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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-02-21 Daily Xml
Contents
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Motions

President of Taiwan

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (17:59): I move:

That this council—

1. Congratulates Dr Lai Ching-te on his election as the leader of the Democratic Progressive Party to President of Taiwan, on 13 January 2024;

2. Joins with the Australian government, Australian opposition, state governments and governments around the world, including the US, the UK, the EU, Canada, Japan, Singapore and the Philippines, in congratulating Dr Lai Ching-te on his victory in the election;

3. Congratulates the people of Taiwan on the peaceful exercise of the democratic rights to ensure that the outcome truly represents the will of the people;

4. Notes that the smooth conduct of the elections and congratulations received from Australia and around the world are testament to the maturity and strength of Taiwan's democracy; and

5. Encourages South Australia to continue to work with Taiwan to advance our important trade and investment relationship, and to foster our deep and longstanding educational, scientific, cultural and people-to-people ties.

I rise to move and speak to the motion in my name, congratulating Dr Lai Ching-te (or William) on his election as the President of Taiwan on 13 January this year. As the leader of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), having taken over from President Tsai Ing-wen as the DPP's presidential candidate, prior to the election, Dr Lai Ching-te secured a third term of government for the DPP.

I felt very privileged and honoured to have met Dr Lai (William) and many other political leaders, business people and community members during a visit to Taiwan in 2023 as a member of the South Australian Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group, along with my colleagues here from the Legislative Council, the Hon. Reggie Martin, the Hon. Tung Ngo, the Hon. Laura Henderson, and the Hon. Ben Hood. It was certainly an eye-opening experience for me and, in the process, we were able to also have a briefing from Dr Lai.

I found Dr Lai to be a rather inspirational person and a very impressive statesman-like person who spoke very passionately about Taiwan and the fact that it needed to remain as a separate entity against the face of the aggression that has been shown by the People's Republic of China. The People's Republic of China does not like Dr Lai. In fact, they have labelled him a troublemaker, and probably labelled him as a troublemaker simply because of his popularity in Taiwan and also that it would have impacted—and certainly his election would have impacted—on the other parties, and the influence that the People's Republic of China may have had on other parties in trying to absorb Taiwan—which is what its intention is through its acts of aggression.

I would classify Dr Lai not as a troublemaker but as a peacemaker. He believes Taiwan has a place in world affairs. It certainly holds an impressive place in the world's economy. It is one of the largest economies in the world, when you consider it is a country of only 23.5 million people, and it is one of our largest trading partners with Australia. It is a country that actually really fights above its weight, I have to say. Its people, its government and local government are intent on maintaining their democracy and also maintaining their approach to business. They are very strong. We know that they are the biggest exporters and manufacturers of semiconductors in the world, and that gives them an enormous amount of respect.

It is rather ironic how the Chinese are putting all this pressure on Taiwan when you consider that Taiwanese businesses actually do have manufacturing plants in China. Nonetheless, they do hold an important place in the world's economy, and they are an important trading partner for Australia and also for South Australia.

As I said, I found Dr Lai to be quite an impressive person. We had a really good chat not just about the affairs of Taiwan and the future aspirations that he had for his country, should he be elected as president when we were there at the time, but we also had some rather cordial discussions about his sporting passion. Dr Lai loves baseball, and we spoke about Taiwan's pastime—I think baseball is almost a national pastime—and hopefully that we could one day see a Taiwanese baseball team come to Adelaide to play against our national champions. They have won it for the second time now. It would be great to actually see an international fixture at Adelaide Oval involving the Taiwanese, who are quite skilled at that sport, playing against our state and national champions.

I offer a bit of background about Dr Lai, as not many people know much about him here. He was born in New Taipei, and he and his five siblings were brought up by his mother after his father died in a coalmine disaster when he was only two years old. He went on to study medicine and practised as a doctor prior to entering politics in the late 1980s. He has dedicated his life to public service, defending the principles of liberal democracy and making sure that the Taiwanese people can continue to live in a liberal democratic society, often at great personal cost to himself and his family.

As President, he will lead Taiwan during what will undoubtably be a tumultuous and challenging period for that island state. On our recent visit to Taiwan, it was interesting to learn that as an island democracy of, as I mentioned, 23.5 million people, it has never been governed by communist China. It has been occupied; we know that it was occupied by the Japanese at the turn of the 20th century and it has had occupation from foreign invaders, but communist China was only established after the revolution with Mao Tse-Tung in 1949. That is when the democratic leaders of China were forced from the revolution to flee to the island of Taiwan, with Chiang Kai-shek in charge. He helped establish the democratic government in Taiwan. They continued to live there and operate and govern quite peacefully until this very day. It was a very successful transition from what had happened in 1949.

