China’s ambassador to Australia yesterday said that Beijing is prepared to use “all necessary means” to prevent Taiwan from being independent, saying there can be “no compromise” on its “one China” principle.
Chinese Ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian (肖千) repeatedly told the National Press Club in Canberra that the US was to blame for the recent escalation in tensions, adding that China’s decision to launch ballistic missiles in live-fire exercises in response to US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan was “legitimate and justified.”
Xiao said that after a “good start” with the new government of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese “there is an opportunity for a possible reset of relationship” between China and Australia.
Photo: EPA-EFE
He said China was ready to solve trade disputes through the WTO or “if the new government in this country is ready, to discuss it bilaterally.”
The comments echo an olive branch from Australian Minister for Trade and Tourism Don Farrell, suggesting that a “compromise situation” or “alternative way” might emerge in trade talks between the two countries.
Since the Labor Party’s election in May, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles and Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong (黃英賢) have both met their Chinese counterparts, the beginning of a thaw in relations that soured over nine years of the Liberal-National Coalition government.
In the past few days, Wong has expressed deep concern about China’s launch of ballistic missiles into waters around Taiwan, prompting a rebuke from China that Australia had “condemned the victim along with the perpetrators.”
Xiao yesterday said it was “the US side that should and must take full responsibility for the escalation of tensions in the Taiwan Strait.”
He said the drills reflected “a determination to show that on the question of Taiwan, there’s no room for compromise.”
“It’s not something, like, economic development or trade relations or issues in some other areas. On the question of Taiwan, it’s an issue relating to sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said.
Xiao rejected the language of a possible “invasion” of Taiwan by saying that China’s policy reflected in “UN resolutions [and] bilateral documents between China and Australia” was that Taiwan was not an “independent state,” but rather a province of China.
“It’s an issue of reunification, complete reunification ... and of Taiwan coming back to the motherland,” he said.
Use of force was the last thing China wanted, as it was “waiting for a peaceful reunification,” he added.
“But we cannot, we can never rule out the option to use other means, so when necessary, when compelled, we are ready to use all necessary means. As to what does it mean, ‘all necessary means’? You can use your imagination, but ... [the] Chinese people are absolutely determined to protect our sovereignty, territorial integrity, we will never allow Taiwan to be separated from China.”
Asked about China’s ambassador to France suggesting Taiwanese could be “re-educated,” Xiao said he was not aware of an “official policy,” but his “personal understanding” was “there might be a process for the people in Taiwan to have a correct understanding of China about the motherland.”
Xiao said that an incident in which China performed what Australia described as a “dangerous maneuver” against a maritime surveillance flight in international airspace in the South China Sea region as “very unfortunate.”
However, he said the incident occurred in a “location that is within the territorial space of an island that belongs to China” — which Australia rejects — likening the incident to someone “carrying a gun and trying to peep into your windows to see what you’re doing.”
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