‘Stupid, reckless’: Keating, Pelosi trade barbs over Taiwan

Paul Keating and Nancy Pelosi have traded barbs over the status of Taiwan, with the former United States House speaker saying Keating’s description of the self-governing island as “Chinese real estate” was a “stupid statement”.

The former Labor prime minister fired back at Pelosi on Tuesday, declaring she had been “recklessly indulgent” and brought the US and China close to war by visiting Taiwan in 2022.

Nancy Pelosi blasted Paul Keating for describing Taiwan as “Chinese real estate”. Credit: AP, Alex Ellinghausen

In an interview on the ABC’s 7.30 program on Thursday, Keating downplayed concerns about a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, saying the island was “Chinese real estate”. His remarks, in which he also compared its status to that of Tasmania, drew an angry response from Taiwan’s foreign ministry last week.

“You don’t want to get my description of him for saying that. That’s ridiculous,” Pelosi said in her own interview with 7.30, due to go to air on Tuesday night, promoting her new memoir on her life in politics.

“It is not Chinese real estate, and he should know that. Taiwan is Taiwan and it is the people of Taiwan who have a democracy there. I think that that was a stupid statement.

“I don’t know what his connection is to China that he would say such a thing, but it is really not in the security interest of the Asia-Pacific region for people to talk that way.”

The US Democratic Party luminary has been a long-time supporter of Taiwanese democracy and a critic of the Chinese Communist Party’s human rights record.

Pelosi’s controversial visit to Taiwan in August 2022, when she was still House speaker, prompted Beijing to conduct a round of military exercises encircling the island.

Keating, who criticised Pelosi over the trip at the time, said in a fresh statement on Tuesday that “in a recklessly indulgent visit to Taiwan in 2022, [Pelosi] very nearly brought the United States and China to a military confrontation – for the first time since the Second World War”.

“In fact, Pelosi had to be warned by her president, Joe Biden, and with him, the Pentagon, of the military risks of her visit. President Biden, in strong and public language directed to Pelosi, said: ‘The military thinks it’s not a good idea right now’,” Keating said.

Defending last week’s comments, Keating said: “I represent the national interests of Australia, not the national interests of the United States nor indeed, the interests of Taiwan.

“I have remarked a number of times that so-called democratic choices by Taiwan are not central or interests vital to Australia any more than say, the absence of democratic forms in countries like Cambodia or Laos are vital to Australia.”

Keating criticised the ABC for “being excited by sensationalist comment from a person who shares not a jot of identity with Australian national interests”.

While most nations, including Australia, do not recognise it as a sovereign state, Taiwan issues its own passports, holds democratic elections and its 24 million residents are not governed by the same laws as those who live in mainland China.

Beijing considers the island an integral part of its territory, and Chinese President Xi Jinping has threatened to seize it by force if necessary to achieve unification with the mainland.

Taiwan’s de facto embassy in Australia on Friday described Keating’s comments as “baffling” and “dangerously misleading”, while Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: “Former prime minister Keating’s remarks are incompatible with the current geopolitical situation and completely fail to reflect the mainstream opinions of the international community.”

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