Australia-China relations to be tested by parliamentary delegation visit to Taiwan

Australia is poised to anger China by sending a bipartisan parliamentary delegation to Taiwan to meet senior government leaders and reiterate Canberra’s support for the democratic nation.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

Australia is poised to anger China by sending a bipartisan parliamentary delegation to Taiwan to meet senior government leaders and reiterate Canberra’s support for the democratic nation in a time of rising regional tensions.

The visit is certain to be criticised by Beijing at a time when the Australia-China relationship has been improving slowly despite tensions over cyber warfare, trade, human rights and defence.

The five-member parliamentary delegation will be the first to visit Taiwan in six months and will meet with Taiwan’s outgoing President Tsai Ing-Wen, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister, and a number of senior government, ­security and defence officials.

The group will be led by the deputy chair of parliament’s powerful joint committee on ­intelligence and security, Andrew Wallace, alongside Labor’s Shayne Neumann, and will also ­include Liberal senator Dave Sharma, Liberal MP Angie Bell and Labor’s Julian Hill. The delegation is scheduled to leave Australia for Taiwan on Sunday for a six-day visit and is expected to proceed as planned despite a 7.4-magnitude earthquake on Wednesday which caused substantial damage in parts of the island.

China remains staunchly ­opposed to Australian parliamentary visits to Taiwan, believing 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 which Beijing claims as its own.

But Mr Wallace, a Sunshine Coast MP who has been a strident critic of the Chinese Communist Party, said the visit was a demonstration of support and solidarity with democratic Taiwan at a time of geopolitical instability.

“Australia and our Indo-­Pacific counterparts are facing the most unstable geopolitical environment since World War II, in which the democratic values and global co-operation we depend on are not guaranteed,” Mr Wallace said. “That’s why visits like this are so important.”

He said the Taiwanese people were “vital trade, economic and cultural partners” with Australia.

“Our delegation will go some way to reiterating just how important that relationship is, and to setting the record straight: Australia will always stand on the side of democracy and peace,” he said.

China has become increasingly sensitive over Western support for Taiwan as China’s President Xi Jinping has struck an ever more strident tone over his desire to reclaim the island, saying in December that “reunification” with Taiwan was inevitable.

Beijing lashed out last week at a British parliamentary delegation to Taiwan, saying the visit was a blatant violation of the One China policy, a serious interference in China’s internal affairs and an encouragement to separatist forces in Taiwan.

It comes at a time when Australia’s relations with China continue to improve slowly from major rifts over foreign interference laws, the banning of Chinese tech giant Huawei and the pandemic which saw China slap trade sanctions worth $20bn on Australian goods four years ago.

Most of those sanctions have now been lifted but blocks on trade of western rock lobster and beef remain in place. A visit last month by China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi laid the groundwork for an expected trip to Australia by Chinese Premier Li Qiang in a sign that the bilateral relationship is slowly thawing.

However, Foreign Minister Penny Wong raised with Mr Wang Australia’s strong concerns about China’s suspended death sentence for Australian writer Yang Hengjun. She also raised with Mr Wang concerns about Beijing’s “unsafe conduct at sea”, and Australian concerns over human rights in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong.

Senator Wong last month also condemned Beijing’s ongoing campaign of state-­sponsored hacking. “This behaviour is unacceptable and must stop,” she said.