Opinion | Australia would be wise not to pound ‘drums of war’ over Taiwan as there’s too much at stake
- China’s recent threats against Taiwan have heightened the risk, however remote, of a military confrontation between superpowers
- As an ally of the US, Australia cannot avoid contemplating the possibility of a meltdown in the Taiwan Strait and the subsequent repercussions
It is hardly news that regional anxiety is rising as the countries of the Indo-Pacific scramble to accommodate China’s surging power and influence.
However, Home Affairs Secretary Michael Pezzullo published an essay in The Australian discussing a possible war with an unnamed adversary, venturing into territory not previously traversed by government officials.
It appears not to have had the imprimatur of Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Morrison did not repudiate Pezzullo’s remarks, nor did he endorse them. He said Australia’s goal was to “pursue peace and stability” and a “world order that favours freedom”.
“In a world of perpetual tension and dread, the drums of war beat sometimes faintly and distantly, and at other times more loudly and ever closer […] until we are faced with the only prudent, if sorrowful course – to send off, yet again, our warriors to fight the nation’s wars,” Pezzullo wrote.