The U.S. and Australian foreign and defense ministers issued a joint statement on the 6th, emphasizing the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and opposing unilateral changes to the status quo. In response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China (Taiwan) expressed sincere thanks and appreciation, stating that “safeguarding peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait has become an international consensus.”
The foreign and defense ministers of the United States and Australia convened the 34th Australia-U.S. Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN) on the 6th, U.S. Eastern Time. After the meeting, the U.S. State Department and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs issued a joint statement, reiterating the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, jointly opposing unilateral changes to the Taiwan Strait status quo, urging peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues through dialogue, without the use of threats, force, or coercion, and expressing strong concerns about the military and coast guard activities of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the vicinity of Taiwan.
In the joint statement of the U.S. and Australian foreign and defense ministers, both sides recognized Taiwan as a key partner of the U.S. and Australia, and a pioneer of the economy and democracy in the Indo-Pacific region. The U.S. and Australia reaffirmed their commitment to supporting Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations and to enhancing economic, trade, people-to-people exchanges with Taiwan, as well as coordinating cooperation in the Pacific.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China (Taiwan) stated that it sincerely thanked and welcomed the explicit and steadfast support for Taiwan in various aspects expressed by the U.S. and Australia in the annual AUSMIN joint statements for five consecutive years, and for the first time, they expressed grave concerns about the CCP’s frequent military and coast guard actions that disrupt the regional status quo and escalate tensions around Taiwan.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs further stated that like-minded countries such as the United States continued to intensively demonstrate their common position on peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait through statements, including recent events such as the “U.S.-Sweden Indo-Pacific Consultations,” the “2+2 Diplomatic and Defense Talks” between the U.S. and Japan, and the U.S. and the Philippines, all reiterating the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, demonstrating that safeguarding peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait has become an international consensus.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that as a responsible member of the Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan will continue to work with like-minded countries to defend common values of freedom, democracy, and the rule of law, as well as the rules-based international order, and safeguard peace, stability, and prosperity in the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific region.