Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong and Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi held the seventh Australia-China Foreign and Strategic Dialogue in the Australian capital of Canberra on March 20. At the press conference that followed, Minister Wong stated that, during the meeting, Australia had expressed serious concern over China’s unsafe conduct at sea and stressed Australia’s desire for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the region. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) appreciates and welcomes this statement.

The Australian government has conveyed on multiple occasions support for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and opposition to any unilateral change to the status quo during high-level meetings with the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines, and other countries in recent years. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also publicly expressed this position while on a visit to China last November.

Taiwan welcomes continued international concern over security across the Taiwan Strait. It will continue to work closely with like-minded countries to defend the shared values of democracy and freedom and ensure peace, stability, and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait and in the region.