“CANNOT STAND ALOOF”

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 March 1946, Page 5

“CANNOT STAND ALOOF”

UNITED STATES WILL DEFEND CHARTER

DESIRE FOR FRIENDSHIP

. NEW YORK, February 28.

“Present power relationships preclude the domination of the world by any one of the Great Powers,” said the American Secretary of State (Mr. J. F. Byrnes) in an address to the Overseas Press Club. “Those relationships cannot be substantially altered by the unilateral action of any one great State without profoundly disturbing the United Nations’ whole structure. No nation is the complete master of its fate. We are all bound together for better or worse, because of that we have.pinned hopes to the United Nations banner. The- United Nations got off to a good start. That does not mean that it is assured of success. The United Nations charter will work, if people are determined to make it work. Suspicion and Distrust. “I should be lacking in candour if I said the world conditions are sound or reassuring. There is suspicion and distrust all round. Some of it is unfounded and unreasonable, but the basis of some of the suspicions persist. “We intend to live up to the United' Nations Covenant. We have the responsibility for seeing that other’Powers also live up to it. Unless the Great Powers are prepared to act in defence of the law, the United Nations cannot prevent war. We must make it clear, in advance, that we intend to prevent aggression, and also that we will not, use force for any other purpose. Because they have strength to maintain peace, the Great Powers are given special responsibilities. Their strength, in relation to one another, is such that no one of them can safely break the peace if the others' stand united in the Charter’s defence. “We must face the fact that to preserve the United Nations we cannot be indifferent, veto or no veto, to serious controversies between any of the Great Powers, because such controversies could affect the whole power relationship among all the Great Powers. Friendly Relations Desired. “The wish of the United States is to maintain friendly relations with all nations and exclusive arrangements with none. There are many problems which concern two or three of us more than others. Therefore I see no objection to a conference of the Big Three, the Big Four, or the Big Five, but in such conferences we shall gang up against no State. We shall do nothing to break the world into exclusive blocs or spheres of influence. In this atomic age we shall not seek to divide the world, which is one and indivisible. “We have openly, gladly, and wholeheartedly welcomed our Soviet ally as a Great Power, second to none in the United Nations’ family. Only an inexcusable tragedy of errors could cause a serious conflict between us in future. In spite of differences in our way of life our people admire and respect our Allies and wish to continue friends and partners in a world of expanding and lising living standards, but in the interest of world peace we must make it plain that the United States intends to defend the Charter. We will not,, we cannot, stand aloof if force or threat of force is used contrary to the Charter’s principles. “If we are to be a Great Powei we must act as a great Power, not only to ensure our own security but to preserve the peace of the world. Much as we desire general disarmament and the reduction of armaments, we cannot be faithful to our obligations, to ourselves, and to the world if. we alone disarm. We must be able and ready to provide armed contingents on short notice. We must have a trained citizenry to supplement armed contingents. Therefore we must have some form of universal military training. We need not fear misuse of our armed forces unless we distrust the people’s representatives. „ . , Occupation Period. “We have no right to hold our troops in the territories of other sovereign States without their tree approval and consent. We must not unduly prolong the making of peace and continue to impose our troops upon small, impoverished States:“No Power has the right to help itself to alleged enemy properties in liberated or formed satellite countries before the reparation settlement is agreed to by the Allies. We have not agreed and will not agree to any one Power deciding for itself what it will take from these countries. “We must not conduct a war ol nerves to achieve our strategic ends. Great States and small States must work together to build a more friendly and happier world. If we fail to work together there can be no peace no comfort, and little hope for any of us.”