I duly received yesterday and gave a receipt for your letter
forwarding the letter from Chou En-lai, the text of which and the
proclamation, I transmitted immediately to my Government in
Australia.

I have now been instructed to transmit the enclosed message to
Chou En-lai, and would be grateful if you would do this for me.

Enclosure

His Majesty's Government in the Commonwealth of Australia are
carefully considering the communication from the Central People's
Government in Peking. Meanwhile, in view of the friendly and
mutually profitable relations, both commercial and political,
which have existed hitherto between Australia and China, the
Australian Government suggests that, pending completion of the
study of the communication, informal relations should be
maintained between the Australian Embassy Office in Nanking and
the Australian Consulate-General in Shanghai and the appropriate
Chinese authorities for the greater convenience of both
Governments and the promotion of trade between the two countries.