In an article by former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who watoday today published on May 8, Kevin Rudd noted that "the Morrison administration's recent hasty comments about the Australian military's possible future involvement in conflicts in the Taiwan Strait are politically naïve and could harm our core national security interests." ”
Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
For 50 years, successive Australian governments have not publicly speculated about what Australia will do on the topic of "conflict in the Taiwan Strait", but in the past two weeks, the current Prime Minister Morrison, Defense Minister Peter Dutton and The Secretary-General of the Interior, Michael Pezzullo, have all violated this two-party consensus in Australia, which is surprising.
Rudd noted in the article that for years, Australian officials have tried to maneuver between the United States, Chinese mainland and Taiwan. In the face of the United States, Australian officials should work with the United States to ensure the United States' military deterrent power in the Asia-Pacific region in order to have a deterrent effect on Chinese mainland; in the face of Chinese mainland, Australian officials lobby to try to convince Beijing that the United States will intervene militarily in the "Taiwan Strait conflict"; and in the face of Taiwan, Australian officials will try to prevent the Taiwan authorities from unilaterally declaring "Taiwan independence" (or taking steps toward "Taiwan independence").
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison
Rudd criticized that the Morrison administration's remarks on the "conflict in the Taiwan Strait" are very naïve, which not only confuses the United States, makes Chinese mainland angry, and confuses the Taiwan side, but also confuses all parties in the region. Since seven weeks ago, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke for Australia during talks with the Chinese side, and relations have eased since then, but the Australian federal government's tearing up of the Victorian Belt and Road Agreement and the Morrison administration's Taiwan-related rhetoric have broken the situation.
Rudd said in the article that it is impossible to understand the reasons why Morrison and others have spoken out on the Taiwan issue, which is not in Australia's national interest and will be strategically counterproductive. Rudd speculates that the only conceivable motivation is that the Morrison administration's vaccine and quarantine efforts are a mess, trust among women is a mess, and the debt and deficit figures are seven times higher than when the Labour government left office.
Australian Army
Rudd pointed out that there is an obvious secret in Australian politics: Morrison and Dutton are vying for the position of leader of the Liberal Party. What is appalling is that these people, for pure political gain, take the core interests of Australia's national economy and security, and engage in Russian roulette gambling on the Taiwan issue.
Rudd reminded that the Morrison administration needs to face up to the fact that China's growing strength and self-confidence are corresponding to the failure of the Trump administration in the United States, which makes it difficult for any Australian government to manage Australia-China relations. Australia's leaders should therefore have a comprehensive, calm and deliberate judgement. He warned that national security is not a political game, it is serious and concerns the lives of Australian men and women in the military.
(Editor: yzm)