According to David Bird, whose book "The Tame Tasmanian" examined the Lyons Government's foreign policy, there was a growing realisation in the 1930s that Australian interests would not be aligned with British interests in all cases. In order to differentiate the two, Lyons authorised three "Pacific initiatives". The first was the Australian Eastern Mission of 1934 led by Deputy Prime Minister John Latham, which visited seven Asian countries. The second was the 1935 appointment of Australian government representatives in China, the Dutch East Indies, Japan, and United States – albeit below the rank of ambassador – where previously Australia's interests had been represented solely by British officials. The third was Lyons' "Pacific Pact" proposal, which envisioned a non-aggression pact between the major powers in the Pacific. Although he championed the pact at the 1937 Imperial Conference, discussions failed to progress. In Bird's opinion, "the Lyons years should thus be seen as a part of the evolution of Australian external policy from dependency towards autonomy […] it is perhaps the continuation and acceleration of the process of transition for which Lyons as Prime Minister ought to be best remembered".