How quickly and unfortunately the two words “Southeast Asia” have become common currency in American political discourse! I say unfortunately because I do not believe there is such a thing as Southeast Asia except for cartographic purposes. There are several small countries, either colonies or former colonies, situated in that area but they do not constitute an entity. So, too, the words “Southeast Asia” have become common currency in controversy over diplomatic and military strategy, and again I say unfortunately, because I do not think there is in the area a basis for any such strategy that can be at all effective.

The tenth session of the General Assembly will be faced with the question of convoking a general review conference under Article 109 (3) of the Charter. The conference, if convened, will work under numerous limitations, some of them of a procedural nature, others of a substantive nature. In addition to these objective factors affecting the work of a general conference the attitudes of governments cannot be ignored.

In divided Korea before the hostilities of June 1950, the thirty-eighth parallel marked a break in communications almost as sharp as the political separation. No direct diplomatic channels have existed between north and south since the second World War.

Korea: Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission: The Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission (NNRC), established under the terms of the Korean Armistice Agreement, submitted two reports to the eighth session of the General Assembly: an interim report covering NNRC's operations from September 10 to December 23, 1953, and a final report covering the period up to February 21, 1954. The United Nations Command (UNC) also submitted a report on the operation of NNRC.

Discussion of the complaint by Israel against Egypt concerning Egyptian restrictions on the passage of ships trading with Israel through the Suez Canal and Egyptian interference with shipping proceeding to the Israel port of Elath on the Gulf of Aqaba, which was begun on February 5, 1954, continued during the period under review. A second item on the agenda of the Council was the complaint by Egypt against Israel of violation of the Egyptian-Israel General Armistice Agreement at the demilitarized zone of El-Auja. Continuing the explanation of Egypt's position, Mahmoud Azmi (Egypt) on March 12 presented at length historical, psychological, legal and political considerations to support his argument that the Council should recover its resolution of September 1, 1951, in which it called on Egypt to terminate restrictions on the passage of international commercial shipping and goods through the Suez Canal and find some other means of dealing with the situation. After alleging that 114 persons had been killed in territory under Egyptian control and 60 persons injured since 1951 as a result of Israel violations of the Armistice Agreement, Mr. Azmi held that the procedure followed by Egyptian authorities did not constitute a military blockade but was one regarded in international law as appropriate for exercise of the right of visit and search; cited several judicial opinions in support of his argument that an armistice did not end a state of war and that a state of war did not end until a peace treaty had been ratified; quoted Article 51 of the Charter to prove that United Nations Members had the inherent right of self-defense; argued that the Suez Canal Convention signed at Constantinople in 1888 provided Egypt with the right to take all useful measures in the canal to ensure the defense of the country and public order; and declared that, concerning the Israel complaint of measures taken by Egypt at the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba, international law affirmed that gulfs, including international gulfs, were subject to the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the coastal states and were accorded the same treatment as national and territorial waters.

At its seventeenth session, held in New York from March 30 through April 30, 1954, the Economic and Social Council elected Juan Cooke (Argentina), president and Sir Douglas Copland (Australia) and Jiri Nosek (Czechoslovakia) first and second vice-presidents respectively. The Council approved an agenda of 24 items; three items on the provisional agenda were deferred to the eighteenth session: the organization and operation of the Council and its commissions, the election of members of the Council Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations, and the removal of obstacles to international trade and means of developing international economic relations.

