The sickly birth of Seato

Throughout the late 1940's and early 1950's the governments of Australia, New Zealand, Britain and the US had talked vaguely about a "collective defence treaty 'in Asia. For some years the Americans placed little importance on the idea. But after Dulles had seen his policies defeated in Korea and Indochina, he hastened to create the new alliance In September 1954 the South-East Asian Treaty Organisation came into being

One of the main ideas behind Seato was to create a counter-revolutionary alliance against China, linking the old western colonial powers, the white governments of Australia and New Zealand and pro-western regimes in Asia. Western leaders at the time waxed eloquently about the fact that Asian nations would now play an equal part in "defending" themselves against communism.

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But the alliance was a failure right from the beginning. India, Ceylon, Burma and Indonesia refused to join. In the end only Pakistan. Thailand and the Philippines signed the treaty along with the US, Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand. The alliance's boundaries were left somewhat vague, but excluded Taiwan and Korea.

Under Seato the eight parties recognised that "aggression by means of armed attack in the treaty area against any of the Parties or against any State or territory which the Parties by unanimous agreement may hereafter designate, would endanger its own peace and security." and agreed that it will in that event act to meet the common danger in accordance with its constitutional processes." The US Government added a rider saying it would only act in the event of "communist aggression." Dulles was not particularly concerned to try and hide the real purpose of the alliance.

Seato was also aimed at keeping a watchful military eye over Indochina in case of another revolutionary upsurge. Laos, Cambodia and south Vietnam were designated as being covered by the treaty without being asked. In his book "My war with the CIA,' the Cambodian Head of State Prince Sihanouk has documented the numerous attempts by the US Government to force his country into the anti-communist pact by diplomatic pressure, the manipulation of foreign aid and eventually outright subversion.

Seato was never important as a military alliance. The eight parties never acted to meet any "common danger." By the 1960's Pakistan and France had broken away from the US alliance, although nominally remaining Seato members and the British had come to realise that their role as an active imperialist power in Asia had come to an end.

From time to time Seato members engaged in military exercises and organised projects of economic, technical and social cooperation (usually with a military purpose). Seato had its headquarters in Bangkok, which published semi-literate tirades against the communist peril. The Thais also used Seato as an excuse for bullying Cambodia.