Tarling, Nicholas
(2007)
From Seafet And Asa: Precursors Of Asean.
International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies (IJAPS), 3 (1).
pp. 1-14.
ISSN ISSN: 1823-6243
Abstract
With the disappearance of the imperial structures that had dominated
Southeast Asia, newly-independent states had to develop foreign policies of
their own. So far few, if any, have been willing to allow historians to
explore the documentary evidence that has no doubt been preserved.
Somewhat paradoxically, they must turn to the archives of external powers,
which largely follow a thirty-year rule. Their diplomats were indeed often
keenly interested in collecting information from ministers, on the golf
course or otherwise, and from officials, who might convey or leak it more or
less straightforwardly. In my recent book, Regionalism in Southeast Asia, I
was able to incorporate material from United Kingdom (UK) records on the
development of Southeast Asia Friendship and Economic Treaty (SEAFET),
Association of Southeast Asia States (ASA) and Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN). I have been turning more recently to the material
in the New Zealand archives, which contain not only reports from New
Zealand diplomats but also from Australian and Canadian diplomats as well.
They have both supported and modified my conclusions.
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