A war of words has broken out between the former Australian prime minister Paul Keating and the former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi over Taiwan, after the prominent Democrat accused Keating of making a “stupid statement” about the territory.
Keating was quick to hit back on Tuesday, suggesting Pelosi had “very nearly” sparked a military confrontation between the US and China over her “indulgent” 2022 visit to Taiwan.
The dispute began after the national broadcaster published an excerpt of an upcoming interview with Pelosi in which she rebuked Keating for describing Taiwan as “Chinese real estate”.
“That’s ridiculous. It is not Chinese real estate and he should know that,” Pelosi told the ABC’s 7.30 program.
“Taiwan is Taiwan and it is the people of Taiwan who have a democracy there. I think that that was a stupid statement.”
In the interview, to be broadcast in full on Tuesday evening, Pelosi added: “I’ve no idea about Keating, but I think that it was a stupid statement to make, and I don’t know what his connection is to China that he would say such a thing.
“But it is really not in the security interest of the Asia-Pacific region for people to talk that way.”
Keating, who has long argued that Australia should not be drawn into a conflict over the future status of Taiwan, hit back at Pelosi and the ABC.
In a statement, Keating focused on Pelosi’s remark that “it is not in the security interest of the Asia-Pacific region for people to talk that way”.
“This is from the former leader of the US House of Representatives who, in a recklessly indulgent visit to Taiwan in 2022, very nearly brought the United States and China to a military confrontation – for the first time since the second world war,” Keating said.
“In fact, Pelosi had to be warned by her president, Joe Biden, and with him, the Pentagon, of the military risks of her visit.”
Pelosi led a delegation to Taiwan in August 2022 to show support for the democratically governed island, which Beijing claims is a breakaway province and which it has not ruled out seizing by force.
It was the first visit to Taiwan by a speaker of the US House of Representatives in a quarter of a century. Biden said publicly the month before “that the military thinks it’s not a good idea right now”.
Pelosi defended her trip by saying the Chinese Communist party “cannot prevent world leaders or anyone from travelling to Taiwan to pay respect to its flourishing democracy, to highlight its many successes and to reaffirm our commitment to continued collaboration”.
Beijing responded with four days of military drills including test launches of ballistic missiles over Taiwan’s capital city, Taipei, for the first time.
In the statement on Tuesday, Keating also suggested that the ABC had not presented Pelosi with the full picture of his stance.
“Obviously, in being asked a truncated question by 7.30, Nancy Pelosi would have been unaware that I had also said that Taiwan ‘will get resolved socially and politically over time’, ie, between the two parties, without the need of confrontation or violence,” Keating said.
Keating said he was representing “the national interests of Australia, not the national interests of the United States nor indeed, the interests of Taiwan”.
“I have remarked a number of times that so-called democratic choices by Taiwan are not central or interests vital to Australia any more than say, the absence of democratic forms in countries like Cambodia or Laos are vital to Australia,” Keating said.
Keating also said that “the whole world recognises as one country, China and Taiwan”.
Australia has long adhered to a “one China policy”, but this is not the same as the “one China principle” promoted by Beijing.
Since 1972, the Australian government has recognised the government of the People’s Republic of China “as the sole legal government of China”, but has been more ambiguous about its own view about the status of Taiwan.
The formal stance is that Australia “acknowledges the position of the Chinese government that Taiwan is a province of the People’s Republic of China”.
This means that while the Australian government does not treat Taiwan as a sovereign state, the two sides maintain economic and cultural relations on an “unofficial basis”.
Over the past few years the Australian government has raised concerns about Beijing’s rapid military buildup and has said it opposes “any unilateral change to the status quo across the Taiwan Strait”.
Keating, who led Australia from 1991 to 1996, was also rebuked by the current prime minister, Anthony Albanese, last week.
“Paul has his views. They’re well known,” said Albanese, who is also from the Labor party.
“My job as prime minister is to do what Australia needs in 2024. The world is different. The world has changed between 1996 and 2024 and my government is doing what we need to do today.”
The ABC declined to comment on Keating’s remarks.