James Curran, ‘A certain amount of forgetting’ The Australia-China Relationship from Menzies Onward

Australia’s relationship with China has always been fraught with both difficulty and opportunity. It was Menzies who established Australia’s first diplomatic mission to China during World War Two, and he had a lot of sympathy for the beleaguered ally that was the Chinese Nationalist Government. It was subsequently quite disheartening to see them defeated in the Chinese Civil War, but the Menzies Government’s attitude towards recognising the victorious Communist regime was far more nuanced than is generally assumed and he was actively conciliatory over the Taiwan Straight Crisis. Such nuance, combined with caution, is a necessary part of any dealings with China, as our present difficulties serve as just the latest chapter in a complex story. In this week’s episode of the Afternoon Light podcast, Robert Menzies Institute CEO Georgina Downer talks to Professor James Curran about his new book Australia’s China Odyssey: From Euphoria to Fear.