Canberra, 28 November 1962
Confidential
Note Received from Communist Chinese Foreign Ministry
On 26th November we received, by commercial post, the attached note addressed to ‘Department of External Affairs of the Commonwealth of Australia’ from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Communist China. To it is attached a copy of Chou En-lai’s letter of 15th November to heads of Government of a number of Asian and African countries. The note requests that Chou’s letter be transmitted to the Australian Government.
2. Chou’s letter outlined the standard Chinese case in the Sino-Indian border dispute,3 as follows:—
(i) China’s boundary problems are a legacy of the imperialist past. These problems should be settled in a spirit of mutual understanding and mutual accommodation, taking account of both the historical background and the actual situation;
(ii) China has a valid historical claim to all territory at present in dispute. Her claim to the N.E.F.A.4 is strengthened by the fact that the inhabitants are ethnically akin to Tibetans;
(iii) India interpreted China’s sincere desire for conciliation as a sign of Chinese weakness. She took advantage of China’s unilateral suspension of border patrols in 1959 to encroach in both Western and Eastern sectors of the border;
(iv) All Chinese attempts at a peaceful settlement of the dispute have been rejected by India;
(v) China will continue her efforts for a peaceful settlement of the border dispute and is grateful to leaders of friendly African and Asian countries for their endeavours to promote direct negotiations.
3. Several maps are attached to the letter both [for]5 clarification of China’s latest proposals for cease-fire and withdrawal, and as evidence of the validity of China’s territorial claims.
4. As far as we know this is the first occasion we have received direct, diplomatic correspondence from Communist China. It may be that the circular letter was given very wide distribution, in the same way that Nehru put his case to everyone except Portugal and South Africa.6 A Peking broadcast of 16th November said that Chou’s letter had been sent to ‘a number’ of Western countries. However, as a matter of interest, we are checking with selected posts to determine which other countries were included on Peking’s mailing list. It is conceivable that our wheat sales have stimulated the Communist Chinese to take more interest in us officially than they have in the past. We have in mind that both the Canadians and ourselves were invited to attend the National Day reception held by the Chinese Embassy in Moscow on October 1st.
5. We do not, of course, propose to take any action in response to the Communist Chinese note. The Acting Minister6 might be interested to know that we have had the communication; or we could leave it till we ascertain whether there was anything significant in the mailing list.
[NAA: Al838, 3107/38, iii]
1 H.M. Loveday, Acting Assistant Secretary, Pacific and Americas Branch, Department of External Affairs.
2 L.R. McIntyre.
3 The Sino-Indian border dispute developed over rival claims to territory along the Himalayan border between the two countries. China, which did not accept India’s desire to have the border demarcated by the colonial McMahon Line, attacked in October 1962. It declared a unilateral cease-fire on 21 November, after which a de facto line of control was established.
4 The North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA, now Arunachal Pradesh), a region in India bordered in the north by Tibet and in the east by Burma. It was invaded during the Sino-Indian war of 1962.
5 The word in parenthesis is an editorial interpretation; text in the original is not clear.
6 A reference to the Indian invasion and occupation of the Portuguese territory of Goa and the small enclaves of Daman and Diu on 18-19 December 1961.