Speaking to the abc's china tonight
program taiwan's foreign minister joseph
who declared that if the PLA were to
launch an actual strike. His democratic
state would be ready to repel it. the defense of taiwan is in our own
hands and we are absolutely committed to
that.
Mr Wu has told the abc stan grant
in an interview to be broadcast on
monday evening. I'm sure that if china is going to
launch an attack against taiwan, i think
they are going to suffer tremendously as
well.
The minister from taiwan's ruling
democratic progressive party believes
other like-minded countries such as
australia should now come to the aid of
his besieged nation by developing closer
ties. We would like to engage in security or
intelligence exchanges with other
like-minded partners australia included, so taiwan is better prepared to deal
with the war situation
and so far our relations with australia
are very good and that is what we
appreciate, Mr Wu added.
Australia does not formally recognize
taiwan diplomatically but the federal
government regularly calls for a
peaceful resolution of differences
between china and the small independent
nation through dialogue and without the
threat or use of force or coercion. A communique issued after last month's
osmond meetings between australia and
the united states declared that both
sides stated their intent to strengthen
ties with taiwan which is a leading
democracy and a critical partner for
both countries.
As well as closer security ties the
taiwanese foreign minister thanked
australia for supporting its bid to join
the trans-pacific partnership trade pact, now known as the CPTP which china also
wants to enter. As far as i know australia has been one
of those most vocal members in
supporting taiwan's participation in CPTP. We have been discussing with each other
privately for quite some time and we
understand the australian support and we
appreciate the australian support.
Earlier this year america's most senior
diplomat in Canberra also confirmed
australia and the united states were
discussing contingency plans in case a
military conflict erupts over taiwan. Last year Francis Adamson the then head
of the department of foreign affairs and
trade warned she was more concerned
about a crisis in the taiwan strait than
at any other point in her diplomatic
career. Taiwan has also welcomed the recent
establishment of the aku strategic
partnership between australia, the united
kingdom and the united states as well as
the growing activity between the quad
allies, the us, india australia and japan.
We are pleased to see that the
like-minded partners of taiwan, the United States and the UK and Australia
are working closer with each other to
acquire more advanced defense articles
so that we can defend indo-pacific. The taiwanese foreign minister said that
unlike australia his nation would not be
trying to acquire nuclear-powered
submarines because it has a different
war strategy.
Defense analyst Professor Clinton Fernandez from the university of new
south wales warns it would be difficult
for the us and allies to prevent any
invasion attempt by china. The military center of gravity is
china's air defense system in the south, it has the ability to deny the united
states control of the air if the united
states cannot control the air, it cannot
win either at land or at sea. Professor Fernandez doesn't believe
china will launch any military strike on
taiwan before next year's beijing winter
olympics but warns something more
coercive is likely ahead of the u.s
presidential elections in 2024.
