China’s ambassador has lashed out at Australian politicians who have recently visited Taiwan, saying the MPs are being manipulated by “secessionist” forces inside the self-governed territory which Beijing claims as its own.
Key points:
- Australian federal parliamentarians from both sides so politics have met with the Taiwanese president in Taipei
- The Chinese ambassador warned Australian MPs to think carefully before travelling to the democratic island China claims as its own
- Under its One China policy, Australia does not recognise Taiwan as a sovereign country, but maintains informal political connections
This week, parliamentarians from both sides of federal politics met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen, while next month former prime minister Scott Morrison is expected to deliver a speech that is highly critical of China when he visits Taipei.
On Monday, the bipartisan Australian parliamentary delegation, which includes Labor MP Josh Wilson and Coalition frontbencher Paul Fletcher, began a four-day visit to Taiwan to promote cooperation.
Mr Wilson, who sits on the Parliamentary Joint Committee for Intelligence and Security, told Ms Tsai that the cross-party group wanted to see Australia have an “even stronger” trading relationship with her nation in future.
Speaking in Sydney, China’s ambassador Xiao Qian warned Australian parliamentarians should think carefully before travelling to the democratic island.
“They are political figures, they wear political hats, they carry political significance,” he said.
“When they pay a visit to Taiwan — it is a Chinese province — they will carry political significance.
“It might be easily utilised by the political forces in Taiwan for their independence forces movement, or their succession movement, and I don’t want to see that happen.”
Mr Xiao said it was very important for Australian politicians to respect that Taiwan was part of China.
“Taiwan is a province of China. They need to respect that there’s a commitment by the Australian government of [the] One China Policy and they need to respect the sentiments and the feelings of the 1.4 billion Chinese people,” he said.
“I hope they will stick to the One China policy in words and in deed; refrain from engaging with Taiwan in whichever form of capacity so that you will not be politically utilised by people in the island with political motives.”
Over recent months, China’s military has intensified its campaign of military intimidation of Taiwan, flying hundreds of warplanes and deploying naval vessels towards the island.
China’s economy facing ‘various challenges’ but improving
At an event to formally celebrate the 74th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Beijing’s top diplomat to Australia also reflected on his nation’s economic challenges.
He nominated factors such as a global recession and the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as problems that were continuing to effect growth in China, but insisted the outlook was improving.
“The Chinese economy is faced with challenges, for sure, just like many other countries. But we are making efforts and we are making progress,” Mr Xiao said.
“For the first half of this year, the Chinese GDP has reached 5.5 per cent,” the ambassador told an audience of Sydney’s Chinese community and invited dignitaries.
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