Of course, China continues to claim Taiwan as its territory and has refused to rule out using force to take control of the island. This is a real and serious threat which Taiwan has been constantly subjected to and will have to deal with. It is certainly a situation that Australia is going to have to deal with, should an act of aggression be applied and the Chinese mount some kind of military action against the Taiwanese. It will undoubtedly bring in the United States, which has already promised to come to Taiwan's aid. If the United States come to their aid, of course, Australia—as a strong ally of the United States—would go in support. There would also be support from Japan, South Korea and others, certainly, to maintain Taiwan's status as a free democratic society.

If China was to step up its coercion tactics and unofficial warfare to undermine Taiwan's government, the pressure will grow on Dr Lai Ching-te and also on other governments, including the US, the UK and Australia, to respond—and that could also pose, as I said, a threat to our respective national security. That gives you an indication of the prominent place and prominent status that Taiwan has in this region, and how vital Taiwan is to the stability of the region and also, of course, for what it manufactures. If there were some kind of military activity that stopped the production of semiconductors, or the distribution and export of semiconductors, it could almost grind the Western economy and Western manufacturing industry to a standstill. That is why they are so important.

Showing a great deal of personal and professional courage and determination, Dr Lai Ching-te has publicly pledged to prioritise the status quo and defend Taiwan's right to democracy and peace. At a recent briefing of the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents' Club, Dr Lai said:

I will lead a new era of values-based diplomacy…

He went on to say that:

Taiwan has a responsibility to share its experience of democratization to the world and to the Indo-Pacific.

It was especially pleasing to hear so many governments—including our own Prime Minister and DFAT; the Australian Leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton; and governments from around the world, including the US, the UK, Canada, Japan, Singapore and the Philippines—join with major representative organisations, such as the EU, to publicly congratulate Dr Lai Ching-te. The will of the Chinese people was democratically expressed and exercised on 13 January, reflecting the maturity and strength of Taiwan's democracy and its newly elected president. This is truly something to be celebrated and supported.

I was following, with a great deal of interest, the elections during that period in January and watching television reports that were being beamed in by the BBC and other news organisations. It was pleasing to see how the Taiwanese conducted themselves and how the citizens approached their voting and their voting rights. They did it with a great deal of enthusiasm, hoping, of course, that they would continue living in a democratic society. Those elections were conducted without any questions about their credibility really being raised anywhere. It was a true credit to the way that they had organised themselves.

Of course, it comes back also to Australia's recognition of Taiwan. The Australian government, as do other governments, adheres to the so-called one-China policy. Personally, I do not recognise that policy. I believe Taiwan is a country in itself and should be recognised as such. The Republic of China, Taiwan, is entitled to exist in its own right without having to be intimidated by an aggressive, large neighbour that tries to flex its muscle at other nations around the world to try to isolate Taiwan so that they can get their way. We have seen countries that previously had recognised Taiwan move away after being intimidated and threatened by China.

Of course, China does wield a big stick because of their economy and what they produce and what they export to some of those countries, not to mention their belt and road policy, which is where they pour a lot of capital into many struggling economies to win or curry favour with them and then try to influence them on their international relations with other countries.

I want to point out that I did have a motion—and still have a motion—before the Legislative Council about Taiwan, recognising them and their status and also their national day. Unfortunately, I had to pull that motion because the other parties in here did not want to cause any offence to the Chinese, which I think is ridiculous and appalling. It seems that the influence of China extends even to political parties in this state as well as this country. While I am disappointed in having to do that, I am actually quite pleased that at least the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade did put out a statement on 14 January and I will read out that statement:

Australia—

which means the Australian government, the Commonwealth of Australia—

congratulates Dr Lai Ching-te on his victory in the Taiwan elections held on 13 January. We also congratulate the people of Taiwan on the peaceful exercise of their democratic rights. The smooth conduct of the elections is a testament to the maturity and strength of Taiwan's democracy. Australia looks forward to continuing to work with Taiwan to advance our important trade and investment relationship as well as our deep and longstanding educational, scientific, cultural and people to people ties.

That comes from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Penny Wong's department. I would hope that in light of that message of support to the people of Taiwan the Labor Party in this place would at least support this motion when I bring it to a vote, and I intend bringing it to a vote on the next sitting Wednesday.

I would also like to acknowledge that the federal Leader of the Opposition, the Coalition, the Hon. Peter Dutton, congratulated Dr Lai on his victory at the elections and during a media conference said:

We welcome and congratulate the incoming President. Obviously, an experienced vice president and particularly in a troubling time it's important that democracies are able to implement the outcome of the will of the people. That's what happened in Taiwan and we welcome that outcome.

I am hoping the Liberals in this place will now support that motion as well, considering the support that has been shown by the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Peter Dutton.

