Cablegram 647 WASHINGTON, [25 July 1949], 12.31 p.m.
CONFIDENTIAL
Have just received following cable from General Romulo. BEGINS- I have just received your communication conveying the reply of your Government to my personal approach regarding the possibilities of a conference as suggested by the President of the Philippines. [1] May I express to you my profound appreciation for the courtesy of this reply, and request the further favour of transmitting the following communication from me to His Excellency, the Foreign Minister of Australia:
‘As Philippine representative to New Delhi Conference last January, I gave strong support to the resolution looking to the establishment of suitable machinery for consultation among the countries of South East Asia. I am, therefore, fully aware of the implications of the resolution, together with the actual consultations that have since taken place pursuant thereto. I am authorized by my Government to convey the assurance of your government that it regards the concept of the regional organisations within the framework of the United Nations which emerged at the New Delhi conference as the continuing basis upon which our common efforts to realise that it must rest, the proposals of my government to hold a conference is nothing new.
For this reason, I was careful to state that the proposed conference would be kept wide open, the date and the agenda thereof being subject to prior agreement among the participating states.
The New Delhi resolution did not assume that the suitable machinery for consultation had, in fact, already been established.
While it is true that the actual consultations that have since taken place have provided us with valuable experience, the form, procedures and objectives of the contemplated regional association still remain to be spelled out. This could properly be one of the agenda items of the proposed conference provided, as already stated, the participating states agree.
With this assurance, and since the views of our governments are in substantial agreement, I wish to express on behalf of my government, the fervent hope that the government of Australia will consider the possibility of holding the proposed conference in the spirit and under the conditions above described.’
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1 See Document 150.
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[AA:A1838/278, 383/1/2/8, i]