Recognising the People’s Republic of China: A Reappraisal of Australian Foreign Policy During the First Menzies Ministry 1950–51

Abstract

The attitude of the early Menzies Government towards the recognition of the People’s Republic of China has not been well understood in the literature on Australia’s international relations. The early Menzies regime has been taken by some scholars to be implacably opposed to communism, including Chinese communism, by others to have ceased to consider recognition because of the Korean War and by a third contingent to have been responsive to United States pressure not to recognise the Chinese communist government. A perusal of the foreign policy documents of the period of the first Menzies ministry reveals that both Menzies and Spender were giving favourable consideration to recognising the People’s Republic of China during late 1950 and early 1951 and that none of these three views were decisive in preventing recognition. The question for Menzies and Spender was not whether to recognise but when to recognise and the actions of the Chinese communists themselves, in particular their attitude to British recognition, created the greatest impediment to recognition by Australia at that time.