Miscalculation risk in Taiwan Strait is biggest concern: Australia Foreign Minister
SINGAPORE – The risk of escalation and miscalculation in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea is a top concern for Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
Amid mounting security concerns, China on May 23 embarked on military drills in the Taiwan Strait as a warning to newly inaugurated Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, whom Beijing regards as a “separatist”.
China claims the self-ruled island as its territory to be reunified with the mainland one day, by force if necessary.
“I am deeply worried about large-scale military operations by China in the Taiwan Strait,” Ms Wong told The Straits Times in an exclusive interview on May 23 on the sidelines of a working visit to Singapore.
“I think we have there, and in the region more broadly… a risk of accidental escalation and misunderstanding. We have spoken a lot… to encourage process, dialogue and architecture that enable de-escalation,” she added, referring also to the South China Sea.
Beijing has been asserting its expansive claims in the South China Sea, leading to skirmishes between its coast guard and Filipino vessels. Beijing has rejected a 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that struck down its claims, saying they lack legal basis.
China sees Australian navy’s movements in the South China Sea as an effort to contain the east Asian nation. Australia, which has rejected this, says it respects the right of all states to exercise freedom of navigation and overflight in accordance with international law.
Ms Wong has been Australia’s foreign minister since the current Albanese administration came into power in 2022. She has worked to help stabilise Australia’s relationship with the world’s second-largest economy and introduce some form of predictability in trading arrangements.
Beijing has since abolished most tariffs imposed on Australian exports in 2020-21 after the previous Australian government called for an inquiry into the origins of Covid-19.
Still, Australia walks a tightrope in its relationship with China.
Australia is reliant on export demand from China, its largest trading partner. But Australia is also a touchstone US ally and part of the Aukus trilateral defence partnership with the US and UK, which will eventually equip Australia with nuclear-powered submarines.
Partly as a result, Canberra announced on May 14 plans to dramatically increase defence spending.
“I have spoken about Australia using all elements of our national power, they should complement each other and work together,” Ms Wong said. “Diplomacy is underwritten by military capability. With all that we do, in all those domains of national power… Australia always seeks peace, stability and prosperity.”
“It’s about assuring our interests contribute to the strategic balance or equilibrium in the region,” she added.
In November 2023, Australia conducted its first joint sea and air patrols with the Philippines in parts of the resource-rich South China Sea that the South-east Asian nation claims as its exclusive economic zone.
This occurred shortly after a similar exercise the Philippines conducted with the US – which is bound by a treaty to defend the archipelago from an attack.
“We are a region where we don’t have anybody dominated or any one dominant partner; where you can have disputes resolved by reference to principles and norms and not just power. This matters to us, because we are a middle power,” she said.
Middle powers are countries that are not considered superpowers, but still yield considerable influence in international relations.
During Ms Wong’s one-day visit to Singapore, she met Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong meeting Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong on May 23. PHOTO: AUSTRALIA’S DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE
Canberra is working to revise its Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Singapore, Ms Wong said.
Dr Balakrishnan, in a Facebook post, said: “Singapore and Australia are strategic partners in the fullest sense of the term. We are embarking on the next phase of our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, a shared commitment towards mutual prosperity, security, and cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.”
He also said that Ms Wong enjoys “our local food so we indulged in delicious Hainanese Chicken Rice, laksa, satay, and kueh pie tee for dinner”.
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Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong enjoys our local food so we indulged in delicious Hainanese Chicken Rice, laksa,...
Posted by Vivian Balakrishnan on Thursday, May 23, 2024
In the afternoon, Ms Wong visited the Harmony Centre at An-Nahdhah mosque in Bishan, where she held a closed-door conversation on inter-faith dialogue with religious leaders from different faiths in Singapore.
Ms Wong said she was struck by “how much emphasis is put on engagement with faith leaders and people’s willingness to come together to have those challenging discussions” in Singapore.