Taiwan calls Australians moral cowards

Catherine Armitage, China Correspondent
September 24, 2004

TAIWAN has slammed Australia for "lack of moral courage", accusing Canberra of making a war possible in East Asia by appeasing China for the sake of making money.

One of Taiwan's most senior diplomats yesterday accused Australia of collaborating with the People's Republic of China to disrupt relations with some South Pacific diplomatic allies.

Australia had for several years been pursuing a one-sided and unbalanced policy favouring China over Taiwan, said Gary Song-Huann Lin, director-general of East Asian and Pacific Affairs in Taiwan's Foreign Affairs Ministry. "This hurt the Taiwanese people's feelings."

...[Australian Foreign Affairs Minister] Downer was like British prime minister Neville Chamberlain before World War II who, by appeasing Hitler, missed the chance to avoid war.