Office of the Historian

438. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in the Philippines1

Washington, August 13, 1959—7 p.m.

481. Joint State/Defense message. MILBA. Embtel 350,2 Deptel 3346.3 Following are our views on consultation on use of bases:

Part I. Consultation Formula: We wish to avoid consultation concerning major deployments of U.S. forces and major changes in their equipment. If Philippine Government insists upon consultation on use of bases, we could accept consultation formula as follows: “The operational use of U.S. bases in the Philippines for direct launching of combat operations, other than those conducted in accordance with the United States-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty and the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, will be the subject of prior consultation with the Government of the Philippines.” We would wish it clearly understood in the negotiating history that the consultation formula does not apply to activities of support elements such as communications; or to resupply and staging activities of U.S. forces.

[2 paragraphs (18½ lines of source text) not declassified]

Part III. Use of Bases for Defense Purposes: We would hope that this question could be handled in the context of the above consultation formula, and that agreement by United States that it would consult [Page 929] with Philippine Government before using bases for combat operations would eliminate need for separate understanding on U.S. bases for defensive purposes alone.

Dillon
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 711.56396/7–2259. Top Secret; Niact; Limit Distribution. Drafted by Brand of FE/SPA and Lang of OSD/ISA; approved by Marshall Green, Regional Planning Adviser in FE; and cleared in S/AE, FE, NA, SPA, L, G, and OSD/ISA. Repeated to CINCPAC for POLAD, CINCPACFLT, CINCPACAF, CINCUSARPAC, CINCPACREPPHIL, COMNAVPHIL, and COM13th AF.↩
  2. In telegram 350 from Manila, July 22, Bohlen asked for instructions on a number of issues related to base negotiations. (Ibid., 711.56396/7–2259)↩
  3. Telegram 3346 to Manila, June 12, repeated the text of telegram 2675 from Tokyo, June 12, in which Ambassador Douglas MacArthur II reported his discussion with the Japanese Foreign Minister on a consultation formula. (Ibid., 794.5/6–1259)↩