0 - The Black Vault

THE BDMVICORPORATION
US
representatives to Manila had been instructed to insist
on several preconditions for US military action in Southeast Asia. They
were: 20/
0 that the US would refuse to a-t dnilaterally in Asia, because of
heavy commitments to NATO
* that any military actiun (by the US) would have to involve not
only Asian nations, but also major European partners
* that the LIS would not be prepared to commit grodnd troops into
combat in Asia; other nations would do the g-ound fighting under
a cover of US sea and air power
* that the US defined the communist threat as the only real danger
to the region.
1) Conference Outcomes
The Manila Conference culminated in a pact termed the
"Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty and Protocol Treaty, September 8,
1954"; the treaty was ratified by the US Senate by a vote of 82 to 1, and
entered into force on February 19, 1955.
Throughout the discussions at Manila the US
insisted
that the focus of the treaty be on the prevention of further communist
expansion in the region.
When the other nations would not acquiesce to US
pressure to make anticommunism the treaty's specific objective, the US
requested and got an "understanding" appended to the treaty.21/
In evert
of other kinds of aggression the US agreed to consult with the other member
nations.
The final item of the treaty was a "protocol," which
stated unanimous agreement among the member
nations to include Cambodia,
Laos and South Vietnam under che provisions of the treaty. In other words,
these countries, without actually becoming members of the pact, became
entitled to "economic support including technical assistance" and also "to
defense against any attack, overt or not, from without or within."22/
US wanted these nations included under the SEATO Treaty, but membership
would have been legally in contravention of the Geneva Accords,
The
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