FE files, lot 55 D 388
Senator William F. Knowland1 to the Secretary of State
Dear Mr. Secretary: During my recent trip to the Far East, which extended over a period of approximately six weeks, I was impressed with the fact that there was lack of coordination economically, politically, and militarily between the free understanding among these countries that any adverse development in one section of Asia was bound to have its repercussions in all other areas.
It is my very strong belief that the free nations of Asia will enthusiastically cooperate with the other free nations of the world, if it is made perfectly clear from the outset that they are to be treated as equal partners in the joint effort to maintain a free world of free men.
Whether all the nations of the world recognize it or not, I believe that the age of colonialism in Asia is dead and that no successful policy can be tied to colonialism in that area of the world.
Now that the election in the Philippines is out of the way, I believe there is a wonderful opportunity in the Far East for the initiative to be taken by the free nations of Asia. Too often the free world has waited to react to Communist moves. Here is a chance for some initiative to be taken under the leadership of Asians, with whom we and the other western nations could cooperate.
Mr. Magsaysay has just been elected President of the Philippines and takes office on January 1 [December 30]. The Philippine Republic has just gone through a great free election, recognized as such by all the people of the world. He is not encumbered by being a controversial figure in the sense as is President Rhee or President Chiang Kai-shek. On the other hand, the Philippine Republic is not a “neutralist nation”. It participated with the other free nations of the world under the United Nations Charter in sending troops to resist the aggression in Korea.
It would seem to me that the President of the Philippines has a great opportunity to call a meeting of the free nations of Asia that are prepared to join in a system of collective security in the maintenance of the sovereignty of the free countries in that area of the world. This conference could be called at Manila and should, I believe, include the Republic of Korea, (which has the fifth largest standing army in the world), the Republic of China (which has the sixth largest standing army in the world), Thailand, the Republic of the Philippines, Viet Nam, Laos, and Cambodia (in the meantime, [Page 355] I would hope that the free nations of Asia which have not yet recognized their independence and sent ambassadors would forthwith proceed to do so) and such other nations as are willing to join in a collective security system. At the moment, presumably, India, Indonesia, and Burma intend to follow a neutralist policy. I do not believe that the free world or the part of the free world in Asia can sit back for one, two or three years, waiting for India to make up its mind.
Any effective system of collective security in Asia will have to be broader than ANZUS for the Asian countries look upon this as a westernized approach to the problem. While it is true there cannot be an effective system of defense in the Far East without ANZUS, they cannot and should not carry the burden alone. In order to get away from the charge of colonialism or western imperialism, it is important that a leading part in such developments be taken by the free people of Asia themselves.
I hope that some steps along these lines may develop in the immediate future. I think that more than anything else, this might help to break the deadlock of the Korean political conference if the Communist world recognized that the free world was not going to sit back and merely react to future Communist aggression after the event.2
With best personal regards, I remain
Sincerely yours,
- Knowland was the Majority Leader of the Senate.↩
- In a reply of Nov. 18, Dulles wrote: “I have received and have read very carefully your letter of Nov. 16. It followed very closely the lines of my own thinking. I had also discussed this approach with the President and he is sympathetic to it. I have just talked also to General Romulo. I hope that something concrete will come about.” (FE files, lot 55 D 388)↩