TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is scheduled to visit Taiwan for the two-day Yushan Forum, which runs from Oct. 11-12.
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Australia said, “Inviting Australian parliamentarians from various parties to visit Taiwan and enhancing their understanding of our country has been one of our long-standing priorities.” “China has no authority to intervene,” it added.
Morrison’s trip follows a visit by an eight-member delegation of Australian lawmakers in September. The group met with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), and other officials where they shared views on the geopolitical situation in the Indo-Pacific, economic and trade cooperation, and digital and information security.
Commenting on the delegation’s visit, China’s Ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian (肖千) said it was very important for Australian politicians to respect that Taiwan was part of China. "I hope they will stick to the One China policy in words and in deed; refrain from engaging with Taiwan in whichever form of capacity so that you will not be politically utilized by people in the island with political motives," he said last week.
"It might be easily utilized by the political forces in Taiwan for their independence forces movement, or their succession movement, and I don't want to see that happen," Xiao added. Morrison rebuked Xiao’s remarks, telling the newspaper The Australian that “The Chinese government in Beijing does not get to decide whether Australian members of parliament can visit Taiwan or not, nor do they get to tell Australians or the world what Australia’s ‘one China’ policy means.”
Taiwan has been trying to secure Australia’s support for its ascension in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). In a meeting with the Australian delegation, Tsai said she looks forward to the support of the Australian government and parliament for Taiwan's CPTPP membership bid.
In an ABC News interview last month, Taiwan representative to Australia Douglas Hsu (徐佑典) said that Taiwan has been in contact with CPTPP member states to update them on its efforts to meet the standards of the trade pact. “We want all the CPTPP members to consider next applications based on the ability of an applicant to fulfill the commitments under the CPTPP, instead of any political consideration,” Hsu said.
