The period 1941-1945 saw additional legations opened by wartime allies China, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, France and the Netherlands and the appointment of High Commissioners by New Zealand and India . In 1946, Australia and the United States upgraded their diplomatic relations to ambassadorial level and exchanged ambassadors in September of that year.[1] The other non-Commonwealth permanent members of the UN Security Council, France, China and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics followed in 1948 and by the late 1960s all existing legations in Canberra had been upgraded to embassies.