2022年6月28日，华东师范大学澳大利亚研究中心主任陈弘接受《环球时报》（英文版）采访，批驳澳大利亚总理阿尔巴内塞赴北约会议时涉台言论。
Zhao Lijian Photo: VCG
In response to a question over Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese' warning against China to learn from Russian President Vladimir Putin's "strategic failure," a spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry at a regular press briefing on Tuesday urged certain politicians to refrain from making irresponsible remarks, reiterating there is no comparison between Ukraine and the island of Taiwan given that the latter is not a sovereign state.
Zhao Lijian said that China has stated its stance over the Ukraine crisis multiple times. Also, China has stressed multiple times that the island of Taiwan is not Ukraine and there is no comparison between the two.
Zhao's comment came after Albanese made remarks on the Taiwan question in an interview with the Australian Financial Review (AFR) en route to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Madrid, Spain.
Albanese claimed in the interview that the Russia-Ukraine conflict has been a "strategic failure" that has made Russia a "global pariah," something of which China should also take note.
Chen Hong, president of the Chinese Association of Australian Studies and director of the Australian Studies Center at East China Normal University, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the latest remarks by Albanese are unsurprising as the new Australian prime minister is catering to the essential focus of the NATO summit - countering China.
Albanese's anti-China remarks expose that the NATO summit is nominally focusing on the Ukraine crisis but essentially trying to coerce NATO members and four countries from the Asia-Pacific region - Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea - to counter China, Chen pointed out.
Amid the tensions between China and Australia in recent years, Chen warned the new Australian prime minister of the need to clearly understanding the significance and sensitivity of the Taiwan question and not blindly follow the US to challenge China's bottom line, which would draw fire against Australia itself.
Since taking office in May, Albanese, who is a "greenhorn on diplomacy," has largely taken a similar line to the US on China issue, which Chen said was dangerous as the anti-China rhetoric would erode China-Australia relations.
