Nancy Pelosi’s slamming of former PM Paul Keating’s ‘stupid’ comments on US and Taiwan what we need from Albo

Nancy Pelosi has said what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his increasingly feckless cabinet won’t — Paul Keating’s attacks on Taiwan, support for the Chinese Communist Party and constant trashing of the United States is ‘stupid’, ‘ridiculous’ and not in the interests of security in our region.

Pelosi, a titan of Democratic politics, knows too well what’s at stake should China’s President Xi Jinping make good on his threat to unify Taiwan with the mainland, with military force, if necessary.

Following her visit to the island in 2022, when she was US House Speaker, Beijing punished the Taiwanese people by conducting unprecedented levels of military activity, which included ballistic missile launches over the island, conducting encircling drills and launching major incursions into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone as well as across the Median Line of the Taiwan Strait.

This means that even by Paul Keating’s standards, his comments about the island being Chinese property were particularly shocking, and reprehensible.

He told the ABC’s 730 last week that the Taiwanese people were “sitting on Chinese real estate.”

“The Chinese real estate is part of China,” he said, then bizarrely likened the island to the state of Tasmania as he wagged his index finger at host Sarah Ferguson.

“It’s not our matter,” he said of Taiwan.

In other words, if it were up to the former Labor Leader he would allow Xi to take over the democratically-ruled island without any objection.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement to remind that Taiwan “is not the property of any nation.”

“The Republic of China, Taiwan is an independent sovereign country and is not subordinate to the People’s Republic of China,” the Ministry said.

So what did Anthony Albanese say when Keating’s comments were put to him?

“Look, I missed the comparison of Taiwan and Tasmania, I’ve got to say,” the prime minister told reporters on Friday.

“But Paul has his views, he’s entitled to express them.

“Paul was a great prime minister — that ended in 1996.”

Asked if these views undermined AUKUS, Albanese said: “Not at all, not at all.”

“Paul has his views. They’re well known,” he said.

“The world has changed between 1996 and 2024 and my government is doing what we need to do today.”

Either Mr Albanese is not being entirely straight or he has staffed himself so badly, that his office failed to brief him of what were utterly incendiary remarks by Mr Keating and published in all major news outlets.

Furthermore, attempting to claim that the passage of time is the reason for Mr Keating’s pro-CCP views is frankly embarrassing and as insulting as the PM’s claims not to have been across Mr Keating’s comments in their totality.

The concept of democracy, which Taiwan is and China is not, has not changed since Keating, aged 80, ceased being prime minister.

Neither has the understanding that Chinese control of Taiwan would give the CCP the ability to dominate the region, project its naval power further into the Western Pacific where Australia has strategic interests and control maritime trading routes, upon which Australia’s trade-based economy is dependent.

Defence Minister Richard Marles who is supposed to be the safer pair of hands in government when it comes to behaving as the vanguard of our national security was even more flippant.

“Paul Keating, one of Australia’s great prime ministers, has a right to express his view whenever he wants, I’m totally cool with that,” Marles said from Canada, after visiting the United States for the annual AUSMIN talks.

“And obviously characterising our relationship with the United States in that way is not right, nor is it fair.”

“I don’t agree with it, but I absolutely acknowledge that as a former prime minister, as a great Labor prime minister, Paul Keating has a right to express his views in the public discourse, and that’s what he’s doing.

“You won’t hear any criticism from me of him.”

It is grossly negligent that Labor is so bound by blind tribalism that they cannot bring themselves to say what is plainly obvious, that Mr Keating will defend the Chinese Communist Party to the hilt, even when we know that the CCP threatens our military, punishes ordinary Australians with economic coercion, spies on us, hacks us, and interferes in our democracy.

It is even worse that they continually heap praise on him when he deserves to sit alongside Mark Latham for how willing he is to let his ideology supersede what is in Australia’s national interest and safety.

In the end, it took a left-wing leader outside of the Labor tribe to demonstrate the leadership required.

“That’s ridiculous it is not Chinese real estate and he should know that,” Nancy Pelosi told Ferguson, in an interview to promote her book that airs on 730 tonight.

“It was a stupid statement to make and I don’t know what his connection to China is that he would say such a thing.

“But it is not really in the security interest of the Asia-Pacific region for people to talk that way.”

Keating will no doubt disparage Pelosi’s nationality and insult her personally with his characteristic, vicious turn of phrase in response.

But Australian Labor should consider what look it sends to the country, that it has taken an outsider left-wing elder to spell out the necessary home truths to their own.