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The Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation was made under Southeast Asia collective defence treaty or the Manila pact (due to the name of the place Manila where the pact was signed). The Organisation is headquartered at Bangkok and it has eight members. It is a type of intergovernmental military organisation.
The eight-member States of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation are the United States of America, United Kingdom, Thailand, Philippines, Australia, France, New Zealand and Pakistan. There are three non-members states of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation: South Vietnam, Laos, Khmer republic. The official languages of the organisation are English, Spanish, Thai, Urdu, French and Filipino.
The main purpose of the SEATO was to prevent the further spread of communism in the Southeast Asian countries. As we know, during the Cold War era there was a tussle between the two superpowers, the United States of America and the Union of Soviet socialist Republic, so to counter the USSR this Organisation came into existence. So, we can say that the organisation was a result of Ideological warfare between the West (United States of America) and the USSR.USA wanted the ideology of Capitalism to prevail while the Soviet Union wanted the video of communism to dominate. The Southeast Asian Treaty Organisation was a failed organisation and was later dissolved in the year 1997.
History
The origin of the Southeast Asian Treaty Organisation was on the basis of Truman doctrine that talks about isolating or preventing the idea of communism and preventing expansion. The doctrine was set in the backdrop of the cold war and it was declared by the then President of the Congress Harry S. Truman in 1947.The police works for those countries that are threatened by the communist ideology of the USSR and USA stands for support for them. The Southeast Asian Treaty Organisation was a part of this doctrine and According to this treaties and Organisation are created to counter the expansion of the Soviet and to give them under control. These are generally bilateral or collective defence treaties. The treaty was signed in Manila in 1954. It was given by experts like George Kennan, John Foster Dulles and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The first secretary general of SEATO was Pote Sarasin.Many consider SEATO as NATO of the East but unlike NATO it doesn’t have any joint command or military. The protocol of SEATO to act against communism was vague.
Member countries
The Southeast Asian Treaty Organisation has the Southeast Asian but most of the countries in this organisation don’t belong to Southeast Asia. Only two countries, the Philippines and Thailand belonged to South Asia. These two countries having good relationships with the USA joined and others like France and UK had colonies in the area and the growing Indochina concern was the reason for their joining.
Contributions
The budget included both military and civil budgets. The highest contributor was the USA (24%) followed by the UK (16%), France (13.5%), Australia (13.5%) and Pakistan, Philippines, New Zealand and Thailand contributed 8% each.Defence and Military of the organisation.Due to very little contribution by the member States and due to no employment due internal tussle the organisation became trivial.
Achievements
- It led to the creation of the SEATO School of Engineering in Thailand to train engineers.
- SEATO Sponsored the Teacher training institutes and development centres at Bangkok.
- It also sponsored the military technical school.
- It sponsored various research labs in the fields of agriculture and medicine. Like the cholera research laboratory in Bangkok and Dhaka.
- Further in order to promote literature a literature award was also created.
Conclusion
The Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation was formed during the cold war era to counter the growing Soviet dominance across the globe. Its members came together to restrict the ideology of communism and to counter the USSR with the support of the USA. The formation of the organisation was simply the result of an ideological fight between the capitalist – United States of America and the Communist – Union of Soviet socialist republic. The organisation was formed in order to bring the Southeast Asian countries but that didn’t convert and lastly due to lack of synchrony and cooperation among its member countries the organisation failed and was dissolved in the year on 30th June 1977.
