BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY’S CALL FOR SOVIET TO DROP NON-CO-OPERATION AND ASSIST IN WORLD RECOVERY

Grey River Argus, 28 September 1949, Page 5

BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY’S CALL FOR SOVIET TO DROP NON-CO-OPERATION AND ASSIST IN WORLD RECOVERY

(Received- 9.20 p.m.) NEW YORK, Sept. 2G Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Rt. Hon. Ernest Bevin, told Russia in the United Nations Assembly this afternoon that her policy in Europe was. antagonistic to the Western Powers, hut lie declared that if she were willing “to come out of her shell” and join iii a system! of international control of atomic energy, then the bombs could effectively be banned.

Mr Bevin said that it was not obstruction on our part, ox’ on the part of those who think as we do, that has prevented agreement in the past. The fault lies with the Soviet Union, who have refused to consider' any plan, except one based on their own inadequate proposals. The Russians, he said, had consistently put forward “independence and sovereignty” as reasons fox' avoiding the effective international control that was provided in the U.N.O. General Assembly plan. “If they had been willing to come from theii' shells, to raise theii- curtain, and to open the way to a system of control approved by the Assembly—the only workable effective system yet devised—there might well have been an effective prohibition to-day”, said Mi’ Bevin. He criticised Russia for blocking the efforts to make a Peace Treaty with Germany, saying: “All that I ask is that the students of international affairs shall study impartially the proceedings of the negotiations, and shall decide where the danger to world peace lies, and who are the real warmongers!”

Continuing, Mr Bevin said that he had thought at the time, and he still thought, that the Soviet Government’s actions arising from the Berlin situation were designed to persuade the world that the Soviet was prepared to risk war rather than to be denied the complete and illegal control of Berlin. The Western Powers, in their determination to give effect to the United Nations principles, in the face of possible aggression, had partially solved the problem. Mr Bevin said that, looking back, h e was sure' that the Western Powers could have taken no other course in Europe than the one they had taken. He mentioned the Soviet undermining of the national independence of Rumania, of Bulgaria, and of Czechoslovakia, and he added: “If in all this is the price of peace, it is a very high one! Is this really peace? It is in conflict with the Western Powers’ economy and political structure. M. Vyshinsky cannot deny that this is the Soviet Union’s policy. If the Soviet Government expect that such methods will convince the Western Powers of their bona tides, they are deluding themselves!” Mr Bevin said that no Government had more successfully carried out an imperialistic policy, under a new disguise, than the Soviet Union had done. It sought to create, in each democracy, a group charged to attempt disintegration and disruption. Mr Bevin also dealt with other subjects. He said that he hoped that Greece would now be left in peace—she having paid a heavy price for her liberty—to hold her elections without interference. He trusted that she would be generous to those of her people who had been, misled. He said: “I urge her settle the differences with her neighbours in a spirit of conciliation”.

Mr Bevin spoke on the Italian colonies. He said that Britain supported Ethiopia, in her claim to Eritrea, except the western province. Britain supported an Italian trusteeship for Italian Somaliland. Britain did not wish to remain in Tripolitania, and she was prepared, as an occupying power, to do everything to help in reaching a solution without delay. The local inhabitants’ interests, however, must be fully considered. He referred to South-East Asia. Mr Bevin said that Britain, in Malaya, had to face terrorism that was organised on familiar lines. Great strides had been made with the development of self government there, and it was a matter of regret that the people wre being kept apprehensive, not by the local population, but by th e instruments of outside Powers.