Hawke cabinet wrestles with Tiananmen

Bob Hawke wept at a memorial service for those killed at Tiananmen Square before declaring that no Chinese students in Australia before the massacre would be forced to return to home.

On June 6 1989 - two days after thousands of pro-democracy activists were killed in Beijing - he proved good to his word.

The Hawke government extended temporary entry visas for all Chinese nationals in Australia, first by several weeks and then by a year.

But the matter wasn't resolved there.

As the Hawke cabinet considered how to deal with China in the wake of the atrocity the debate turned to the elephant in the room - what to do with the students once their visas ran out.

"It turned on the question of if the students here were required to go back, whether their safety could be assured," recalled Hawke cabinet member John Dawkins.

"There were different views around the table."

Mr Dawkins didn't think the students - which at that time numbered 10,600 - would be in much danger if they went home.

But at the same time, he couldn't be sure.

Cabinet documents released for the first time in 25 years showed the government was struggling with the same question.

The cabinet agreed that any response to the massacre must distinguish between the Chinese leadership and the rest of the country.

They wanted to retain programs that benefited the Chinese people directly, so placed no limits on cultural and educational programs.

"To do otherwise would not only involve closing rather than opening doors, but would require the Chinese people to shoulder the burden of the conduct of their leaders," cabinet stated.

The Australian embassy in Beijing was holding visa applications from another 25,000 students, most of whom had already paid fees and living costs to schools in Australia.

But the immigration department was jittery.

It warned that removing limits on English-language trainees - who tended to overstay their visas and vastly outnumbered tertiary students - would create a "demand-driven entry corridor to Australia".

This would have a major impact on the size of Australia's migration program and risk reopening public debate about the merit of these policies.

"The merits of exposing PRC (Chinese) nationals to a democratic country... need to be balanced against the maintenance of the integrity of Australia's borders," stated the department.

It also warned the government risked breaching an agreement with China that it take "all possible steps" to ensure students eventually returned home.

The cabinet weighed all this up, but considered another outcome.

"A lot of these people - not all of them - were very capable bright students and we thought that if they wanted to stay they could make a great contribution to the country as many of them have," Mr Dawkins said.

Hawke agreed. The students weren't sent home and in the years that followed permanent visas were granted to 42,000 Chinese nationals.

Their families soon followed, sparking a wave of Chinese migration not seen since the gold rush in the mid-1800s.