The report as a whole on conditions in the Cameroons under United Kingdom administration, which was to be included in the Trusteeship Council's annual report to the General Assembly, was adopted on March 25 by 9 votes to 1 with 2 abstentions. The Council then adopted, by 8 votes to 1 with 3 abstentions, its report as a whole on conditions in the Cameroons under French administration; previously, the conclusions and recommendations in the report of the drafting committee on the French-administered Cameroons had been approved, as amended by Syria, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. Also on March 25, the Council's report as a whole on conditions in Togoland under United Kingdom administration was adopted by a vote of 8 to.1 with 3 abstentions. This followed adoption by the Council of the conclusions and recommendations, as amended by the Soviet Union, contained in the drafting committee's report on this trust territory and a decision to postpone consideration of the administrative union affecting the territory until the Council's next session. This decision, taken by 9 votes to 1 with 1 abstention, was made in pursuance to a recommendation contained in an interim report of the Standing Committee on Administrative Unions on Togoland under United Kingdom administration. Incorporating amendments proposed by the United Kingdom and Syria, the Council approved the conclusions and recommendations contained in the report of the drafting committee on Togoland under French administration on March 22 and then adopted its report as a whole on conditions in French-administered Togoland by 11 votes to 1.

Case of the Monetary Gold Removed from Rome in 1943: On June 15, 1954, the International Court of Justice rendered a judgment on the preliminary question raised by Italy in the case of the monetary gold removed from Rome in 1943. Italy had asked the Court to declare itself incompetent to determine the first question raised by Italy in its application instituting proceedings; namely, whether or not the United States, United Kingdom, and France should deliver to Italy rather than Albania any share of the monetary gold which might be due to Albania under the Paris Act of January 14, 1946, in partial satisfaction for the damage caused to Italy by the Albanian law of January 13, 1945. Italy felt that the Court could not decide this question without passing judgment upon the international responsibility of Albania to Italy as a result of the Albanian law in question; Italy felt that the Court could not adjudicate such a question without the consent of Albania. Neither the United States nor France deposited formal submissions to the Court on the preliminary question; the United Kingdom, the third defendant in the case, argued that in view of Italy's objection to the competence of the Court, its application instituting proceedings of May 19, 1953, no longer conformed to the conditions or intentions of the tripartite Washington statement of April 25, 1951, and was, therefore, invalid and void. As an alternative, the United Kingdom argued that the action of the Italian government in raising the preliminary question constituted in fact a withdrawal or cancellation of its application.

The seventh session of the Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization was held in Rome from November 23 to December 11, 1253. The membership of FAO was increased to 71 at the seventh session by the admission of Libya, Iran, and Yemen. Dr. Philip V. Cardon (United States) was appointed Director-General of FAO for the following four years, to succeed Mr. Norris E. Dodd. The Conference appointed three commisions to deal, respectively, with agenda items pertaining to 1) the world situation and outlook in food and agriculture; 2) activites of the orgainzations; and 3) constitutional, legal, administrative, and financial questions.

For the nine-month period ending March 31, 1954, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development reported a net income of $15,006,406, as compared with $12,947,735 for the corresponding period of 1953. With the addition of this income, the Supplemental Reserve against Losses on Loans and Guarantees was raised to $91,519,917. Loan commissions of $8,552,839 were credited to the Bank's Special Reserve, raising it to $45,789,316. Gross income exclusive of loan commissions was $36,994,782, $5,312,509 more than in the corresponding period in 1953. Total expenses were $21,988,376, including $4,417,789 of administrative expenses, $14,776,629 of bond interest, and $2,793,958 of bond issuance. Twenty-two loans totalling $275,482,000, were made during the period, increasing total loan agreements signed by the Bank to $1,866,248,464. Total disbursements on loans were increased to $1,314,852,214 by disbursements of $211,591,099 during the nine months covered in the re-port. Repayments from borrowers for the period were $2,715,263, bringing total repayments to $15,383,573. The Bank had sold or agreed to sell to private investors $21,607,456 principal amount of its loans, including $5,284,698 with its guarantee. As of March 31, 1954, sales of effective loans totaled $91,622,119.

The Subcommittee on Aerial Collisions, established by the Legal Committee of the International Civil Aviation Organization at its ninth session, met in Paris from January 12 to 22, 1954, with Mr. Andre Garnault (France) as chairman. A draft convention on aerial collisions, prepared at the meeting for consideration by the Legal Committee at its tenth session, reviewed the entire question of the liability of an operator or carrier in the case of aerial collision.

