Asialink Insights – Diplomacy is Personal
Aug 24, 2021 | Sue Boyd
Stephen Fitzgerald’s account of Gough Whitlam’s ground breaking visit to China 50 years ago (Financial Review 5 July 2021) recognises that personal diplomacy - face to face meetings with Chinese officials and leaders - was the key to success of this historic mission. And these face to face contacts have been the enablers of mutually beneficial and satisfactory relations between China and Australia ever since. The staff of diplomatic missions in each other’s countries have worked assiduously at the task. And not only in China. In addition to Embassy staff, individual non- official Australians and host country nationals have worked together, on university exchanges, development of trade and a range of non-government contacts from both sides. Contributors to Geraldine Doogue’s recent ABC National series of interviews on “What is diplomacy” (Saturday Extra ABC Radio National) have all stressed the importance of such contacts – John McCarthy, Martin Indyk, Geoff Raby and I made the same points, all I stressed in my own recently published autobiography “Not Always Diplomatic”. (UWAP 2020). This trade craft – building personal relationships, understanding what makes people tick, understanding the interests of the people you are dealing with, negotiations which create agreements which meet the needs of both parties, are the fundamental tools of a successful diplomat in successfully advancing the interests of your own country.
Real and lasting agreements are not made via megaphone diplomacy.
Of course the Chinese Minister would not return a phone call from his Australian counterpoint. Why should either one walk into an unprepared and highly political and public contact without the ground having been meticulously negotiated, and each Minister being fully aware of what was lying in store and what was expected? Even top level phone calls between Ministers of very close and friendly countries are carefully prepared. And this is especially true of contacts with communist regimes, where foreign policy questions are carefully considered by the party before the foreign ministry is authorised to take an action or make any commitments. I frequently experienced this while conducting negotiations on international security, defence and human rights questions when I was Australian Ambassador to Vietnam. Australia has an extremely competent foreign service, able to give Ministers good advice and to help prepare the ground. Australian Ministers have appeared gauche and ignorant in their attempts recently to deal with China, and seem to be playing to short term local interests rather than long term international success.
In the current bilateral political relationship with Beijing, more than ever now, we need an approach which recognises China’s new political aspirations. In the first negotiation skills course I attended, “What are the needs of the other side?” was the fundamental mantra. We do not hear about any quiet exploratory discussions. That’s as it should be. There is a time for quiet exploratory tentacles. I would not expect these to be trumpeted. But I expect and hope they are going on. This is an important relationship and changing times require different approaches.
Sue Boyd was Australian Ambassador in Vietnam 1994-98, Consul General in Hong 98-99 and High Commissioner to Fiji and other South Pacific countries 1999-2003. Her book, “Not Always Diplomatic” was published in September 2020.