55 



in l'M.7 iiiul carried on under presidents of both parties, The 

 second tliuinu was tint "a yinylo state" could not be permitted 

 to stop the entire world from concluding such a lonq-range 

 effort. While recognizing the classic problem of reconciling 

 inequalities of wealth and power with the sense of national 

 dignity inherent in the legal equality of states, some of the 

 delegates seem to be warning that public embarrassment would 

 not be tolerable to them . or their governments whatever the 

 consequences of defiance. 



There is widespread recognition of the need to deal with 

 the United States if at all possible. Thus, for example, it 

 is now generally recognized — as the United States stated — 

 that the resumed tenth session in Geneva will be for the pur- 

 pose of considering the problems identified in the U.S. review, 

 but that the review may well not be finally completed until 

 after the session. President Koh speaks of "benign pressure" 

 on the U.S. to complete its review before August. 



ELECTION OF THE PRESIDENT 



The death of the long-time President of the Conference, 

 Hamilton Shirly Amerasinghe of Sri Lanka, necessitated the 

 election of a new President. Since the previous President 

 was Asian, and since the various chairmanships were distri- 

 buted among the regions, it was generally expected that the 

 primary responsibility would fall on the Asian Group "to 

 select a candidate generally acceptablle to the Conference. 



The principal candidates were Satya Nandan of Fiji and 

 Christopher Pinto of Sri Lanka. Repeated polling in the 

 Asian Group revealed a split between the candidates, with a 

 significant number of delegations casting votes for neither 

 candidate. There were persistent rumors that the Soviet Union 

 was attempting to maneuver a "compromise" on Dr. Jagota of 

 India, but this did not materialize. 



As expected from the outset, in the end Ambassador Tommy 

 T. B. Koh of Singapore emerged as the consensus candidate of 

 the Asian Group»and was elected by the Conference by consensus. 

 Loas, Mongolia and Vietnam reserved their positions within the 

 Asian Group, but did not block a consensus. 



NEXT SESSION 



Considerable time was devoted to the question of the next 

 session of the Conference. The issue was of interest because 

 of its effect on the expectations of states regarding the 

 outcome. 



