Canberra, 21 December 1972

Secret Immediate

China

Our separate telegram contains text of press release Prime Minister will be issuing at 1800 hours Canberra time today 22 December. Joint communique attached to press release was signed in Paris at 0700 hours Canberra time today but will not be released until 1800 hours.

2. Please give press release and its attachments in confidence to Foreign Ministry as soon as possible today.

3. You may draw in oral explanation on the following:

(a) The principal point at issue in the four meetings in Paris was the status of Taiwan. The PRC began by asking us to recognise in the communique that Taiwan was a province of China–i.e., since we were ready to recognise the PRC Government as the sole legal Government of China, a province of the PRC. We began by putting forward the Canadian formula 'takes note of the position of the Chinese Government that Taiwan is an inalienable part of the territory of the PRC' . Although we argued hard and on several occasions for this formula, it was rejected by the PRC, without giving us reasons. We for our part stood out against the wording suggested by China. The Chinese then suggested the British formula–' .he Australian Government, acknowledging the position of the Chinese Government that Taiwan is a province of the PRC, has decided to remove its official representation in Taiwan on ... 'Eventually the formula in the communique was agreed.

(b) That formula is in our view closer to the Canadian than the British. 'Acknowledges' is very similar to 'takes note' . and there is no direct grammatical connexion, which there is in the British formula, between the territorial issue of Taiwan and the removal of official representation. (In our view, the removal of representation is a necessary consequence of recognising the PRC Government as the sole legal Government of China, and has nothing to do with the territorial issue of Taiwan.)

(c) We shall not be going into the foregoing details in public, and they are for the confidential information of the Government to which you are accredited.

(d) A major Chinese preoccupation in the negotiations was ROC property in Australia. China wanted us to prevent the sale of this property while negotiations were continuing in Paris. We pointed out that the Australian Government had no legal powers to do this, but we did issue a public warning on 20 December that, when Australia recognised the PRC Government, persons then purchasing property in Australia from the 'Government of the Republic of China' risked having their title challenged on the ground that the property belonged to the Government of the PRC which had not authorised sale.

(e) China was also concerned in the negotiations to ensure that thinly–disguised 'unofficial' offices would not be established in Taiwan and Australia. (We assume that China regards the Japan Taiwan 'unofficial' offices as sui generis and wishes to prevent that arrangement being taken as a precedent by other countries.) While assuring the Chinese that we would not establish an office of the Australian Government in Taiwan, nor any office which could be represented as having a Governmental or official character or connexions, and that we would not allow the Taiwan authorities to establish any such office here, we pointed out that Australia has a substantial volume of trade with Taiwan and said this would continue under private arrangements. This was accepted by the Chinese Ambassador.

(f) We hope to open an Embassy in Peking in January.

[NAA: A1838, 3107/38/18/6, ii]

1 Jakarta, Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Tokyo, Wellington, Washington and Ottawa.