0 - The Black Vault

THE BDM CORPORATION
Vice Admiral A. C. Davis, Depity Assistant Secretary of
Defense (International Security Affairs) and Chief Defense Department
repr^esentative in the US delegation to the Manila Conference had the
following to say at the conclusion of the proceedings:
I believe the Manila Conference accomplished the objective
expected of it from the United States point of view.
In my judgment our Defense representation in the U.S, Delegation
succeeded in its efforts to insure that the Treaty is
cnnsistent in its military implications with the positions
taken by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and by this Department.
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In the final treaty the US, in effect, had made a
statLment of its intent to counter further communist expansionist moves in
Southeast Asia, but left vague the specifics of its probable response.
There was to be no ,nified command, no bases, and no contribution of combat
troops to a standing army or group.
2) SEATO Compared to NATO
Although the other Mani ia conferees intended the SEATO
pact to be similar to the NATO pact, the US was not prepared to pay the
price of such a strong coalition. The US, with its NATO commitments
already a sizeable biirden, was reluctant to commit itself to SEATO
as it
had to NATO. Therefore, the conferees took pains with thL SEATO terminology,
caiculating carefully the effect the pacx would have on their own
domestic politics as well as on the communist-threatenod nations. It
remains, however, that the SEATO treaty wording on the point of just what
response would be made by the nmembers in the event of an armed attack was
intentionally ambiguous.
With respect to treaty institutions, both the NATO and
SEATO treaties establisned councils for military and planning purposes. In
the NATO treaty this council was authorized to set up "subsidiary bodies,"
while in the SEATO Treaty such authorization was not given. This was a
disappointment to several of the delegations at Manila., Initially, the
Australians proposed that the conference set up a strong military organization,
but they were persuaded by the US
representatives to accept a
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