UK November 1957

Speech by H.E. PAUL-HENRI SPAAK, Secretary General of NATO I am just at the end of a tour of the United States and the United Kingdom, which has lasted nearly three weeks. During this time, I have seen and heard much to encourage me in my new task as the Secretary General of NATO and Chairman of the North Atlantic Council, a post which, as you know, I have now held for about six months. I should like today to give an account of the state of the Alliance and of the tasks which remain to be completed. I do not need to remind you, but I feel I must emphasise once more that the Atlantic Alliance is a defensive alliance born out of the situation created by Soviet imperialist expansion in Europe, culminating in the communist "coup d'etat" in Prague, The coup d'etat of Prague was the real turning point of international politics after the end of the Second World War, the repetition of which the Free World could not and would not tolerate. The purpose of the Alliance, to stop the expansion of the Soviet imperialism in Europe has been 100% fulfilled. This has been a great bloodless victory for the West, a victory which is perhaps not sufficiently recognised in the Free World. This is why the Russians regard NATO as public enemy number one. But people say things have changed now, Stalin is dead; peaceful coexistence is the order of the day, and Krushchev calls for high level conferences to solve world problems. But, in fact, have things changed? I am personally convinced that behind, the smoke screen of high sounding phrases and appeals for peace, nothing fundamental in the Soviet policy has changed; and I defy anyone to point to a single instance, except possibly the Austrian Peace Treaty, where the Soviet Union has made concessions to the Western point of view, indeed. I should like to remind you that Krushchev said, shortly after the famous Twentieth Congress of the Communist Party, at which Stalin was removed from his pedestal, that in matters of foreign policy Stalin had made no mistake, and in that respect he, Krushchev and his friends, were all Stalinists. Only two days ago Mr. Krushchev again called for a high level meeting to ease tension. But have they really been prepared to co-operate, for example, in disarmament? Rather than admit that the Western proposals were practical and reasonable, as the United Nations themselves have now confirmed, the Russians have been prepared to boycott the Disarmament Commission and its Subcommittee in their present form. In view of this, can we place much confidence in Mr. Krushchev's recent calls for peace? Why don't the Russians co-operate in uniting Germany on a basis of free elections as they undertook to do at the last high level meeting in 1955? If they want to ease tension in the Middle East, why do they continue to pour military equipment into Syria in quantities far greater than the Syrians could possible need for their own self defence? If you read Krushchev's proposals you will not find a single concrete suggestion for solving any of the real problems that aggravate tension today. Meanwhile, of course the Russians are maintaining vast armies in being, and are equipping them with modern weapons, I therefore consider it the duty of the Western Powers to strengthen their defences both in the political, economic and military fields. This is the policy of the North Atlantic Alliance and it is my duty to see that this policy is carried out, I think it would be the utmost folly for the Western Powers to agree to weaken their defences until we have real evidence of a fundamental change of heart on the part of the Russians. At the moment I see no signs of this. Although the Alliance is primarily a defensive military alliance, we must also strengthen it in the political and economic spheres. In this respect much progress has been made. You will recall that in their famous report the Three Wise Men, as we call them, Mr. Lange, Mr. Pearson and Mr. Martino - the Foreign Ministers of Norway, Canada and Italy, recommended that the members of the Alliance should try to improve political, consultation on problems of common concern and to avoid adopting policies which might affect other members of the Alliance. For example: a) during the time of the disarmament discussions in London last August, the Western members of the Sub-Committee kept in close touch with their allies in NATO so that when they put forward their proposals they had the solid backing of their NATO allies; b) during the recent Middle East crisis, the Council followed events very closely. There was a full arid useful exchange of information and the broad outline of a common policy suggested, I do not claim, of course, that the resultS obtained have yet been perfect, but they are already sufficient to prevent a repetition of what happened last year and to assure that the Middle East situation will not cause a new crisis in the Atlantic Alliance. The Three Wise Men also urged the closest co-operation in the economic sphere. We have made some progress here and this essentially ties up with the military problem which I will touch on in a few minutes. Close co-operation here is of the utmost importance because it is in this sphere that Krushchev now challenges the Western World, On repeated, occasions, indeed again as recently as two days ago, he has announced that the Communist system will provide the people with a higher standard of living than the so-called capitalist system. He claims that the Russian economy is ahead of that of Great Britain and that it will surpass that of the United States in 15 years. If Krushchev is sincere in