‘Meaningless’ pact to be last relic of S.E.A.T.O.

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33958, 26 September 1975, Page 3

‘Meaningless’ pact to be last relic of S.E.A.T.O.

(By

MAX LAMBERT,

”, N.Z.P.A. staff correspondent)

NEW YORK, September 25. The South East Asia Treaty Organisation, established in 1954 as a bulwark against communism, was wound up in New York today.

Foreign Ministers from the six active S.E.A.T.O. nations—Australia, New : Zealand, the Philippines, Thailand, the United 'Kingdom, and the United States—agreed unanimously at the twentieth annual council meeting Ito wind up the organisation.

i : The council decided that! ithe organisation had out-: I lined its usefulness. ■ I In a brief communique the: Ministers said it should be ; phased out “in view of; I changing circumstances.” When S.E.A.T.O. was first! I set up China was seen as a ; great threat and armed ! conflict was raging in South Vietnam. But the W’est has i now established relations ! with China, the war in Vietjnam is over, and tensions in , South-East Asia have diminlished. ; The phasing-out decision I was announced in the presience of the American Secretary of State (Dr Kissinger)

with Thailand’s Foreign Minis t e r (Mr Chatachai Choonhavan) in the chair.

Treaty ‘meaningless’

The New Zealand Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs (Mr Walding) said after today’s talks that S.E.A.T.O'. was no longer relevant in today’s world. “Whatever ratification there was for S.E.A.T.O. before there is none now.”

The Manila Treaty, under which members pledged to i act against armed aggresIsion, will remain in existence but Mr Walding said it was unlikely ever to be invoked and he described it as meaningless. Informed sources said the treaty would remain in deference to the Thai Government’s desire to retain some formal links with! friendly governments. Two years ago New Zealand led the move to do away with the military side of 5.E.A.T.0., but the initiative for today’s decision to dismantle S.E.A.T.O. entirely came not from New Zealand or other Western

members but from the regional members.

“We didn’t force it on them,” Mr Walding said. New Zealand’s support for the end of 5.E.A.T.0., how 7 - ever, was clear and Mr Walding said it was in line with the Labour Government’s often-stated view.

He said he emphasised at the meeting that during the 21 years of S.E.A.T.O.’s existence New Zealand had developed close friendships with regional members and intended to continue to develop them. Plan to disband Since the end of its military activities S.E.A.T.O. has become more involved in socio-economic projects designed to help people in the Philippines and Thailand. The council decided today that some of these were of “substantial value” and might be continued, either bi-laterally or through other! bodies. The council asked the secretary-general of S.E.A.TO. (Mr Sunthorn Hongladarom) for an orderly and systematic plan to phase-out S.E.A.T.O. Mr Walding said that the; plan should be ready by December or January and he ! believed the organisation could be completely dis-; banded in 12 months or two! vears at most. .

In past j ears, annual S.E.A.T.O. meetings were full blown affairs, staged either in Bangkok, the headquarters of the organisation, or in capitals of member nations. There were large diplomatic and military delegations and much pomp and ceremony.

Today and for the past two years the meetings have been held quietly and intimately on the twelfth floor of the United States’ United Nations mission building while ministers were in New York for the United Nations General Assembly session. Only two reporters were on hand today to hear first hand the news of the end of S.E.A.T.O. [ ‘Prop’ for Thailand j The Manila Treaty, under which S.E.A.T.O. was established, has been kept, at the wish of Thailand and the United States, writes N.Z. P . A . correspondent Bruce Kohn from Wellington. The reason both Bangkok and Washington attach considerable importance to the, treaty is that it remains the! only formal defence link between the United States and ! Thailand. The Phillipines has its I own formal defence treaty* with the United States and President Marcos’s Government was not as anxious as the Government of Thailand that the treaty remain. Two New Zealanders are* on S.E.A.T.O.’s staff in! Bangkok, one of them; recently appointed as admin-' istrative officer.

Under this year’s budget estimates, $140,000 was provided for as New Zealand’s contribution to the secretariat’s finances. In addition, other smaller sums wete provided out of aid funds for special aid projects carried out under the auspices of the organisation. The feeling exists within the Government that New Zealand did not have much to be gained by maintaining the treaty while winding down the secretariat. But, according to reliable sources, the Government was anxious to fit in with the wishes of

its Asian partners and as a result decided to go along with the Thai request that the treaty be maintained. But neither diplomatists nor political leaders here see any prospect of it ever again being invoked as it was when the Vietnam War dominated political events in South-East Asia. They see it now simply as a psychological prop to "the Thai Government during the period in which it adjusts to the changed political situation in the region. Gromyko to travel The Soviet Union Foreign Minister (Mr Andrei Gromyko) will visit Czechoslovakia and East Germany at the end of the month, when, it is believed, he is likely to discuss possible East bloc proposals at talks on force reductions in Central Europe. — Moscow.