Speaker 1: My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda
Speaker 1: Bunjelung Kalkutin woman from Gadighl country. The Daily oz acknowledges
Speaker 1: that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the
Speaker 1: Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres
Speaker 1: Straight island and nations. We pay our respects to the
Speaker 1: first peoples of these countries, both past and present.
Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Daily os. It's Tuesday,
Speaker 2: sixteenth of January.
Speaker 3: I'm Zara, I'm Sam.
Speaker 2: Voters in Taiwan have elected Li Chingtur from the Democratic
Speaker 2: Progressive Party as their new leader. It's a history making
Speaker 2: election for Taiwan, marking the first time a political party
Speaker 2: in Taiwan has won a third straight presidential election and
Speaker 2: the result sends a very clear message from the people
Speaker 2: of Taiwan. They want independence from China. We're going to
Speaker 2: tell you what you need to know in today's deep dive.
Speaker 2: First Sam, what are the headlines.
Speaker 3: More packages of cocaine have washed up on New South
Speaker 3: Wales shores after police discovered several suspicious packages last month.
Speaker 3: Since the twenty second of December, over two hundred kilos
Speaker 3: of cocaine bricks have washed up on beaches from Wollongong
Speaker 3: and Sydney's North all the way up to the Central
Speaker 3: Coast and Newcastle. Investigators are working with ocean current analysts
Speaker 3: to determine where and when the packages may have entered
Speaker 3: the water. They're also seeking advice from experts on barnacles
Speaker 3: to analyze a growth timeline. Early estimates indicate the packages
Speaker 3: were in the water for about four to six weeks.
Speaker 2: The wealth of the world's five richest people has more
Speaker 2: than doubled since twenty twenty. That's according to a new
Speaker 2: report on inequality from Oxfam. The report found that the
Speaker 2: most wealthy one percent owns forty three percent of the
Speaker 2: world's financial assets and individually responsible for the same amount
Speaker 2: of carbon pollution as two thirds of the poorest people
Speaker 2: in the world come bind. Oxfam also found the wealth
Speaker 2: of more than five billion people has fallen since twenty twenty.
Speaker 3: The twenty twenty three Emmy Awards will take place in
Speaker 3: la today, months later than scheduled due to delays from
Speaker 3: the Hollywood Actors and Writers' strikes. Succession leads the nominations.
Speaker 3: The HBO drama is up for twenty seven Awards, including
Speaker 3: a nomination for Ozzie Sarah Snook. Other Australian nominees include
Speaker 3: Murray Bartlett and Elizabeth Debicki. The Emmys will air live
Speaker 3: on Binge and Foxtel at midday Australian Eastern daylight time.
Speaker 2: And the good news NATA has unveiled a new aircraft
Speaker 2: that could change the way we travel. The X fifty
Speaker 2: nine quiet supersonic aircraft is designed to fly at one
Speaker 2: point four times the speed of sound, around fifteen hundred
Speaker 2: kilometers per hour. Its narrow shape was designed to allow
Speaker 2: the aircraft to move quickly while keeping noise to a minimum.
Speaker 2: It's expected to fly for the first time later this year.
Speaker 3: So Taiwan has a new president. His name is Leiching
Speaker 3: Ta and his victory is the third successive win for
Speaker 3: Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party. Now, importantly, that party is known
Speaker 3: for supporting and promoting Taiwan's separate identity from China. It's
Speaker 3: one of those really complex, interesting geopolitical issues that comes
Speaker 3: up in the news quite a bit. Now. It is
Speaker 3: Taiwan's complex relationship with China which really sets the context
Speaker 3: of this election and explains why the Democratic Progressive party's
Speaker 3: win is so significant and why we want to talk
Speaker 3: about it today, Zara, Why don't we start with setting
Speaker 3: the scene of Taiwan's relationship with China.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, Taiwan is an island and it's separated from
Speaker 2: China by the Taiwan Strait. Now, Taiwan sees itself as
Speaker 2: a sovereign state, so that just basically means that it's
Speaker 2: independent from any other powers. So it sees itself as
Speaker 2: its own country with its own government. On the flip side, though,
Speaker 2: China views Taiwan as one of its provinces and so
Speaker 2: that it will inevitably reunify Taiwan with the rest of China.
Speaker 2: It's spoken repeatedly of that reunification of Taiwan and said
Speaker 2: that it must be fulfilled and that it has the
Speaker 2: right to actually use military force.
Speaker 3: To do this.
Speaker 2: And so there is this ongoing tension between what China
Speaker 2: is saying and what Taiwan is saying.
