‘United as Free and Equal’: The New Commonwealth, Prime Ministers’ Meetings, and the Korean War

The New Commonwealth emerged from the first wave of decolonisation in South Asia in the late 1940s. The seminal moment occurred with the signing of the 1949 London Declaration that allowed republican India to remain a Commonwealth member. However, India, Pakistan and Ceylon were divided at the first two Prime Ministers’ Meeting after independence and made no attempt to unite in opposition to the Old ‘white’ Commonwealth members. This article will thus demonstrate that the three Prime Ministers’ Meetings that took place during the Korean War marked a watershed for the New Commonwealth. In 1951 with the Korean War close to escalating into a global conflict, Jawaharlal Nehru, Liaquat Ali Khan and D. S. Senanayake worked in unison to forge a Commonwealth policy to end the fighting before Washington pressed the UN to brand China an aggressor and used its atomic arsenal. This effort met resistance from the Old Commonwealth countries but at least partially achieved its goal. The 1951 Prime Ministers’ Meeting, therefore, set the precedent for united New Commonwealth action at future Prime Ministers’ Meetings. Nevertheless, at the 1952 and 1953 Prime Ministers’ Meetings conditions were not right for further New Commonwealth attempts to influence Commonwealth policy.