By 1954 the situation in South-East Asia was looking more and more dangerous for Australia. There was an overwhelming fear of the further spread of 'monolithic' communism (as it was known at the time). In 1954 the French finally withdrew from Indo-China and North Vietnam became a communist regime. There had also been further unrest in Malaya and Indonesia. And the Korean War had shown that China was willing to provide armed support for other communist regimes. The Australian government felt it was imperative that they have a proper defensive treaty. A number of other countries felt the same way and the South-East Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) was created to deal with the situation. Even though it is called the South-East Asia Treaty Organisation, only three South-East Asian countries signed it. See image 4 Bringing together America, Australia, New Zealand, Britain, France, The Philippines, Thailand and Pakistan, SEATO was created specifically to combat the threat of spreading communism in South-East Asia. The wording of the treaty was much stronger than that of ANZUS. It bound each member to come to the others' aid in the event of external aggression. Each Party recognises that aggression by means of armed attack in the Treaty Area against any of the Parties or against any State or territory which the Parties by unanimous agreement may hereafter designate, would endanger its own peace and safety, and agrees that it will in that event act to meet the common danger in accordance its constitutional processes.
Article IV of the SEATO Treaty, 1954 It was intended to be the Asian version of NATO, but it never reached the same level as the North Atlantic treaty.

America wanted the SEATO treaty limited and would not sign unless three major conditions were agreed