AMERICAN REPUBLICS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25157, 21 March 1945, Page 5

AMERICAN REPUBLICS

PROBLEMS OF WAR AND PEACE MAJOR DECISIONS AT MEXICO CITY By A. D. ROTHMAN (Special to the New Zealand Herald)

WASHINGTON, March 19 Three major resolutions on problems of war and peace were unanimously approved by the Inter-Ameri-can Conference, which recently concluded its sittings in Mexico City. The first was an ''economic charter" for the Americas; the second was the Act of Chapultepec designed to assure the security of the hemisphere ; and the third laid down the conditions under which Argentina—the only one of the«2l American Republics not invited to the conference —could become a signatory to all the Mexico City resolutions. Under the Act of Chapultepec, 20 Republics bound themselves for the duration to resist by force any threat from within the hemisphere itself to the territorial integrity and political independence of the American Republics. The Monroe Doctrine This provision marks a curious evolution of the Monroe Doctrine. In its original form, the doctrine pledged the United States to oppose any act of aggression from Europe against a Latin American country. The Roosevelt Administration, following -its good neighbour policy, changed this concept, so that all American Republics pledged themselves to oppose an act of aggression against any one of their number from the Eastern Hemisphere. Mexico City took the doctrine one step further. It is now aimed also at aggression arising from within the hemisphere itself. The reason is easy to explain. Argentina s "colonels" have been doing some sabre-rattling. Tlie.y hare made belligerent speeches. They have demanded arms from the United States so that Argentina could maintain her "proper" place in the Americas. They have given demonstrations of Argentina's capacity to build her own modern weapons of war. Regional Agreement Argentina's smaller neighbours have exprassed fears, while her larger neighbours, like Brazil, have considered all this a challenge. The United States supplied an answer with the Act of Chapultepec. There is another section of the Act of Chapultepec. Under the President of the United States' wartime powers, he can suppitf all force necessary to implement the Act for the duration of the present war. After the war, the Act operates as a regional agreement under the Dumbarton Oaks plan. But Dumbarton Oaks also provides that regional bodies act under the parent body. That means that no regional council can undertake punitive action against a threatening aggressor without the approval of the parent council. Thus, Russia, Britain, France and China, sitting on the main council, could veto any use of force decided on under the Act of Chapultepec. Keeping Argentina Isolated So history completes a circle, and the Monroe Doctrine, designed to assert the dominance of the United States in the Western Hemisphere, and to exclude the Eastern Hemisphere from the arbitraments of the Western Hemisphere, is set aside. The United States can be considered both inconsistent and consistent in this. The inconsistency can be considered as the price of keeping Argentina isolated. The consistency lies in the larger concept that peace anywhere is indivisible, and the responsibility of every nation. The United States alone cannot be its arbiter in the Western Hemisphere, nor can all nations of the Western Hemisphere assume that role. It is the responsibility of the whole world. The degree of unanimity achieved at Mexico City is remarkable, particularly in the light of all the troublesome inference that lies in the Act of Chapultepec. Rational processes were apparently reversed. We have regional agreement born when its-parent is still to be born. Dumbarton Oaks Plan Latin Americans are highly rational. They wanted very much to discuss Dumbarton Oaks in the light of the impending San Francisco conference. They wanted their dissatisfactions regarding Dumbarton Oaks made known, but they were discouraged. The most they could achieve along this line was a .90-page report by thg Venezuelan Foreign Minister approving the aims and principles of Dumbarton. But the report also embodied the detailed views of 15 delegations represented at the Mexico City Conference, critical of various features of the Dumbarton plan. The conference, however, entrusted this document to the United States to present for consideration at San Francisco, although the United States delegation officially announced it would not support the criticisms it contained. To have aired all the dissatisfactions Latin American countries find in Dumbarton might well Have made any other work at Mexico City impossible. But the United States was offering other inducements for unanimity. Economic Charter These were embodied in the Economic Charter for the Americas. The Mexican Foreign Minister, Senor Padilla, opening the conference, made a significant speech. "In the Americas, we must put an end to the Dantesque spectacle of men without homes, eaten away by tuberculosis, malaria, malnutrition and silicosis . . . the co-exist-ence of free, prosperous peoples with slaves. Poor peoples must bo cancelled definitely." Senor Padilla was speaking for the 19 nations other than the United States at the conference, and what he was saying was: Will the United States back out on her orders to Latin America after the war and plunge it into an economic tail-spin; what has the United States to offer in the way of large-scale economic assistance to maintain and increase Latin American prosperity; will the United States take the lead in planning and materially supporting social and physical improvements for the under-privileged citizens of Latin America P Argentina Resolution The Economic Charter answered the first question negatively and the latter two affirmatively. The third objective of the charter reads: "A constructive basis for the sound 'economic development of the Americas beyond the development of natural resources; increased industrialisation; improvement of transportation; 1 modernisation of agriculture; development of power facilities. . . . Improve- 1 ment of labour standards and working conditions, including collective bargain- 1 ing, all leading to a rising level of living and increased consumption." I In it« concltiding plenary session, the conference adopted the so-called "Argen- ' tina resolution." Argentina would be ' welcomed back into the Pan-American ' family of nations if she would pledge ;

an all-out use of her resources, military and economic, against the Axis, promise to co-operate with other United Nations against the Axis; pledge to adhere to the Atlantic Charter; and adhere to the Act of Chapultepec and other resolutions of the conference pledging specific actions against the Axis' subversive activities in the Americas.

In Argentina it is said this resolution was welcomed. But Argentina is still reluctant to declare war on Germany aiid Japan. The fundamental character of the present Argentina Government militates against its becoming a genuine ally of the United Nations. It is known that German arms experts are supervising her arms manufacture programme . The Argentina Government will angle for recognition. It wants the good things that are the rewards of becoming a true member of the United Nations, but it is not clear that it is prepared to pay the price.