“SEVEN PRINCIPLES FOR PEACE”

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27638, 20 April 1955, Page 13

“SEVEN PRINCIPLES FOR PEACE”

(Rec. 11.45 p.m.) BANDUNG, April 19. Mr Mohammed Ali, Prime Minister of Pakistan, today suggested to the African-Asian conference “seven principles*’ for the maintenance of peace.

He said that in his opinion acceptance of these seven principles by all nations was essential for the maintenance of peace.

high at the conference, where so many of the nations represented had only emerged from colonial status in recent years. But the regret in London at the tone nf the first session was tempered by dmiration for the forthright manner in which some of the delegates ignored the presence of' Mr Chou En-lai and warned the 600 delegates of the perils of authoritarian communism.

The principles are:— (1) Respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations. (2) Recognition of the equality of every independent and sovereign nation.

It is believed in London that the anti-colonialism trend evident in the opening stages will again be made evident during the conference. In this connexion, observers in London are anxious to see whether Mr Chou makes any reference to Britain’s administration of Hong Kong.

(3) Abstention from interference in the internal affairs of one country by another.

(4) Non-aggression against the territorial integrity or political independence of any country. (5) The right of self defence, exercised singly or collectively. (6) The right of self determination of all peoples and abhorrence of colonial exploitation in any shape or (7) Settlement of all international disputes by peaceful means, namely negotiation, mediation, or arbitration. Mr Mohammed Ali said that he would propose the seven principles when the conference discussed “means whereby the causes of tension between nations may be removed and world peace assured.” Japan today called on the conference to take the lead in banning the use of force in any part of the globe. Mr Tatsunosuke Takasaki, Japanese Minister of Economic Affairs, in an address, said that Japan would ask the conference to go on. record with a “Bandung peace declaration” pledging the nations of Asia and Africa to the settlement of disputes through diplomacy rather than war. “If nations do not abolish war,” he said, “war will abolish nations.” Mr Takasaki said he believed the Asian-African countries should provide the example for the rest of the world in the peaceful settlement of disputes. “The world’s most urgent need today,” he said, “is to ban the use of force in any part of the globe and to establish the custom of settling by peaceful negotiation all manner of international disputes.” Anti-Colonialism The opening session of the conference was a clear pointer that representatives of more than half the world’s population would, at the end of their week-long talks, strongly condemn colonialism, diplomatic observers said today. They noted that virtually every one of the seven leaders who spoke yesterday bitterly denounced colonialism and racial discrimination. Though many of the speakers yesterday * were representatives of governments who have differing policies in the East-West cold war, they found common cause against anything savouring of inequality and foreign domination, these observers noted. Diplomatic observers in Londoh said that feeling on the colonial question and racial issues was bound to run