Taiwan wants NZ support to counter ‘expanding authoritarianism’

Taiwan’s longest-serving foreign minister says New Zealand should work more closely with the island territory to tackle the expansion of authoritarianism in the Pacific, saying China’s attempts to make inroads in the region may threaten democratic values.

Joseph Wu has also mentioned the controversial Aukus security pact as “a very strong statement” when it comes to the safety of the Indo-Pacific, while arguing that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is neither imminent nor unavoidable.

Speaking exclusively to Newsroom in Taipei, Wu said ties between New Zealand and Taiwan remained “very warm”, mentioning the 2013 bilateral trade deal and shared values as helping to keep the two partners close.

“We are both democracies, and we share the same values of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law, so this is a very good foundation for the two countries to work with each other.”

While there were “understandable” sensitivities in expanding the relationship, due to New Zealand’s strong trading links with China, Wu named indigenous culture and educational exchanges as among the non-political issues where more work could be done.

“When my son was 10-years-old, he went to New Zealand for a summer, and that left a deep imprint on him in the process of growing up, so sending our young students to New Zealand does have that benefit.”

He reiterated Taiwan’s interest in joining the CPTPP trade deal and said the government had already begun reforms to ensure it met the standards for membership. He claimed Chinese opposition was the only thing standing in the way of Taiwanese accession, and said China should not be “dominating the application process” given how far away it was from meeting the necessary criteria (China lodged its application shortly before Taiwan so is theoretically next in line for consideration, although members are yet to agree on the accession process).

“This is simply wrong, and it’s not fair to Taiwan … [or] to the member states of the CPTPP: to us, the most important thing is that whoever has reached that standard, and has approved by the member states that they have reached that standard, should be granted the rights to [accede].”

 In another contentious area, the minister said Taiwan and New Zealand had a shared interest in tackling “the expansion of authoritarianism”, citing China’s efforts to make inroads in the Pacific through security deals that could affect democracy in the region.

Kiwi NGOs and academics could also learn from the work of Taiwanese civil society organisations on Chinese information manipulation, with research from one Taipei-based group showing the impact of CCP propaganda on the Chinese diaspora in New Zealand.

Asked whether he agreed with US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell’s recent remarks linking the Aukus security pact to a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, Wu said Campbell was “a very good friend of ours” but noted it would take some time before Pillar One’s nuclear-powered submarines began operating.

“I think Aukus as an organisation itself is a very strong statement in this region: like-minded countries can come together to form an organisation to tell the region that they care about a free and open Indo-Pacific, and they care about the peace and stability in the entire region, including the Taiwan Strait, and they also talk about opposition to the unilateral change of the status quo in this region.”

While there had been plenty of speculation about the potential timelines for a Chinese invasion of the island, Wu said war was neither imminent nor unavoidable, and it was important to do everything possible to avoid a conflict.

Taiwan itself had taken a responsible approach to cross-strait relations to make clear it did not want war, but had also been strengthening its defences as “true deterrence” against an attack.

Wu is Taiwan’s longest-serving foreign minister, but will soon step down after more than six years in the job; outgoing president Tsai Ing-wen revealed his next role, as secretary-general of the National Security Council, during her meeting with a cross-party group of New Zealand MPs last week.

“The easiest way to describe it is probably that this job is the most difficult foreign minister job in the world,” Wu said of his time in the role, citing strengthened relations with countries like New Zealand, Australia and Japan as highlights.

Taiwan would continue to find it hard to participate in international organisations as China built up its influence, while the Chinese government had convinced some countries to break off diplomatic ties with Taipei using “false promises” of financial support.

But Wu said the Taiwanese government would continue to work hard to hold onto its diplomatic allies, and was forming ties with cross-party parliamentary groups who could help make the case for greater engagement with Taiwan.

Sam Sachdeva travelled to Taipei as part of an Indo-Pacific study tour for journalists arranged and funded by the East-West Center.