Taiwan not a 'vital interest' for Australia, says former premier

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – Taiwan is not a vital interest for Australia, a former Australian prime minister said on Wednesday, warning Canberra against being dragged into any sort of military conflict over the island nation.

“Taiwan is not a vital Australian interest. Let me repeat that, Taiwan is not a vital Australian interest,” former Prime Minister Paul Keating said at Australia’s National Press Club, according to ABC News.

“We have no alliance with Taipei, none. There is no document you can find.”

Tensions over Taiwan have escalated as increased interaction between Taipei, the US and its allies has triggered angry responses from Beijing, which considers Taiwan as a “breakaway province.” Taipei has been insisting on its independence since 1949.

Unless Taiwan makes an “ill-conceived” attempt to change the island’s status or declare full independence, China will likely try to resolve the issue “harmoniously,” said Keating, a Labor Party member who served as prime minister from 1991 to 1996.

If the US and China “did go to war over Taiwan then Australia would have no treaty obligations to join the conflict,” he stressed.

“We are committed to ANZUS for an attack on US forces, but … not an attack by US forces, which means Australia should not be drawn, in my view, into a military engagement over Taiwan, US-sponsored or otherwise,” he added.

He also lashed out at AUKUS, the recently unveiled military pact between the US, the UK and Australia under which Canberra will get nuclear-powered submarines.

He said Australia is now “at odds with its geography” and “still trying to find our security from Asia rather than in Asia.”

The eight nuclear submarines Canberra plans to build through the deal will be like throwing “a handful of toothpicks at [a] mountain,” the ex-premier said.

According to Keating, the Chinese are only looking for “respect for what they have created” and the government of Scott Morrison had “needlessly provoked” the world’s second-largest economy.

“We have to deal with them because their power will be so profoundly big in this part of the world,” he said.

Bilateral relations between China and Australia have spiraled down over the past two years, particularly since Canberra joined Washington and other allies who pushed for a probe into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“China does not represent a contiguous threat to Australia,” Keating stressed.

“China is not about turning over the existing world order. It only wants to reform it, and it wants to reform it only because of its scale.”