Sino-Australian diplomatic relations - 1972-2002

Hostility towards China distorted Australia's international affairs for twenty years until 1972. Reconciliation with China thirty years ago produced a quarter of a century of constructive bi-partisan relations with our region and the world unmatched in Australian history. The China-Australian relationship will dominate our world-stance for the next half-century; it will define the nature and outcome of the great quadrilateral of Australia's most important ties abroad-relations with Indonesia, Japan, the West Pacific region and the United States. To chart our future course, we need a proper understanding of what Australia did thirty years ago and why we did it. All our relations with China since 1972 have been based upon a commitment to One China. We must continue to honour that commitment. We must resist any policy which purports to make Australia choose between China and the United States. The honouring of international commitments and obligations, especially Conventions and Covenants under the United Nations, but including the ANZUS Treaty, will give Australia the strongest possible basis for a consistent, constructive, principled foreign policy. Such a policy will be in terms readily understood and accepted by China. Seldom have the paths of national honour and rational self-interest run in such close parallel.