VICTOILIAN DIVISION STATE COUNCIL OF THE
LIBERAL PAiTY 01" AUSTRALIA
MELBOUHlNE 28 JUJLY 1971
SPEECH B3Y TILE, PRIPI[ E MINISTER, MR. WILLIAM Mcl4AIION
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It had been my intention to talk to you this morning
about Liberal Pa. rty policies and other domestic matters.
Because of recent events involving our international
relptions, I thought it would be better if I clearly identified
our policies relating to China.
You will recall that about a fortnight ago, I chose
China as my subject when I talked to the Young Liberals in
;. lelbourne Since then we have had the announcement by Presi( lent
Nixon that he will go to Peking sometime before May of next
year for talks with Premier Chou En-Lai.
The decision is of profound importance to the whole
of the free world and naturally it has attracted a tremendous
amount of interest and comment.
I informed the Australian people the day it was
announced that my Government welcomed this decision wholeheartedly
and that President Nixon had our complete support in the initiative
he was taking We sincerely hope that his journey will be a journey
for enduring peace.
There are two comments I want to make at the outset.
The first is that President Nixon's initiative is a beginning.
It is an exploration. It is not yet a settlement of matters at
issue between these two powers, or indeed of matters at issue
between the free world and the communist nations of Asia.
Therefore patience, as well as support, will be
necessary and we must not be rushed or forced into hasty
decisions. We do not want to compromise our bargaining
position qnd there is no overriding national interest that
compels us to do so. We must keep all our options open. 2/.
It is our interests, not China's, that I am
deeply concerned with.
I also want to emphasise that my Government has, in
fact, been active over a long period. In many cases we have
been in the vanguard.
We have, as I shall show, made a number of practical
moves: To establish our position in relation to
representation of China and Taiwan in the
United Nations.
To find a way to bring about normal bilateral
relations between the People's Republic that
is Mainland China and ourselves.
We have done this without any surrender of our
national interest or the principles which govern our conduct
in international relations.
Our actions are predicated on the basis that we are
not a great power and cannot play a decisive role in resolving
the issues between East and West.
But we are independent, we have a voice which I
know is respected, in our region we have friendships and
alliances which we want to honour. We will not unceremoniously
dump our friends. 3/.
UNITED NATIONS
We have closely watched the movement in the
United Nations towards admission of the People's
Republic and the trend towards recognition by a number
of other countries in the free world all of them, it
should be noted, outside the Asian region.
These events prompted me when I was Foreign
Minister to have a new reappraisal made of the trend of
our future relations with the People's Republic, with
the Soviet Union and with Japan. The China study began
in October ! 970. In May I announced publicly our
intention to seek a dialogue with China, proceeding
cautiously step by step with the normalisation of
relations as our final objective.
This was two months before President Nixon's
announcement of his planned vrisit to Peking with
precisely the same objectives and in much the same words.
In May of this year I said that we would not
oppose China's representation and admission to the United
Nations, and in a broader context-I said that it was
inevitable and right that China should be a member of the
United Nations General Assembly and should hold the
permanent seat in the Security Council.
I also said and I have repeated it since that
we believed the Republic of China Taiwan should be
given the chance of maintaining its membership if it so
desired. We have had talks with Taiwan on this matter and
I hope we have been able to influence her to consider
accepting proposals for retaining her membership.
It has been suggested that Taiwan may herself
decide not to seek continued membership. That, of course,
would create another situation. This would be a decision
within Taiwan's own jurisdiction and for Taiwan iiself to
make. It is clear from our talks to date with
representatives of the People's Republic of China that the
status of Taiwan is a major factor in their thinking.
So it is on our part. We have repeatedly said
we are anxious to preserve the rights of the fourteen and
a half million people of Taiwan. These include the right
to continued membership of the United Nations.
I believe a majority of Australians share this
anxiety and want us to treat Taiwan honourably. o .4/
The United Nations alone can decide this issue.
It is a matter for a collective decision, not for unilateral
action by us. We will not abandon Taiwan, nor prejudge
her position in advance of any decisions in the U. No,
neither will we seek by any procedural device to exclude
Peking. The People's Republic on the Mainland, has been
informed of our views on the question of admission to
the United Nations. I emphasise that my public statements
on representation are still in advance of any declaration
of attitude by America. o
RECOGNITION
Turning now to the problem of recognition of the
People's Republic.. In the May speech I used the phrase
which had been used by the Department of Foreign Affairs
some time before, that our objective was to normalise
our bilateral relations with the People's Republic.
We have no hostility to the great Chinese people
whose history and culture have contributed much to the
achievements of mankind.
I believe that, in due time, it will be possible
to reach a point when we are able to recognise the People's
Repiublic with honour and without deserting old friends.
But 1 cannot see that happening as the first result of the
first dialogue. Other decisions have to be taken.
Meanwhile we want to keep moving towards normal relations
with China without waiting on completion of the
formalities for full diplomatic recognition.
You will recall that President Nixon said that
the action he was taking would " not be at the expense of
old friends". That, too, is our view. That is where
Australia stands.
I can tell you that we have made some progress
in our dialogue with-China. We know more about the other
side's position and they know more about ours. The
Chinese responses to our approaches have clearly shown
that the Chinese Government is positively interested in
establishing diplomatic relations with the Australian
Government. The dialotgue is continuing.
We are active in trade and we also want to develop
our cultural and scientific relationships with China.
As you know, the Minister for Trade and Industry
recently announced a liberalisation of the strategic
exports list. The goods on the restricted list are those
with defence or security importance.
