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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is being urged to lobby Chinese President Xi Jinping not to invade the self-governing island of Taiwan when he makes a landmark visit to Beijing this year rather than pursue a narrow focus on repairing Australia\u2019s trade relationship with China.<\/p>\n
Warning that Beijing uses bilateral meetings to try to \u201cdivide and conquer\u201d other nations, Taiwan\u2019s chief representative in Australia pleaded with local officials not to be \u201clazy\u201d by falling into the trap of uncritically accepting Beijing\u2019s claims about Taiwan\u2019s territorial status.<\/p>\n
Veteran diplomat Douglas Hsu, who assumed his role in Canberra last month, said Albanese could help prevent conflict by telling Xi that Australia will not accept any \u201cunilateral change to the status quo by force\u201d in the Taiwan Strait.<\/p>\n
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Douglas Hsu, Taiwan\u2019s chief representative in Australia, said Beijing pursues a \u201cdivide and conquer\u201d strategy.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Alex Ellinghausen<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cYou have to use this kind of opportunity to send the message loud and clear to Xi Jinping himself that we care about peace and stability in the region,\u201d Hsu said in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald<\/em> and The Age<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the message is quite clear: we care about the peace and stability in the region, and any irrational behaviour in the region is not allowed.\u201d<\/p>\n Albanese\u2019s visit, expected in November or December, will be the first trip by an Australian prime minister to China in seven years.<\/p>\n Hsu welcomed the resumption of high-level dialogue between China and Australia, saying he understood Australia\u2019s desire to regain access to the lucrative Chinese market for wine, beef and rock lobster exporters.<\/p>\n But he said Australia\u2019s national interest extended beyond trade and he urged Albanese to look beyond the \u201crosy pictures\u201d Xi will paint about the China-Australia relationship.<\/p>\n Hsu, who previously served as the director-general of Taiwan\u2019s Department of North American Affairs, said Albanese must carefully consider whether Xi was pursuing a \u201chidden agenda\u201d by taking Australia out of the diplomatic deep freezer.<\/p>\n \u201cTheir strategy is basically divide and conquer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want to see a very troublesome world, but we have to keep in mind and look at the track record that Beijing has.\u201d<\/p>\n Hsu said it was important for Albanese to raise Taiwan with Xi personally because it was the Chinese president would ultimately decide whether to try to seize the island of almost 24 million people.<\/p>\n \u201cThe communist regime is only subject to one person\u2019s will and that is very dangerous,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n After meeting with Xi on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali last year, Albanese said he \u201ccertainly\u201d raised Taiwan with his Chinese counterpart and that Australia did not want to see any change to the status quo.<\/p>\n Albanese said he raised Taiwan and tensions in the South China Sea during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Jakarta earlier this month.<\/p>\n Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he raised Taiwan during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Bali last November.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>James Brickwood<\/cite><\/p>\n Taiwan last week said it had detected 68 Chinese warplanes and 10 navy vessels operating around its shores in a single 24-hour stretch in what it said was the latest sign Beijing was escalating its \u201cgray zone\u201d activities around the island.<\/p>\n \u201cYou cannot deny that in the past few years, you saw more and more aggressive behaviours from China,\u201d Hsu said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat makes countries in the region understand that we have to send a message clear to Beijing: do not do anything irrationally.\u201d<\/p>\n Hsu urged Australia to support Taiwan\u2019s bid to join the sweeping regional free trade pact known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, even though this would anger Beijing.<\/p>\n \u201cTaiwan is a country that relies on foreign trade so to be able to be included in such a high-standard trade mechanism is truly essential for Taiwan,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Albanese last year suggested Australia might reject Taiwan\u2019s bid to join the pact because it was not a \u201crecognised\u201d nation state, but he later said Australia was open to supporting Taiwan\u2019s membership.<\/p>\n Taiwan is Australia\u2019s fifth-largest export market, largely thanks to its huge demand for liquefied natural gas.<\/p>\n Hsu said Beijing had misleadingly argued that the international community had accepted its territorial claim over Taiwan by agreeing to a 1971 United Nations resolution recognising the People\u2019s Republic of China as the nation\u2019s sole legitimate representative at the UN.<\/p>\n Hsu said Beijing had also sought to conflate its own \u201cone China principle\u201d, which claims Taiwan is a province of China, with Australia\u2019s \u201cone China policy\u201d, which acknowledges but does not endorse Beijing\u2019s claim to the island.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to be very careful about the narrative out from Beijing, and I encourage all the bureaucrats: don\u2019t be lazy,\u201d Hsu said.<\/p>\n \u201cDig into what you signed up for … and you will find that you haven\u2019t signed up for anything Beijing says you did. The Australian government has every right to define its own one China policy, instead of listening to other countries\u2019 definitions.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to keep in mind that since the establishment of the PRC, there is not one day, one hour, one minute, one second when the PRC has had jurisdiction over Taiwan.\u201d<\/p>\n Get a note directly from our foreign <\/i><\/b>correspondents <\/i><\/b>on what\u2019s making headlines around the world. <\/i><\/b>Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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