The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
SEATO was Indochina's answer for the more well known NATO
In an interview on the Huntly-Brinkly television news show on September 9, 1963, President John F. Kennedy described the accomplishments of the South East Asia Treaty Organization. He said that, "with the assistance of the United States and SEATO, Southeast Asia and indeed all of Asia has been maintained independent against a powerful force, the Chinese Communists." He felt that Communism would be stopped through the same methods that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) had implemented.
Purpose of SEATO
The SEATO treaty was sponsored by then Secretary of State, John Dulles in 1954. His stated purpose was to "establish a collective security arrangement for Southeast Asia" to defend against "the danger that stems from international Communism and its insatiable ambition. It was also created to enhance trade relationships between free governments in order to enhance their economic power which would diminish the "opportunities of Communism. It is interesting to note that the main beneficiaries of this treaty, at least in the hopeful eyes of the American administration were Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, who could not be a part of the treaty due to international agreements following the Indochina War. This contradiction was to undermine the effectiveness of the treaty.
Members of SEATO
The international members of the SEATO organization were Australia, France, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, United Kingdom and the United States. Of these members, the United States, by far had the most influence in this group. Secretary Dulles tried to calm fears of US imperialism bay stating clearly to the American people that, "the United states has no territorial interests in Southeast Asia." He did however acknowledge that, "we feel a sense of common destiny" and "we are united by a common danger.
The SEATO Treaty
In the first three articles of the treaty the parties agreed to settle disputes between themselves peacefully, to develop the capacity to resist armed attack and to cooperate economically to promote progress and social well being. Article four established that each of the parties would come to the aid of the others when attacked and respect their respective sovereignty. Article six acknowledged the authority of the United Nations with respect to the treaty. Article seven allowed members to be added to the organization. Article eight defined the treaty area while articles nine said that the treaty would be deposited for safekeeping in the Philippine archives. The last article, number ten, stated that the treaty would remain in force indefinitely but that individual members could fell free to withdraw at the discretion of their respective governments with one years notice.
The Effectiveness of SEATO and the Vietnam War.
By 1961, two years before President Kennedy declared that SEATO had effectively stopped Communism in Southeast Asia, his own Vice President, Lyndon Johnson, declared that SEATO was ineffective "because of British and French unwillingness to support decisive action" and because of "Asian distrust of the British and French" due to colonialism. These were the keys to the US involvement in the Vietnam War. It was the US commitment to the SEATO treaty, the lack of resolve, along with Asian resistance, of Great Britain and France, and the ultimate inability of the other SEATO nations to act militarily that caused the initial involvement and leadership of the US in the Vietnam Civil War. SEATO created the slippery slope that was to lead to the loss of over 50,000 US lives in that controversial war. By 1977, the treaty was dissolved.
Sources
America in Vietnam A Documentary History edited by William Williams, Thomas McCormick, Lloyd Gardner and Walter LaFeber, 1985, Anchor Books
SEATO: Rethinking Regionalism by Astri Suhrke, 1969, Australian National University
Pacts for Peace: UN, NATO, SEATO, CENTO, and OAS by Monro MacCloskey, 1967, R. Rosen Press
