Foreign Relations of the United States, 1951, Asia and the Pacific, Volume VI, Part 1

Lot 56D527: Office of Northeast Asian Affairs

Memorandum by the Special Assistant to the Consultant (Allison) to the Ambassador’ at Large (Jessup)²

secret

[Washington,] January 4, 1951.

Subject: Pacific Pact

At Mr. Dulles’³ request I am enclosing a draft of a possible Pacific Pact declaration which it is hoped can be discussed in Mr. Dulles’ office at 11 a. m., Friday, January 5.⁴

You will recall that in the Secretary’s letter of December 13, 1950, to Secretary Marshall⁵ the opinion of the Defense Department was requested, among other things, on the possibility of exploring at this time the creation of a Pacific Pact with our allies. Mr. Dulles, Mr. Rusk and I discussed this problem with the Joint Chiefs on the afternoon of January 3,⁶ and not only did the Joint Chiefs agree to the Department’s exploring the possibilities of a Pacific Pact, but in fact urged that it do so at the earliest possible opportunity. However, the Joint Chiefs made it clear that the Pact which they had in mind should be strictly confined to the island nations of the Pacific (Australia, Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines, the United States, and possibly Indonesia), and that under no circumstances should the United States get into a position in which it was committed to furnish military strength for the defense of Hong Kong. Accordingly, in the draft Pact attached hereto it will be noted that the United Kingdom is not to be a member, and this naturally raises certain problems which will have to be thoroughly discussed and considered. One of the reasons given by the Joint Chiefs for their desire for some sort of Pacific Pact which would include Australia was their belief that if Australia were re-assured as to its defense in the Pacific area it would be in a position to give more assistance to the general cause in the Middle East.⁷

Consideration of the attached draft Pact does not exclude further consideration of the possibility of accomplishing a mutual assistance arrangement among the Pacific island nations in two stages, as suggested in paragraph 4 of the memorandum accompanying the Secretary of State’s letter of December 13.

It is requested that Mr. Dulles’ secretary be informed (Extension 2321) as to whether or not you will be able to attend the meeting at 11 tomorrow morning, and if not whether you wish to send a representative.

[Enclosure]

Draft of a Possible Pacific Ocean Pact

secret

January 3, 1951.

The Governments of Australia, Indonesia (?), Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines and the United States of America recognize that their island positions in the Pacific Ocean give rise to a distinctive community of interest which makes it appropriate for them to concert together with a view to assuring their individual and collective self-defense in the Pacific Ocean area.

Accordingly:

1. With a view to protection against indirect aggression and subversion, each Party confirms its intention to preserve domestically a society of spiritual, intellectual and political liberty and public law and order such as is conducive to domestic tranquility and welfare.

2. Each Party recognizes that if there should be direct aggression in the form of armed attack in the Pacific Ocean upon any of the Parties, such attack would be dangerous to its own peace and safety and declares that it would act to meet the common danger in accordance with its Constitutional processes. Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall immediately be reported to the Security Council. Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security.

3. Recognizing that preparation is a deterrent to aggression, the Parties establish a Pacific Ocean Council, which will meet periodically, with a view to recommending such measures as may be appropriate to implement as between them the inherent right of collective self-defense recognized in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. The Pacific Ocean Council will be available to cooperate with the United Nations Collective Measures Committee set up by the United Nations pursuant to General Assembly Resolution No. A/1481⁸ in order to maintain and strengthen international peace and security in accordance with the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations Charter.⁹

4. The Pacific Ocean Council will continue in being until the United Nations or its Asiatic and Pacific members shall have taken such measures as in the opinion of a majority of the Parties hereto make unnecessary the continuance of this particular collective self-defense arrangement. Any Party may withdraw from the Pacific Ocean Council upon one year’s advance notice. Upon receipt of any such notice, the other Parties will immediately confer together to consider the situation thereby created.¹⁰

2. Memorandum addressed also to H. Freeman Matthews, Deputy Under Secretary of State; Dean Rusk, Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs; Adrian S. Fisher, Legal Adviser of the Department of State; Paul H. Nitze, Director of the Policy Planning Staff; Henry It. Labouisse, Jr., Director of the Office of British Commonwealth and Northern European Affairs; and John K. Emmerson, Regional Planning Adviser of the Bureau of Far Eastern Affairs.
3. John Foster Dulles, Consultant to the Secretary of State.
4. No record of this meeting has been found in Department of State files.
5. George Catlett Marshall, Secretary of Defense. For text of the mentioned letter and its enclosure, see Foreign Relations, 1950, vol. vi, p. 1363.
6. For additional information regarding this meeting, see telegram 1000 to Tokyo, January 3, p. 778.
7. Documentation regarding the interest of the United States in the military affairs of the Middle East, is scheduled for publication in volume v.
8. Incorrect reference in the source text to the document number, rather than the resolution number, of General Assembly Resolution 377(V) of November 3, 1950, “Uniting for Peace.” For text, see Department of State, American Foreign Policy: Basic Documents, 1950–1955, vol. i, pp. 187–192.
9. For text of the Charter of the United Nations, signed at San Francisco June 26, 1945, see Department of State Treaty Series (TS) No. 993, or 59 Stat. (pt. 2) 1031.
10. A later version of this draft of agreement, dated January 9, not printed, embodies minor changes which are primarily stylistic. (Lot 54D423)