Southeast Asia Treaty Organization

The fifth meeting of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) Council was held in Wellington from April 8 to 10, 1959, under the chairmanship of the New Zealand Prime Minister and Minister of External Affairs, the Right Hon. Walter Nash. The Council discussed reports and recommendations by the Council representatives, the military advisers, and the Secretary-General, and in the light of them gave directions with regard to the activities of the organization in the coming year. The communique issued at the close of the meeting noted that despite the continuing possibility of open aggression, the principal threat to the security and independence of the treaty area was now being presented in more indirect forms. The Council members were aware of the opportunities afforded for subversive activities in situations where basic problems of hunger, lack of opportunity, and underdevelopment remained unsolved. The Council stated that SEATO had done much to publicize and expose throughout the treaty area the objectives toward which subversion was directed and the methods by which it operated, and it agreed that during the coming year arrangements should be made for the further strengthening of this aspect of SEATO's work. For example, it was proposed that a meeting of experts on counter-subversion should be held in Pakistan. The Council members recognized the need for continuing action in the economic and social spheres.