0 - The Black Vault

t
THE SIM CORPOR4TION
mcdification to their proposal -- the concept of consultation. Thus,
n ilitary partcipa-ion in SEATO was to be "consultative" rather than permanent
and forma: as in the NATO Treaty. 24/
3) The Impact of tie SEATO Treaty on US Objectives in
Southeast Asia.
The Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty was to be
a "new initiative in Southeast Asia" to protect the US position in the Far
East and stabilize "the present chaotic situation ....
to prevent further
losses to communi.m" through subversion or overt aggression.25/ But the
SEATO
pact proved to be neither the new initiative nor the strung anticommunist
shield sought by Secretary of State Dulles.
at Manila were self-induced.
The failure to attain the goals set for US
negotiators
While Dulles wanted to put the communists on
notice that aggression oi their p3rt would be vigorously opposed, the JCS
insisted the US
must not be committed financially, militarily er economically
to unilateral action in the Far East and that US
must not be restricted.
freedom of action
The two objectives conflicted and one cancelled
out the other. Thus, the article of the SEATO treaty which was to prcvide
"tne mechanism for collective action in the event of an enemy threat was
diluted and was written so as not to pledge an automatic response to meet
force with force.
Instead, each signatory promised to "act to meec the
common danger in accordance with its constitutional processes."26/
The US
attempted to put teeth into the SEATO pact through unilaterai Jeclarations
of US readiness to act. Secretary Dulles defined the obligations under the
treaty as being a clear and definite agreement on the part of the signatories,
including the US,
to come to the aid of any member of the Pact who
under the terms of the treaty was being subjected to aggression.27/
However,
he failed to instill the same jedication to instant intervention into
the otter SEATO men.;er nations.
The obligation assuied at the Manila conferenca emphasized
the importance attached to Suutheast Asia by the US.
Refusal by the
US to pledge unqualified support to SEATO demcnstrated the need for indigenous
strength and stability in the region in order to counter communist
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