The Morrison government is being pressured to kiss Beijing’s arse and beg forgiveness. Quisling state premiers and greedy corporates are practically begging the federal government to shut up and take China’s money.
But, to their credit, the Morrison government are holding firm. On the defence front, the informal “Quad” alliance with the US, Japan and India is showing promise as a kind of 21st-century NATO. The Morrison government is also giving the finger to Beijing on the trade front.
As President Xi Jinping marked 100 years of Chinese communism and vowed to reunify with Taiwan, Australia’s Trade Minister was holding talks with his Taiwanese counterpart.
Taiwanese state media reported Trade Minister Dan Tehan held a virtual meeting with Taiwan’s Economics Minister Wang Mei-hua on July 1, which Mr Tehan’s office later confirmed.
Australia’s envoy to Taiwan Jenny Bloomfield also tweeted about the meeting, without mentioning a date.
Note the ABC’s word-use here: “reunify”. As if Taiwan has somehow been wrongfully taken away from China. The only reason China has any claim on Taiwan is because the imperialist Qing dynasty set about ruthlessly acquiring territory beyond China’s traditional borders. Including the “ball of mud beyond the pale of civilization” then called Formosa.
Things got complicated after WWII and the Chinese civil war that led to the founding of the communist People’s Republic of China. But Taiwan was recognised as an independent country for the next 30 years – until it was sold out by the UN in 1971.
Regardless of the UN and Beijing, Taiwan has emerged from military dictatorship to become a jewel of democracy and liberty in the South China Sea. The island is given a 93/100 score by Freedom House, and is ranked in the top 25 out of 169 countries for freedom.
Who should Australia recognise and trade with? A free democracy, or a genocidal communist dictatorship?
Under the One China policy, Australia doesn’t officially recognise Taiwan as a sovereign state.
But it supports Taiwan’s involvement in international organisations, and merely “acknowledges” Beijing’s position that Taiwan is a province of China.
A Taiwanese diplomat wants Australia to re-think that stance, amid ongoing trade tensions and frosty diplomatic relations between China and Australia[…]Edward Ling-wen Tao, the director-general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Brisbane — which functions as a consulate.
He said Taiwan and Australia were “natural partners” with “highly complementary” economies.
Australia exports a lot of primary resources and agriculture to Taiwan, he said, and Taiwan exports electronics and manufacturing products – including semi-conductors amid a world-wide chip shortage[…]
“At present, Taiwan and Australia, we both rely heavily on the Chinese market for trade … But this is unsustainable and dangerous to our national security. So we really need to diversify our trade.”
Naturally, there are others who think we should bow to the Beijing bully-boys.
But Dr Wei Li, a lecturer at the University of Sydney Business School, pointed out the Taiwan issue is a sensitive one.
“Free trade negotiations with Taiwan would further anger China and, I fear, continue to escalate trade friction between China and Australia,” she said.
“Australia postponed free trade negotiations with Taiwan in 2016, in large part so as not to offend China. In the current environment, trade talks between Australia and Taiwan need to be conducted with great caution and low profile.”
ABC Australia
Let’s face facts, though: nothing short of abject grovelling for forgiveness is going to satisfy China. What would Australia get in return for such cowardice? Lots of Chinese cash, perhaps, but with the renewal of China’s “silent invasion”. Never forget, as former deputy PM John Anderson has reminded us, that “a communist is a communist. In the end, a communist will behave as a communist does”.
Nearly 100 years ago, craven politicians and foreign policy mavens thought that they could buy off a dictator by selling out another, smaller nation. In retrospect, though, the gutless betrayal of Czechoslovakia only emboldened Nazi Germany.
Let’s not repeat the same mistake with Taiwan.
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