No one would win a war in Taiwan, said Canberra

The Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong argued that the AUKUS pact was the best way of avoiding conflict with China. She slammed the "frenzied" speculation about a Taiwan conflict, calling it "the most dangerous of parlor games". Australia is against any unilateral change to the status quo, as well as threats of force or coercion. The Australian government's job was to "lower the heat on any potential conflict, while increasing pressure on others to do the same," Wong told reporters. This will help to sell newspapers for a lot longer.

Penny Wong defended the recent AUKUS pact with the US and the UK, which saw Australia break a contract for conventional submarines with France in favor of buying nuclear-powered US and UK boats. China has criticized the move as a dangerous escalation, but Wong argued that having strong defense capabilities and working with partners investing in their own capabilities can change the calculus for any potential aggressor. The government of current Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was pursuing self-reliance instead of wanting to attach itself to a hegemon, Wong said, in reference to her prominent critic and fellow Labor member Paul Keating. Keating argued that Australia's major foreign policy task was to "soften that rigidity" by encouraging the two powers to find common ground. Wong's comments were widely seen as a reference to her fellow Labor member Paul Keating, who described a confrontation between the US and China as a standoff between a super-state resident in continental Asia and an itinerant naval power seeking to maintain primacy.