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| Gough Whitlam, then leader of the Australian opposition Labor Party leaves Hong Kong for China, July 1971 |
I knew Tony when he was a young foreign correspondent in Beijing in 1976-77, for the Sydney Morning Herald. I found him keen, intelligent, serious, diligent. A very good analyst. I was a young diplomat, and had some sources just because of that position that a journalist could not have. I learned to trust him when we talked and I gave him whatever hot-take I could. Remember: these were pretty heady times: the Gang of Four about to be arrested; Deng Xiaoping to return to power; China to begin its "Four Modernisations"; begin opening up the economy. The official end of the Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution.
Steve FitzGerald I know rather better than Tony. First met him when I arrived in Beijing in 1976, towards the end of his Ambassadorship, Australia's first to the People's Republic of China. And later, in 1982, back in Australia, I joined his China consulting company and became a partner until 1989, when the Tiananmen killings killed our business. (actually a near-death experience; the company recovered and soon prospered again, while I found myself back in China).
So, two older men, who know China well, thinking about how we, Australia, might begin to repair relations with Beijing.
The answer, says Steve, is "back doors". I agree with that, and have said so. And various other times in "Australia-China".
But I do wonder. Aren't there back doors already? If not, why not? And isn't Steve, or even Tony, one of the back doors? And if not— Steve could be our Kissinger — then who? Pollies? Academics? Business folks? And is Beijing, the increasingly belligerent, even interested in "back doors"?
ADDED: Steve FitzGerald talks to ABC radio Sunday Extra about that China trip 50 years ago
