Taiwan warns of Beijing’s sway in the region

Jeremy Sammut, Michael Smith and Emma Connors

Updated Apr 30, 2023 – 2.11pm, first published at 2.06pm

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Sydney/Tokyo/Singapore | Senior Taiwan officials have warned Australia that South-East Asian nations are being blindsided by the economic benefits of dealing with China, weakening the Albanese government’s US-aligned regional security strategy.

While they praised Australia’s fight against China’s economic coercion, the military and government top brass in Taipei said other countries in the region were hedging their bets with Beijing at the expense of peace in the region, which would cause problems for Canberra.

Jeremy Sammut has a PhD in Australian political history and was formerly a senior researcher at the Centre for Independent Studies where he specialised in health and social policy.

Michael Smith is the health editor for The Australian Financial Review. He is based in Sydney.

Emma Connors was South-east Asia correspondent from October 2019 until mid-2023, based in Jakarta and Singapore. She has previously edited Perspective and Opinion and has written extensively across the AFR and related titles.