R.G. Casey and Australian Foreign Policy: Engaging with China and Southeast Asia, 1951-1960 Craig Mclean
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
R.G. Casey and Australian Foreign Policy: Engaging with China and Southeast Asia, 1951-1960 Craig McLean This thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Victoria University October 2008 Doctor of Philosophy Declaration “I, Craig McLean, declare that the PhD thesis entitled R.G. Casey and Australian Foreign Policy: Engaging with China and Southeast Asia, 1951-1960 is no more than 100,000 words in length including quotes and exclusive of tables, figures, appendices, bibliography, references and footnotes. This thesis contains no material that has been submitted previously, in whole or in part, for the award of any other academic degree or diploma. Except where otherwise indicated, this thesis is my own work”. Signature Date: 08/10/2008 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abbreviations ii. Acknowledgements iii. Abstract iv. Introduction. Beyond Suez: Casey’s Role in Southeast Asia in Historical Study. 1. Chapter 1. Behind the Bamboo Curtain: Recognizing the People’s Republic of China, 1951-1960. 21. Chapter 2. ‘Two Pretty Difficult Horses’: Casey and the West New Guinea Dispute, 1951-1960. 87. Chapter 3. The Key to Southeast Asia: Casey and Indochina, 1951-1960. 176. Conclusion 257. Bibliography 270. i ABBREVIATIONS ANZUS Australia – New Zealand – United States Security Treaty CPA Communist Party of Australia DRV Democratic Republic of Vietnam FRUS Foreign Relations of the United States NAA National Archives of Australia NLA National Library of Australia PKI Partai Komunis Indonesia (Communist Party of Indonesia) PRC People’s Republic of China PRRI Pemerintah Revolusioner Republik Indonesia (Revolutionary Government of the Indonesian Republic) RLG Royal Laotian Government SEATO Southeast Asian Treaty Organisation SMH Sydney Morning Herald UK United Kingdom UN United Nations US United States of America WNG West New Guinea ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisors, Professor Phillip Deery and Dr. Richard Chauvel, for their time and effort in aiding the compilation of this thesis. Their availability and enthusiasm throughout has been greatly appreciated. My gratitude must also be extended to the staff of the Canberra and Melbourne offices of the National Archives of Australia; the staff of the Manuscript Reading Room at the National Library of Australia; the staff of Monash University Library; and Mark Armstrong-Roper and the staff of Victoria University Library. I also wish to thank my wife Michelle for her support, encouragement, assistance and patience during the compilation of this thesis. Finally I would like to dedicate this thesis to my son, Raphael, who inspires me every day. iii ABSTRACT The thesis is a study of Richard Casey and the Department of External Affairs in the 1950s, and the policies proposed or adopted by the Department in relation to three Asian nations: China, Indochina and Indonesia. This will illuminate the workings of a key government department that was at the front line of the early Cold War. The 1950s was a crucial decade in fostering relationships with Australia’s northern neighbours, many either emerging from, or fighting against, colonial rule. The actions of the Minister for External Affairs and his Department, whether positive or negative, would lay the foundations of Australian foreign policy for future decades. The thesis explores the ways in which Casey approached different regions in Asia in order to provide an analytical framework of how his policies toward Asia developed over time. The thesis examines whether Casey’s ideas about Asia were influenced by the particular circumstances of each country or whether other imperatives determined his approach to Asia. A study of Casey’s tenure in External Affairs will also involve an analysis of the level of support for Casey and his department both within Federal Cabinet and from Prime Minister Menzies. Chapter one will concentrate on the evolution of Casey’s and the Department’s policy towards Communist China throughout the decade. It will examine the efforts made by Casey and his department to convince the Menzies Cabinet to officially recognise the People’s Republic of China and endorse its acceptance by the United Nations. Chapter two will discuss Casey’s policy towards Indonesia, emphasising his response to the dispute between Indonesia and the Netherlands over the sovereignty of West New Guinea. Several episodes throughout the decade will provide the central focus for this chapter: Indonesian Foreign Minister Subardjo’s proposal in 1951; Indonesia’s efforts to have the issue addressed at the UN from 1954 to 1957; Casey and the Department’s response to the Indonesian Rebellions in 1958; and the Joint Statement issued by Casey and Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Dr. Subandrio in 1959. Of particular importance will be the mid-decade