Similarly,50 years ago,during the prime ministership of Billy McMahon,relations were at a significantly low ebb. Equally,the relationship seemed set for a real change,as is the case today,with Penny Wong headed to Beijing on an official visit,the first contact at an official level between the two countries in years.
The same dramatic change in the relationship was about to occur whenGough Whitlam went on an official trip to China in 1971,even before he became prime minister. On his return,McMahon famously sneered that Whitlam had been played like a trout by Zhou Enlai.
What McMahon did not know was that Henry Kissinger would make the same official trip to China a mere four days later. No mention of him being played like a trout. Kissinger was there to prepare the way for then president Richard Nixon and the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States. One in the eye for McMahon. And one up for Whitlam. One of the first things Whitlam did as prime minister was to recognise the People’s Republic of China.
Until the Nixon visit,the US was represented in China by a liaison office headed by George Bush senior,who would go on to become chief of the CIA.
The dramatic change in the early ’70s was eventually to lead to the most dramatic transformation of a country in history. The seminal year was 1976,the first full year of my time as correspondent in Beijing,ostensibly to report on the lives of one-fifth of the world’s population.
The Cultural Revolution was in its dying days;Mao Zedong was still alive – just;the country was dirt poor and isolated from the rest of the world;there were few cars,only bicycles and donkey carts on the streets;and politics consisted of campaigns such as the “criticise Confucius,criticise Lin Biao” absurdity. Poor Lin,once seen as Mao’s successor,died an unfortunate death in a mysterious plane crash.