Taipei, 12 December 1972
791. Secret Austeo Priority
Bank of China—Your telegram 8201
I arranged to see Vice Foreign Minister Tsai2 early in the afternoon of 12 December and told him the subject I wanted to discuss. At that time he had not yet seen Ambassador Shen’s report of his meeting (your paragraph 5). During the morning I did some discreet work with the Governor of the Central Bank and Finance Minister Li. At an ASPAC lunch I also worked on Economic Affairs Minister Sun, as well as putting to him the points in your 791.3 Your 8214 reached me during this lunch. I assumed you would still wish me to discuss the Bank of China question. To cancel my call could also have suggested we were having afterthoughts about the Bank.
2. When I saw Tsai he was well briefed and told me that Shen had been informed that the PRC had indicated a desire to freeze ROC assets in Australia. The need for speedy ROC decision has been impressed upon him.
3. Tsai’s only question was to ask ‘how can we complete withdrawal in so short a time’ as might be the case if recognition of the PRC were announced in, for example, a week or two? I said I could give him no idea on timing.
4. Tsai agreed that I could report that I deduced from his one question that the ROC would be willing to withdraw the Bank of China from Australia. He noted that the request for withdrawal had come to the Foreign Ministry here only today. It would have to make some formal checks with the Finance Ministry and other authorities. The Premier’s concurrence would also have to be given. However, he was quite clear that the Bank would be withdrawn. A formal response would be given as soon as possible.
5.I said I would put the view to you that, if all necessary action for the withdrawal were not completed by the time recognition was announced, it would seem fair to me to deem the time of withdrawal as being that when a speedy withdrawal began.
Dunn.
[NAA: A1838, 3107/38/18/6, i]
1 Document 358.
2 Tsai Wei–ping, ROC Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs.
3 6 December. It instructed Dunn that, in any reference to the last four sentences of paragraph 3, Document 349, he might raise two further points. First, given that Taiwan was not a member of GATT, it would be useful to know that respective approaches to mutual trade in future would be consistent with the provisions of the trade agreement. Second, there had been problems in the trade relationship with Taiwan—such as low cost competition in Australia in textiles—which had been settled through consultation; in similar situations in future, it might be necessary not to take too narrow a view of the phrase ‘trade promotion’ .
4 See footnote 1, Document 363.