Dutton’s war warning on Taiwanese conflict

A FULL-SCALE Chinese conflict would be “more significant” in scale than the Russian invasion of Ukraine and would lead to more casualties.

That’s the warning from Opposition Leader and former defence minister Peter Dutton, who says Australia should urgently bolster its defences to protect against the inevitable attack.

His latest round of alarmist language comes as tensions continue to mount in the Taiwan Strait after a visit from US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

While China’s military has ended its nearly week-long drills, it has vowed to keep conducting patrols in the Taiwan Strait.

The security conditions have been put further on edge after the release of a White Paper and a speech from the Chinese ambassador to Australia, vowing to “reunify” the liberal democratic island of Taiwan with “the mother land”.

Mr Dutton said he, like the Albanese government, supported the One China policy and nobody wanted to see conflict.

“That would be a very significant event, more sophisticated than what we’ve seen in Ukraine, more powerful in force,” Mr Dutton told ABC Radio.

“(There would be) more casualties, and that’s not something that anybody wants to contemplate.”

Mr Dutton said Australia should bolster its defences and continue to work with likeminded allies.

He said the West should not back down in calling out China’s behaviour.

“Coming together with allies, and speaking openly and frankly, I think gives us the best chance of allowing China a graceful dismount,” he said.

“China have been very clear about their intention … nobody should be surprised by China’s actions if there is an incursion or if there is a conflict because they’ve said that they will be taking back Taiwan – come hell or high water.”

Earlier, former prime minister Kevin Rudd said Ms Pelosi should not have visited Taiwan.

Ms Pelosi was the first high-level US official to visit the self-governing island since the 1990s, an event that triggered nearly a week of Chinese military drills.

The unprecedented exercises resulted in a joint statement from US, Australia and Japanese ministers, condemning the actions.

Mr Rudd said the consensus among the analytical community in the US was that Ms Pelosi’s visit had made the situation worse.

“Nancy Pelosi, as speaker … of course had the right to visit Taiwan.

The real question was a practical one was whether it was wise,” Mr Rudd said.