Foreign Affairs committee  It's simply because he believes it. The leaders in Beijing believe that Taiwan should be part of China. We shouldn't underestimate that. We don't believe that, maybe, but that's what Chinese leaders believe. I think it's been effective as a point of unity with a very diverse and

Foreign Affairs committee  The Indo-Pacific is going to only really be meaningful if it is a reality, because I think it's just a concept. I don't think it has any reality. If a lot of very different, complicated partners really buy into it and make it a reality, that will take an enormous amount of diplom

Foreign Affairs committee  You're in good company. Everyone's done that.

Foreign Affairs committee  The trade flows between, for instance, America and China, I think are at historic highs. Between Australia and China, despite the terrible relationship, I believe they're also at historic highs, largely because of iron ore. Two-way trade between the U.K. and China has increased.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think—

Foreign Affairs committee  I don't think it's indicative of the regime being in trouble. It's possible that it would be a screen, but I don't think that's the case in this instance. I think it is that for domestic politics, for any domestic politician, what's not to like? Xi Jinping is a politician. He's n

Foreign Affairs committee  With the WTO, the World Trade Organization, the People's Republic of China joined first and then Taiwan joined almost immediately afterwards, although Taiwan had been compliant way before the People's Republic. Possibly, that would be on a track with TPP. Taiwan has signed bila

Foreign Affairs committee  As I said earlier, the language of that full communiqué on February 4 is all sort of formal Chinese diplomatic language, with the win-win and all this sort of rhetoric. I think it would be surprising if Putin had been very explicit on February 4. I don't think China was expecting

Foreign Affairs committee  Earlier on, Steve referred to the kind of co-operation amongst many different partners in working with Taiwan and the opportunities in Taiwan. I don't want to be negative, but every country in Europe and North America and those in the Asia-Pacific that are involved in this has ve

Foreign Affairs committee  I don't think it's a huge issue. I don't think China has any big view on NATO, apart from when, of course, 23 or 24 years ago it bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade. I think its relationship with Russia—we assume—is a positive one, but Russians I've talked to and the Chinese

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. I don't think China wants instability. It doesn't mind a weaker west, but it certainly doesn't want a west falling apart around its ears. Putin is someone they've invested a huge amount in, and they don't want Putin to then go feral and start doing crazy things either. They

Foreign Affairs committee  It seems like the first point is really about issues within Canada. Taiwan has wanted to join the international organizations for some time, and there was a brief time under Ma Ying-jeou about 10 to 12 years ago when it was a bit more flexible on China's side, but that time's ove

Foreign Affairs committee  It depends on what you mean by “reunification”. That's a word that carries a lot of different meanings. Models talked about in the past were almost like having a holding company, and then you work out two sort of separate structures from a high degree of autonomy. I suppose the

Foreign Affairs committee  If I may, I think the sanctions, the speed with which those sanctions were imposed and the scale of them by North America and Europe in particular—and Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand—were a surprise. I think China will look at this, and it will make them think a bit

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much. Thanks for inviting me today. I suppose the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has made people think a bit more urgently about what the People's Republic of China's view might be towards some kind of resolution on the Republic of China, on Taiwan. This is