Beijing ‘is suppressing ethnic Chinese in Australia’: Taiwan

Taiwan’s Foreign Minister said Beijing’s aggressive behaviour extended to attempting to control the behaviour and public attitude of Australia’s Chinese population.

Taiwan's foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung has accused China of suppressing Australia’s ethnic Chinese population. Picture: AFP

Taiwan’s Foreign Minister has ­accused China of suppressing Australia’s ethnic Chinese population, saying Beijing gave up on its trade sanctions against Canberra only because they failed.

Lin Chia-lung also said Taiwan did not fear the slow improvement in Australia’s relationship with China because it was not a “zero sum game”.

He said Australia’s recent experience as a victim of Chinese trade sanctions worth $20bn required other countries in the region to join forces to push back against any future bullyboy trade tactics by China.

In strongly worded comments in an interview in Taipei, Mr Lin said Beijing’s aggressive behaviour extended to China’s attempts to control or “suppress” the behaviour and the public attitude of the Chinese population in Australia.

“Recently we also see that Chinese have a long-armed jurisdiction over some citizens in Australia, they suppress people overseas,” Mr Lin told The Australian.

Taiwan's Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung.

Intelligence agencies believe China has actively sought to influence and pressure ethnic Chinese in Australia, especially students, to promote the interests and views of Beijing and suppress criticism of the Chinese Communist Party.

Mr Lin said all countries in the Indo-Pacific were increasingly vulnerable to China’s economic coercion. “I know that Chinese policies for Australia caused some detrimental effects on the Australian economy but eventually China stepped back because what China did to Australia is not beneficial to anybody,” he said.

Mr Lin said any country with formal ties with China was “likely to be sanctioned or to be threatened by any sort of economic coercion if that country does not abide by Chinese will”.

“So I think all countries should stand together to help those countries threatened by China’s economic coercion like Australia (was) before.”

He denied that Taiwan was worried about the recovery of Australia’s relationship with China as Beijing progressively removes the $20bn in trade sanctions it slapped on Australia four years ago.

“I would say (about) Australia’s policies towards China and its relations with Taiwan that it is not a zero sum game. They are not conflicting,” he said.

A bipartisan Australian parliamentary delegation will visit China in October, the first since relations soured in 2019, in what is seen as another sign of Canberra’s improving relationship with Beijing.

It follows the visit to Australia in June by China’s Premier, Li Qiang.

Taiwan has sought to improve relations with Australia and the US in recent years in the face of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s vows to one day retake Taiwan, which it still considers to be a part of China.

A five-member parliamentary delegation visited Taiwan in April where they met with Taiwan’s outgoing president Tsai Ing-Wen, Taiwan’s foreign minister, and several senior government, security and defence officials.

China remains staunchly opposed to Australian parliamentary visits to Taiwan, believing that they breach the principle of the one-China policy under which the Australian government does not recognise Taiwan as a sovereign country but maintains informal political connections.

Beijing lashed out at an Australian parliamentary delegation when it visited Taiwan in September last year, claiming Australian politicians were being manipulated by “secessionist” forces inside the self-governed territory.

The US has increased military support for the island in response to China’s increasingly aggressive military exercises and brinkmanship in the waters off Taiwan.

Mr Lin said Australia had repeatedly stated its support for Taiwan’s participation in international organisations and it had reaffirmed “support for the status quo and the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait”.

China has become increasingly sensitive over Western support for Taiwan, with China’s President, Xi Jinping, repeatedly speaking of his desire to reclaim the island, saying in December that “reunification” with Taiwan was inevitable.