we should maintain a modest military presence in
South East Asia. He hoped that this would strengthen
the position of Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and
New Zealand. This arrangement was particularly welcome
to the Australians, who had never taken part in SEATO.
The main value of SEATO at the present time was in
Thailand. With the defection of France and Pakistan
the organisation has lost much of its earlier glamour.
We were concerned also about the Persian Gulf wher
we wanted to preempt possible infiltration by the
Russians. We were aiming at the establishment of a
with
"
union of Emirates,, which we would make a consultative
ん
treaty. We would attach to the Union the Trucian Oman'
Scouts. Under such an umbrella we could maintain a
small presence in the Gulf in a form not likely to be
criticised by Egypt.
Mr Aichi said, that last month he had been in
Malaysia and Singapore and had spoken with Lee and
Razak. He had found a strong interest in regional
cooperation. Existing organisations with this purpose
included the Ministerial Conference for Economic
Cooperation, ECAFE, ASPAC and the Asian Development
Bank. The bank had made steady progress and provided
a practical focus for regional cooperation. Japan had
ideas for development of cooperation over the next
the
10 years.
He thought that the Donor countries - who
would be relatively few should cooperate multi-
laterally.
Sir Alec Douglas-Home found Mr Aichi's exposition
encouraging. He agreed that the Donors would be few
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