Neutralization in Southeast Asia

Report Outline
Headaches for West in Southeast Asia
Termination of Region's Colonial Period
Neutralization and Guarding of Freedom

Headaches for West in Southeast Asia

Southeast asia, scene of almost continuous warfare O and crisis since the beginning of World War II, is again close to the center of the world stage. Three non-Communist states that formerly made up most of French Indo-China—Cambodia, Laos and South Viet Nam—are trying to maintain a precarious independence in the face of internal weaknesses and, in Laos and South Viet Nam, strong Communist-supported guerrilla pressures. On their efforts may depend the future of other independent states of Southeast Asia—neighboring Thailand, Burma, and the young Federation of Malaysia.

Should the Communist guerrillas, armed and aided to an important extent by the Red regimes governing North Viet Nam and mainland China, succeed in taking over substantial areas in Southeast Asia, the strategic position and the food resources of Communist China would be greatly enhanced. In addition, American influence in the Far East would be seriously impaired. The United States was long since termed a “paper tiger” by the Red Chinese; it is feared that any substantial loss of territory to the Communists would induce American allies and neutral governments in the region to turn toward Peking.

Worsening of Wak Position in South Viet Nam

The guerrilla war in South Viet Nam, where 15,500 American military advisers are helping the Vietnamese army to combat the Communist guerrillas or Viet Cong, has admittedly been going badly. Secretary of Defense Robert S. MeNamara told reporters, March 5, that the situation was grave and that support of the Viet Cong by North Viet Nam was increasing. To make an on-the-spot assessment, MeNamara and a group of advisers, including William P. Bundy, newly appointed Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs, flew to South Viet Nam the next day. MeNamara observed that the trip was “a further affirmation of the United States commitment to furnish whatever economic aid, and whatever military training and logistical support, is needed by the South Vietnamese to suppress this insurgency and to continue to furnish that support for whatever period it is required.”