ABSTRACT
After years of interdepartmental planning and debating, Whitehall had firmly lifted the issue of regional cooperation to the governmental level. Out went the idea of using the Special Commission as the basis for a British-sponsored regional com mission; rather than organising regional cooperation from the grassroots upwards, London now opted for international talks at the government level. The precarious situation in South-East Asia urgently required concerted action by the West and by the pro-Western governments in the region. The aim was to stem the perceived communist tide through an anti-communist front: regional cooperation as a means of regional containment.
