Our Relations with China: a Backward and Forward Glance
Back in the 1960s the typical Australian feared China much more than the Soviet
Union. The gallup polls made that clear. Similarly, the most popular justification for
sending Australian troops to Vietnam was that they would halt the Southwards march of
the Chinese.
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In the 1960s few Australians went to China as tourists. I went there on my own
not in a tour group in 1966 and I must say that at times the atmosphere was not very
welcoming. Of course Australia did not then recognize China, and as a tourist you had to
collect your visa in Hong Kong and sign an affirmation that you had never been to
Taiwan.
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All this has changed. One of the first acts of Mr Whitlam's new government in
1972 was to grant diplomatic recognition to the People's Republic of China. We
appointed an outstanding ambassador; and Stephen Fitzgerald, with his excellent
gift of knowledge of the Chinese language and his theatre in speaking it, and his courtesy and
sense of fun, did wonders for our name and our relations. Many critics said and some
still repeat it that Mr Fraser as prime minister would weaken our relationship with
China but he greatly strengthened it. In his last years his stern anti-Soviet views
delighted Chinese ears. Sometimes one reads in the press that the Chinese government is
naturally more sympathetic towards Labor than towards the Liberals and the National
party. Maybe, maybe not. Without doubt the Chinese are instinctively responsive to any
Australian government which is burningly anti-Russian. I don't mean that the knowledge
of such a fact should necessarily shape our foreign policy. Certainly it should affect our
understanding of China, of how China sees us.
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