Taiwan and Australia: She’ll be right, mate?

Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, Liberty Square, Taipei, 9 June 2024

From Taipei: One of the first things that struck me about Taiwan is that I felt like I was in Cairns. The monsoon rain, the dark skies… You are wet, but you are also hot and sweating and you just have to settle into it. It’s a good thing the local drop is good and cheap, as any Aussie who as lived in Australia’s north would appreciate.

After travelling from Shanghai to Seoul to Taipei in succession, it took a few days to work out which apps I could use to navigate and pay for food, and which language I should use for the normal courtesies. Restrictions in each country require one to be flexible. It was certainly a journey along a spectrum from the highly regulated to the less regulated society.

Writing in the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes had this to say:

Writing from Taipei, Michael de Percy recounts some of the modern history of Taiwan, and how this democracy has flourished in spite of everything thrown at it. He argues that Australia can’t leave little Taiwan to the mercy of Red China with a ‘she’ll be right’ attitude to Asian geopolitics: he’s right.

Writing in the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall had this to say:

The whole ‘she’ll be right’ philosophy that Australians are so fond of might not work out for Taiwan. Writing from his travels in the area, Michael de Percy notes a similar laid back attitude to existential threats in Taiwan – an attitude not shared by the country’s neighbours.

My latest article in The Spectator Australia, Taiwan and Australia: She’ll be right, mate?