CO537-6564 — Page 37

the Governments of India, the Indonesian Republic, Burma

and Siam.

Nevertheless, the task is by no means easy,

because the peoples involved are still largely unaware of the

Russian factor. Communism to most of them now means little

more than Chinese Communism, while Russia to some of them

means a power which vaguely is understood to support national

aspirations against European domination.

10. The natural hostility of these peoples to Chinese

expansionism will be a factor in stiffening their resistance

to Communism as such, but our strong vested interest in good

inter-racial relations in Colonial territories precludes direct

propaganda, even covertly, to stimulating this hostility.

11. One important part of the process of making the indigenous

communities of South-East Asia aware of the real nature of the

Communist threat must consist of communicating hard information

on the subject to native Governments.

These Governments are

in a position to exert an influence on their press and publics

much greater than in Western countries; they are also

astonishingly ignorant of the true nature of Communism, and

still largely taken in by its disguises, They are also

extremely suspicious of the West. A scheme is now being

worked out for communicating to the Governments of Siam,

Burma and Indonesia, on a regular basis, hard facts and informa→

tion about the cutside world generally, which they are not

likely to learn either through press agencies or their own

representatives abroad. If this information comes in time to

be accepted as reliable and not unduly biased, these Governments

may gradually come to rely on it: and it can contain a propor-

tion perhaps up to a quarter

ww

J

of material which incidentally

warns these Governments about the dangers of Communism (including

its U.N. tactics, labour policy, internal centralization,

hostility to Buddhism and Islam, etc.).

/12.