ABSTRACT
The emergence of New China in late 1949, against the background of the East West Cold War, presented the Australian Labor Party (ALP) government under Ben Chifley with a stark choice: recognize the Communist government that had taken over control of the Chinese mainland or retain existing links with the Nationalist authorities in Taiwan. As a result of the election, the Liberal-Country Party (LCP) Coalition came to power with Robert Menzies as prime minister he would become the longest serving prime minister in Australia's post-war history. In this context, the China factor with its traditional connotations of threat to Australian security plus the revolutionary posture of the People's Republic of China (PRC)'s communist ideology played a central role in determining the policy stance of Australia within the Western alliance. On the whole, Australia's China policy in the pre-recognition period was dominated by political/strategic concerns, with economic considerations playing a secondary role.
