890.20/8–1549
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Deputy Director of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs (Allison)
Mr. Corner1 stated during the course of a general conversation on Far Eastern matters that his government had received a telegram from General Romulo inviting it to take part with other like-minded governments in a conference at some unspecified date in the future concerning possibilities of a regional pact among Pacific powers. According to Mr. Corner, General Romulo’s telegram quoted extensively from the letter of President Quirino to General Romulo and also attempted to divorce this approach from the recent Chiang–Quirino talks and tie it up with the New Delhi conference of last January. General Romulo’s telegram made clear that the pact envisioned by him would be primarily economic and cultural and that it would have no military commitments. The New Zealand Government, according to Mr. Corner, had replied to General Romulo stating that it would give the matter serious study but that before reaching a decision as to whether or not it would be willing to participate in a conference on this subject it would like to have General Romulo inform it as to the attitude of such powers as the United States and the United Kingdom without the cooperation of which, in the opinion of the New Zealand Government, any Pacific Pact would appear to be meaningless. Mr. Corner went on at some length to explain the New Zealand position. [Page 1188] According to him the New Zealand Government does not look upon itself as an Asiatic government but rather as an extension into the southern Pacific of Western Europe. The New Zealand Government has been somewhat disturbed at the possibility that the conclusion of the Atlantic Pact might leave New Zealand neglected by its Western friends and associates and it does not feel that a Pacific Pact made up of only the nations of Southeast Asia and India would be a suitable substitute. Mr. Corner frankly said that the New Zealand Government feels that if it aligns itself in a pact with only Asiatic nations there would be the danger of certain of these nations’ coming to look at the comparative wealth of New Zealand and its comparative under-population with covetous eyes. According to Mr. Corner, the New Zealand Government realizes that it might not be possible for the United States to enter a formal security pact in the Pacific at this time and it does not believe that this is necessary but it does think that a general understanding among New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States regarding security in the Pacific would be a most desirable thing. I informed Mr. Corner that this Government’s attitude toward a Pacific Pact had been made clear in various statements by the Secretary and that our attitude toward the Philippine initiative had been expressed in the last sentence of the joint communiqué issued upon the departure of President Quirino.2 Mr. Corner said that his purpose was merely to keep this Government informed and that there was no intention of asking for any specific action at this time.