Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will aim to complete his regional tour of Southeast Asia on a high note with his final day at the APEC summit.
The APEC forum brings together leaders from 21 member economies with interests in the Asia-Pacific region.
Members include the United States, Canada, China and Taiwan but the leaders of France, Saudi Arabia and Cambodia have been invited as guests.
But despite APEC’s focus on improving free and open trade arrangements in the region, Mr Albanese appears unlikely to support Taiwan’s entry into one of the world’s largest trading blocs.
Asked if he would like to see Taiwan join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Mr Albanese said it was “a relationship between nation states that are recognised”.
“Taiwan is represented here (at APEC) because it is represented here as an economy,” he told reporters in Bangkok.
“We support the status quo on Taiwan and on the Taiwan Strait, we don’t want to see any unilateral action which alters that status quo.”
The CPTPP is a regional trade arrangement made up of 11 countries around the Pacific, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Japan.
As Mr Albanese was leaving a press conference, Taiwanese journalists attempted to ask him questions about Australia’s stance which he did not answer.
Mr Albanese also took part in a meeting called by US Vice President Kamala Harris to condemn North Korea’s firing of a ballistic missile.
Mr Albanese joined leaders from, Canada, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea to call for the United Nations Security Council to have an emergency meeting on the matter.
“This action does threaten our security, it does destabilise the region and this is precisely the reason why the UN Security Council was established,” he said.
The prime minister hoped the final day of the summit would produce a Bangkok Statement on the circular economy and environmental co-operation.
“That will be an important message that we need to co-operate to deal with the challenge of climate change and the environmental issues that we all face,” he said.
But he noted Australia was in high standing on the world stage because of its changed approach to climate change action.
“The entry fee for credibility in international forums is action on climate change,” he said.
“We punch above our weight in international forums, when we are mature, when we’re sensible and when we engage in diplomacy.”
Mr Albanese has spent the past week at the ASEAN summit in Cambodia, the G20 in Bali and now APEC and will depart for Australia on Saturday afternoon.
© AAP 2022
