The Australian Senate passed an “urgency motion” in support of Taiwan’s “sovereignty” and participation in international organizations on Aug 21, despite its federal government's stand and that of the United Nations, that there is only one China and Taiwan is part of China.

The senators agreed by vote to move the motion “that United Nations Resolution 2758 of 25th October 1971 does not establish the People’s Republic of China’s [PRC] sovereignty over Taiwan and does not determine the future status of Taiwan in the United Nations, nor Taiwanese participation in UN agencies or international organizations.”

A bipartisan group of senators who participated in the partially US-funded Interparliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) conference in Taiwan claimed that the UN resolution identifying the PRC as the sole Chinese state did not include Taiwan.

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But even then, it did not include Hong Kong, now a Special Administrative Region of the PRC. For 150 years, Hong Kong was administered by the United Kingdom and recognized as a British colony. Kuomintang soldiers settled in Taiwan after their defeat by the communists only 80 years ago, and it remains a stronghold for this isolated group. However, China maintains it is officially Chinese territory, the same as Hong Kong when it was leased to the British.

If only one China exists, why must all its provinces be included?

The Australian senators were obviously unaware of a 1972 communique establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries in which Australia recognized the PRC as "the sole legal government" and that the federal government acknowledged that Taiwan was a province of the PRC.

In a television interview in Australia in early August, former prime minister Paul Keating said the people of Taiwan were sitting on Chinese real estate and that it was part of China. He added that the United States could not and would not win a Taiwan Strait war and that Australia would only incur disadvantages by siding with America.

During the previous leadership in Australia under the then pro-American prime minister Scott Morrison, there was open talk about going to war with China over the island. Peter Dutton, then defense minister and now leader of the opposition, proclaimed that it was inconceivable that Australia would not support the US in any conflict with China over its Taiwan and warned of the terrible price of inaction on Taiwan.

Australia has been aligned with the US for many years, which was strengthened during the Morrison regime with the formation of the Australia/United Kingdom/United States (AUKUS) alliance.

There may have been some saber-rattling when US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022, which the US propaganda team used as threatening war. Unlike its strong opponent, China is not a warmonger and has never instigated a war anywhere in the world; it is a peacemaker.

However, despite all the rhetoric about Taiwan's status, the Australian government has consistently recognized the one-China policy. To change that policy would have severe consequences in both trade and diplomatic relations, which Australia cannot afford to lose. However, if Australia wishes to trade with Taiwan, there is nothing to stop it, and the current Australian representative office in Taipei is free to continue its trade negotiations there.

Australian sponsors of the Taiwan motion were Labor senator Deb O'Neil and Liberal senator David Fawcett, both of whom attended the July meeting of the Interparliamentary Alliance on China in Taiwan where attending lawmakers from six countries agreed to counter the UN Resolution 2758 (recognizing the one-China policy) in their home countries. Taiwan became a member of IPAC during the meeting.

So, IPAC is pro-Taiwan and anti-China and is funded, in part, by the US State Department's National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the National Democratic Institute, and the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. A member of the group is Britain's Lord David Alton, a rabid China-hater who has fuelled discontent among activists seeking to bring down the Hong Kong administration. The bias of IPAC is clear and clouded by the US influence to undermine China.

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Under the Morrison regime, the Americans greatly prejudiced the Australians, as illustrated when Morrison canceled a French agreement to build submarines in favor of a much more expensive American deal, which allied AUKUS (Australia/United Kingdom/United States) as a military force. The Morrison deal has drawn strong criticism in Australia, but unfortunately, a deal is a deal and cannot be broken by succeeding governments. That will remain the case as long as Australia is still in the US's pocket.

So, there can be no doubt that the move by Australian senators is just a political ploy to appease the Americans and will not change Australia's position that there is only one China and that Taiwan is part of China.

The author is a former chief information officer of the Hong Kong Government, a PR and media consultant, and a veteran journalist.

The views don’t necessarily reflect those of China Daily.