The head of federal parliament’s intelligence committee has accused China of going “berserk” over senior US politician Nancy Pelosi’s 2022 visit to Taiwan, while arguing Australia should boost cooperation with fellow democracies to deter Beijing from launching an invasion.
Government senator Raff Ciccone, who replaced Labor MP Peter Khalil as chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security in October, has been one of Taiwan’s most staunch supporters in federal parliament.
He made the blunt remarks during an event in Melbourne with Douglas Hsu, head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, which is Taiwan’s de facto embassy in Canberra.
China claims Taiwan as its territory and has been steadily ramping up pressure on Taipei, most recently by launching large-scale military exercises in October.
Beijing responded furiously in 2022 when Ms Pelosi — then US House speaker — flew to Taiwan. It responded by accusing Washington of trashing its commitments under its one China policy, and launching massive military drills around the island.
Australia did not endorse Ms Pelosi’s visit when it occurred but called for calm and de-escalation, with government insiders saying Foreign Minister Penny Wong was worried it could trigger a military confrontation.
But Senator Ciccone said the then-speaker’s trip sent a critical message about US support for Taiwan.
“My favourite [visit] was Nancy Pelosi’s when she went recently,” he said.
“The Chinese went berserk about it but, you know, quite frankly good on her for actually standing up [for] what she believes in. It’s good to see America … making a stance.”
Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu welcomes Nancy Pelosi to Taipei in 2022. (Reuters)
Senator Ciccone said when he visited Taipei as part of an Australian parliamentary delegation he was struck by the “toll” the ongoing tensions took on people in Taiwan, although he stressed their resilience as well.
“We are friends with Taiwan, and we do share the concerns your people and country are feeling. But rest assured that there are people here in Australia who support what you’re doing,” he said.
“I genuinely believe that if there are enough of us to provide a deterrent to countries like China then I think Taiwan and its people can rest assured and sleep very well at night.”
Mr Hsu told the event that Taiwan had been heartened by recent shows of support from several countries across the region.
“Despite [the] initial perception of difficulties due to Australia’s relationship with China, this year actually we have seen numerous milestones, from public support for Taiwan’s democratic election to parliamentary delegations visiting Taiwan, including Senator Ciccone’s visit,” he said
“With the growing support of like-minded countries including Australia, Taiwan is well positioned to write its own success story.”
Supporters wave flags at a victory parade celebrating Taiwan winning a major international baseball championship last month. (Reuters: Ann Wang)
Ciccone urges nations to continue sending delegations to Taiwan
The federal government has repeatedly declared that it is ramping up military spending to bolster Australia’s ability to deter attacks, but it is rare for anyone in the government to link deterrence directly to a possible invasion of Taiwan by China.
Last year, Defence Minister Richard Marles said Australia and other countries had to make sure there was not a “failure of deterrence” regarding Taiwan like the one that failed to prevent Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but couched his language more carefully.
Senator Ciccone stressed that authoritarian countries such as China and Russia should not be able to “bully” democracies, and that it was critical for Australia and other countries that retained friendly informal ties with Taiwan to keep on sending political delegations to the island.
He also suggested there would be “benefits” to backing Taiwan’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CP-TPP) trade bloc, although he did not give it an explicit endorsement.
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Both Beijing and Taiwan have been pushing hard to join the sweeping trade agreement, forcing members of the group to walk a diplomatic tightrope.
Last week, Taiwan expressed “deep regret and disappointment” when the countries in the group effectively delayed a decision on both applications.
Senator Ciccone said the decision on the CP-TPP had been made by “consensus” and that Australia would have an “ongoing dialogue” with Taiwan about its application.
But he also said that Taiwan’s interest in the CP-TPP was “very important”.
“There are so many benefits about multiple countries working together with similar interests and values,” he said.
“Because when we do we are a much stronger and much larger deterrent for any countries to play up.”
Senator Ciccone’s remarks came after visiting Czech President Petr Pavel told the ABC that democratic leaders should “get engaged with dialogue” with Taiwan.