Speaker 3: So now place Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party in that context.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So that's the party that won over the weekend,
Speaker 2: and first and foremost, they promote the independence of Taiwan,
Speaker 2: and that is their fundamental principle. The party believes and
Speaker 2: I quote it's a historical fact that Taiwan is not
Speaker 2: a part of the People's Republic of China, nor does
Speaker 2: her sovereignty encompass mainland China. Another key principle is that
Speaker 2: it believes in a free and democratic country that should
Speaker 2: rule without any violence. It's listed a range of things
Speaker 2: that it wants to do, and one of them is
Speaker 2: to restore and to develop international relations. It says that
Speaker 2: it needs to approach the current issue of its status
Speaker 2: in the international community more flexibly and proact. We'll get
Speaker 2: to what that means in a little bit, but essentially,
Speaker 2: I think the fact that they won sends a pretty
Speaker 2: strong message about what the people of Taiwan want. Though
Speaker 2: it is important to note that the DPP party did
Speaker 2: not win a majority. They won around forty percent of
Speaker 2: the vote though.
Speaker 3: And so the leader of that party is lighting toe.
Speaker 3: What did he say about the victory?
Speaker 2: So after his win, he said, we didn't let external
Speaker 2: forces influence our election. That's because we decided that only
Speaker 2: we can choose our president. And he added that between
Speaker 2: democracy and authoritarianism, we choose to stand on the side
Speaker 2: of democracy. So it's very lofty language there. It shows
Speaker 2: how high stake City is for Taiwan. He really emphasized
Speaker 2: in his speech the importance of Taiwan being a democracy
Speaker 2: and the decision the people of Taiwan made in choosing
Speaker 2: a pro democracy party. He'll now be in office for
Speaker 2: four years, but it's fair to say that he's going
Speaker 2: to face some difficult times trying to navigate Taiwan's ongoing
Speaker 2: relationship with China.
Speaker 3: Interesting and if we heard anything from China about the
Speaker 3: new government.
Speaker 2: So a spokesperson for China responded to the election saying
Speaker 2: that the absence of a total majority, because remember the
Speaker 2: party only won forty percent, meant that the results show
Speaker 2: that the DBP does not represent the mainstream public opinion
Speaker 2: on the island. The statement also said that this election
Speaker 2: cannot stop the general trend that the motherland will eventually
Speaker 2: be reunified and will inevitably be reunified. So China saying
Speaker 2: there that whatever is happening domestically in Taiwan, they are
Speaker 2: still pursuing this reunification policy. The Chinese government said that
Speaker 2: Taiwan is China's Taiwan and that our position on resolving
Speaker 2: the Taiwan issue and achieving national reunification is consistent, and
Speaker 2: our will is rock solid on the new president, specifically,
Speaker 2: China previously referred to him as a troublemaker through and through, and.
Speaker 3: Taiwan is one of those stories that always does involve
Speaker 3: the broader international community. I remember US speaker Nancy Pelosi
Speaker 3: made a really historic trip to Taiwan a couple of
Speaker 3: years ago. Have we had my much of an international
Speaker 3: response to this new government?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I think to answer that, we do need
Speaker 2: to just explain how international governments view this tension between
Speaker 2: Taiwan and China. So a lot of countries actually did
Speaker 2: to what's called the One China Policy, and that's just
Speaker 2: essentially a diplomatic acknowledgment of America and some other allies,
Speaker 2: including US here in Australia, that there is a sole
Speaker 2: legal government in China. That means they don't recognize Taiwan
Speaker 2: as a country. But I should add that even though
Speaker 2: they acknowledge the One China policy, it doesn't necessarily mean
Speaker 2: that they agree with the principle itself. For example, Australia
Speaker 2: still maintains unofficial relationships with Taiwan. There are still those
Speaker 2: diplomatic channels available and following the weekend's election, the Australian
Speaker 2: government did release a statement congratulating Lie on his victory
Speaker 2: and the people of Taiwan on the peaceful exercise of
Speaker 2: their democratic rights. Our government added that the smooth conduct
Speaker 2: of the elections is a testament to the maturity and
Speaker 2: the strength of Taiwan's democracy.
Speaker 3: And I mentioned to the US before, did we hear
Speaker 3: anything from the US specifically on this new election.
Speaker 2: So the US Department of State said that it looked
Speaker 2: forward to working with Lion, with Taiwan's leaders and to
Speaker 2: further the longstanding unofficial relationship. Interesting, Yeah, consistent with the
Speaker 2: US One China policy, So they were not stoking any
Speaker 2: fires there. I'd say that was fairly careful language there.
Speaker 2: President Joe Biden took it a step further. He was
Speaker 2: very clear when asked during a press conference and said,
Speaker 2: we do not support independence. So we're unlikely to see
Speaker 2: a major change in US policy anytime soon there.
Speaker 3: Okay, but it is going to be a big four
Speaker 3: years for Taiwan in what is a rapidly developing part
Speaker 3: of the world. So it'll be an interesting government to
Speaker 3: keep an eye on. And what a new leader in
Speaker 3: Taiwan means for the relationship with China and the broad
Speaker 3: original security. That's all we've got time for on today's
Speaker 3: episode of The Daily Oz. Thanks so much for listening
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Speaker 3: great day.