HL Deb 21 March 1979 vol 399 cc1151-2

3.3 p.m.

Lord BROCKWAY

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government when they propose to disband CENTO.

The MINISTER of STATE, FOREIGN and COMMONWEALTH OFFICE (Lord Goronwy-Roberts)

My Lords, following the withdrawal of Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, Her Majesty's Government are reviewing the situation. Clearly CENTO is not effectively in operation. We shall naturally keep the House informed as the situation develops.

Lord BROCKWAY

My Lords, has not CENTO been a relic of the discredited confrontation policy of Foster Dulles? Would it not have been better to have ended it long before now when we have the humiliation of disbanding it because the four other partners in it have withdrawn?

Lord GORONWY-ROBERTS

My Lords, I do not see that there is any particular humiliation in disbanding an organisation if the regional member countries decide that their defence and security can be provided better in some other way. Whatever that other way proves to be, we shall stand ready with our other friends and allies to respond as helpfully as possible. As for the first part of my noble friend's question, I think that a closer examination of the history of CENTO will show that for quite 20 years it did in fact help to maintain the peace and stability of the area it served.

Lord SHINWELL

My Lords, is one to understand from what my noble friend has just said in reply to the original Question that, if CENTO is disbanded, the problems remain? Do we not have the nucleus of some other effective organisation? CENTO concerned the Pacific and therefore we have Singapore, some of the Gulf States, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand. Why not reconsider the position in the light of how the disbandment of CENTO affects the whole of the Pacific situation?

Lord GORONWY-ROBERTS

My Lords, yes, indeed, I think that there is a good deal in what my noble friend says. CENTO of course, was the successor to the Baghdad Pact. We have seen the modification and the disappearance of SEATO. Out of the situation which has been created by the falling off of these two necessarily long-term temporary arrangements for defence and security, no doubt from among the Member countries concerned in that area—with the help of their friends in the West—there may well emerge an alternative and an even better system.