II.

THE UNITED STATES HAS UNDERTAKEN COMMITMENTS TO
ASSIST SOUTH VIET NAM IN DEFENDING ITSELF AGAINST
COMMUNIST AGGRESSION FROM THE NORTH

The United States has made commitments and given assurances, in various forms and at different times, to

assist in the defense of South Viet Nam.

A.

The United States Gave Undertakings at the

End of the Geneva Conference in 1954

At the time of the signing of the Geneva Accords in 1954, President Eisenhower warned "that any renewal of Communist aggression would be viewed by us as a matter of grave concern", at the same time giving assurance that the United States would "not use force to disturb the settlement". And the formal declaration made by the United States Government at the conclusion of the Geneva Conference stated that the United States "would view any renewal of aggression in violation of the aforesaid agreements with grave concern and as seriously threatening international peace and security".

B.

The United States Undertook an International
Obligation to Defend South Viet Nam in the
SEATO Treaty

Later in 1954 the United States negotiated with a

number of other countries and signed the Southeast Asia

"Each Party recognizes that aggression by
means of armed attack in the treaty area against
any of the Parties or against any State or terri-
tory which the Parties by unanimous agreement may
hereafter designate, would endanger its own peace
and safety, and agrees that it will in that event
act to meet the common danger in accordance with
its constitutional processes.
under this paragraph shall be immediately reported
to the Security Council of the United Nations."

Measures taken

Annexed to the Treaty was a Protocol stating that:

"The parties to the Southeast Asia Collective
Defense Treaty unanimously designate for the
purpose of Article IV of the Treaty the States
of Cambodia and Laos and the free territory
under the jurisdiction of the State of

Viet Nam.

Thus, the obligations of Article IV, paragraph 1, dealing with the eventuality of armed attack, have from the outset covered the territory of South Viet Nam. The facts as to the North Vietnamese armed attack against the South have been summarized earlier, in the discussion of the right of self-defense under international law and the Charter of the United Nations. The term "armed attack" has the same

meaning in the SEATO Treaty as in the United Nations Charter. Article IV, paragraph 1, places an obligation on each

party to the SEATO Treaty to "act to meet the common danger

in accordance with its constitutional processes" in the event of an armed attack. The Treaty does not require a collective determination that an armed attack has occurred in order that the obligation of Article IV, paragraph 1, become operative. Nor does the provision require collective decision on actions to be taken to meet the common danger. As Secretary Dulles pointed out when transmitting the Treaty to the President, the commitment in Article IV, paragraph 1, "leaves to the judgment of each country the type of action to be taken in the event an armed attack occurs.'

The Treaty was intended to deter armed aggression in Southeast Asia. To that end it created not only a multilateral alliance but also a series of bilateral relation

not upon

ships. The obligations are placed squarely on "each Party" in the event of armed attack in the Treaty area "the Parties", a wording that might have implied a necessity for collective decision. The Treaty was intended to give the assurance of United States assistance to any Party or protocol state that might suffer a Communist armed attack, regardless of the views or actions of other parties. The fact that the obligations are individual, and may even to

some extent differ among the parties to the Treaty, is

demonstrated by the United States understanding, expressed

at the time of signature, that its obligations under

Article IV, paragraph 1, apply only in the event of Communist
aggression, whereas the other parties to the Treaty were
unwilling so to limit their obligations to each other.
Thus, the United States has a commitment under
Article IV, paragraph 1, in the event of armed attack,
independent of the decision or action of other treaty
parties. A joint communiqué issued by Secretary Rusk and
Foreign Minister Thanat Khoman of Thailand on March 6,
1962, reflected this understanding:

"The Secretary of State assured the Foreign
Minister that in the event of such aggression,
the United States intends to give full effect to
its obligations under the Treaty to act to meet
the common danger in accordance with its consti-
tutional processes. The Secretary of State re-
affirmed that this obligation of the United
States does not depend on the prior agreement
of all other Parties to the Treaty, since this
Treaty obligation is individual as well as
collective.

Most of the SEATO countries have stated that they agreed

with this interpretation.

None has registered objection

to it.

When the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

reported on the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty,

it noted that the treaty area was further defined so that

the "Free Territory of Viet Nam" was an area "which, if attacked, would fall under the protection of the instrument". In its conclusion the Committee stated:

"The Committee is not impervious to the risks
which this treaty entails. It fully appreciates
that acceptance of these additional obligations
commits the United States to a course of action
over a vast expanse of the Pacific. Yet these
risks are consistent with our own highest
interests."

The Senate gave its advice and consent to the Treaty by a
vote of 82 to 1.

C. The United States Has Given Additional Assurances to the Government of South Viet Nam

The United States has also given a series of additional assurances to the Government of South Viet Nam. As early as October 1954 President Eisenhower undertook to provide direct assistance to help make South Viet Nam "capable of resisting attempted subversion or aggression through military means". On May 11, 1957 President Eisenhower and President Ngo Dinh Diem of the Republic of Viet Nam issued a joint