Paris, 23 March 1972
Secret
China
Reference my telegram 1343,1 attached are two copies of the piece of paper I handed to the PRC Ambassador on 23 March.
Attachment
The Australian Government genuinely wishes to normalize progressively relations with the People’s Republic of China, moving ahead in the first place in areas which present no real difficulties. In May and July 1971 I had, on instructions, informed the Ambassador of the Australian Government’s desire and then instanced trade and cultural and sporting exchanges as fields of mutual interest upon which the Australian Government hoped that a beginning of the process of normalization of relations might be made.
2. The Australian Government remains of the view that the progressive extension of contacts in these fields will help lay the necessary basis of mutual confidence and understanding for the achievement of full diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China on mutually acceptable terms, which is the Australian Government’s ultimate objective.
3. It had not been possible to carry matters any distance at the two meetings in Paris in 1971 but in September 1971 the Australian Government had been given to understand in Hong Kong, through officials of the China Resources Company, that a visit to China by the Australian Minister for the Army would be welcome and that an Australian trade mission would also be welcome to visit China.
4. The Australian Government had responded by suggesting that a semi–official trade mission should visit China for about two weeks after the middle of November but that there were practical difficulties at that time in tiling up the offer regarding the Minister for the Army. The Australian Government had not, however, ruled out the possibility of a later visit by an Australian Minister.
5. Discussion about the possibility of a visit by a trade mission had continued in October 1971 but on 1 November the Australian Government was informed, again through the China Resources Company, that the time was not then right for a visit by a trade mission. The Australian Government had been disappointed to hear this.
6. The Australian Government had noted that no particular reason had been given for putting off the visit. It had occurred to the Australian Government that the reason might have been connected with Australia’s vote against the Albanian Resolution in the United Nations General Assembly but if that were the reason, the Australian Government assumed that the People’s Republic of China would since have noted the statement by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, immediately after the vote, expressing the Australian Government’s pleasure that the People’s Republic of China would henceforth be able to be represented in the United Nations and to take China’s seat on the Security Council. The Australian Government also assumed that the People’s Republic of China would have since noted that Australia had not opposed the People’s Republic of China taking the seat of China in those Specialized Agencies and other subsidiary bodies of the United Nations in which the issue had arisen.
7. More recently, the Australian Government had been encouraged by information received in January 1972 from Mr. James Kibel, who had made a private business visit to Hong Kong, that he had spoken to officials of the China Resources Company, that these officials had not excluded the possibility of a renewed invitation to an Australian trade mission and that the People’s Republic of China’s position regarding such a visit might be expected after President Nixon had returned to the United States.
8. The Australian Government had also been encouraged by the terms of the joint communique issued by President Nixon and Premier Chou En–lai,2 from which it appeared that the People’s Republic of China and the United States have agreed to people–to–people contacts, the development of bilateral trade and the maintenance of official contacts through various channels, notwithstanding the continuation of differing positions on the issue of Taiwan. This approach was very similar to the approach which the Australian Government had proposed in Paris in 1971.
9. Accordingly, the Australian Government earnestly hopes that the People’s Republic of China will examine again these proposals, particularly the idea of making a beginning with the trade field—perhaps by an exchange of visits by trade missions or even with an exchange of Ministerial visits.
10. The Australian Government fully appreciates that the People’s Republic of China sees the Taiwan issue as the obstacle to the full normalization of relations. In that connexion, the Australian Government notes that all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Straits take the position that there is only one China and that it includes Taiwan. Furthermore, the Australian Government hopes that the question of the future relationship between the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China will be resolved by the two sides in a peaceful manner to their mutual satisfaction.
11. The Australian Prime Minister had made both of the points in paragraph 10 in a television interview on 5 March3 and it is the intention of the Minister for Foreign Affairs to include them in a formal statement upon international affairs which he is planning to make next month.
[NAA: A1838, 3107/38/18/2, ii]
1 Document 322.
2 See Document 320.
3 See footnote 3, Document 312.