London, 13 November 1971
20753. Secret
For Foreign Affairs and Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Prime Minister’s Discussion with Sir Alec Douglas Home at Foreign Office on 12th November, 1971
The Prime Minister had an half–hour private discussion with Sir Alec Douglas Home.
He was then joined by Downer1, Waller, Pritchett2 and Woolcott.3
[ matter omitted ]
China
The Prime Minister outlined our attitude to China, including its admission to the United Nations and our attempt to retain a place for Taiwan. The Prime Minister said that the United States had acted too late and the second Kissinger visit had been unhelpful, but in the end he believed the United States was working strenuously to keep Taiwan in. The Prime Minister outlined our own exploratory talks on developing trade with China. The Prime Minister said we would take the development of relations with China carefully. There was little we could do at the moment. We were trying to encourage trade and not standing in the way of visits and other contacts. However China was a minor importing country. Taiwan on the other hand was a good trading partner. We should deal with China carefully and not make too many concessions.
The Foreign Secretary said that Britain would still like to get an Ambassador into Peking, but the Chinese wanted Britain to alter its view that the future of Taiwan was undetermined. Sir Alec said that on this question he was inclined to stay put and that British policy towards China was therefore fairly ’static’ at the moment.
Soviet Union
The Prime Minister then turned to the Soviet Union, saying that the Soviet Union had shown considerable interest in Australia. It was stepping up trade, buying meat, proposing an exchange of confidential information and had let us know in Moscow their attitude to the United States and China. They were being frank with us. The Prime Minister said that they were however also being critical of us for supporting the NE and of his recent visit to Washington. He did not think they were being particularly consistent. The Prime Minister added that we should negotiate with both China and the Soviet Union with care.
Sir Alec said the Russians were getting very anxious about China. He then asked the Prime Minister what he thought the United States would get out of Nixon’s visit to Peking. The Prime Minister said that neither President Nixon nor Dr Kissinger expected to get much out of the visit in concrete terms in the short term. It was mainly being made for long term and internal reasons. Sir Alec then said that the Chinese do not do anything within any particular time scale. Westerners found this difficult to understand. He recalled that the Foreign Minister, Chen–Yi, had told him in Geneva once— ‘the trouble with you Westerners is that you think in terms of a lifetime. We consider that very fussy’.
[ matter omitted ]
[NAA: A1838, 3107/38118, xxii]
1 A.R. Downer, Australian High Commissioner in United Kingdom.
2 W.B. Pritchett, Australian Deputy High Commissioner in United Kingdom.
3 R.A. Woolcott, Assistant Secretary, Policy Research, Department of Foreign Affairs.