The
Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty (
ANZUS or
ANZUS Treaty) is the 1951
collective security non-binding agreement between
Australia and
New Zealand and, separately, Australia and the
United States, to co-operate on military matters in the
Pacific Ocean region, although today the treaty is taken to relate to conflicts worldwide. It provides that an armed attack on any of the three parties would be dangerous to the others, and that each should act to meet the common threat. It set up a committee of foreign ministers that can meet for consultation.
The treaty was one of the series that the United States formed in the 1949–1955 era as part of its collective response to the threat of
communism during the
Cold War. New Zealand was suspended from ANZUS in 1986 as it initiated a
nuclear-free zone in its territorial waters; in late 2012 New Zealand lifted a ban on visits by United States warships leading to a thawing in tensions. New Zealand maintains a nuclear-free zone as part of its foreign policy and is partially suspended from ANZUS, as the United States maintains an ambiguous policy whether or not the warships carry nuclear weapons and operates numerous nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines; however New Zealand resumed key areas of the ANZUS treaty in 2007.
The Central Treaty Organisation (
CENTO), originally known as the
Baghdad Pact or the
Middle East Treaty Organisation (METO), was a
military alliance of the
Cold War. It was formed in 1955 by
Iran,
Iraq,
Pakistan,
Turkey and the
United Kingdom and dissolved in 1979.
US pressure and promises of military and economic aid were key in the negotiations leading to the agreement, but the
United States could not initially participate.
John Foster Dulles, who was involved in the negotiations as
U.S. Secretary of State under President
Dwight D. Eisenhower, claimed that was due to "the
pro-Israel lobby and the difficulty of obtaining Congressional Approval." Others said that the reason was "for purely technical reasons of budgeting procedures."
In 1958, the US joined the military committee of the alliance. It is generally viewed as one of the least successful of the Cold War alliances.
The organisation’s headquarters were in
Baghdad,
Iraq, in 1955 to 1958 and in
Ankara,
Turkey, in 1958 to 1979.
Cyprus was also an important location for CENTO because of its location in the
Middle East and the
British Sovereign Base Areas on the island.
The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (
SEATO) was an
international organization for
collective defense in
Southeast Asia created by the
Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, or
Manila Pact, signed in September 1954.
Primarily created to block further
communist gains in Southeast Asia, SEATO is generally considered a failure because internal conflict and dispute hindered general use of the SEATO military; however, SEATO-funded cultural and educational programs left longstanding effects in Southeast Asia. SEATO was dissolved on 30 June 1977 after many members lost interest and withdrew.
The Present Viability of NATO, SEATO, and CENTO:The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), and the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) were considered necessary in the postwar period to protect member countries from Communist aggression and conspiracy. Subsequent developments have not always reflected the tidiness of inflexible and implacable confrontation, however. Thus, the viability of this postwar structure of alliances is raised ever more insistently. Do NATO, SEATO, and CENTO serve any longer the interests of the West? Or has the time now arrived for their complete reappraisal? The view gains ground in western Europe that there is now considerable diversity in the Communist world, and that a policy of positive coexistence should be pursued in the tackling of common problems with such countries as are ready to do so. In this fluid situation, a policy of movement is desirable, especially in Europe, where economic as well as political initiatives on behalf of a reconstructed NATO can provide pointers for the continued viability of CENTO and SEATO. The pending renegotiation of the NATO Pact can provide such economic initiatives. It can also provide the model of a self-supporting security system under the Soviet-American nuclear balance.
