The Australian government yesterday said it holds regular exchanges with Taiwan on issues including security, but did not directly comment on Taiwan’s call to send a military attache to Taipei.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) suggested in an interview published by the Australian newspaper on Sunday that Taiwan could exchange military attaches with Australia to improve information sharing in light of the rising security threat from China.
Wu suggested having a military attache posted to the Australian Office in Taipei, which acts as the country’s de facto embassy in the absence of formal diplomatic relations.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Wu told the newspaper that other countries without official ties with Taiwan, including the US, Japan and Singapore, maintained a similar presence in Taipei and that the government wants to post a military attache at its representative office in Canberra.
Asked about Wu’s proposal, an Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson spoke broadly about efforts made by the Australian Office in Taipei, but did not address the idea of a military attache.
The Australian Office in Taipei “works across the full range of our interests in promoting our deep and productive unofficial relationship with Taiwan, including trade and investment, people to people ties and regional security,” the spokesperson said in an e-mail. “As like-minded partners, Taiwan and Australia have regular exchanges and discussions around economic and security issues.”
The spokesperson said the department would “not go into detail about the roles and responsibilities of individual officers in Australian posts,” in line with long-standing practices.
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