EFFECTIVENESS OF SEATO

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27750, 30 August 1955, Page 10

EFFECTIVENESS OF SEATO

Former British Minister Questions Value “DOES NOT AMOUNT TO A POLICY” (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, August 29. The effectiveness of the South-east Asia Treaty Organisation was questioned by Mr Kenneth Younger, who was Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in the last British Labour Government, when he addressed the annual conference of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs in Wellington. South-east Asia was econom cally important, said Mr Younger, and increased efforts should be made through the United Nations, the Colombo Plan, and otherwise to build up her strength. A good start had been made on this. In the past, collective defence was never possible because neither the Asians nor the Americans would undertake commitments. Now the Americans had joined SEATO, but the Asians had not. The treaty did not appreciably increase the Asian or other Commonwealth resources available to defend the area. Certainly Britain could not add to what she was already undertaking in Malaya, he said. “Gesture of Involvement” The Australian and New Zealand forces were rather a gesture of involvement in the area and did not substantially affect the resources available for the defence of South-east Asia as a whole.

Though SEATO split the Colombo Plan Powers, Mr Younger said he did not think it was “red-blooded enough to cause considerable offence to the Indians.” “I do not suggest that the British and New Zealand Governments should have rejected this treaty, but only that they should not be deceived into thinking it amounts to a policy, or into neglecting more promising policies,” he said. The vacuum left by the withdrawal of European power from Asia would certainly be filled in the long run by some combination of Chinese, Japanese, or Indian influence rather than by the West, added Mr Younger. The industrialisation of Asia and the end of Western colonialism were bound to come some time. “For a peaceful solution of Far Eastern problems, the co-operation of both India and the United States is necessary. “The policies of these two countries have been very far apart. It is the main task of British diplomacy to bring them dose to one another, and there are some signs that India’s growing role in Asian affairs is becoming better understood in the United States than it has been in the past,” he said.

SEATO MILITARY ADVISERS

TALKS TO BE HELD IN AUCKLAND

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, August 29. Siam’s military representatives on the South-east Asian Treaty Organisation are due in Auckland tomorrow—the first of the seven overseas delegations to the eight-nation meeting which will begin at Hobsonville on Friday. The conference, the first of its kind in New Zealand, will last until September 13. It will be ouened by the Minister of Education (Mr R. M. Algie). The eight nations—Australia, France. Britain. New Zealand, Pakistan, fhe Philippines. Siam and the United States—will be represented by military advisers of the three services. About 30 are expected. A similar meeting is at present being held in Australia. Both are part of a series agreed on by the military advisers recently in Bangkok. Further defence planning for the treaty area is their main aim.