Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer yesterday urged Taiwan not to move toward independence, just days ahead of his scheduled visit to Beijing.
"I want to make it clear that Australia opposes any actions or statements that could be seen as moves by Taiwan towards independence," Downer said in Sydney. "This would be to risk, to use a diplomatic euphemism, upsetting regional stability, which would be in no one's interests, including the interests of the people of Taiwan."
The remarks come in the same week that Taiwan launched its latest campaign to join the UN.
Reiterating its long-standing support for the "one China" policy, Downer said Australia urges both China and Taiwan "to explore actively new approaches towards dialogue aimed at reducing tensions across the Taiwan Strait with a view to achieving a lasting peaceful solution."
Downer, who is due to visit Beijing briefly next week on his way to North Korea for talks on its nuclear program, said Taiwan and China should negotiate a way out of the impasse.
Downer also said North Korea is capable of targeting Australia with a long-range missile and that Australia was ill-equipped to cope with such an attack.
"We believe they have developed a long-range missile that could go all the way from North Korea to the United States or, for that matter, here," he told Australian radio. "They could fire a missile from North Korea to Sydney."
In a bid to break the diplomatic deadlock over North Korea's nuclear ambitions, China, the US, the two Koreas, Japan and Russia are due to hold a fourth round of negotiations before the end of next month.
Australia is not involved in the talks.
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