Strictly unofficial business: Australia’s trade policy towards the People’s Republic of China, 1951 to 1966

Abstract

Between 1951 and 1966, Australia engaged in an expanding trade with China without extending diplomatic recognition. The Liberal–Country Coalition government not only allowed, but encouraged this connection, mostly by facilitating the exchanges of private citizens and even officials and, increasingly, providing export subsidies. It did so selectively, balancing between the eagerness of businesses and some officials, the pressure from the United States, and domestic critiques seeking either a more total containment of China or to pursue diplomacy with Beijing. By the end of the period, Canberra settled on the formula of making a sizable trade surplus with China without taking the political risk of either conducting formal diplomacy or modifying existing trade restrictions. The coincidence of needs saw the trade relationship assuming some significance in Australia’s agricultural sector, especially wheat production. But the political limitation to this trade also became clear, as did the constraints suffered by its Labor critics.