Australia-Taiwan Should Bolster Ties Despite CCP Pressure: Envoy

Soldiers stand guard at the grave sites of the fallen soldiers for a ceremony commemorating the 65th anniversary of the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, in Kinmen, Taiwan, on Aug. 23, 2023. (Ann Wang/Reuters)

BRISBANE—Douglas Hsu Yu-tien, Taiwan’s new chief representative to Australia, will push for greater trade cooperation between the two sides, despite pressure from Beijing.

Taiwan, an island of 23 million people, has been self-ruling since 1949 with its own military, democratically elected government, and constitution.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), however, has viewed it as a renegade province that needs to be united with the mainland and seeks actively to restrict its international engagement.

“In the past few years, all of us have been subjected to economic coercion by China [the CCP],” Mr. Hsu, who assumed his new role in Canberra in August, told The Epoch Times on Sept. 16 at a welcoming dinner in Brisbane.

Douglas Hsu Yu-tien, Taiwan’s new chief representative to Australia, in Brisbane, Australia on Sept. 13, 2023. (Nelson Huang/The Epoch Times)

“I believe that mutual trust and reliance in economic and trade relations between democratic countries is a trend for the future, so I believe that economic and trade relations between Taiwan and Australia will get better and better.”

In 2018, due to pressure from the CCP’s foreign minister Wang Yi, the then-Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop opposed Australia deepening relations with Taiwan. As a result, Australia abandoned plans to sign a free trade agreement with Taiwan.

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“During my time as foreign minister, I observed an increasing assertiveness on the part of China to encourage nations to disengage from their relationship with Taiwan,” Ms. Bishop, who served as foreign minister between 2013 and 2018, told media at the time.

“This included in the Pacific and where some nations still formally recognise Taiwan and in some of the major multilateral forums where Taiwan had observer status to participate in such meetings.”

Australia's former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop (front R) walks with her then-Chinese counterpart Wang Yi (front L) at Parliament House in Canberra on Feb. 7, 2017. (Mark Graham/AFP/Getty Images)

Mr. Hsu said the Taiwanese authorities have urged the Australian government to consider a free trade agreement with the island—the country's fifth largest merchandise export market in 2021‑22, worth $23.1 billion.

“I think the Australian government has probably heard our aspirations, and I believe that they will take all factors into account in the process of thinking,” he said.

The representative confirmed that his team would continue to push for more free trade.

“Not only our representative office in Canberra but also our offices in three Australian cities [Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane] will do our best to promote the relevant issues,” he said.

CCP Spy Case Will Not Impact Future Cooperation: Representative

Mr. Hsu also said cooperation would not be impacted by foreign interference.

In 2021, Taiwanese authorities charged businessman Xiang Xin and his wife Gong Qing, both directors of a Chinese company, for employing alleged CCP spy Wang Liqiang who defected and revealed he was running overseas interference operations for Beijing.

The couple were detained at Taiwan’s airport in late 2019 and banned from leaving the island.

Wang Liqiang, who disclosed the communist regime’s operations to sabotage the democratic movement in Hong Kong, meddle in Taiwan's elections, and infiltrate Australian political circles, was denied asylum by the Australian Administrative Appeals Tribunal in January.

Taipei's requests for legal assistance from Australia around the case were rejected, making further investigations difficult.

Wang Liqiang, a former Chinese spy, has defected to Australia and offered to provide information about his espionage work to the Australian government. (Courtesy of Wang Liqiang)

Mr. Hsu, previously a U.S. specialist in Taiwan’s foreign ministry, said the incident would not impact future cooperation.

“In fact, there is a long history of mutual legal assistance cooperation between Australia and Taiwan, and the degree of cooperation between the two sides is very good,” he said.

“Given that the established mode of mutual legal assistance between Taiwan and Australia has operated without any problems, I believe that this close cooperation in mutual legal assistance will continue and will not be challenged due to any particular case.”

Australia Can Increase Security Ties in the Region

While security cooperation between the United States, Japan, and the Philippines in the Indo-Pacific is getting stronger, Mr. Hsu, previously the director-general of Taiwan’s Department of North American Affairs, hopes Australia can engage more.

“In the Indo-Pacific region, the challenges and threats we face are the same. I think cooperation between us is something that each country would like to foster,” he said.

In a meeting with his Filipino counterpart on Aug. 25, Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles confirmed Australia and the Philippines would bolster military ties to curb tensions with Beijing in the South China Sea.

“We recommitted to planning bilateral joint patrols in the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea and other areas of mutual interest,” Mr. Marles said in a statement.

The grounded Philippine navy ship BRP Sierra Madre where marines are stationed to assert Manila's territorial claims at Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands in the disputed South China Sea, on April 23, 2023. (Ted Aljibe/AFP via Getty Images)

Mr. Hsu said over the past few years, the Australian government has “expressed its concern for regional peace and stability through a number of joint declarations with some countries,” and “demonstrated the consistency of our coordination through many joint military exercises.”

“This, I believe, shows that the Australian government is indeed concerned about regional security.”

Linda Huang and Nelson Huang contributed to this report.