The eighth annual report of the International Labor Organization to the United Nations noted that certain projects, although desirable, had had to be deferred or eliminated from the 1955 program and budget for financial reasons. A number of periodical technical meetings which would ordinarily have been held in 1955 had had to be postponed, and certain ILO projects under the Expanded Program of Technical Assistance as well as a number of ILO field activities financed under the regular budget had been also adversely affected by the shortage of funds. The first chapter of the report dealt with major developments in the work of ILO in 1953 and the early part of 1954; these lay in the fields of productivity, wages and housing in underdeveloped areas, workers in non-metropolitan territories, indigenous workers in independent countries, agricultural labor including plantation workers, and national labor departments. The second chapter of the report summarized the semi-continuous activities of ILO in such fields as occupational safety and health, manpower, and statistics.

During the spring of 1954, the Soviet Union, the Byelorussian SSR, and the Ukrainian SSR signed the constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, who had withdrawn from UNESCO in December 1952, resumed their memberships in the organization.

The Seventh World Health Assembly met in Geneva from May 4 to 21, 1954, and elected Dr. J. N. Togba (Liberia) as its president. The Director-General of the World Health Organization (Candau) in presenting his report on the work of WHO in 1953, emphasized the “prolonged and extremely grave” financial difficulties of the organization, and noted the adverse effect that curtailment of WHO projects was likely to have on the confidence of member governments in WHO. If WHO were to continue a favorable course of development along lines of more long-term projects, Dr. Candau stated, a more stable financial arrangement would have to be made. The Assembly commended the Director-General for the work performed, approved the manner in which the activities of WHO were carried forward in 1953, and commended the Executive Board for the work it had performed.

The ANZUS Council held its second meeting in Washington, D.C., on September 9 and 10, 1953. While the first meeting of the Council had been devoted largely to organizational matters, the second meeting provided an opportunity for the foreign ministers of Australia, New Zealand and the United States to review the developments of the past year and to discuss common problems in the Pacific area. Prior to the opening of the meeting, there had been speculation in the press about the possibility of providing some form of associate membership in ANZUS for other countries — particularly the United Kingdom – and other international organizations. The United Kingdom was reportedly dissatisfied with its exclusion from the organization; Prime Minister Churchill had been quoted as telling the House of Commons on June 17 that he “did not like the Anzus Pact at all” and that he hoped that “perhaps larger and wider arrangements could be made which would be more satisfactory than those now in force”. According to the communique issued at the close of the meeting, however, the ministers “unanimously concluded … that to attempt to enlarge its membership would not contribute directly and materially” to the strengthening and defense of the ANZUS area. The communique pointed out that ANZUS was one of a number of arrangements for the furtherance of the security of the nations of the area; specifically the communique mentioned the mutual security pacts between the United States and the Philippines and Japan, United States defense understandings with the government of China on Formosa and the relationship of Australia and New Zealand with the other Commonwealth nations. Together, the communique noted, these arrangements ‘constitute … a solemn warning to any potential aggressor and represent the growing foundation for lasting peace in the Pacific”.

Council

The 19th session of the Council of the Arab League met in Cairo on September 7, 1953. It was announced that delegations at the United Nations of member states, in concert with delegations of Asian and African countries, would continue efforts to bring the Moroccan and Tunisian complaints before the General Assembly. The Council expressed the hope that the General Assembly could “persuade France to respond to the legal aspirations of Morocco and Tunisia” and thus enable the Arab League to avoid “taking certain measures which Arab public opinion is insisting on”. The Council added that the member states did not recognize “the illegal conditions imposed by the French authorities in Morocco”. The Council endorsed agreements signed by Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan for the exchange of agricultural and animal products without customs duties, for the exchange of industrial products at favorable rates, and for the transfer and investment of capital between Arab countries. It was also reported that the Council had agreed to a suggestion of the Jordanian government that members of the Arab League help finance the Jordan National Guard with a sum of £1 million, one-half from League funds and the other from subscriptions from members on the basis of their contributions to the League. A further request from Jordan for £2 million to raise living standards in villages bordering Israel and for £0.5 million for reconstruction in Jerusalem and reclamation of agricultural lands was reported to be under consideration.

