War at all costs must be avoided, but China needs to know that Taiwan is not alone and friendless, writes former Australian Minister for Defence Christopher Pyne.
Taiwan, the small island of twenty four million people off the coast of south east China, could well be the most dangerous place on the globe in the next few years.
To this day, Taiwan has never been governed by the Government of the People’s Republic of China. Picture: Getty Images There’s just one problem with this proposition – the people of Taiwan don’t want reunification. They have a market economy, a genuine democracy that has seen the government change hands peacefully three times since 1996, they control their own territory and have an effective military.
China has not tried to conquer the island. In the 1950s there were shots fired at islands within reach of the mainland that are under the control of Taipei. But the Taiwan Strait is a natural buffer protecting Taiwan. That situation has now changed. Modern China has a military capability that must be taken seriously., Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu states:"People will come to understand that China is much more powerful than it was before.
Courageously, Wu does not expect Australia or anyone else to take responsibility for the defence of Taiwan.
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