Sat, Sep 30, 2023 page3

• Former Australian PM Scott Morrison to visit Taiwan

  • Staff writer, with Bloomberg and CNA
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  Former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison told The Australian newspaper that he intends to visit Taiwan next month.

  The news came after a delegation of Australian parliamentarians this week traveled to Taipei, provoked a strong reaction from China, with Chinese Ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian (肖千) saying visits to Taiwan by Australian politicians sent the wrong message.

  “Australian members of parliament or the former prime minister are both political figures,” Xiao said on the sidelines of an event honoring the 74th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. “Visiting Taiwan carries an obvious political meaning, and is a wrong signal sent to Taiwan independence forces.”

  

  Former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison speaks to the media during a press conference in Sydney on Aug. 17 last year.

  Photo: AFP

  Morrison, a strident critic of the Chinese government, said in response to Xiao’s comments that Beijing had no right to tell Australian lawmakers where they could and could not travel.

  “The Chinese government in Beijing does not get to decide whether Australian members of parliament can visit Taiwan or not, nor do they get to tell Australians or the world what Australia’s ‘one China’ policy means,” he told The Australian.

  Separately, Paul Fletcher, a member of the Australian House of Representatives who was also a member of the delegation that visited Taiwan this week, said on Wednesday that the bipartisan group is sending an important signal about the importance of the Taiwan-Australia relationship.

  Fletcher said the delegation is made up of eight parliamentarians from the lower and upper houses.

  “Very importantly, it [the delegation] has members from both of our major political parties, the Liberal Party, which I’m a member of, and the Labor Party, which is presently in government in Australia,” he said.

  That both major parties are represented in the visiting group is an important signal as to the value of the relationship between Australia and Taiwan, Fletcher said.

  The delegation’s visit followed one by a bipartisan delegation of Australian parliamentarians in December last year, the first such visit since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

  This week’s visit also comes at a sensitive time as Australia endeavors to mend strained relations with Beijing, a situation that originated from the country’s request for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19. In response, China imposed trade restrictions on some Australian goods in 2020, but started to soften its stance following a change of government in Canberra last year.

  The decision to travel to Taiwan has been influenced by a number of factors, including a number of constituents who are of Taiwanese origin, Fletcher said.

  The factors also include his own background as former Australian minister for communications and his current role as the Shadow Minister for Science and the Arts and for Government Services and the Digital Economy.

  This is particularly relevant given the developments in semiconductors and computers in Taiwan, he said.

  During their four-day visit, the group met with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and other senior officials and discussed topics including Indo-Pacific affairs, and digital and information security, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
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