Council

The twelfth session of the Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was held in Paris, December 14 to 16, 1953, under the chairmanship of French Foreign Minister Bidault. Prior to the opening of the Council session, the permanent representatives of the NATO members and the Military Committee held a series of meetings in Paris preparing the annual review of the military situation of NATO and estimates and recommendations for future action. According to information appearing in the press, the military experts of NATO did not emphasize in this report, as they had done in the past, the need or desirability of numerical increases in NATO armed forces; instead, they were reported to emphasize the need for improving the quality, maintenance, and supplies of existing forces. At a press conference on December 11, Admiral Qvistgaard (Denmark), Chairman of the Military Committee, said that the committee was “satisfied” with the military progress of NATO in 1953 and that force goals set at the April 1953 meeting of the NATO Council had been “substantially achieved”. The Committee shared the view, however, of the Supreme Commander, Allied Forces, Europe (SACEUR, Gruenther) that the Supreme Command (SCAP) was deficient in airpower. In analyzing current Soviet strength, Admiral Qvistgaard said that the Committee saw no sign of a slackening of Soviet strength. Studies on the effect of atomic weapons on NATO defense plans were not yet completed, the Admiral continued. He added that it was the view of the Committee that NATO had nearly reached a state of preparedness which represented what most countries considered their maximum effort.

In the first four months of 1954, four signatories of the EDC treaty either deposited instruments of ratification or completed parliamentary action on ratification; the instrument of ratification of the German Federal Republic was deposited on March 31 and the parliaments of Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg ratified the treaty on January 20, March 12, and April 7, respectively.

The following summary covers the activities of the Council of the Organization of American States from its 118th meeting on December 3, 1952, through its 129th meeting on April 1, 1953.

On January 7, 1953, the Council approved the report of the Finance Committee on the budget for the fiscal year 1953–1954: $2,939,030 for the expenses of the Pan American Union, $219,524 for the Inter-American Defense Board, and $1,377 for repayment of advances from the Working Capital Fund. Of this amount, members would contribute $3, 159, 941; making allowance for income from miscellaneous sources, the budget was $225, 782 higher than for the pre-ceding fiscal year. The Council also approved the scale of assessments for the coming fiscal year; contributions by members ranged from 66 percent for the United States, 8.81 percent for Brazil and 7.42 percent for Argentina to 0.24 percent each for Costa Rica, Ecuador, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua and Paraguay. The attention of member governments was drawn to a report submitted to the Council on March 4, 1953, by the Finance Committee on the status of members' contributions; the report revealed that six countries had paid in full their quotas for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1953, four countries had paid in part while eleven had as yet made no payment. Two members still owed part of their quotas for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1952 while four had made no payment on that quota. Three members still owed their quotas of the budgets of fiscal years before 1951–1952.

The twenty-third annual report of the Bank for International Settlements was made public in June 1953. In reviewing economic developments during the period of April 1, 1952, to March 31, 1953, the report noted that, despite the initial dislocations resulting from the Korean conflict, there had been real progress since 1952 towards economic and financial balance and a normal course of domestic and international economic development. More specifically, the report noted that: 1) the upward trend in world-market prices had been reversed, and the course of domestic inflation halted in most countries; 2) during 1952 and the early months of 1953 there was an improvement in the balance of payments position of the non-dollar world; 3) monetary reserves had recovered in a number of countries during the same period; 4) the aggre-gate amount of net deficits (and net surpluses) in the settlements of the European Payments Union had contracted from an average of $207 million per month in 1951 to $102 million by the last quarter of 1952 and the first quarter of 1953; and 5) there had been many signs of increased confidence in various currencies, notably an increased firmness of their free market quotations.