Canberra, 20 December 1972
6223. Secret Immediate
China
Your telegram 5870,1 para. 14.
You should tell Huang that, while we can do nothing directly to hold up the sale of property sold before the signing of the communique, we have issued today the warning which we had earlier offered (our telegram 6089)2 to issue simultaneously with the release of the communique.
2. The warning is as follows.
‘The Department of Foreign Affairs today warned that, when Australia recognised the Government of the People’s Republic of China, persons then purchasing property in Australia from the “Government (or the Embassy or Consulates) of the Republic of China” risked having their title challenged on the ground that the property belonged to the Government of the People’s Republic of China which had not authorised sale’ .
3. If Huang questions the term ROC, you should point out that we have put that term deliberately in quotation marks.
4. If Huang asks why we did not issue the warning before now, you should explain that we were unable to do so before agreement had been reached on the terms of the communique.
[NAA: A1838, 3107/38/18/6, ii]
1 Document 373.
2 Document 369.