Canberra, 13 December 1972
Secret
China
Attached is a draft telegram1 in response to telegram 57472 from Paris, also attached.
2. The draft telegram is based on the assumption that the legal nicety of when diplomatic relations are established (whether at the time of the communique or only when an office is actually set up) is not worth sticking on if it is the only outstanding point, but that it would be premature to give way on that now if the central Taiwan paragraph is still unagreed.
3. We think that, after the communique is agreed, but before it is signed and issued, we should raise with the Chinese the probability of your being asked publicly to clarify the meaning of the communique, particularly its Taiwan paragraph. We appreciate that this will open the way for China to object to what we intend to say; but if we do not raise this matter beforehand, we run the risk of incurring Chinese denunciation if what we say is not acceptable to them. The formulation in paragraph 4 of the draft telegram is, we think, at the limit of what the Chinese might accept. In particular, we think there is no chance of their agreeing to our using the Canadian ‘neither challenges nor endorses’ . Indeed, they might even object to the statement in (a) of our suggested formulation. In that event, we would presumably simply have to fall back on (b) and (c) alone. Nevertheless, we could always arrange, whatever formulation China accepts, for it to be brought to the attention of the press in an unattributable background briefing that our Taiwan paragraph had not gone as far as the Maldives ‘recognises that Taiwan is an inalienable part of the territory of the PRC’ .
4. On the question of ROC property, on which China is taking a tough stand, we think we can go no further than in paragraph 5 of the draft telegram. This is consistent with your view that the matter is one for China to challenge through the courts if necessary.
[NAA: A1838, 3107/38/18/6, ii]
1 Final is Document 369.
2 Document 366.