Regional Security 1951

Meanwhile Australia had been seeking a 'more comprehensive system of regional security in the Pacific area'. To a degree this was met by the Australian, New Zealand and United States Treaty (ANZUS), which was signed in September 1951.¹⁴⁴ A further step towards regional security was the signing of the South-east Asia Collective Defence Treaty by the United States, Australia, New Zealand, France, Britain, Pakistan, Thailand and the Philippines in September 1954. This treaty resulted in the South East Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO). Any attack on a member state, or on protocol states (South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia ).was designated a matter of common danger inviting a common response, although the United States specified that the treaty could only be invoked in relation to a communist attack.¹⁴⁵

A more localised security arrangement for Australian, New Zealand and British interests was ANZAM (Britain being the governing power of what was then the Federation of Malaya). In 1955, the British Commonwealth Far East Strategic Reserve (BCFESR ).was formed in Malaya. The Australian Army component was mainly a battalion group, based on an RAR battalion, forming part of 28 Commonwealth Brigade Group.

The primary role of the BCFESR was 'to provide a deterrent to, and be available at short notice to assist in countering, further communist aggression in South East Asia'. Its secondary and related role was to assist in the maintenance of the security of Malaya by participating in operations against Communist Terrorists (CT). A communist insurrection to seize control of Malaya had commenced in 1948 and became the Malayan Emergency.¹⁴⁶

REGIONAL SECURITY 1951 - 55
The War in Korea 1950-53	Malayan Emergency 1955-60
Meanwhile Australia had been seeking a 'more comprehensive system of regional security in the Pacific area'. To a degree this was met by the Australian, New Zealand and United States Treaty (ANZUS), which was signed in September 1951.¹⁴⁴ A further step towards regional security was the signing of the South-east Asia Collective Defence Treaty by the United States, Australia, New Zealand, France, Britain, Pakistan, Thailand and the Philippines in September 1954. This treaty resulted in the South East Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO). Any attack on a member state, or on protocol states (South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia ).was designated a matter of common danger inviting a common response, although the United States specified that the treaty could only be invoked in relation to a communist attack.¹⁴⁵ A more localised security arrangement for Australian, New Zealand and British interests was ANZAM (Britain being the governing power of what was then the Federation of Malaya). In 1955, the British Commonwealth Far East Strategic Reserve (BCFESR ).was formed in Malaya. The Australian Army component was mainly a battalion group, based on an RAR battalion, forming part of 28 Commonwealth Brigade Group. The primary role of the BCFESR was 'to provide a deterrent to, and be available at short notice to assist in countering, further communist aggression in South East Asia'. Its secondary and related role was to assist in the maintenance of the security of Malaya by participating in operations against Communist Terrorists (CT). A communist insurrection to seize control of Malaya had commenced in 1948 and became the Malayan Emergency.¹⁴⁶