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The visit of the Australian Labour Party (ALP) delegation to China in July this year provided an interesting and representative example of Chinese diplomacy in action.* Although the ALP is in opposition, the delegation was dealt with by China as the representatives of a possible future Australian government, and its leader, Gough Whitlam, as the alternative Australian Prime Minister. The discussions were pitched accordingly. The visit also had some general relevance because of the importance China now attaches to relations with "small" powers, including countries like Australia (which see themselves rather as middle powers); indeed, China's new diplomatic contacts with such powers illustrate the whole thrust of China's global diplomacy in 1971. The Australian case is interesting also because in Australia, as in the United States and a number of other countries, the "China problem" has been such a central issue in foreign policy that it has spilled over into a complex involvement in domestic politics.

The Chinese Communist Party and the "Overseas Chinese Problem"The "Overseas Chinese problem" in South-East Asia is most commonly understood to be a problem which confronts the governments and indigenous peoples of the region, or other governments which have an interest in South-East Asia, or sometimes the Overseas Chinese themselves. It is seldom perceived as a "problem" for the Chinese Government, except in so far as China is thought to have encountered certain obstacles to political and economic exploitation of a relationship which appears deceptively simple, and which seems to offer very considerable advantages to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Yet the evolution of China's Overseas Chinese policy since 1949 reveals a growing awareness on the part of the CCP that there were many intractable problems associated with its overseas population, both in the pursuit of foreign policies in South-East Asia and in the very nature of the Overseas Chinese relationship with China.

Though practitioners of public relations (PR) have begun, to use opinion & att res during the last 20 yrs, they have used them 'in a rather half-hearted & sometimes inept fashion.' Causes are (1) the field of PR expanded rapidly but without a rational plan; (2) PR is not yet fully a profession & its practitioners come from a wide variety of backgrounds, (3) many PR people do not understand the technical aspects of res & hence distrust it; & (4) competition between PR & PO res practitioners for status & jobs. However, examples are given of successful cooperation between PR & PO res & suggestions are offered for improving the cooperation between them. S. F. Fava.