MANILA TALKS ON ASIA

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27442, 31 August 1954, Page 11

MANILA TALKS ON ASIA

British View On Economic Aspect (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 8 p.m.) NEW YORK, August 29. The American Associated Press today quotes an informed source in Manila as saying on Sunday that the United States State Department was circulating a new and watered-down draft among the nations, which will meet there next week to discuss the formation, of a collective security organisation for South-east Asia.

The new draft, initiated by Britain, emphasised economic co-operation instead of a strong military alliance, the source said.

The Philippines was reported to have raised objections. It wants a military charter patterned after the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

Eight nations—the United States, Britain, France, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Pakistan, and the Philippines—meet in Manila on September 6 to. plan a pact against Communist aggression in South-east Asia.

The reported draft is the third circulated through the State Department. The source said it differed from the other two in these particulars:— 1. Communist aggression was mentioned specifically as the force which the proposed organisation seeks to contain. -2. The primary objective was shifted from a military defensive pact to economic co-operation. 3. The proposed treaty area would be expanded to include Free Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, but would exclude the Chinese Nationalist island of Formosa. 4. The term “treaty area” had replaced the phrase, “South-east Asia and the South-west Pacific..” The Manila source said the latest draft followed the pattern of the Anzus Treaty in that it would call for consultation in the event of attack to determine what steps should be taken.