ABSTRACT
In 1941, Indochina had been a springboard for attacks on Malaya, confirming that its defence had to be conceived of in regional terms. The August 1943 creation of Mountbatten’s SEAC (Southeast Asia Command) confirmed that Southeast Asia was no longer a mere geographical expression. It is true that SEAC only managed to break out of India in its summer 1944 advance into Burma, but by then its area of responsibility already embraced Thailand and Sumatra, as well as British territories. 1 The events of 1942–45 seemed to confirm that the region was strategically and politically interdependent, requiring rehabilitation and defence as an area. 2 Britain’s withdrawal from South Asia in 1947–48, and its decreasing presence in East Asia, was to increase this focus on Southeast Asia as a region.
