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Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria University College, Wellington N.Z. Vol. 20, No. 9. June 27, 1957

"Free Countries"

"Free Countries"

And anyway, what effect has SEATO had on the nations of Asia—the "free countries of Asia" with whom the National Government claims we have strengthened relations?

There are only three Asian countries in SEATO (Pakistan, the Philippines, and corrupt Thailand), as against five white countries—Australia. New Zealand, and three even more utterly un-Asian: Britain, France, and the United States.

At its foundation, one Wellington editorial writer ("Dominion," 3.8.54) warned: "This alliance could develop into a white man's pact against coloured."

SID (explaining to the anxious Public): I call it "Foreign" you see because it is absolutely alien to everything New Zealand, and—er—really I'm not just sure why I call it "Policy" ...

SID (explaining to the anxious Public): I call it "Foreign" you see because it is absolutely alien to everything New Zealand, and—er—really I'm not just sure why I call it "Policy" ...

The mass sentiment of the Asian people in the present conflict between the Kremlin monolith and the old Western colonial powers (which includes the United States, who had their colonial foothold in Asia up till the last war) is "a plague o' both your houses". India. Indonesia, Burma, Ceylon, Laos, Cambodia, and active minorities elsewhere, all reflect this attitude.

They want constructive economic assistance from more fortunate lands for the development (as opposed to the exploitation) of their resources; they want long-term peace in which this development can take place freely, and which is threatened by the two great military power blocs overshadowing the world.

The H-bomb, in particular, is regarded by them with revulsion as the epitome of the power impasse which the great blocs have reached. And remember, it was against an Asian people (not the military misleaders of that people, but the people themselves) that atomic weapons were used the only time—may it remain the only time—they have ever been used.

New Zealand's participation in the Christmas Island tests, with her participation in SEATO, and the Malayan [unclear: skirmish,] and Britain's guilt in Suez, undoes all the good of her participation in the Colombo Plan.