A war of words over Taiwan has broken out between former Australian prime minister Paul Keating and former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi, after the prominent Democrat accused Keating of making a “stupid statement” about the nation.
Keating was quick to hit back yesterday, saying in a statement that Pelosi had “very nearly” sparked a military confrontation between the US and China over her “indulgent” 2022 visit to Taiwan.
The dispute began after the Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) published an excerpt of an upcoming interview with Pelosi in which she rebuked Keating for describing Taiwan as “Chinese real estate.”
Photo: Screen grab from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Web site
“That’s ridiculous. It is not Chinese real estate and he should know that,” Pelosi told the ABC’s 7.30 program. “Taiwan is Taiwan and it is the people of Taiwan who have a democracy there. I think that that was a stupid statement.”
“I’ve no idea about Keating, but I think that it was a stupid statement to make, and I don’t know what his connection is to China that he would say such a thing. But it is really not in the security interest of the Asia-Pacific region for people to talk that way,” Pelosi said in the interview, which was aired in full yesterday evening.
Keating, who led Australia from 1991 to 1996 and has long said that Australia should not be drawn into a conflict over the future status of Taiwan, hit back at Pelosi and the ABC.
Keating’s statement focused on Pelosi’s remark that “it is not in the security interest of the Asia-Pacific region for people to talk that way.”
“This is from the former leader of the US House of Representatives who, in a recklessly indulgent visit to Taiwan in 2022, very nearly brought the United States and China to a military confrontation — for the first time since the Second World War,” Keating said. “In fact, Pelosi had to be warned by her president, Joe Biden, and with him, the Pentagon, of the military risks of her visit.”
Pelosi led a delegation to Taiwan in August 2022 to show support for Taiwan. It was the first visit to Taiwan by a speaker of the US House of Representatives in a quarter of a century.
Pelosi defended her trip by saying that the Chinese Communist Party “cannot prevent world leaders or anyone from traveling to Taiwan to pay respect to its flourishing democracy, to highlight its many successes and to reaffirm our commitment to continued collaboration.”
Beijing responded with four days of military drills, for the first time including test launches of ballistic missiles over Taipei.
Keating also said that the ABC had not presented Pelosi with the full picture of his stance.
“Obviously, in being asked a truncated question by 7.30, Nancy Pelosi would have been unaware that I had also said that Taiwan ‘will get resolved socially and politically over time,’ ie, between the two parties, without the need of confrontation or violence,” Keating said.
Keating said that he was representing “the national interests of Australia, not the national interests of the United States nor indeed, the interests of Taiwan.”
“The whole world recognizes as one country, China and Taiwan,” he said.
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