A clear majority of Australians regard Taiwan as an independent country, in direct contradiction of the Australian government’s own position, and more than two-thirds want Australia to do something if China attacks the island.
An exclusive survey shows fewer than one in 10 Australians consider Taiwan to be part of China, and while most want to do something to protect the country from a Chinese invasion they baulk at sending Australian troops.
Taiwan has become a geopolitical flashpoint as Beijing flexes its muscles.Credit:
This is despite the Australian government subscribing to the “One China” policy which dictates that Taiwan is part of China.
China, which regards Taiwan as a renegade province, has threatened to take the island by force if necessary but has stated its aim is for “peaceful reunification”.
The findings are part of the exclusive Resolve Political Monitor conducted for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age from Wednesday to Sunday last week.
The survey by research company Resolve Strategic asked questions of 1618 eligible voters online with respondents chosen to reflect the wider population and producing results with a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points.
Of those surveyed, 67 per cent said Australia should do “something” if China were to invade Taiwan.
Among these people, 45 per cent said Australia should take diplomatic action, 48 per cent said we should hit China with trade or economic sanctions, and 15 per cent said we should take military action.
Just 12 per cent said we should do nothing while 21 per cent were undecided.
Of the people surveyed, 65 per cent regarded Taiwan is an independent sovereign state, 9 per cent said it was part of China and 25 per cent were undecided.
An intense domestic debate about Taiwan has erupted over the past year in Australia after former prime minister Paul Keating claimed it was not a vital “interest” for Australia.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton has said a conflict over Taiwan could not be discounted and declared if the United States committed forces to defend the island it would be “inconceivable” that Australia would not join in.
In November, Mr Dutton suggested China would not stop taking territory if it invaded Taiwan, warning acquiescence to or appeasement of aggression by Beijing could ultimately lead to the creation of a new regional order.
Hitting back at criticism he had erred in speaking forcefully about the prospect of a war over Taiwan, Mr Dutton said it was important to think through the “next step” if China occupied the island and noted every major city in Australia was “within range of China’s missiles”.
“If Taiwan is taken, surely the Senkakus are next,” he told the National Press Club in Canberra, referring to a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea.
A Chinese embassy spokesperson said at the time Mr Dutton was “preaching his quixotic misunderstanding of China’s foreign policy, distorting China’s efforts to safeguard sovereignty and territorial integrity, misguiding the Australian people on regional situations and priorities, and fanning conflict and division between peoples and nations”.
Some national security and China experts have previously argued that overhyping the likelihood of an invasion of Taiwan unintentionally assists the Chinese Communist Party’s message that unification is inevitable.
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