SEATO

• The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was an international organization for collective defense in Southeast Asia created by the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, or Manila Pact, signed in September 1954 in Manila, Philippines.
• The formal institution of SEATO was established on 19 February 1955 at a meeting of treaty partners in Bangkok, Thailand.
• The organization's headquarters were also in Bangkok.
• Eight members joined the organization.
• SEATO was primarily created to block further communist gains in Southeast Asia, but internal conflict and dispute hindered general use of the SEATO military.
• Consequently, questions of dissolving the organization arose.
• After a final exercise on 20 February 1976, the organization was formally dissolved on 30 June 1977.
• France withdrew financial support for SEATO in 1975, and the SEATO council agreed to phasing out of the organization.
• Pakistan withdrew from SEATO in 1972 after the Bangladesh Liberation War, in which East Pakistan successfully seceded with the aid of India.
• In 1954, Sir James Cable, a diplomat and naval strategist, described SEATO as "a fig leaf for the nakedness of American policy", citing the Manila Pact as a "zoo of paper tigers".
• SEATO-funded cultural and educational programs left long-standing effects in Southeast Asia.
• SEATO was dissolved on 30 June 1977 after many members lost interest and withdrew.
• SEATO-funded cultural and educational programs left long-standing effects in Southeast Asia.
• The Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, or Manila Pact, was signed on 8 September 1954 in Manila, as part of the American Truman Doctrine of creating anti-communist bilateral and collective defense treaties.
• These treaties and agreements were intended to create alliances that would contain communist powers (Communist China, in SEATO's case).
• The organization, headquartered in Bangkok, was created in 1955 at the first meeting of the Council of Ministers set up by the treaty, contrary to Dulles's preference to call the organization "ManPac".
• SEATO was intended to be a Southeast Asian version of the NATO, in which the military forces of each member would be coordinated to provide for the collective defense of the members' country.
• SEATO was headed by the Secretary General, whose office was created in 1957 at a meeting in Canberra, with a council of representatives from member nations and an international staff.
• SEATO mostly included countries located outside of the region but with an interest either in the region or the organization itself.
• The members of SEATO were Australia, France, New Zealand, Pakistan (including East Pakistan, now Bangladesh), the Philippines, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
• The United Kingdom, France and the United States, the latter of which joined after the U.S. Senate ratified the treaty by a 82–1 vote, represented the strongest Western powers in SEATO.
• The membership of SEATO reflected a mid-1950s combination of anti-communist Western nations and such nations in Southeast Asia.
• SEATO military forces held joint military training, but were never employed because of internal disagreements.
• U.S., involvement of SEATO in the Vietnam War was denied because of lack of British and French cooperation.
• In addition to joint military training, SEATO member states worked on improving mutual social and economic issues.
• SEATO's first Secretary General was Pote Sarasin, a Thai diplomat and politician who had served as Thailand's ambassador to the U.S. between 1952 and 1957, and as Prime Minister of Thailand from September 1957 to 1 January 1958.
• Canada also considered joining, but decided against it in order to concentrate on its NATO responsibilities.
• Despite its name, SEATO mostly included countries located outside of the region but with an interest either in the region or the organization itself.
• SEATO was headed by the Secretary General, whose office was created in 1957 at a meeting in Canberra, with a council of representatives from member nations and an international staff.
• SEATO was unable to intervene in conflicts in Laos because France and Britain rejected use of military action.
• SEATO was intended to be a Southeast Asian version of the (NATO), in which the military forces of each member would be coordinated to provide for the collective defense of the members' country.
• After its creation, SEATO quickly became insignificant militarily, as most of its member nations contributed very little to the alliance.
• The organization, headquartered in Bangkok, was created in 1955 at the first meeting of the Council of Ministers set up by the treaty, contrary to Dulles's preference to call the organization "ManPac".
• As a result, the U.S. provided unilateral support for Laos after 1962.
• Such activities were overseen by SEATO's Committee of Information, Culture, Education, and Labor Activities, and proved to be some of SEATO's greatest successes.
• After a final exercise on 20 February 1976, the organization was formally dissolved on 30 June 1977.
• SEATO also sponsored the creation of the Teacher Development Center in Bangkok, as well as the Thai Military Technical Training School, which offered technical programs for supervisors and workmen.
• In The Geneva Conference of 1954 on Indochina, Sir James Cable, a diplomat and naval strategist, described SEATO as "a fig leaf for the nakedness of American policy", citing the Manila Pact as a "zoo of paper tigers".
• Pakistan withdrew from SEATO in 1972 after the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, in which East Pakistan successfully seceded with the aid of India.
• The South East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was an international organization for collective defense in Southeast Asia created by the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, or Manila Pact, signed in September 1954 in Manila, Philippines.