Taiwan is an important trading partner for Australia. Our relationship generates business and investment for Australian and Taiwanese companies and jobs for people of both economies. Australia and Taiwan also encourage people-to-people contacts in areas such as the arts, culture, education, science, tourism and sport.
Australia and Taiwan share an interest in a rules-based, open, inclusive and stable Indo-Pacific region. Australia is a member of the Global Cooperation and Training Framework, which serves as a platform to share expertise with partners around the world.
And not only does Taiwan hold a vital geostrategic position, it's also a thriving hub for international trade, making it a very critical global supply chain partner. Last year, Taiwan became the world's sixteenth largest trading economy with trade exceeding $800 billion U.S. for the first time in Taiwan's history.
Taiwan holds an important position in the global economy. It is a top player in the world's information and communication technology industry as well as a major supplier of goods across the industrial spectrum.
China wants what Taiwan has
You see, Taiwan has something that China doesn't, which is access to the most advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment in the world. Taiwan's crown jewel is a company called Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, or TSMC for short.
The current number of 1st/2nd-generation Taiwanese Australians is roughly 45,000–55,000 people.
Australia is China's sixth largest trading partner; it is China's fifth biggest supplier of imports and its tenth biggest customer for exports. Twenty-five per cent of Australia's manufactured imports come from China; 13% of its exports are thermal coal to China. A two-way investment relationship is also developing.
China is Australia's largest two-way trading partner in goods and services, accounting for nearly one third (31 per cent) of our trade with the world.
Relations with China are one of the most important aspects of Australia's foreign policy. As an emerging great power in our region with whom Australia is developing a major economic relationship, good relations with China will become an increasingly prominent feature of Australia's international interests.
The United States and United Kingdom are the biggest investors in Australia, followed by Belgium, Japan and Hong Kong (SAR of China).
The worth of financial assets would fall by one fifth on average, and by one quarter in Australia. An end to trade across a bamboo curtain would hit Australia, since we export more resources to China than anywhere else and we import more goods from China than anywhere else.
Under this agreement, the Australian government diplomatically recognises the People's Republic of China (PRC) as the 'sole legitimate government of China', and do not recognise the ROC as a sovereign state, while merely acknowledging Beijing's position that "Taiwan was a province of the PRC".
Australia has plentiful supplies of natural resources, including the second largest accessible reserves of iron ore in the world, the fifth largest reserves of coal and significant gas resources.
Foreign citizens wishing to reside in Taiwan for an extended period of time must comply with Taiwanese immigration law, and specific procedures to apply for a Resident Visa. A Resident Visa is normally granted a single entry, and is valid for 3 months from the date of issuance.
Taiwan is declared a province of the Qing Empire. Following defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), the Qing government signs the Treaty of Shimonoseki, by which it cedes sovereignty over Taiwan to Japan, which rules the island until 1945.
Australia has long been one of the developed-world's most China-dependent economies, leaving it vulnerable in the event of an economic crisis in its key trading parter, or a deterioration in relations.
Taiwan is an important trading partner for Australia. Our relationship generates business and investment for Australian and Taiwanese companies and jobs for people of both economies. Australia and Taiwan also encourage people-to-people contacts in areas such as the arts, culture, education, science, tourism and sport.
Taiwan's other four allies are island nations in Southeast Asia, namely Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands. This list is rounded off with the Kingdom of Eswatini, located in Africa, and the Vatican City State, in Europe.
Shared membership of important global and regional multilateral forums including the G20, APEC and the EAS. Australia has a mature relationship with Russia that allows us to confront our differences directly when necessary but work constructively where our interests intersect.
China normally takes around 70% of the seaborne trade in iron ore, or around 1 billion tonnes, but it relies on domestic production for a further 900 million tonnes.