40. Circular Airgram From the Department of State to Certain Embassies0
CA-11778. Subject: The Eighth SEATO Council Meeting, Paris, April 8 to 10.
Summary Assessment
Although there were no major issues to be resolved and, as expected, no dramatic results, the Eighth Council Meeting in Paris took place in an atmosphere of extreme cordiality, the participation of most delegations was positive and constructive, and U.S. objectives were well served. Secretary’s Rusk’s strong assurances of continued U.S. support of SEATO were well received. The organization’s past difficulties were openly acknowledged, but members displayed no doubt of SEATO’s present value or continued existence. At the same time with unanimous support for collective security, and less emphasis upon non-military activities within SEATO, the members reflected a more realistic and a more precise understanding of the role SEATO plays in area affairs. Recent procedural changes and the troop movements to Thailand in 1962 were cited by most delegations as strengthening developments. The organization’s military activities, particularly military planning and SEATO exercises, were strongly endorsed. Emphasis was also placed upon the need for increased attention to countersubversion. The importance of economic and social development was stressed, but there was a notable absence of insistence upon SEATO economic assistance over and above bilateral aid programs.
[Page 82]The participation of Pakistan, represented by the Ambassador in Paris rather than the Foreign Minister, was narrowly nationalistic and not on the same constructive plane as that of other members. Pakistani statements were marked by criticism of American and British military aid to India and attempts to establish that India and Afghanistan, rather than Communist China, represented the main threat to area peace. France did not carry through in the Council meeting the surprisingly forthright attitude French representatives displayed in the Military Advisors Meeting, and, though cordial throughout and a good chairman, Couve de Murville made no significant contribution to discussion of matters of substance.
The meeting was given an unexpected sense of significance by the outbreak of fighting in Laos, and afforded an opportunity for close and immediate consultation among some of the countries most involved in developments there. It is notable that SEATO members, without discounting the past or future significance of Laos for the organization, accepted as a matter of course that the Plaine des Jarres fighting should be dealt with in the first instance in the context of the Geneva Agreements.
Although overshadowed locally by the Secretary’s meeting with de Gaulle and other developments relating to our NATO relationship, the SEATO meeting helped underline one of the roles of Free World alliances by providing an occasion to meet together in an atmosphere of harmony and friendship, thus serving to ameliorate current differences.
The bilateral talks made possible by a gathering of such a large number of foreign ministers proved to be one of the more important aspects of the meeting from a substantive point of view.
The onset of the meeting had the meritorious effect of bringing to decision a large number of issues pending within SEATO for a long time. The assent which Pakistan gave to a number of proposals to which it had previously been unable to agree was particularly notable.
[Page 83][Here follow sections on “Countersubversion” and “Economic Development” and an assessment of the participation by individual delegations.]
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, SEATO 3 FR (PA). Secret. Drafted by Peters, cleared by Young, and approved by Hilsman. Sent to the seven SEATO posts and Rangoon, Phnom Penh, Saigon, Kuala Lumpur, Djakarta, Hong Kong, Tokyo, CINCPACPOLAD, New Delhi, and Ankara.↩