Canberra, 8 March 1972
1078. Secret Immediate
Personal for Renouf.
China Dialogue
We are sending you separately a telegram approved some days ago instructing you to see the PRC Ambassador at the earliest opportunity. Despatch of that telegram was held up in order to ascertain direct from the Chinese themselves in New York, whether, as Kibel claimed, the Chinese through their UN Mission had had something to say of interest to the Australian Government. (The text of our exchanges with New York are being cabled to you.)1
2. In the light of the unsatisfactory outcome of the approach in New York, the Government now wishes you to see the PRC Ambassador as a matter of urgency, amongst other things because we wish to avoid Peking’s confronting us with, and committing itself to, a totally negative attitude as a result of the initial exchange between our missions in New York.
3. You should at an appropriate stage in your discussion with the PRC Ambassador tell him frankly that the sole purpose of our low–level enquiry in New York was to ascertain directly from Chinese officials, rather than through Kibel, whether the Chinese (as Kibel claimed) had had something to say of interest to the Australian Government. It had not been our intention to pursue the dialogue in New York: we fully shared China’s views that that was best conducted through the established diplomatic channel in Paris, and we hoped he would consider carefully the new points you were putting to him.
4. In your discussions, you will clearly need to take account of evident Chinese sensitivity (para 3 of New York’s 1432 to us) over the Prime Minister’s reference to an independent Taiwan (our tel. 10023 to you). We shall be sending you guidance on this point very shortly.
[NAA: A1838, 3107/38/18/2, ii]
1 Documents 308, 309, 310 and 311.
2 Document 310.
3 On 5 March, in a television interview, McMahon stated that his Government ‘would like [Taiwan] to be independent, but we also take the view that the resolution of the problems between mainland China and Taiwan is one for those two parts of China to be decided by them’.