Paris, 1 June 1971
2538. Secret Priority
Dialogue No.5
Your telegram 2490 paragraph 4 (dialogue No. 2.)1
The P.R.C. Ambassador spoke of Taiwan or Formosa and used no other terms.
2. It is hard to answer clearly your question B. From the substance of what was said to me and the tone of it the deduction can be made that the P.R.C. are not interested in discussing anything less than diplomatic relations. On the other hand, there were two indications that the P.R.C. Ambassador was not ruling out the possibility of further exchanges. There were:—
(a) His statement made twice that he did not want to go into the question of Taiwan ‘today’.
(b) His unwillingness to agree to the drawing of any conclusions from the conversation, his response being that he would report to Peking. However, I think it is clear that if there are to be further discussions, the P.R.C. Ambassador will stick to the same line, namely, the subject which should be discussed first is diplomatic relations.
3. It is even harder to answer your question C (as I had to steer clear of taking up the recognition question). Clearly, the P.R.C. strongly resents our relations with Taiwan. My hunch is therefore that they would demand an announcement that we were to break off those relations and were to establish relations with the P.R.C. and that they would insist the first should actually be done before they would permit the second.
4. I am seeking an early appointment with the Belgian Ambassador.
Renouf.
[NAA: A1838, 3107/38/18/2]
1 1 June. In view of the PRC’s ‘evident determination to concentrate discussion on the question of Taiwan’, Renouf was instructed not to pursue a further meeting with the PRC Ambassador in the near future; it was enough to have shown, in advance of the PRC’s admission to the United Nations, Australia’s interest in the eventual normalisation of relations. Renouf was given permission to use social occasions to enquire after Peking’s response, and he was requested to meet his Belgian counterpart, Robert Rothschild, in order to compare notes on the PRC’s reaction to their respective approaches to the Chinese. Renouf was also asked: (a) for details as to the manner in which the PRC Ambassador referred to Taiwan (b) whether it was possible that discussions on other matters had not necessarily been ruled out by the PRC and (c) for his opinion on how firmly the Chinese would press for severance of diplomatic relations with the ROC prior to establishment of diplomatic relations with the PRC.