NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011
SUMMARY OF PRESENT POLICY AND
PROPOSED POLICY CONTAINED IN
NSC 124
Present Policy
Our present policy in the Par East, as sot forth in NSC 45/5, draws the line which the United States will go to war to defend along the offshore island chain, namely, Japan the Ryukus, the Philippines, Australia and New Zeland, with special treatment of Formosa. With respect to Southeast Asia, the substance of our policy is to continue our present support programs to strengthen the will and ability to resist Communist encroachment and render Communist military operations as costly as possible, and thus to gain time for the United States and its allies to build up the defense of the offshore island chain. With respect to the fighting already going on in Indochina, the policy is to give military supplies to the French Union forces on a high priority basis but to avoid relieving the French authorities of their basic military responsibilities, and to avoid committing United States armed forces under any circumstances.
The present policy does not appear to result from a lack of awareness of the great importance of the Southeast Asian nations, both strategically and in terms of their raw material resources, but on a recognition of the difficulties involved in holding the area. The States of those areas are inherently weak and there are formidable difficulties involved in building up the will of the peoples in the area to resist Communist encroachment. One of the greatest of these difficulties is the inability of the French to enlist the support of the Indochinese or of neighboring states in support of their fight against Communism due to the feeling against French colonial rule. In the face of these difficulties, the world-wide commitments of the United States and the obvious military difficulties of utilizing United States forces in an effective defense of Burma, Thailand and Indochina, it has been the Government's position that it could not undertake to commit United States forces to defend the area against aggression even though it is of great importance.
Proposed Policy
The policy paper under consideration, proposes several major changes. It proposes:
A. That in case of overt aggression of Communist-China against Burma, Thailand or Indochina, the United Sates take appropriate military action against Communist-China consistent with our world-wide commitments provided the United Nations will act or the British and French will join.
B. That in an attempt to deter China from such overt action, we issue a joint warning with a number of other States that we shall take military action in such an event, provided that at least the British and French will agree to such a joint warning and to the general plan of action in case the warning is ignored.
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