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Australia confirms security exchanges Taiwan but mum on attaché issue

ROC Central News Agency

06/27/2023 05:25 PM

Taipei, June 27 (CNA) The Australian government on Tuesday confirmed that it has regular exchanges with Taiwan on various issues including security, but it did not comment directly on a proposed military attaché exchange with Taipei.

Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), Taiwan's foreign minister, suggested in a recently published article that Taiwan exchange military attachés with Australia to improve information sharing in light of the rising security threat of China.

In an interview published by The Australian newspaper on Sunday, Wu suggested having a military attaché posted to the Australia Office in Taipei, which acts as the country's de facto embassy in the absence of formal diplomatic relations.

Wu told the newspaper that other countries without official ties with Taiwan, including the United States, Japan and Singapore, maintained a similar presence in Taipei and that Taiwan's government wanted to post a military attaché at its representative office in Canberra.

Asked by CNA if Australia wanted to comment on Wu's proposal, an Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) spokesperson spoke broadly of efforts made by the Australian Office in Taipei but did not address the idea of a military attaché.

The Australian Office in Taipei "works across the full range of our interests in promoting our deep and productive unofficial relationship with Taiwan, including trade and investment, people to people ties and regional security," the email said.

"As like-minded partners, Taiwan and Australia have regular exchanges and discussions around economic and security issues," according to the unnamed spokesperson.

But the spokesperson said the DFAT would "not go into detail about the roles and responsibilities of individual officers in Australian posts," in line with longstanding practices.

Asked to comment on the same proposal, Colonel Lo Cheng-yu (羅正宇), an intelligence officer with the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND), also sidestepped the question.

In terms of exchanges with allied and/or friendly countries, Taiwan's armed forces uphold the principles of "equality and reciprocity."

On Monday, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) also did not provide further details regarding the proposed exchange of military attachés.

He disclosed, however, that the Australian Office in Taipei added a new position in 2022 titled "Director of Strategic Affairs" to be responsible for direct exchanges with Taiwan's defense ministry and other national security government units.

Taiwan's representative in Australia is also maintaining close contact with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on issues related to regional peace and security, Liu said.

(By Joseph Yeh)

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