CDKW00597 - The Commonwealth Fighting a Cooling War

In this top secret letter from 12 August 1953, External Affairs indicated that any future burden of Commonwealth Forces was expected to be contributed by non-British states, as London felt it was carrying a disproportionate burden of the effort. Discussions continued throughout the summer with Canberra, Wellington, Ottawa, and London all in discussion to little avail. In light of the discontent, London proposed that any withdrawals made from Korea should be matched with other “contributions to the cold war elsewhere.” Australia and New Zealand’s troops, once released from United Nations Command, were proposed to move to Malaya by London, though there are no recommendations indicated for the relocation of Canadian troops in the Far East. To this end, Charles Ritchie, then acting under-secretary of state for external affairs wrote that London appeared to have accepted that Canadian troops, once withdrawn from Korea, would not be reassigned elsewhere in the region by the Canadian government. However, Ritchie did not address whether these troops could be reassigned to other regions of the cold war, as thousands of Canadian troops were concurrently stationed abroad in Germany as well.