Way Behind in Following the USA over China: The Lack of any Liberal Tradition in Australian Foreign Policy, 1970-72

Abstract

The Liberal Party's failure to grant diplomatic recognition to the People's Republic of China in the early 1970s soon became a source of embarrassment, after President Richard Nixon announced US recognition in 1972. In pursuing the question of why the Gorton and McMahon governments were so wrong‐footed, factors such as the role of the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) in domestic politics and the hierarchical bureaucracy in the Department of External Affairs are important. But one theme looms largest, and it is a theme dear to the hearts of Liberal foreign policy‐makers, namely the dominant role of the American alliance. Nixon's administration excluded the Australian Government from its shifting thinking about China just as the Australians confirmed their dependence on a US lead before doing anything.

Beyond the Euphoria: Lyndon Johnson in Australia and the Politics of the Cold War Alliance

“…106 By 1971 the Nixon administration was breaking the ice with China, a metamorphosis in U.S. policy that caught the Australian government hopelessly flatfooted. 107 Only five years after a "special relationship" had been proclaimed by the Australian press in October 1966, bilateral ties had become deeply strained and stressed, ushering in an unprecedented period of doubt, discord, and disagreement in the history of the alliance.…”

From Cold War Solidarity to Transactional Engagement: Reinterpreting Australia's Relations with East Asia, 1950–1974

“…Thus, for domestic political consumption in placating the staunchly anti-Communist Democratic Labor Party (DLP), the McMahon government was publicly critical of Whitlam's visit to the PRC. 84 When the impending Nixon visit was made public shortly thereafter, McMahon's government looked inept. 85 For Australia's engagement with East Asia, one of the most significant consequences of the U.S. rapprochement with the PRC was the breakdown of ASPAC.…”