attempt by Casey and the Department to encourage Cabinet to alter Australia’s policy on the issue. Chapter three will discuss Casey and his Department’s approach to Indochina throughout the 1950s. The focus of this chapter will be the war in iv Indochina during the early years of the decade and the settlement of this conflict achieved at Geneva in 1954. Casey’s activities in and around the Conference and his subsequent moves concerning the newly established states in Indochina will also be discussed. The examination of the latter part of the decade will emphasise Casey’s policy towards South Vietnam and his response to the growing crisis in Laos. v INTRODUCTION: BEYOND SUEZ: CASEY’S ROLE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA IN HISTORICAL STUDY Richard Casey served during one of the most tumultuous times in Australia’s political history, with the escalating Cold War creating intense pressure. However, while much has been written on aspects of Australia’s responses to particular international events, a definitive study of the efforts of its Minister for External Affairs throughout this entire period has yet to be fully realised. David Lowe suggested that ‘[h]istorians have…found it difficult to discuss any aspect of the 1950s without getting caught up in the Petrov affair – often at the expense of other prominent features of Australia’s Cold War.’1 Similar sentiments could be ascribed to studies of Australia’s external affairs in the 1950s. While there is a significant literature on Australia’s post-war foreign affairs and relations, there has been a tendency to focus on major events such as the Korean War and the Suez crisis when referring to the 1950s. For example, Casey’s biographer, W.J. Hudson, focuses much of his discussion of Casey’s time at External Affairs on the Minister’s role in the Suez crisis. The thesis will discuss the relationships between Casey and many of his contemporaries in Australian politics, most notably the Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, and Casey’s predecessor at External Affairs, Percy Spender. It will illuminate areas of Australia’s foreign relations which have been less prominent in historical literature - most notably, the External Affairs Department’s responses to three prominent regions of Asia and South-East Asia: China, Indonesia and Indo- China. The workings of the department will be examined through the role played by Casey’s closest advisors, especially his two secretaries, Alan Watt and Arthur Tange. The specific aim of the thesis will be to discuss Casey’s policies towards Southeast Asia in order to understand how Casey should be judged in regard to the history of Australian foreign policy. It will be argued that Casey’s approach to Southeast Asia places him more in the Labor tradition of foreign policy than in the Liberal tradition that he would be expected to follow. 1 David Lowe, Menzies and the ‘Great World Struggle’: Australia’s Cold War 1948-1954, University of NSW Press, Sydney, 1999, p. 126 1 Asia and South-East Asia While different aspects of External Affairs in the 1950s have been discussed in isolation, such as Suez, there is not a definitive analysis of Casey’s policies toward Asia, and particularly South-East Asia. Nevertheless, many writers have alluded to the fact that Casey contributed much to Australia’s relationship with Asia and, in particular, South-East Asia. Walter Crocker believed that Casey’s ‘special achievement was to make Australia aware of Asia and Asia aware of Australia, and in both cases with sympathy and respect.’2 W.J. Hudson argued that ‘Casey from the beginning showed a sensitive awareness of the politics of South and South-East Asia’3, while David Lowe believed that Casey ‘showed himself intellectually flexible and receptive to new ideas in his thinking about Asia.’4 Lowe also stated that ‘with considerable foresight [Casey] acknowledged the need for Australia to act as an involved party in South-East Asian affairs’.5 Coral Bell suggested that Casey was ‘more attuned, especially in dealing with non- Europeans, to the realities of the mid- twentieth century’.6 Furthermore, T.B. Millar felt that Casey was ‘more sensitive to the feelings of Asian leaders’.7 Upon Casey’s retirement, in an evaluation of Casey’s time as Minister for External Affairs, a writer for the Sydney Morning Herald noted that Casey had ‘personally laid the foundations of the closer relationships with the new nations of South-East Asia which must now be among the first of our preoccupations.’8 Alan Watt suggested that Casey’s ‘most distinctive achievement…. resulted from his frequent trips to Asia, especially South-East Asia, whose personalities and background conditions he probably knew better than any other Foreign Minister in the world.’9 Further to this, Watt argued that, 2 Walter Crocker, Travelling Back: The Memoirs of Sir Walter Crocker, pp. 65-6 3 W.J. Hudson, Australian Diplomacy, Macmillan, Sydney, 1970, p. 59 4 David Lowe, op cit, p.