As Australia looks to recalibrate its economic relationship with China, Taipei is hoping to strengthen ties and partner with Canberra in areas such as critical minerals and drones, Representative to Australia Douglas Hsu (徐佑典) said.
Hsu, who assumed his post in August 2023 and recently returned to Taipei for a routine debriefing, said in an interview on Wednesday that Australia has begun to realize that it should reduce its economic reliance on China, its largest trading partner.
Hsu said he has been trying to convince Australia to engage Taiwan “on its own merit,” rather than treating it as a subordinate issue in its relationship with China.
Photo: CNA
Canberra is more willing to engage with Taiwan, though less publicly, after learning the hard way from Beijing’s carrot-and-stick approach, he said.
Hsu said many countries across the world, including Taiwan, have learned the importance of breaking China’s near-complete hold on critical minerals.
Australia has significant reserves of many key critical minerals and Taiwan looks forward to closer bilateral cooperation in this area, he said.
Although Taiwan lacks deep expertise in the mining industry, he said that a critical minerals pact signed by the US and Australia late last year provides a potential framework to follow.
Other areas for closer partnership include drones, underwater uncrewed vehicles and anti-drone systems, Hsu said.
Relations between Canberra and Beijing first soured in 2020 after Australia called for an international inquiry into the origins of COVID-19, Hsu said.
Beijing said the move was politically motivated and imposed tariffs on Australian lobster, wine and coal, and did not lift them until 2024 as relations improved.
Though China’s punitive tariffs came to an end, its economic coercion has concerned the Australian government, Hsu said.
Canberra has handled several Chinese espionage cases, forcing it to take warnings issued by other democratic partners on the issue more seriously, he said.
Given these factors and geopolitical shifts since US President Donald Trump was reelected, Canberra has been forced to look for other reliable partners amid rising Chinese influence in the South Pacific, Hsu argued.
Taiwan has been among Australia’s top trading partners for years and Canberra is realizing that it should invest more in relations between the two sides, he said.
Taiwan’s extensive experience in countering Chinese infiltration campaigns could be another area of cooperation beyond economic collaboration, Hsu said.
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