Australia's ambassador to the U.S. responds to the stance on a possible Taiwan Strait conflict, emphasizing the importance of maintaining unpredictability.

What stance will Australia take if the Taiwan Strait goes to war? Here's how the Australian ambassador to the US responded.

According to foreign media reports, on Friday at a security forum in the United States, Australia's former prime minister and current ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, spoke about the Taiwan issue. When faced with a question from the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense for Policy, Colin Kahl, regarding Australia and Japan's roles if China and the U.S. went to war over Taiwan, he replied: "From the perspective of how China views its strategic future, it is not necessarily bad to remain unpredictable on this key issue of Taiwan." He also claimed that Taiwan is the core of China's overall military strategy. If Taiwan were "lost," China's "capabilities and military power would be more widely released," and he believed "this logic is prompting the U.S. and its allies to take action."

Despite many voices within the U.S. advocating for abandoning the "strategic ambiguity" policy toward Taiwan and shifting to "strategic clarity," the policy has not changed — most people believe maintaining ambiguity can apply pressure on both sides simultaneously and is most in line with U.S. interests. The move by Kahl to pressure Australia and Japan to take a stance on the Taiwan issue has drawn international attention. In response, Australia's Minister for Defence Industry, Richard Marles, directly refused, clearly stating that Australia will not commit in advance to sending troops in any conflict; just a week after completing his visit to the U.S., Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also rejected the U.S. request for Australia to increase defense spending from 2% of GDP to 3.5%.

This series of interactions reveal that the U.S. attempt to bind its allies to the "using Taiwan to contain China" chariot is encountering resistance from allies based on their own interests. On the issue of Taiwan, which involves China's core interests, any external pressure or manipulation cannot change the historical trend of cross-strait unification, nor can it force other countries to take risks for America's geopolitical interests.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1838089677429768/

Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.