Word: asia
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Details of the treaty would probably be worked out well in advance of the conference. In general, the treaty, as the U.S. would like to have it, would guarantee a united regional defense against further Communist penetration of Southeast Asia. Its guarantees would probably include the protection of Laos, Cambodia and South Viet Nam, although these countries, with their freedom restricted by the Geneva agreement, might not be able to join SEATO. Probable signatories: the U.S., Britain, France, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, the Philippines, possibly Burma and Ceylon. Likely conference site: Baguio, the Philippines' mountainside summer capital. Probable date...
Doubt sucked at the foundations of the West's position in Asia. If an Asian had stood against Communism, what confidence could he have left that the West would, or could, support him? Listening to a radio crackling the news from Geneva, a Vietnamese journalist said bitterly: ""We've lost confidence in the French, and now we've lost confidence in the Americans and the British. The only place left to put your confidence is with the Communists, and I can't do that...
Around China's bulging flanks, nations began chattering nervously of nonaggression pacts. Such harmless-sounding pacts, industriously promoted by Chou Enlai, were, in fact, designed to exclude U.S. power from Southeast Asia, leaving non-Communist nations at the mercy of Red China's burgeoning colonialism. The West's countereffort-a Southeast Asia pact-has yet to get off the ground. The U.S. has not yet decided who should belong or how much should be guaranteed. The British are not in a hurry, nor looking to a pact with teeth...
Favorable Influence. "The armistice in Indo-China testifies," Chou went on suavely, "that the forces for peace are irresistible. No policy aimed at creating splits and forming opposing military groups can have the support of the people ... It is our opinion that the nations of Asia should consult among themselves and cooperate ... in the interests of safeguarding peace." It was an astute, well-timed bid for the leadership of Asia...
...Across Asia, the world's largest and most heavily populated continent, the doubt was spreading, the fabric of resistance fraying. Japanese conservatives and liberals alike were discussing "peaceful coexistence." In Thailand, U.S. officials weighed the mood and concluded: "America has no monopoly of agonizing reappraisals." In Hong Kong, one anti-Communist bank manager had already made up his mind: "America has the strength -but not the guts...