peace-keeping operations should be undertaken with the consent and cooperation of the parties concerned. No peace-keeping operations or humanitarian aid programmes should be permitted to interfere in the internal affairs of any country, still less to use force or become embroiled in a conflict between the parties. A lesson should be drawn from what befell the UN peace-keeping forces in Somalia. He favoured a complete ban on nuclear weapons and also wanted a treaty on non-first-use of nuclear weapons. In 1994 the world economy had started a recovery and East Asia continued to maintain a high growth rate. But there was unevenness in the world as a whole. It was disturbing that the impoverishment of some developing countries had worsened. In the interest of common development, he called for the abolition of protectionism and of discrimination in international economic relations and trade.

CYPRUS

President Glafcos Clerides said Cyprus was a test case for the resolve of the international community and of the UN to demand and enforce respect for its will as expressed in a plethora of resolutions. Twenty years after the Turkish invasion of 1974, the problem remained unsolved. The number of Turkish forces had in fact increased, and the presence of Turkish occupation troops constituted a serious threat to the people of Cyprus, and had given rise to a kind of arms race. If this "flouting and violation" of Security Council resolutions was allowed to continue, there would be no solution to the Cyprus problem. "It is therefore necessary for coercive action to be taken against the side that flouts the UN resolutions." He proposed that the leaders of the two communities renounce the use of force against each other. The Turkish Government should withdraw its occupation forces from Cyprus, as well as the illegal settlers. Turkish Cypriots under arms should disband and hand over their weapons to the peace-keeping force. The Turkish side complained that it had been isolated internationally. The responsibility for that fell not on the Republic of Cyprus or on the international community, but squarely on the shoulders of the Turkish leadership.

DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA

Choi Su Hon, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, said the major stumbling-blocks to humanitarian exchanges, dialogue and contacts between the north and south were South Korea's so-called "National Security Law", which defined fellow countrymen as enemies, and the concrete wall, a symbol of division and confrontation. "All the legal and physical barriers must be removed at an early date if we are to achieve our consistent goals of free travel and contacts, cooperation and exchanges between the north and the south and if we are to realize national unity." The Korean Armistice Agreement should be replaced with a peace agreement, and a fundamental resolution of the nuclear issue was important in establishing lasting peace. To demonstrate the transparency of its nuclear activities, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) decided to replace the existing system of graphite-moderated reactors with a system of light water reactors, at the sacrifice of its independent atomic power industry. However, certain forces, which were not happy with a possible resolution of the nuclear issue, were still resorting to pressure and threats, while peddling arguments about so-called special inspections.

FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA

Resio Moses, Secretary for External Relations, said the South Pacific Forum could increase the effectiveness of the region's work on issues such as climate change, conservation of biological diversity and implementation of results of the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States. He was relieved by the continued moratorium on nuclear testing by France and the United States, but was deeply concerned at the possible consequences of China's insistence on proceeding with its programme. He would not breathe easy until a moratorium on all testing was made permanent, and hoped that rapid progress would be made towards concluding a comprehensive nuclear-test-ban treaty. The Pacific region's vastness and seeming emptiness still made it an attractive location for environmentally unfriendly activities. Too often, when the island countries had attempted to halt movements through their waters of toxic, radioactive and hazardous materials, their voices had not been heard.

FIJI

Manasa Seniloli, Permanent Representative to the UN, said that if the UN was to continue to rely on individual men and women to assist in carrying out its mandates, they should be provided with an adequate level of safety and security. Fiji had lost some of its nationals in various peace-keeping operations, and many others had been injured. But his Government remained unshaken in its belief that the price it had paid and was continuing to pay for its involvement in UN peace-keeping operations was worthwhile if it contributed towards making the world a safer place. Fiji had been the first State to ratify the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. It was therefore pleased that 12 years after its adoption, the Convention was to enter into force. The Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks was also important. He was concerned at the long-term impact on regional fish resources and the marine ecosystem as a whole, if the current practice of uncontrolled fishing, especially on the high seas, continued.

INDIA

Pranab Mukherjee, Minister of Commerce, said that 49 years ago, a world tired of war had declared that it would "beat its swords into ploughshares." Instead, it had only produced words, while the swords had not disappeared. Global security demanded a "holistic" approach involving the promotion of economic and social development; protection of human rights; promotion of harmony and social cohesion in multi-racial and multi-ethnic societies; combating terrorism, drug-trafficking and clandestine traffic in armaments; and enhancing of the capacity of the UN to prevent conflicts, preserve peace and alleviate suffering. A global convulsion would come if the development imperative was disregarded. To give the Security Council's actions greater legitimacy, moral authority and political effectiveness, its membership should be expanded, with developing countries included as permanent members. On the basis of any criteria--population, size of economy, contribution to the maintenance of international peace and security and to peace-keeping--India deserved to be a permanent member of the Council.

INDONESIA

Foreign Minister Ali Alatas said the UN system operated without sufficient coordination and coherence in the economic and social fields, as well as in development cooperation. However, instead of a proposal to establish an economic security council, he felt that the Economic and Social Council should be further strengthened. In the Asia-Pacific region, the Regional Forum of the ASEAN had been launched in July 1994 in Bangkok, reflecting the desire of the regional countries to ensure a peaceful and stable political and security environment for their peoples. That forum was unique because it was not established in response to a crisis but, rather, as an exercise in preventive diplomacy to manage strategic change in such a way that a stable relationship among the major Powers, as well as among the regional Powers, would evolve gradually and peacefully over the next decade. At the same time ASEAN was intensifying its efforts to realize its blueprint for a zone of peace, freedom and neutrality with a South-East Asian nuclear weapon-free zone as its component part. Its realization would be a major step towards stable peace in the region.

IRAN

Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Velayati said a few self-proclaimed victors of the cold war felt entitled "to dictate the new criteria that determine international relations and guide the United Nations and, more specifically, the Security Council, arrogating to themselves the right to impose their own vision and self-serving interpretations on the rest of humanity". The transformation of the Council into an instrument for justification...