Why didn't 🇨🇦 sign? This message is from countries we want as allies - according to the PM. But we don't sign it so we can keep the malign government in Beijing happy.
Like us, Taiwan knows what's it like to live next to a powerful and covetous neighbour. We should be ashamed.
Eight democracies. One message to Beijing.
Australia, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, South Korea and the UK issued a joint statement on September 22 opposing any unilateral change to the Taiwan Strait status quo. It came out of a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, where officials called today's security environment more volatile than a year ago.
Their language was direct: "We encourage dialogue and oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait."
The same day, the US, Japan and South Korea issued a separate statement making the same point, and also backing Taiwan's participation in international organizations.
Taiwan's foreign ministry welcomed the statement and said it would keep building self-defense and deepen ties with democratic partners.