Paris, 20 January 1964
123. Secret Priority
China
Manac’h1 called me in this morning to inform me officially that—
(a) Decision had been taken to establish diplomatic relations with Communist China;
(b) Timing of public announcement and of completion of exchange was not yet certain but announcement might come quite shortly now;
(c) France has made no commitments with regard to its relations with Taipeh, its attitude in United Nations or anything else.
2. Manac’h confirmed that intention was to complete exchange of Ambassadors shortly.
3. Manac’h gave following comments:
(a) The French considered that Communist China was a reality as a major power, and that it was no longer practical to regard contacts with it through Moscow as sufficient;
(b) ‘Formosa’ too was a reality as Formosa with eleven million inhabitants entitled to self-determination, but not as the Government of China;
(c) Establishment of diplomatic relations implied no moral approval of Chinese regime and no change of French policy in adjacent area (e.g. in relation to Chinese interference in Indo-China);
(d) It was possible that contacts with the outside world would influence the Chinese in the direction of responsible international behaviour;
(e) Australia was being informed of French decision as an ally of France, along with European and SEATO allies, India and Japan and Africans with whom France had agreements to exchange information.
4. Manac’h said the French were quite prepared to continue in relations with Formosa but did not yet know what Nationalists’ own reaction would be.
5. In noting Manac’h’s point about absence of commitments I said that in practice, Communists’ chances of replacing Nationalists in U.N. would seem to be enhanced. Manac’h was at pains to emphasize that in informing Africans and others the French were avoiding any appearance of pressure to follow their example. The Africans were independent and not obliged to fall into step with French.
[NAA: A1838, 3107/33/1/1, ix]
1 Etienne Manac’h, Director for Asia and South Sea Islands of Central Administration, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.