Book Reviews : Reflections on Australian Foreign Policy. By F. W. EGGLESTON, edited by NORMAN HARPER. (Melbourne: F. W. Cheshire for the Australian In stitute of International Affairs. 1957. Pp. xxxvii, 216. $4.50.) Avail able from Institute of Pacific Relations, New York

• DOI: 10.1177/106591295801100331
• Date: 01 September 1958
• Author: Dean E. McHenry
• Published date: 01 September 1958
• Subject Matter: Articles

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Reflections on Australian Foreign Policy. By F. W. EGGLESTON, edited by
NORMAN HARPER. (Melbourne: F. W. Cheshire for the Australian In-
stitute of International Affairs. 1957. Pp. xxxvii, 216. $4.50.) Avail-
able from Institute of Pacific Relations, New York.
This is a volume of essays written by Sir Frederic Eggleston, one of
Australia’s foremost public men. It has been edited by friends, and is pub-
lished posthumously.
After a period in Victorian state politics, Eggleston turned to national
and international service, meanwhile writing several significant books. He
was Australia’s minister to China 1941-44 and to the United States
1944-46.
The book opens with an essay on the background of Australian foreign
policy. It depicts, with clarity and perception, the determinants of Aus-
tralian foreign policy: its small population, remoteness, vulnerability from
Asia, and huge area to defend. A second chapter, on peace through inter-
national organization, adds little to the existing literature, but it is com-
petently done.
Then Sir Frederic shifts to the Far East (Near North to Australians) and
pulls back the bamboo curtain. In an essay, &dquo;America and the Two Chinese
Revolutions,&dquo; he undertakes to shed some light on &dquo;the typical weaknesses&dquo;
of American diplomacy. We have competent experts, he says, but they
cannot get through the politicians who surround the Secretary of State,
,
constitute the Cabinet and run the Congress. Eggleston found qualities
to admire in both Stilwell and Chennault, but judged them to be poor
strategists. And he has some kind words to say for Chiang Kai-Shek and
the Kuomintang, which struggled against insuperable obstacles. He believes
that American policy of a coalition government including Communists
strengthened the forces of Mao Tse-tung.
Eggleston’s conclusions on the Korean War and its aftermath are
scarcely unique. In seeking to redress the balance of power in the North,
west Pacific, the co-operation of...