Australia will continue to work with its allies to promote stability in the region, following rising tensions between Beijing and Washington, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says.
It comes after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi landed in Taiwan, despite China saying the visit would be a threat to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
Mr Albanese said Australia’s position on Taiwan and China had not changed.
“We don’t want to see any unilateral change to the status quo,” he told reporters in Canberra.
“We’ll continue to work with partners to promote peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
Ms Pelosi is the highest-level US official to visit Taiwan in 25 years, but the trip has led to the Chinese military being put on high alert.
China considers Taiwan part of its territory and has never renounced using force to bring it under its control.
Chinese warplanes buzzed the line dividing the Taiwan Strait before Ms Pelosi’s arrival in Taipei, and Chinese state media said the People’s Liberation Army would hold exercises near Taiwan from Thursday to Sunday.
The US has warned China against using Ms Pelosi’s visit as a pretext for military action against Taiwan.
However, Mr Albanese would not be drawn on whether he backed Ms Pelosi’s support for democracy in Taiwan.
“The level of US engagement with our Taiwanese counterparts is a matter for them,” he said.
Speaking about the Taiwan situation more broadly, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles called for no changes to the international rules-based order from either side.
“What we’ve made really clear is that the Australian position is unchanged. We do not support any unilateral changes to the status quo on either side of the Taiwan Strait,” Mr Marles told AAP.
“We’ve had an engagement with the Taiwanese people, but ours is a ‘one China’ policy … consistent with the policies that have been in place across governments of both persuasions in this country right back to the 1970s.”
Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who has also called for calm, said the situation was “very concerning”, particularly for those living in Taiwan.
The foreign minister reiterated Australia’s support for a “one China” policy, under which Taiwan is not recognised as a country and the government in Beijing is considered the only Chinese government.
“We should continue with others in the region to urge the maintenance of peace and stability in the region,” she told ABC radio.
Ms Pelosi, who is second in the line to the US presidency after Vice President Kamala Harris, is a longtime China critic.
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen met with Ms Pelosi on Wednesday.
“Now, more than ever, America’s solidarity with Taiwan is crucial, and that’s the message we are bringing here, today,” Ms Pelosi said.
China views visits by US officials to Taiwan as encouraging the island’s pro-independence stance.