I have not yet heard anyone say we should remove
these restrictions. So far as Taiwan is concerned, our exports have
increased very substantially in recent years to about
million a year.
We have therefore a substantial interest in both
China and Taiwan for trade.
Our position in regard to travel, cultural
exchanges and sport with China is free. .6/
We do not place any unnecessary obstacles in the
way of visits of Australian citizens to China, or of
Chinese citizens to Australia.
In all of this we have followed a consistent
and rational policy that has placed us well ahead of
most countries of the West in our dealings with China.
We have always hoped that by encouraging contacts
between the two countries in a number of lesser fields,
and by private contacts between the people of the two
countries, a greater understanding of each other's
positions would develop and the prospects of a normalisation
of political relations would be enhanced.
In taking the steps that we as a Government have
taken, we have always had in mind the need to consider
the policies and attitudes of the many Governments in our
part of the world with whom we have close and friendly
relations, and for whom China is in many cases an even more
important factor than for Australia.
Many of these, like Australia, do not have
diplomatic relations with China. Many of them have
suffered as a result of Chinese policies directed
specifically against them.
It has been obvious to the Australian Government
that any precipitate move by Australia to improve
relations with China could well have caused difficulties
for some of the countries in the South East Asian region.
We have therefore taken the course of careful
and constructive diplomatic groundwork, aimed at exploring
the areas in which we may have a meeting of minds with
China, I wonder how much Peking knows about the depth
and scope of Australia's relations with the countries of
South East Asia.
These relations are nursued for the purposes of
economic development, of stability and of constructive
regional co-operation among the peoples of South East
Asia. They arenot directed against the interests of any
country. Indeed, let me say clearly that we would not
wish to exclude China from this adventure. But this
Government will not prejudice the close and constructive
relationships we have developed with our neighbours in
this part of the world for the sake alone of better
relations with Peking.
Our relations with all of these countries are
important to us and we want our friends to understand
what we are seeking in our attempt to normalise our
relations with China. For our part, we understand and
will not denigrate the efforts of our friends to adjust
their own policies to the changing circumstances in Asia.
VI ETNAM
Ladies and Gentlemen, I sincerely hope that when
President Nixon meets Premier Chou En-Lai there will be
another opportunity to bring fresh influences to bear
in the search for an honourable peace in Vietnam.
I like to think that the tragedy of this war
is moving to its close, but I believe that peace with
justice will only be secured if an understanding can be
reached between East and West based on the Bandung
Principle that each nation in the region shall be free to
choose the Government it wants and live the way it wishes.
When we went into South Vietnam in response to a
request from its Government we did so in our own national
interest and to honour treaty obligations. We felt that
there was a real danger at that time of the whole of
South-East Asia falling to communism.
The joint action of the allies in Vietnam in
resisting this threat and enabling the smaller countries
of Asia to determine their own future has led to a
significant improvement in the security and stability of
the region, Vietnamisation is, in fact, being
successful. With courage and determination the South
Vietnamese forces have steadily taken over the brunt
of the combat role, so much so that our operational role
is now winding down and we can now look forward to the
withdrawal of all of our combat forces.
My wish is that this should be a matter for
Parliament to consider and I shall be making a statement
on our position in Vietnam during the forthcoming session.
The withdrawal of allied forces will not, of
course, solve the problems which face the people of Vietnam.
A lasting -peace in Indo-China can only be achieved on the
basis of a political settlement in which all of the parties
participate. The Australian Government has consistently
supported the principles upon which the Geneva Agreements
of 1954 relating to Indo-China and those of 1962 relating
to Laos are based.
If a new arrangement is to be more successful than
those arrived at by the earlier conferences, there will
need to be greater participation in the formulation of
the arrangements by those most directly concerned,
including the Governments of North and South Vietnam. a. ao8
We took part last year in the Djakarta Conference
on Cambodia in the belief that it is through the co-operation
of the countries in the region that p~ eace and stability can
best be achieved in Asia.
We believe that in any future initiatives for a
peaceful political settlement of the Indo-China question,
great emphasis should be placed on particiipation by
Asian countries. Stability is most likely to flow from greater
Asian participation in solutions to Asian problems.
The issues about which I have spoken China and
Vietnam are two important international issues. The
debate in Australia on China and Vietnam has, to an
undesirable extent, become entangled with party politics.
The search for a lasting solution in the interests
of all the Australian people has sometimes been forgotten
by some people in a scramble for temporary personal
satisfaction. These are extremely complex issues, the importance
of which no responsible government can afford to ignore.
The Government of this country is not some kind of performing
troupe that can turn on a different act in every capital of
this region. We believe that Australia has a real and
positive role to play, and is playing it, and will play it
more and more as we grow and as we identify our interests
around us. But we recognise that we cannot order the world
to our own specifications, Others bigger than we have much
more capacity to do so, Our influence can best be
exercised in concert with our friends, great and small.
We will have very little influence if we behave
inconsistently and with quixotic attention only to what is
happening day by day. What we are trying to do is to move
in an orderly and responsible way towards the resolution of
these problems. This is the reality of the position of a country
like Australia. We support what the United States is
attempting. If it leads to rapprochement with China on
fair and reasonable terms this will be good.
If the Vietnam war and the problems of the Indo-
China states can be approached initially with mutual
restraint and then at the conference table, of course the
Australian Government favours it.
We will do all in our power to help promote
international detente, but let us not deceive ourselves by
exaggerating our own capacity to prodluce it,