TASKS FOR SEATO

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28222, 9 March 1957, Page 11

TASKS FOR SEATO

Pressure Of Communism (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11 p.m.) NEW YORK. March 8.

Two New York newpapers. in commenting on the South-East Asia Treaty Organisation meeting in Canberra, said today that the threat to the area from the Communists remained, although it now lay in economic penetration and subversion rather than in military pressure. The “New York Times” said that there were several vulnerable positions. “Indonesia is perhaps the most critical, and the unwillingness of President Sukarno to avail himself of the strength that could come from alliance with the Free World adds to the weakness of his situation," the newspaper said. “He is a prime target and the Communists know it. . . . The smaller States in what was once Indo-China are also under heavy pressure and have to find some way of resisting it “Burma’s Premier has just stated that the border situation involving Red China is ‘sensitive.’ “The Communist pressure has not been relieved.” The “New York Times” said that the men at the SEATO meeting must discuss means by which the pressure can be counteracted. The New York “Herald Tribune” said that neutralist Asian nations, which regarded SEATO with suspicion may well have changed their attitudes since the bloody Communist suppression of Hungary’s freedom. “So much remains to be done to keep this comparatively new alliance strong and healthy,” it said. “There has been considerable infiltration by Chinese Communists in Asian nations which have large colonies of Chinese residents. . . . Red China’s armed forces have been growing progressively stronger.”