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He believes staunchly in democratic institutions and has helped achieve them in Burma, which outlawed the Communist Party a few months after achieving independence. But he has supported U.N. membership for Red China, which faces neutral Burma across 1,500 miles of frontier, even while decrying Communism's "violent" tactics. This inconsistency many Burmese are willing to justify in hopes that Red China's acceptance on the world scene may restrain what U Thant regards as the primary source of conflict between nations: "Uncivilized elements in their characters.' Burma's role, he feels, is not to join any bloc but to work to "reconcile" such conflicts.
U Thant first joined his country's U.N. delegation in 1952, was appointed permanent delegate in 1957. Among other key U.N. posts, U Thant this year served concurrently as chairman of the Development Fund, the Congo Conciliation Commission and the Afro-Asian Standing Committee on Algeria. Rejecting Krishna Menon-style neutralism, he has shown moral fiber and tact in his major assignments. He called on the U.N. to maintain law and order in the Congo, worked patiently and discreetly to end the Algerian conflict, backed the U.N. resolution condemning Russia's brutal suppression of the Hungarian uprising (though, characteristically, he tried to tone down its blistering language).
As Acting Secretary-General, U Thant is expected to prove a patient and efficient chairman, rather than a bold initiator in Dag Hammarskjold's mold. U.S. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson believes that he will be "very sturdy" in protecting his office against Russian attempts to undermine it. Throughout the long succession crisis, U Thant resisted all Soviet maneuvers to foist troika schemes on the U.N. Secretariat.
His critics, from Washington to such vehemently anti-Communist nations as Nationalist China, fear that in his pursuit of compromise, U Thant may gravely inhibit the U.N.'s role as the "conscience of mankind." They may reckon without U Thant's quiet but nonetheless firm belief that peace cannot be achieved through passive neutralism, which would mean a withdrawal from the battle for peace." Pointedly, he has declared: "Whoever occupies the office of the Secretary-General must be impartial, but not necessarily neutral."
* U is not a first name, but an honorary title roughly meaning mister. Thant means clean or clear in Burmese, hence one reporter's nickname for U Thant: Mr. Clean.