UNITED NATIONS POLICY

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26120, 24 May 1950, Page 7

UNITED NATIONS POLICY

President Truman’s Comments

“ SOVIET FLOUTING OF CHARTER” WASHINGTON. May 22. Mr Truman told Congress to-day, that within the framework of the United Nations, the “American Government intends to do everything it can to strengthen the West and block the present Soviet policies.” Mr Truman declared: “Our experience during 1949 in the United Nations provided a further demonstrator * ha t as the Secretary of State (Mr Dean Acheson) has recently said, agreements with the Soviet Union and its satellites are valid only as and A’nen they record existing situations of fact.” Mr Truman's statements were made in his annual report on the United Nations. He attacked Russia’s refusal to attend the United Nations’ sessions with the Chinese Nationalist delegates. He added that, in the presence of thus ' wilful flouting by the Soviet Government of the obligations assumed bv it under the- Charter, the United Nations lias taken the commonsense attitude of proceeding with its business as usual. In another reference to Russia, he said: “No nation, member or nonmember. attending or non-attending can avoid accountability before the United Nations for its actions affectin f peace. The aroused opinion of mankind, when brought to share and immediate focus, as it often is. in the United Nations, .is not likely to be dismissed, even by a nation that has strong battalions.” “Universal Organisation” Mr Truman said he intended to strive for lhe United Nations as a universal organisation, including the Communist as well as the Western Powers. After quoting Mr Acheson’s statement about agreements with the Soviet Union being valid onlv when they recorded existing situations of fact, Mr Truman said: “It is not enough to hope for agreement or to make proposals. It is essential to create conditions under which it will be to the interest of the Soviet Union A°n en . ter into and keep agreements. All international activities which create moral, economic, and military strength among the nations of the free world will broaden the area of possible agreement and hasten its coming.” The President praised highly the work of the United Nations in settling the Indonesia dispute, the Arab-Jew-ish fighting in Palestine, and the India-Pakistan troubles over Kashmir. He said that manv lives had be°n saved as a result o* this United Nations’ work, and that the work it did on behalf of peace showed that it was “distinguishing between realities and illusions.” Mr Truman noted that 1949 “ended with a deepening of the tension which has marked international relations throughout the post-war period.” He said that many of the reasons for this held good in the middle of 1950. Among them he listed, failure to agree on atomic control, the failure of progress toward ending the armaments race, and the tendency of the Soviets, while blocking German and Japanese peace settlements, to isolate themselves increasingly from the rest of the world.