ALLIANCE FOR ASIA

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27443, 1 September 1954, Page 11

ALLIANCE FOR ASIA

Early Signing Of Pact Expected

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 10 p.m.) WASHINGTON, August 30. The State Department expressed confidence today that the eight-nation pact against Communist expansion in South-east Asia would be signed without difficulty.

A department spokesman made the statement after the Secretary of State (Mr Dulles) discussed last-minute details with President Eisenhower. Mr Dulles will take off for Manila tomorrow ready to put the signature of the United States on the historic document.

Other nations represented at the conference will be Britain. France, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Siam, and Pakistan.

The spokesman eaid the Manila meeting should not last more than a week because much progress on the treaty had been made in preliminary diplomatic conferences.

The actual sessions do not begin until next Monday, but Mr Dulles plans to spend part of this week in defence conferences with Philippine leaders. Afterwards, he may visit Formosa and Japan. Diplomats said his visit to Formosa at this time would be particularly significant in view of the Chinese Communist threats to invade the island stronghold and United States replies that it would be defended. According to American press reports, pre-conference drafts of the S.E.A.T.O. treaty would: (1) Create a treaty-council and permanent secretariat to keep a continuous watch for Communist threats in the Pacific. (2) Call for consultation by member nations in the event of aggresion, a threat of aggression, or subversive acts. (3) Provide that Congress have the final say on United States armed intervention by calling for defensive action only through the constitutional processes of each country. (4) Channel economic aid to nations in the area to improve living standards and prevent the spread of communism. (5) Warn against subversive or fifth column action, which would be considered a threat to law and order and the peace of each nation. Laos, Cambodia, free Vietnam and Malaya would be considered part of the territory to be defended, even though these nations would not sign the treaty, diplomatic sources said.