saying this and I believe he is, it is not logical to conclude that the Russians want war. That is why I do not believe that the Russians are systematically planning a Third World War. But, on the other hand, they are not only maintaining immense forces in being, but are equipping them with modern weapons. I would like here to say that the launching of their satellite and their success in producing the intercontinental ballistic missile has in no way tipped the balance of power in their favour. As long as the Russians maintain this high level of armament, the North Atlantic Alliance must maintain its forces in a state of sufficient strength and readiness to discourage the Kremlin from adventures. NATO's strategy has from the beginning been directed towards the deterrence of war. We have aimed at having our forces at a strength sufficient to provide this deterrence, both the strength of our ground forces in Europe as well as our strategic retaliatory power. We have done much to achieve this. Let me cite for you some simple statistics. a) In 1949, when NATO was founded, there were 5 military airfields in Europe, none of them able to handle jet aircraft, Today, there are nearly 200 airfields, all of them able to handle the fastest of modern aircraft. b) By the end of this year we hope to have completed a fuel pipeline, which will bring the necessary fuel to our forward locations from the harbours of Europe, c) We have completed a large communications network and are daily improving it. I report this progress with pride, but it does not permit us to overlook the fact that a great deal remains yet to be done. And we must realistically recognise that what remains to be done to bring our defence effort to its maximum effectiveness will be costly, both in terns of man-power and money. Our air warning system is not yet completed and we must now begin the modernisation of all NATO forces so that they will have the nuclear capability which our military authorities consider essential. In these, fields, our goals are clearly set: the German contribution is coming along as rapidly as possible: the French authorities have assured us that their forces will be returned to the NATO line as soon as they can be released from Algeria: and, thanks to American aid, European forces are already being supplied with such modern weapons as the " NIKE ", the " HERCULES " and the " MATADOR ". It is my hope that during the discussions of the heads of governments this coming December, we shall be able to establish an even fuller plan for the coordination of our military effort so that we may bring our defenses to the desired level. This is essential because a deterrent is only effective when you can inflict such heavy destruction on the enemy, both in limited and unlimited warfare, as to make him realise that aggression does not pay. There is one area in which a co-ordinated effort now is vitally required. In their comunique President Eisenhower and prime Minister Macmillan recognised the need for early action. I speak of course of co-operation in the fields of science and. technology. When approaching co-operation in these fields there are three periods which must be considered; the immediate, the short-range and long-range, In the immediate period ahead, our problem is to combine our efforts towards the development of certain specific weapons, particularly in the field of missiles, and to provide nuclear power for our forces in Europe. The President's announcement that he will seek a modification of the Atomic Energy Act will do much to increase confidence on this score. I am certain that for this purpose satisfactory arrangements can he made. The short-range and long-range problems are much more difficult. There are blue-prints now oh the drawing-boards, for which our universities have not produced a single scientist or engineer. We have reached the stage where our inventors have drawn ahead of the scientists and engineers who can make their inventions operative. We need an immediate programme in the universities in the entire Atlantic Community for the development of men who can deal with the space age. But we must look further. Ten to twenty years from now, our need for men trained in these fields will be twice as much as it is now and we must now encourage our young people to take the basic education which will enable them later on to enter these fields. Moreover, wo must adapt our educational systems to prepare these young people. I want to emphasise that this is another problem which cannot be solved by one country of the Atlantic Community by itself. We will only solve it if we solve it together. Our immediate task then is to work for a coordination and pooling of scientific effort, and a rationalisation of industry throughout the Alliance. The prestige of the Western nations does not require them to re-invent what the Americans have already discovered and the security of the United States will not be endangered if they entrust their allies with the secrets which their possible enemies already possess. Is it not absurd that the Western countries at this critical time are wasting their resources competing among themselves. Such dispersion of effort imposes an enormous financial burden on all our countries. On the other hand a pooling of our resources of men and materials would mean an immense relief to Western economy as a whole.In the United States I found a steadfast loyalty to the Atlantic Alliance. I know that the United Kingdom too and the other countries of Europe will play their full part, I return to Paris, after my visit here, with renewed hope and confidence.