85. Editorial Note
On December 7, Secretary of State Dulles approved a memorandum by Under Secretary Hoover, dated December 6, which recommended that the city of Manila, Philippines, be selected as the site for a proposed Asian Nuclear Energy Training and Research Center. The United States offered to contribute laboratory equipment and facilities, training personnel, funds for training, and the research reactor itself to the Philippines. In return the United States required the Philippine Government as host country to foster an international flavor for the Center perhaps through the creation of an international advisory council, permit free and equal access of all Colombo Plan country representatives participating in the Center, and be prepared to offer all basic facilities including site location. President Ramón Magsaysay indicated his acceptance of these terms on December 18, and the agreement was announced publicly in March 1956.
Japan, Thailand, Pakistan, and Ceylon had pressed for the location of the Center in their countries, but the United States preferred the Philippines and encouraged the Philippine Government to request location of the Center in their country. The United States preferred the Philippines because it was a member of SEATO, had good transportation [Page 236] facilities for access by the Colombo powers and university facilities well suited for the Center, and did not have a nuclear capability that might dominate the activities of the Center.
Documentation on the Asian Nuclear Center is in Department of State, Central File 990.8137. Hoover’s memorandum to Dulles, December 6, is ibid., 990.8137/12–755. It is attached to a memorandum from Walter Radius, Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Economic Affairs, to Jack C. Corbett, Director of the Office of Financial and Development Policy, December 7, indicating Secretary Dulles’ approval of Hoover’s memorandum. The offer to the Philippines is contained in telegram 2136 to Manila, December 16. (Ibid., 990.8137/12–1655) Magsaysay’s acceptance is in telegram 1717 from Manila, December 18. (Ibid., 990.8137/12–1855) The public announcement is contained in circular telegram 638, March 14, 1956 (ibid., 990.8137/3–1456), and is summarized in Department of State Bulletin, April 2, 1956, page 544.