In closing, I would also point out that our visit to Taiwan introduced us also to the fact that there are a number of indigenous tribes in Taiwan and that the Taiwanese government are quite proud of their indigenous heritage. We visited the cultural museum in Taipei. When we were greeted by the curator of that museum we were actually met and greeted with a similar Welcome to Country acknowledging the traditional peoples of that country. In fact, the Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of their indigenous people was quite similar to what we have in Australia. That was probably a reflection of the fact that the curator of the museum had attended university in Australia, in Melbourne, and she was quite cognisant of the recognition that we give our First Nations people in Australia.

It was enlightening to see that a number of indigenous peoples are in Taiwan, considering it is only a small place. Their history only dates back about 200 to 250 years, but nonetheless they are open and welcoming of their heritage and their background.

Our experience also indicated to us what an entrepreneurial and progressive country Taiwan really is, certainly in contrast to mainland China. I have been to both mainland China and now to Taiwan, and I found enormous differences in the approach of the people in Taiwan and their motivation, their standard of education, their—

The Hon. R.B. Martin: Love of hydrogen.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Martin!

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: It is brown hydrogen, I must point out to the Hon. Reggie Martin. He might like to speak about it. The Taiwanese were certainly very keen, I must say, to learn more about what we were doing with renewable energy in this country, particularly with hydrogen. It was interesting that the Taiwanese have also decided to mothball their nuclear plants in favour of renewables.

I find that a bit odd, and I actually questioned some of their politicians about their plans to reach zero emissions when they have the cleanest source of energy, nuclear energy, and they are walking away from it. They then spoke about their interest in brown hydrogen and also their intent to mix hydrogen and gas, so they do not intend to get rid of fossil fuels in a hurry, the Hon. Mr Simms.

As I said, they were certainly very impressive. They impressed me a lot. I thoroughly enjoyed the country, what they are doing with it, the people themselves. As I said, it is totally different from my experience in mainland China. It is important that we continue to recognise the Republic of China, Taiwan for what they are, a democratic nation in that part of the world, and also ensure that we will continue to show our support for maintaining their democratic rights.

With that, I would like to commend the motion to the chamber. I also will say that I look forward to one day President Lai visiting Australia. It might upset the Chinese, particularly the Chinese consulate here, but who cares? I would certainly like to see him visit this country. I am sure that South Australia will want to continue its relations with Taiwan. There is a term that they use, that it is an unofficial relationship, which I find quite odd.

It is quite clear that we do have a relationship with them. Why beat around the bush, just because of this one-China policy? We do have a strong relationship with them. They are our friends, they will continue to be our friends, they want to be our friends. They want to be our trading partners. I would certainly like to see South Australia show more interest in expanding our trading—

The Hon. R.B. Martin interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Martin, can you stop interjecting?

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: I would certainly like to see—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Hanson, you are not helping.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: Thank you, Mr President. I see that the Hon. Justin Hanson is giggling into his phone as usual.

The Hon. J.E. Hanson interjecting:

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: You are not? In summing-up, as I said, I would like to see South Australia's interest with Taiwan grow. I know that when we met with the Australia-Taiwan society in Melbourne late last year they were very keen on expanding trade with South Australia. It seems that South Australia does not have as much interest in trade with Taiwan as do Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. They were quite interested in our primary produce. They are also interested in our wine.

We may recall that China decided to turn off the tap illegally and impose that hefty, illegal 210 per cent tariff on our wines, which effectively brought our wine industry to its knees. It just goes to show you the intent of China when it wants to impose itself and its views on a country. It will actually hurt innocent businesses in this country.

When they did that, the Taiwanese were the first to respond and come to the support of Australian wine producers and also our grapegrowers by ordering wine which was then sold as freedom wine, and they are very proud of it. Everywhere we went meeting with political leaders they also expressed their strong support for us and also mentioned the fact that they were strong supporters of Australian wine. That is good because at present, of course, we are still waiting to see what China is going to do.

The Premier and others visited China some months ago. The federal Minister for Trade and Tourism, Don Farrell, visited China as well and came back with these assurances that exports of wine, lobsters and others were going to resume. We have seen barley resume, but at this point we have not seen the trade in wine or certainly the embargo on our wine being lifted at a crucial time for our wine growers in the Riverland, the Riverina and also in Sunraysia where currently they are facing enormous financial problems because wine buyers are only offering a fraction of what they need to break even with their product this year.

If you heard reports on AM today you will know that many of them are hurting. They are on the verge of bankruptcy not only because of the situation that has arisen because of a glut of red wine around the world, or that is what they are being told, but also—because of what China did a few years ago—many of them are now facing financial hardship as a result of those unfair tactics that were applied.

We now have large conglomerates, international companies like Accolade, putting the pressure on growers to buy their product at a substantial loss to the producers at $120 a tonne for red wine. It takes a farmer $400 just to break even and then to get to market. It equates to about 15¢ a litre, so that is unfair. I await the day that the People's Republic Of China decides to lift those tariffs and ease the burden on our wine industry as such. With that, I commend the motion.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. I.K. Hunter.

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